I was so excited to get my hands on this book, mainly because I love Peter Pan in general and Cemetery Boys  was one of my favorite reads from last year. While this book doesn't capture that same spark as its predecessor, I found myself entertained by this darker, emotional take at the story of Peter Pan.

I was able to read through it very quickly. I had just come off of reading three much more slower-paced books, so I just absolutely tore though this one. 

The emotions, tragedy, and Wendy's trauma all felt so genuine in the story. I think I found her struggling to come to terms with her past and pain was a more worthy conflict to focus on than the book's villain, who seemed extremely lackluster in comparison. His whole motivation/plan/general personality just seemed a little too obvious and I've seen this character too many times before in other bits of media. 

I think it was clever of Aiden Thomas to use a facet of Peter Pan that is sometimes discussed when doing a deeper reading into the source material, but isn't usually included when creating a retelling. It's gives him a much more somber image and I love the juxtaposition between his bright, cheerful demeanor and his ultimate purpose. I haven't really seen any other retelling go down this route, so it was neat to see.

While this book didn't surpass or even meet my expectations in some ways, I still really enjoyed it and look forward to what Aiden Thomas comes out with next.

In some ways, I find this book rather progressive for its time. Encouraging a father's involvement in the household and an equal partnership in marriage, urging women to develop goals and ambitions for themselves, Amy's calling out of Laurie's behavior after Jo turns him down? All things I find astounding for a book written in the mid 19th century. I was enthralled to see such strong, devoted female characters, and how awesome is Marmee? It was so refreshing to see such a loving and committed family dynamic.

Each March sister was a delight to read about, even Amy, who doesn't deserve nearly as much hate as she gets. If anything I thought Beth to be the weakest, but only because her growth basically starts and ends in the first volume, which doesn't make her much of a lasting presence. She's just the kind, shy one that fades into the background a little too well.

If anything I think the one thing I have a gripe about is the domestication of Jo, but that may be because I relate so heavily to her earlier years. A tomboyish spitfire eager to tell a story and fully content to spend her life single and to her own devices? Yeah, that's a vibe I can get behind. Though I have to admit, at least her development was done believably due to

Beth's death and the trauma she faced afterwards. It put her life into perspective for her and it was a natural outcome. But yeah, I'm still salty and can't help it.

While incredibly slow at times, this isn't a book that's meant to be a binge read. I read it off and on for about a month and I think that really helped me get an appreciation for the story and the characters. I was able to settle in for a nice, contained chapter and then set it aside for a while, since a lot of the chapters seem very episodic. Overall, I think it's a classic worth reading if you're interested in the story and looking for captivating female characters and engaging character dynamics.

Once again Naomi Novik knocks it out of the park with a suspenseful and well-crafted dark fairy tale that has a brilliant cast of characters that are each dynamic and fleshed out. It took a while to get used to the multiple perspectives, I even think there are a few that could have been left out, but since Novik gives a distinctive voice to each character, it was easy to figure out who was speaking. Out of all of them I think Miryem's portions were my favorite, as I think she had the most captivating storyline and characterization. Her dedication and passion for her family really endeared me to her.

Naturally there were moments that dragged, maybe a perspective that went on to long, but it eventually picked up again. I don't think I enjoyed this book as much as Uprooted, but I think it just comes down more to personal taste than something wrong with the story. 

I'm going to start off by saying that I went into this book completely unaware that it was tied to the author's other series, the Winner's trilogy, which I haven't read. This made me somewhat worried that I would be missing out on certain details or inside information that would help me understand the world better but, given the setting of an isolated island that has forgotten its own history, I actually was able to get along quite well. It makes sense that this story would have somewhat sparse world building since the characters themselves have very little clue of how their society came to be, just that it was always this way. The class system was especially interesting and dark at times, what with the Half Kith sacrificing literal body parts to get out of jail time and just the whole situation with the High Kith, which sucked me more and more into the mystery behind this world.

However, there were a lot of moments when this mystery took a back seat to the romance between Nirrim and Sid and I wish we got a deeper look into it by the time the book ended. By the end, we're given the answers, but not much time to settle with and examine them. But I suppose that's what sequels are for. As for the romantic aspect of the book, it's okay. I'm very lukewarm on it, it wasn't bad, but neither did it blow me away. It's great to see more sapphic romances in YA, but this particular one didn't stand out to me for some reason.

The pacing as well was a little wonky in the first half. There were moments that stretched on a bit too long, like if chapters were combined or condensed it probably would have flowed a bit better, but thankfully this problem disappeared by the second half, though I would also say the ending came on too quickly. It overall came off as uneven, though it wasn't enough to put me off the book entirely.

Originally I was debating on whether or not I would continue this series, but that hesitation immediately went away once I finished the book. The last two chapters really throw a lot at you and you really can't help but wonder at what happens next and where the characters will be the next time we see them. Dang it, sucked into another series, foiled by my own curiosity!