Hmm. I needed to sit with this a bit before reviewing. What to say?? It is certainly: very long. And yet kind of a page-turner? It didn't quite feel as long as it was. And I do take the point that the long, draggy parts are intentionally evocative of Theo's ennui.

The writing is lovely. The attitude Theo shows towards women is...icky? But realistically icky? But maybe now I'm at a point where I'm just less interested in the exquisite rendering of how a young man objectifies women without it ever really being challenged?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(First of all this is #3 in a series that I haven't read the first two of but I've been assured that you can read this one out of order?)

idk I think I just wasn't in the mood for the oppressively terrible British boarding school experience? I probably would have enjoyed this more when I was in my peak Roald Dahl years but as it was I was like ughhh please no

Also the fat-shaming and casual racism that sadly wouldn't have raised an eyebrow for me as a kid def jumped out.

Still the magical world-building was clever and all, I just didn't really enjoy reading it.

hell yeah! [b:La Belle Sauvage|34128219|La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, #1)|Philip Pullman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498930382l/34128219._SX50_.jpg|14190696] eventually grew on me but honestly Lyra is just the star of this world and it was great to be back with her. And back with some unsubtle metaphors about SOCIETY. Delicious.

Spoiler

also I just gotta say that from the way I saw some people reacting to this I really thought Lyra and Malcolm were gonna fuck in this book and....they didn't.

eh I mean if you read that big New York Times article about NXIVM you probably got all the good details. This I think could have used another pass from the co-writer to make it more accessible to people who weren't in this cult for 12 years, it gets bogged down a lot in the NXIVM language which is like Scientology but different.

But like still though good for her for getting out.

This was a fine, enjoyable read but it did not really provide me the John Wick/Continental backstory that I crave. Perhaps that information is being saved for another movie or perhaps it is simply unknowable.

There is a full page spread devoted to John Wick feeding a stray cat that I enjoyed very much. The art is very good because it looks like Keanu Reeves and I like to look at that.

I read [b:Just Kids|341879|Just Kids|Patti Smith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1259762407l/341879._SY75_.jpg|332242] and loved it despite being only a very casual fan of Patti Smith previously; her writing was so lovely and the story so compelling that it didn't matter so much to me that I didn't know all of the musical/artistic references she was making.

That was...less the case here. It's an odd, dreamlike memoir that literally includes a lot of recaps of her dreams woven in and out of reality. On the sentence level it's lovely and there are some beautiful reflections on life and mortality, but my overall reaction to reading this was ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A fat tween girl with a fat cat named Cheese? A running obsession with ghost tourism? like please that's everything to me

This book has so much heart and humor and will make so many kids feel seen. I just loved it.

omg my coworker just read the summary of this out loud and was like "lol this sounds dumb" and I was like "oh I read that and it was dumb!" and then I went to check my GoodReads review of it but apparently I didn't leave one, perhaps because it was so forgettable?

but I WANT to count it toward my GoodReads challenge dang it!!! I did NOT DNF it despite thinking about it several times. I kept hoping for some kind of redemptive twist that never came. like I'm such a sucker for this variety of urban magic/crimes book but this one was like.........dumb. More like Jack Reacher or whatever than like Holly Black and obviously I want Holly Black.

Spoiler

I was mildly interested in the small twist in the literal last page but not enough to read the sequel if one comes

This was a cute graphic novel for sure, and I think young teens would get a lot out of it. As an adult reader I liked it didn't love it. My years of orthodontia are too far behind me, perhaps?

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10/19 - lol I thought I hadn't read this before but it turns out I did 8 years ago??????? anyway I think I liked it more this time around, maybe just because I've been steeped in aggressive Raina love for the last 8 years? I mean kids REALLY LOVE these books. As you probably know if you like...ever interact with kids. This time around I think I appreciated more the gentle hand with the friendship drama? Like friendships change but there wasn't necessarily a big Mean Girl moment, but it was still hard for Raina? Anyway...an undeniable classique.

This was fun and funny, and I liked the play on fantasy archetypes, but I guess I wish for... a little more? I don't know. I know this was born as a webcomic, so maybe if I'd read it a page at a time instead of all at once, I'd feel differently?