A fairly emotional tale that showcases perseverance through our worst fears even when everything seems against us. The story drags somewhat as our main character goes from place to place on the island, overcoming obstacles both internal and external, though younger readers may be so swept up in the mystery of it all that it doesn't really matter. 

Has a very basic, simple plot, but definitely has the feel of a burgeoning D&D party stepping out onto their first adventures together. Would love to see a continuation just to see the growth of these characters and more details on their respective backstories.

I'm unusually hot and cold when it comes to Jane Yolen. I don't know if it's her writing style or something, but what I've read from her so far has mainly been lukewarm to me. Her other collection, The Emerald Circus, didn't blow me away, but had a good story here and there. This one, however, did manage to keep my interest and had a more engaging collection of stories. Perhaps it's because I'm more drawn in by fairy tales, especially ones that have been reimagined or flipped on their heads. I was glad to see retoolings of stories I've never heard of before instead of the usual standards, though there are a few of those in here as well, your Cinderellas, Sleeping Beauties and the like. But even those have their own kind of charm as we view them through a different lens. 

Some of my favorites include Godmother Death, Happy Dens or A Day in the Old Wolves' Home, One Ox, Two Ox, Three Ox, and the Dragon King, The Foxwife, One Old Man, with Seals, Great-Grandfather Dragon's Tale, Sule Skerry, and The Woman who Loved a Bear.

Had to read this book for some reader's advisory for my work's summer book collection and I really don't think I would have picked this one up otherwise. When you encounter a work that's meant to comment on social media and how it affects how we think/feel/connect with others, you automatically go "oh geez it's one of those technology bad we all doomed" sort of books and to an extent, it kind of is within its first half. As someone who is constantly online, I recognized the issues with maintaining an online presence, how we start to communicate more in memespeak and how drastically our perceptions change when filtered through our online use. I think since I was already familiar with these issues, the book didn't punch as hard as it should, though having a familiarity with certain memes and trends will definitely help some understand the book more. It's an odd balance, so it threw me a bit off kilter.

I also had a hard time with the book's writing style, which are these chunks of text that range from being a sentence long to full paragraphs, each with their own train of thought. While the book gets heavily emotional at times, it felt like I was still detached from the characters because of it. Perhaps that's the point, that our  main character is only able to express themself so much in these scant paragraphs at a time, but the impact remains the same.

I think this book will resonate with many people, but I don't think I'm one of them.

Since first reading it in college, I've been back to revisit the world of Good Omens multiple times, whether through the book or the TV series. And here, in this audiobook which is mix of both with Michael Sheen and David Tennant reprising their roles, I had an absolute blast. It was wonderful to hear the two's readings of scenes that hadn't been adapted into the show and their different deliveries of familiar lines. The rest of the cast does a stellar job as well, particularly Gabrielle Glaister as Madame Tracy, Arthur Darvill as Newt and Louis Davison as Adam. 

It really is a rare thing when you find any shred of hope within a horror novel and, after all the disturbing imagery and implications, I was surprised to see such an uplifting ending. Ward does an excellent job of keeping us in suspense as twist upon twist starts to pile up and our narrators start to appear not as reliable as we initially thought. It really is a book that you immediately want to read again after putting it down, now knowing exactly how all the pieces fit together and wondering how you could have missed them before. 

Probably one of the most refreshing YA novels I've read in a long time. I loved the overall writing style and how our main lead was actually allowed to feel righteous and justified anger towards her situation and oppression, which I feel doesn't happen often enough with woman-led YA fiction. So often they're encouraged to be merciful to their own detriment, but not here, which felt so validating. That ending went from 0 to outright chaos so fast but man was it a rush.

Also I hope this book starts the trend of finally ridding us of the plague which is the dumb love triangle and more throuples. I demand more throuples!

Xiran Jay Zhao has given us an absolutely stunning debut and I look forward to reading the sequel!

The book had a promising start, but really started losing traction when it became a cycle of Alosa breaking free from her captors, looking for things, only to let herself be caught again and again. I know that's part of the whole plan, but it can only be interesting for so long before it starts loosing tension.

I never felt Alosa was challenged in any way, that everything came too easy for her. Again, the plot tries to explain this, but that doesn't excuse the fact that it makes for a very boring book. Her romance with Riden was a little dull; I never bought into the fact that these two people actually liked each other.

All in all, it really failed to live up to its potential, since I constantly see this book lauded when talking about pirate fiction. Save yourself the trouble and read up on Anne Bonny.