Man I like Patrick Ness and I like weird shit so when I read the summary of this I was like "wow sounds weird, I'm in" and then I read it and I just kind of feel like......weird to what end?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This was a really compelling read. Another book that I probably wouldn't have picked up if it weren't for YA lit class because it seems too "fantasy-ish", but I would have missed out. I also read this book straight through in one day (and not just because I was traveling). I loved the way she developed unique Graces (special talents... kiiind of like mutant powers or whatever), especially Katsa and Po's. I loved the way the relationship between Po and Katsa developed, and the mystery of the kidnapped prince and the young princess. I'm definitely planning to check out the rest of the trilogy.

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re-read in preparation for [b:Winterkeep|53624358|Winterkeep (Graceling Realm, #4)|Kristin Cashore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600268464l/53624358._SY75_.jpg|83947956] and it still slaps

I tried to keep my expectations low, because everyone said it wasn't as good as [b:Graceling|3236307|Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)|Kristin Cashore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331548394l/3236307._SY75_.jpg|3270810]. And no, I didn't like it quite as much as I liked Graceling. But Graceling was effing amazing and Fire was good, too. Some parallels to Graceling and some big differences. I reviewed Fire here: http://www.frowl.org/whyablog/?p=115 if you would like to know more of my thoughts.

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1) lol remember when i had a blog
2) it's interesting to me that I rated both this and Graceling 4 stars because in the years since, I've remembered really liking Graceling and really not liking this one. My re-read really dragged. IDK it's such a bold choice to set up Graceling with so many great characters and then be like, anyway here's what the worst person in the world was up to and he's mostly behind the scenes.
3) the whole "monster" thing is so much weirder to me than the Graces and I don't know why.
4) this reads like a heavy hurt/comfort fanfiction and that aspect was satisfying.
5) I also think this and Graceling are in an interesting conversation with each other about motherhood and agency. I dunno I think it's satisfying both to see a heroine who definitively does not want children (Katsa) and one who does but opts not to give birth but ends up with (essentially) a stepchild who she loves. Nice!!

THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD I CANNOT EVEN HANDLE IT.

I WROTE A REVIEW HERE BUT MAINLY JUST OMG SO GOOD. READ THE WHOLE TRILOGY IMMEDIATELY.

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it's.....upsetting.......that the fucked-up politics of these books has only gotten more relevant with time???? :/

but also <3

I was a lil skeptical of this when I first heard about it--the story of growing up in a refugee camp seemed at odds with Victoria Jamieson's vibe? But it does seem like she collaborated closely with Omar Mohamed to tell his story, and ultimately seems to me like a good use of her privilege to boost this story. I think the tone here is just right to make this story accessible for most American tweens who might not be as familiar with what it means to be a refugee. (Compared to like [b:The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees|36912588|The Unwanted Stories of the Syrian Refugees|Don Brown|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518124719l/36912588._SY75_.jpg|58671831] which sort of lacked a narrative.) It's a fine line to portray the bleakness of life in the refugee camps without making it just overwhelmingly depressing and also without erasing whatever agency the refugees do have--showing the way they came together as a community to look out for each other and share what little they do have.

This is a story that would be engaging for a lot of kids who like adventure/survival type stories and stories about Kids Overcoming Things (also Kids With Disabilities) and I think will definitely open the eyes of some readers to the realities of refugee camps.

For meeee I didn't like this as much as I like Knisley's comic memoirs--although it is based on her own childhood, it's fictionalized, and...I dunno, to me, I missed the sense of immediacy I get from some of her other books. It's interesting to me that here on GoodReads I see this listed as Book #1, when from the book itself I didn't have a sense that this was meant to be a series. But I'm glad actually because I struggled a bit with the ending here--on one hand I understand not wanting to have a story where everything's all wrapped up in loose ends, but the way this ended really had me feeling like "wow I hope Jen's mom leaves this shitty boyfriend who's such a dick to his pseudo-stepdaughter!" But then in Knisley's author's note she talks about how much she came to love the man who that character was based on so...IDK I guess there is room for that fictional relationship to grow!

Anyway, the thorny (step-ish)-sister relationships, the thick sense of misunderstood tween life, and the cute art all make this perf for the many many readers looking for more Raina Telgemeier readalikes.

This is a sort of weird little coffee table type book I guess? I loved the film, and I like Maira Kolman's art but this just felt really...insubstantial. It felt like several greeting cards stapled together. And I'd probably buy the greeting cards but it didn't really feel like a book, per se.

This book tackles a lot and left me wishing for just a little more to be fleshed out? But I also acknowledge that she's writing about a very specific cultural and religious background and this will likely resonate more for readers who can more closely understand Ada's circumstances. It's an engaging novel in verse that will appeal to readers who like books about tough subjects.

HMM okay, so like a lot of people probably I got interested in the Greenwood massacre after watching the Watchmen (ha) series on HBO. I also read [b:The Burning: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921|54860485|The Burning The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921|Tim Madigan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1607323562l/54860485._SY75_.jpg|85600050] last year so I feel reasonably well-informed about the history presented here, and I think it really is such a horribly compelling moment in history and so illustrative of how fucked-up white privilege has been (and continues to be) in the US.

That said I did not like...love this book? The pacing felt off to me and the two narrators both felt more like capital-s Symbols than people. Isaiah's devotion to DuBois vs Angel's devotion to Booker T. Washington ended up making me feel like I was watching a high school student skit demonstrating the differences between two major Black thought leaders. I simultaneously felt like there wasn't enough character development and also like it took too long to get to the action? It just didn't really work for me as a reader. I also was not at all surprised when I got to the ending and Pink's afterword mentions that she had wanted to write a low-conflict book about two Black kids in love without being affected by racism and then later she learned about Greenwood and retroactively applied that idea to the historical setting? And I think I would have rather read either that book OR something that had initially been conceived of as being about Greenwood, but this felt a little weirdly cobbled together.

THAT SAID:
- It's an undeniably interesting historical event and for teen readers who might not have heard about it before, that will carry more appeal
- Always great to have more #OwnVoices Black romances
- Would be really useful as a classroom read especially in conjunction with a history curriculum

But ultimately not really my personal jam as a reader.

Throughout her books, Angie Thomas is just so skilled at handling really heavy topics with a light hand. Not light in a diminishing sense but in the sense that you have a sense that these characters have joy and humor in their lives along the violence, which I think is so important, maybe especially for a teen audience. Anyway this book is just so beautiful and compelling! I was a little surprised when Angie mentioned that readers were asking about Big Mav's backstory because I have to admit, I hadn't really been looking for this backstory. But now that I've read it.......yes, this is actually a crucial story.