GIRL POWER!!! That's what my happy, feminist heart was screaming for hours after I finished this novel. My brother caught a telling video of me screaming, "I JUST WANT TO DESTROY THE PATRIARCHY" and while I am not normally fond of shouting, it felt good to just take up space after reading this story about women stepping up and owning their own rights to exist.

This book was like nothing I've ever read before. It was so beautiful and enchanting in so many ways, and so heart breaking and tragic in others. The world was so rich and lush, but even though so much was going on, I wasn't ever lost (maybe a bit confused at times, but never so much that I couldn't follow what was happening). The twists and turns this book took threw me in the best possible way. I saw some of them coming, but definitely not all of them, and they were all still enjoyable and thrilling.

This book was also just so ... like, healthy? Which is really uncommon to see in YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi, tbh. The society was so messed up and toxic and awful (which /is/ common), but Zetian was just ... so amazing. She stood up for herself. She didn't take crap from anybody. She thought about things in a way that defied what society had tried so hard to drill into her; that she was a human being worthy of love, that she took up space and deserved that space, that she shouldn't be ashamed of her own body, that she existed for more than just to serve men. There's so much more we can learn from Zetian, but her capacity for strength and love was unlike any I have read in fiction, especially YA. This is such a great book for high schoolers to read, so they can see real people loving each other in healthy ways, devoid of the drama that so often dominates this audience of literature.

Not that there wasn't any drama. Shimin was kinda hard to figure out, but give him time. Normally bad-boy tropes make me roll my eyes, but Shimin was just so raw and wretched. He has my whole heart. As for Yizhi, I loved him from the beginning. After the opening chapters, I was worried he wouldn't come back to the story, but I shouldn't have worried.

I've never read a story with a polyamorous relationship, either. It's been drilled into me that that sort of relationship paradigm is /wrong/, and it's something I've only in the past few years or so begun to take another look at and consider in my no longer conservative brain. This book took an approach to it that I'd never really considered, and cast it in a light that's so /human/. Yizhi's philosophy on love, and then the conversations they had about it ... they were the words that I'd known I believed in, but hadn't been able to articulate. I appreciate Zhao so much for bringing this story into the YA market. This is something a lot of people still feel very strongly opposed to, and I have a feeling she'll get some heat over it. But in words similar to how Yizhi put it, why spend precious time trying to restrict love instead of encouraging it to flourish everywhere it can?

This book is about love, and change, and standing up for yourself and your rights. It's also about so much more, but you'll just have to wait until September so you can go find out for yourself!

How is this not more well-known? That was my resounding question from the moment I picked this beautiful book up to when I dropped the cover closed, the words of these 17 weird, quirky, touching, delightful stories swarming in my brain. I stumbled upon this in a used bookstore and was captivated by the cover. When I saw feminist sci-fi and fantasy short stories? And that it was a mixture of prose and comic? With a play-script thrown in as well? How could I /not/ buy it? It was a really surreal experience reading speculative fiction for young adults that was specifically addressing feminist issues, and I enjoyed every second of it. Some of the story were weird. Some I walked away from, not quite sure what I'd just poured over. I did devour this in one evening, so I'll probably find myself wandering back into its arms in a day or so and testing out some of the stories I didn't quite grasp. The combination of prose short stories and comics made for an easy, captivating read that had me constantly intrigued. It also helped distinguish the stories from each other. I didn't have any trouble remembering which story was which by the time I got to the end and was reading the authors' comments on their writing processes.

This whole book was an incredible experience. Not to mention the book itself is gorgeous. Go buy it now, and enjoy an evening of being lost amidst the desolation of the patriarchy.

Wow. This was ... really good. I couldn't put it down, and I haven't had that in a while. Timothy's voice was gripping, and his character was so relatable and sweet and he was so /caring/ and ugh. I loved it BUT. The ending was way too abrupt and I am frustrated because I wanted more. There's a sequel so ... I guess I'm off to obtain that!

I wish I could give this more than five stars. This was the most beautiful collection of poetry I have ever had the delight of reading. I started reading this back in December and have slowly worked my way through the hundreds of poems that Oliver collected here from the collections she published over her lifetime. Reading this, it occurred to me that Oliver was teaching me something. How to listen. How to see. How to be happy. How to live. This is a guide to a rich and full life, and everyone would benefit from cracking open the pages and getting lost in their depths. I cried a little when I finished--this has become a lovely solace to turn to, and the thought of being finished breaks my heart. This is one of those books that's going to live on my nightstand, or on my desk, or wherever I find myself the most often, so that when I'm feeling gray and the world seems bleak, I can turn back to the wisdom and light captured in Oliver's poetry.

As a future ELA teacher, this book made my heart so happy. Not only does this book feature middle school girls in STEM, but it tells their story through poetry. Lucido combines music, computer programming, and poetry into one little verse novel that has a diverse cast of characters and a whole lot of love. I will definitely have this on my classroom bookshelf!

I kind of already want to reread this book.

This book was neither gentle nor kind, but it was soft in a way that makes me want to hold each poem in my heart forever—or at least tuck it into my pocket to save for a stormy day. It’s raw and real and riveting, and if it doesn’t make you cry at least a little bit, then you should read it again. And again. This book has “got bars.” Plus, it’s poetry, and it’s got lots of Spanish. What more do you need?

This took me a while to get through, but it was a really fun little book. (Except for the end. Oh. My. Gosh. Wow. My heart. Ugh.) It was pretty slow moving, but I did enjoy getting to kind of pick it up at a slower pace and read a bit here and there throughout the semester.

Would have given it three stars for plot (there wasn't much of it, but I didn't actually mind) but the /form/ was just exquisite. I'm still kind of trying to figure it out. Was it a verse novel? A prose novel? A mixture of the two? Kind of yes, I think? I would really like to know what Creech calls it (i.e. if she has a name for the genre). I've certainly never read a book like it before, and it was delightful.

It was a younger book, like her other verse novels, /Love that Dog/ and /Hate that Cat/, so the main joy for me was definitely in the form. I'm giving this to my little brother (an avid Creech fan) and I have a feeling he'll really enjoy it though. Definitely recommended for struggling readers, as I think the form is unique enough to be engaging where the plot is lagging.

This wasn’t as good as the first one, but still a fun quick read. I liked that Creech played with the formatting more in this one, which is one of my favorite aspects of verse novels. I wish it had been a bit longer!