reubenalbatross's Reviews (521)

Wow, the conflict of a heart that craves two separate lives was so compellingly told in this novella. I'm sure anyone who has felt torn between different life paths would feel seen reading this.
I really enjoyed this being told from a fresh perspective, rather than from the main cast of characters. Obviously, I still adore them, but the change up was nice. 
Also, I was really happy to see that in one of the illustrations there's a background character in a wheelchair. They're not part of the story (are only mentioned in passing in the text), but are just there. Gotta love that representation. Once again, authors take note - more disability rep in background characters please! 
I do think I discovered a new phobia reading this... Feathers growing out of scalps is absolutely horrifying. It is so fundamentally and primally gross to me for some reason. True creep factor every time I think about it.   

First of all, whoever the FUCK decided to market this book as 'hilarious' is an actual psychopath. Not for one second did that word ever cross my mind during this book. It is obscenely tragic and moving. It is no where CLOSE to 'hilarious'. Truly appalling marketing.
This memoir is so raw and powerful. McCurdy truly bared her soul in it, and let us see her journey. It is written beautifully - I really felt each heartbreak and realisation - and I think it's truly amazing that McCurdy is strong enough to have written it after everything she has been through.  
She has had such a hard life, and I wish her all the happiness in the world. 

Though I still loved the vibe of this book - it was charming, comforting, and welcoming - it isn't anywhere near as funny as the first two books, which I did miss a bit. It was less funny and had less tension throughout, and instead was more like a sustained thriller with a lot of interwoven moving parts. I did enjoy this switch up - it definitely gave this instalment a different edge - but I wasn't as enthralled by it as I was the first two.
Also, in a book series that already heavily strains the boundaries of believability, Connie's prison situation is the thing that tipped me over the edge - it's just so absurd!
And the ending didn't feel quite as satisfying as the first two books'.
Having said all of this, I did still really enjoy this book, and love how Osman always manages to trick me and warm/break my heart in equal measure. 

The middle of this one definitely lost me a little bit - the magic just wasn't magicking. BUT, the ending was amazing.

I did think that the exploration of Cora as a 'fat' person was both heavy handed and very surface level. Even Nadya, who only gets a few paragraphs about her disability, seems to have been written a lot better. 

Having said this, I've still really adored this series so far. In this book I especially enjoyed getting more background on how the doors work. And, of course, I just can't get enough of Kade.

(Side note, this is my 100th book of the year (2023)! Absolutely wild that I've read so much this year.)

I really don't know how to rate this book... I've struggled to process it after finishing it because it was so fucked... It feels more 'wrong' than any horror I've ever read, and not necessarily in a good way.
If the main characters were adults, I think I would have revelled in the weird of it, but writing them as kids rubbed me the wrong way. Everything about it feels weird and fetishy - which is (in my opinion) ok if the characters are adults, but very much not ok if they're kids. Even without the incest, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with it.
I will admit that it was a pretty well written book - it captured the claustrophobia, monotony and tension of the kid's situation really well. BUT the ending was pretty anticlimactic and disappointing, and  I find myself feeling less and less comfortable with this book the more I think about it. 

I love this book with my entire heart. I don't think I've ever felt so happy and smiled so many times reading a book. And Thimble? Don't even get me started on Thimble... I love him SO MUCH.
If the novel had been written differently, I might have baulked at the predictability of some of the aspects of the plot - but I find it impossible to gripe about a single thing in this book. Reading it made me so happy, warm, and cosy - it felt like home. 
Excitingly, the short story at the end ('Pages to Fill') shows that Baldree is just as talented at writing full on action scenes as well as lovely cosy stuff. I can't wait to see what he gets up to next!

I enjoyed the first two books in this series and learning about LOTR's beginnings. 
 
However, this one is so much more about timeline intricacies and locations, and less about the development of the narrative and characters, which was what really interested me in the first two books. I also don't know the latter half of the story as well as the first half, so I could hardly ever tell the difference between what was actually included in the published works and what wasn't.
 
No judgement on the book itself, it’s just not for me.    

Yes! What an amazing start to a series I will 100% be continuing.
 
There were so many things I loved:
 
1. The writing style - it was incredibly readable and accessible considering the complex ideas the book presents.
2. The Wit - an awesome ability. Give it to me now please, and damn the consequences!
3. That the climax wasn't a battle, which is so rare to find in high fantasy novels. And that despite there not being a battle, there was still MORE than enough tension and action for it to be a satisfying ending. 
4. That each character was so realised and distinctive.
5. Watching Fitz grow up, and following his relationships, especially with Burrich, develop over time. 
 
I honestly can't find fault with this novel. Amazing.   

This book felt like a warm hug. I loved diving into this world and am excited to read more of the author’s work. 

Jenkins-Reid manages to make everything in the book SO vivid. Every single character felt like someone I could see walking past me on the street, and I even looked up a couple of tennis players names to see if they were real. I could picture every single stroke of every single match as if they were being played right in front of me. She truly captured the language and character of the tennis world (at least from an outsider’s point of view). 

The mixed media/transcripts worked amazingly to make time skips and additional peripheral information feel natural rather than info-dumpy. They added a lot to the narrative, rather than just being an information delivery method. 

As someone who formally trained (intensively) in classical music, I found so many parallels between Carrie’s mindset and my own, and they really tugged on my heartstrings. The most striking example was when she said she’d forgotten how to enjoy playing. Like Carrie, I worked so hard to get better and ‘win’ that I completely lost sight of the fact that I actually liked playing. 

The insight my former training has given me did also make me question a couple of parts of the book. Obviously, sport and music are different in some ways, but I think my points still stand. My main gripe was the idea permeating throughout the book that its possible to get better at something every time you practice it. That’s so untrue and a slightly dangerous thing to imply. No-one can completely control their progression – sometimes you have setbacks or get stagnant and just can’t get any better for a while. Especially as a child, burnout would be a given both mentally and physically going that hard without ever seeming to have a break. Maybe Carrie did have rest days/periods of time off and Jenkins-Reid just didn’t mention it – I certainly hope that’s the case! 

And to finish off – the mention of Princess Diana watching her from the stands was just so blaringly American. Why are Americans so obsessed with our royal family? Its wild. I can guarantee that if a British person had written this book that would never have happened. 

Overall, a really enjoyable book, even with its slightly toxic portrayal of professional training. This is one of the few really hyped books that I have actually enjoyed this year, so I am very glad I gave it a go! 

Wow… I knew this book was YA, but I did not expect it to be quite so insufferable… 

It started off well, I enjoyed the mixed media, especially the voice of the person giving exam instructions – it was the same voice that voiced all of my own GCSE/A-Level exams, and really brought me back to that time in my life. 

However, the second I heard the phrase ‘holy pepperoni’, I knew things were about to go downhill. What an annoying phrase, and why did it have to be used four times in the space of 10 minutes?? 

The whole book was just majorly cringe, and the narrators for this audiobook did not help. Their inflection was truly insufferable, and they dragged everything out to an extreme degree and left so many long pauses! This is the first audiobook I have HAD to play faster to be able to stand the narration, and even at 1.5x speed there were still unbearable pauses in places… 

It also didn’t help matters that Pip is the most annoying, entitled, goody two shoes character I have ever come across - e.g. ‘’If you have the depravity to pedal drugs to kids I definitely think you could be the sort inclined to murder’’…. Umm, she was talking about selling a bit of weed to 16-year-olds? Hardly murderous intent. Clearly the author has never had ANYTHING to do with drugs in their life and thinks anyone who takes them is the bottom of the barrel. This is also made clear when she only mentions using rolling paper and weed for a joint. What, no roach or baccy? Even when Pip is meant to be embarrassing about her unfamiliarity with ‘drug lingo’ (‘’Just came out here looking for Mary Jane’’) I just wanted to curl up into a ball and die. 

I have never hated a main character more in my LIFE. The number of times I had to pause the audiobook just to vent my frustration and her idiocy and obliviousness was ridiculous. 

The storyline is also just completely unrealistic, even when I was trying my hardest to suspend every scrap of disbelief I had. A kid taking on a drug dealer? Especially this kind of kid?? Someone who’s such a goody two shoes yet starts blackmailing criminals??? Let alone the criminals just telling her the complete truth every time she even looks at them – no 17-year-old could ever be this ‘good’ of an interrogator. 

AND WHY DIDN’T SHE JUST GO TO THE POLICE??? The characterisation doesn’t make any sense. If you are that much of a swot, you would go to the authorities at the earliest possible moment, not put yourself and others in unnecessary danger. Idiot. 

At one point I did think the story was picking up a bit, but I blame Stockholm Syndrome. And then the dog thing happened – SO UNNECESSARY – it did NOTHING for the plot. Clearly the author just wanted to try and get as many pity points for this obnoxious character as possible. I hate to tell ya, it did not work. If a character is going to care more about her Cambridge entrance exam than a potentially kidnapped and still suffering victim, I have zero sympathy for her. 

Also, why the f*ck did the brightest of the bright, the girl who did every member of the police’s jobs better than them, DRINK THAT MOTHERF*CKING TEA. God sake. 

And then of course the book ended with two full on expositions. One a full-on confession (once again directly to Pip) which included Every. Single. Detail. she needed to be wrapped up into a nice, neat little bow. And one the final project epilogue which was just yet another clumsy, heavy-handed exposition to end a clunky and unoriginal story. 

Besides all of this, the ‘mystery’ wasn’t interesting, the ‘twists’ were uneventful, and I felt nothing but frustration and sometimes true rage at Pip throughout the entire book. She was miraculously clever and absolutely thick all at once, while pushing every single annoyance button inside me. 

There were also definitely white saviour/’I love my stepfather even though he’s black’ vibes, which isn’t surprising given the holier than thou depiction of Pip. 

I understand how the unformed teenage brain might enjoy this book, but full-grown adults? Wild. 

TL;DR – enraging and insufferable