I am LIVID with the back cover summary of this book, because it is a LIE! This book is not a fantastical adventure, and it's barely a YA Fantasy Romance (one filled with MANY many problems). Mostly, this book is 100 pages of fun, fairytale-inspired intrigue to lure you in, followed by 432 pages of TRIGGERSSSSS and Repulichristian propaganda. It was ignorant, and hurtful, and at times repetitive and mind-numbing. Whatever this book set out to say, it said it without finesse or insight. No one needs this book.

WARNING WARNING WARNING!!! Spoilers and triggers below.

Propaganda: The bulk of this book is about a population which, for generations, saw its citizens randomly abducted and raped by outsiders; they were enslaved to procreate. When one citizen is finally able to rebel, he slaughters an entire nursery of babies conceived by rape. The book chooses to focus HEAVILY on the slaughter of these children. A few survived the massacre, grew to be teens, and are mostly shown to be witty, spirited, compassionate, hard-working... There are entire chapters where these children imagine what it would be like to be wanted by society, to find the mother/father (a victim of rape!) who didn't want to raise them, or what it could have been like for the unlucky babies in the nursery had they been adopted instead of cut down...
This is obviously a Pro-Life lecture. It minimizes the trauma and guilt endured by the parent, and focuses on the potential of the baby. I am immeasurably grief-stricken to see this argument crop up in a /YOUNG ADULT FANTASY/, and to see the argument's stance rely on misguided, age-old, hyperbolic rhetoric. Nobody needed this guilt-trip.

This book has outdated and religiously hyperbolic things to say about relationships, too. There is a reverence for sexual love, as if it is A) The destiny of all people to find true bliss in sexual congress with a soulmate, B) You will recognize your soulmate on sight/touch, and physical love will increase romantic love, C) Your fulfillment as a person will be determined by whether or not you can lock yourself into a relationship with another person, have sex, and produce a family. The book even uses holy imagery when talking about sexual desire:
- Two people making out and wanting to twine closer are referred to as a "crucible".
- Someone whose undergarments got wet is referred to as a "baptism".
- The holy trinity is now, apparently, the heart, the lips, and the navel, where our characters feel arousal strongest.
etc.
The book even minimizes its most staggering emotional blow - that the entire fairytale town of Weep has been systematically raped for over six generations - by having outsiders comment (internally) on the victims who are grieving alone, siting that their grief would evaporate if they would only embrace/have sex with one another.... NO! No, Taylor! No, I imagine someone who was abducted and raped for years, and had their family and loved ones abducted and raped for years, would not find shelter or solace in having sex. I imagine sex would be difficult, painful, or undesirable, even.
Sex is not the answer. It does not prove that a relationship is worthy, or a person is worthy. It does not heal all wounds, transcend all hate and fear. It is not a divine amplifier of all that is good and holy in the cosmos. How can that even be suggested when it is used as one of the book's greatest conflicts? This book is tone-deaf.
Again, I am angry that this conversation is appearing in a YA book. Sex, like a lot of activities, can be used to harm OR to celebrate. But also like a lot of activities, it shouldn't be the totality of a person's identity or emotional fulfillment. And yey for sex-positivity, but be more than your hobby. And /not/ doing this activity IS a valid choice. A person is not lesser just because they don't pursue sex.

Story: There is none! The first 100 pages promise that Lazlo Strange - who loves reading about myths - is going to go on an adventure to discover that, wowwee gee willickers, the myths are true! But instead, once he makes it to the mythical kingdom of Weep, he just...lays in bed...and dreams...for 400 pages... That's it! He dreams of a better version of Weep, and gets horny for a blue-skinned girl. NOTHING happens! He doesn't use any of his knowledge, wit, or compassion to do ANYTHING! And his "romance" with Sarai completely derails the story every time it sparks up. (See my notes above about this book's false equivalency between sexual desire and emotional fulfillment.) Everything between them happens within the safe bubble of a dreamscape, it doesn't effect the reality around them. And the minute they become lovers, they see the entire outside world as threats to their relationship, and they become hostile towards their friends and family. Had theirs been a friendship which transcended race, the story could have been about how what they saw of each other on the inside (kindness, creativity, an innocent desire to be helpful, etc.) inspired them to do good deeds /outside/, and make their dreams into reality; and by so-doing inspire their friends and family to discard their fears and prejudices, and copy Lazlo and Sarai's example. Friendship is contagious, romance is exclusive.
This book would have had a tighter story with two fundamental changes, the first being the aforementioned focus shift from Sexual Awakening to Anti-Racism. The second big change: Lazlo and Thyon should have been the same person. Their rivalry is pointless, and ultimately peters out and goes nowhere the minute they arrive in Weep. But imagine if Lazlon (Thylo?) had been a presumed muggle orphan dedicated to a love of study, who loved myths but /believed/ in science and strove to prove that magic was real AND explainable. He was granted permission to pursue alchemy by a king's college, both because of his reputation as a know-it-all AND because the kingdom is going broke so they're desperate for ANY scientist who can crack the whole lead-into-gold equation. Before he can, he is approached by a group of ambassadors from Weep. The college (and the King) permit Strange to travel, hoping there will be some knowledge (or raw materials) worth stealing from the famous hidden city. He travels, meets a blue-skinned goddess in his dreams and has to reconcile his idea of reality with /hers/. Initially, prejudice makes them wary, but they talk every night, and begin to craft a better Weep in their sleep. THEN, they follow-through by day, and use a combination of alchemy and magic to create a bridge between the ground and the sky. Their friends are inspired by /their/ friendship to create, invent, and reimagine the kingdom too. (These inventions are what would save the economy, not lead-gold, but that's a minor B plot XD). Everybody learns that they are better working together than they are apart, Friendship is Magic, THE END!
No self-indulgent littles hints that this duology is going to join up with Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

Oh, I forgot to mention, this book is part of a wider series where "angels" are aliens tasked with colonizing new planets and fornicating with the locals in order to produce babies i.e. living memory banks of holy travel logs. YUP, the bad guys AND the good guys are rapists!
These books are not just connected... they are many times identical. Lazlo and Sarai, and Karou and Akiva, go through so many of the same character, relationship, or plot beats, that I honestly believe Laini Taylor doesn't have any other stories to tell, she's stuck on just the one. A girl with erotic blue hair/skin is mislabeled a monster, but she's actually a sweetheart, and she falls instantly in love with a boy who was the product of institutionalized rape (his father, the rapist, being a magical alien of seemingly Biblical proportions). The erotic blue girl wishes she could fly, and the magical mixed-race boy CAN fly, so they do, and they smush all their erogenous zones together in midair, become a shooting star, and realize they are destined for one another. However, Romeo and Juliet stylez, they are from warring races who cannot seem to reconcile their differences, and so the lovers will mope about for 500+too+many+pages lamenting the cruelty and unfairness of the world. Their friends will hook up, adding absolutely nothing to the story. And then the book will end, with the promise that they will one day go into space.
... I can't believe I got tricked into reading the same bad story TWICE!

Promises, promises... Go read a better book. Bury this one in the desert.

"I belong in the refrigerator. Because the truth is, I'm just food for a superhero. He'll eat up my death and get the energy he needs to become a legend."

A series of monologues from the deceased sidekicks/girlfriends/female superheroes of a comic-book-inspired world, as told in a quasi-support group in the afterlife.

FLAWLESS!!!!

This book was inspired by a quote from a female comic book writer (Gail Simone), who realized the staggering, gratuitous amount of times that female comic characters are brutalized (to death, or to something-like-death, such as losing their mind or powers), just to set up the motivation of their male counterparts going forward. I read through her list of examples, and it was heart-breaking. So many big names, characters who /I/ have come to love for being synonymous with female empowerment, all laid low: Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Wanda, Harley Quinn, Captain Marvel, Starfire, Supergirl... Imagine taking your favorite Disney princess, and impaling her on a spike within the first five minutes of the movie, just so that her prince can go face the villain and avenge her, and you'll feel a smidgeon of the grief I felt in learning about the "Refrigerated" superwomen.

This book is told by them, /for/ them. It is feminist, and yes heart-breaking, but also equal parts inspiring, funny, and heart-/warming/. The women in this book are all clear homages to famous characters, and they are intelligent, powerful, loving, confidant... all are -powers or no - valuable, and characters worth knowing. I feel the necessity of these stories, the need to have a celebratory, commiserating, female space in Nerd Culture. And, big picture, for women to uplift one another after enduring trauma.

Pour one out for your favorite Super. Then read this d--- book!

This book was endearing, thoughtful, and at times laugh-out-loud funny. It was also a little too neat, highly predictable, but I was emotionally invested and along for the ride. Neil and Alice's nerd love was perfectly adorable, and I understand them, and feel for them, on a deeeeeply personal level XD. I love that this book reads like a mash-up of Miracle Workers and a Lemony Snicket book, juxtaposing the complexities of human emotions with the ABSURD vanity and vices of the antagonists. The book opened up a lot of discussions about what it means to live a full life, what to do with the limited time we are given on this planet, and how we each put value on different experiences so there is no one "Right" way to be. I think the most moving scene in the whole book was when Artemis (asexual) broke down and confessed to a mortal that her family doesn't understand her lack of interest in sex, ridicules her constantly, and assumes she doesn't care about anything; when they could not be further from the truth, Artemis cares the most out of anyone in the pantheon.

As moving as the book was, the epilogue is a little weak? The book, initially, entertains the idea that any faith (even atheism) is worth believing in, so long as it inspires you to spread love/kindness/empathy, etc. But the ending of the book comes down rather literally, and seems to imply, "Nope, just kidding, only the Greek gods are real, obey them, abandon your misconceptions about faith." I wish it had stayed in the realm of "being human is complicated", because that was a stronger message. But hey, a few pages of literalness for a book's worth of complex thoughts and feelings seems an ok trade. I enjoyed it ^_^.

This book was painful, in good ways and bad.

The Good: The characters, their GRIEF, are visceral. I always say, the mark of a phenomenal book is in how much it makes you feel. I definitely spent this whole book feeling all the feelings. Jay Kristoff is a master storyteller, a master world and character-builder, and he puts you right in the filthy boots of all the complicated people populating this book.
And of course... the monsters... Not just the bloodthirsty creatures of the night. But the dregs of humanity, and what people are willing to do to each other...
It's a shame that the most interesting tale to tell seems promised for a future installment! There is so much introduced, but as yet unexplored: Sanguimancy, Esan/Esani, the mystery of what started/will end daysdeath, witches and faekin and all kinds of creatures filling the background and fringes... "Patience" is the word of the day, I guess XD.

The Bad: As I mentioned above, this first installment introduces A LOT, but unfortunately origin stories are hackneyed and cliche these days. Ooo, a grizzly hero, out for revenge, turns out to have a heart of gold and a saaad backstory about the loss of his family. A vampire-hunter who is half-vampire himself, and belongs to a holy order of hunters. A seeming nobody from nowheresville turns out to be destined for a heroic calling, trains with a mentor/in a secret school to hone his abilities, believes himself lacking anything special, and then turns out to have the most epic of superpowers and genealogies. A hero takes a vow of celibacy, but then tragically falls for a pair of boobies. A hero joins a holy guild of assassins, but becomes disillusioned with their faith and creed, is excommunicated by the - wait a minute, now J.K. is recycling himself! I see you there, cis male Mia! You can't fool me!
What starts as homage to all the vampire tale predecessors (Ha, Interview with a Vampire-Hunter, I see what you did there. Clever.) becomes a shuffled deck of vampire tropes and snippets of other franchises. Yes, I see you, Gabriel The Witcher, roiding out before every battle, and escorting your little white-haired apprentice across the dark fairytale woods. I see you too, Gabriel Solo, camping inside your mount's carcass. Gabriel Snow, Winter is Coming, watch out for that undead hoard in the mountains! If you edit out the creative cussing, and the "been there, done that" of this pretty generic masculine hero...you lose the first 500 pages of the book. It's only the back half, with Dior, Aaron, Baptise, Liathe, and Danton and his Ironhearts, that really shines. Yep, go ahead and make fun of this snowflake, but the best part of this series is not the heterosexual, white man with pride and anger issues; it's his gay friends. Look at all these secondary characters! A person of color, two strong female characters, multiple LGBTQA representatives - this is a beautiful cast of characters, and it was SIDE-LINED to watch a dude-bro drink too much. There is a BEAUTIFUL message, about faith in one's friends being as strong as any religious fervor, enough to hold back the tides of darkness... I just wish this message were delivered by a more unique hero. Sorry, bastard. His words.

My other gripe is possibly nitpicky, this won't bother casual readers as much as it did me. I am a connoisseur of Gothic fiction and vampire stories. The vampire MEANS something, in every story it's in. It's not just a creature of super speed, strength, seduction, etc. It stands in as a dark mirror for humanity. It's a symbol, representing suppressed urges, perverted faith, plague or the inevitability of death...SOMETHING. The vampire doesn't just show up to cause a fight scene. The vampire is supposed to make US compare ourselves to THEM, and ask big questions about what it means to be human, to be Good, to find value in our fleeting existence... This book ALMOST gets there. ALMOST. The questions arise: Can a sin lead to something good? If doctrine says an action is a sin, but the action is inspired by love/good intentions, how can the doctrine be right? But the dots are never quite connected: That if a human and a vampire commit the same sin, why is one redeemable and the other not? The seed was sewn, when the young bride and groom vampire attempted to defend/avenge each other. There is, potentially, an emotional complexity to these creatures that Gabriel was taught to ignore, a soldier trained to dehumanize The Other. We see too in his thoughts about Saoirse and the Pagans: Gabriel has a limited, condescending understanding of the greater world, blinders put in place by his faith. We don't know the origin of vampires in this world, and we don't know much about the other "dark" creatures that populate it. I am hoping the definition for a monster lies elsewhere, in Selfishness perhaps, or Excess. But I am hoping that this tale grows into a story of how we view The Other, and how we forge a Brotherhood when we open ourselves to another. The inverse and perversion of that Brotherhood of Others being the vampires who create like and beholden, their bloodline and their creed enslaving "allies" to their way.
But for NOW, those are hopes I've pinned on the sequels, and not so very present in THIS book. The tale so far is: A vampire shows up to a town, usually with a bunch of zombies in tow, and just because they hate humans and love drinking blood, they obliterate everything.
I want DEPTH to these vampires. I want symbolism. I want a comment on the human condition! I want literary vampires, not video game vampires.
I'll get off my soapbox now.

This was a difficult book to sink into. It's a long wait before it becomes its own. But it /does/, and it's worth the wait, and I have no doubt that the next installment will be twice as worth the wait. I love and trust this author, I'm in it for the long-haul. But fair warning, dear readers, buckle up for this book: It is a long, depressing, trope-packed read before it gets fun.

I want to give a cathartic scream!!! AHHHH!!! This. Book. Is. PERFECT!!!! Holy hells, is Grady Hendrix a literary god, or what? How does he keep writing women and women's issues better than ANY FEMALE AUTHOR I've ever read?! He just keeps grabbing my heart, wrapping it in a hardcover, and slapping a publication date on it. This author. THIS. AUTHOR! AHHH!!!!

This book is a masterpiece, weaving together:
- What it's like for "survivors" to struggle for normalcy, connection, and healing, after experiencing trauma.
- How the entertainment industry, and the media, "prey upon" young women.
- The difficulty and the power of "sisterhood", and the ways women make safe spaces for each other and simultaneously judge, and tear each other down.
-And, of course, a love letter to slasher movies, their symbolism and cathartic outlet. BUT ALSO, a sternly-worded reprimanding memorandum to slasher movies, for glorifying the suffering of women, and setting up generations to copy, applaud, and dismiss violence against women.

All powerfully told through the eyes of a semi-reliable narrator, who constantly interprets her surroundings as a threat, as if she has never left her trauma incident. (Because let's face it... she hasn't :'(.) The writing is killer (forgive the pun), each carefully chosen word putting the audience into Lynette's situation, feeling her fear and helplessness. (My favorite being "The trees are full of shrieking crickets". Lemony Snicket would be proud.)

Read this book. READ THIS BOOK!!! Then call your mom, your sister, your friend, whomever - let the women in your life know they are seen and matter. THEN READ THIS BOOK AGAIN!!! AHHH!!!!!

Thank you, Grady Hendrix. Thank you <3.

I have read this book multiple times, and this particular audiobook was extremely good; the narrator captured each character's tone perfectly.

What I love about this book is how every moment is open to interpretation. The narrator is unreliable, the secondary characters all secretive, and you can never be sure if someone is being sinister or genuine. You could read this book over and over, and come to a hundred different conclusions as to what really happened, like a Choose Your Own Adventure book.

It's not without its problems, though XD. Halfway through the book Maxim Explains It All, and from there on the book takes a sudden sharp turn away from Gothic literature into more murder-mystery, like a Sherlock Holmes novel. Various characters previously shown to be very cunning, suddenly become obtuse, and seem incapable of (or refuse to) draw the simplest of conclusions despite the evidence in front of their faces.

I also don't know why, but I ALWAYS misremember there being MORE to this book. I always remember an entire end third of the book, where the blank slate narrator /becomes/ Mrs. de Winter, and it horrifies Maxim, and history repeats itself. Instead, the book simply...ends, with a mysterious arson.

But despite its flaws, this is a peerless gothic novel. The commentary on high society: the maddening effects of feeling constantly under scrutiny, and the easy way in which someone's character can be entirely misjudged. The way a house can be haunted by the memory of a person. The way our meek narrator blames herself, hides herself, makes herself secondary to everyone around her, and therefore - whether inadvertently or intentionally - becomes a blank canvas onto whom anyone can project their feelings, and /she/ feels as if she is nobody always play-acting at being somebody. There is a lot of meat in this short, succinct story, and I LOVE a story that makes you think and feel.

This book reads like the mashup of Sookie Stackhouse and the 90's TV show Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but without any of the importance of the magic to the world/ambience/plot. And the "cozy" elements of the book don't build a comforting atmosphere, so much as complete a Southern Living Bingo chart. Here's a barn dance, here's a pecan pie, here's some sweet tea, here's a mechanic in a tight shirt... but do I FEEL any which way about them? Not a jot.
Secondary to "a girl comes home during a founder's festival, and galavants around with a bunch of hot guys, but ultimately picks herself" is a murder "mystery" plot. But the suspicious characters are so very obvious: A jealous, covetous aunt; a social-climbing ex-fiance; a mysterious outsider who seems to have quickly ingratiated himself into the family, all fighting over an inheritance. Too obvious, and could have existed in any other framework, the connection to magic or the southern setting being tenuous.
This book wasn't lacking in strong, whimsical characters, so it's not a complete waste of time. But it was thin and boring, for me. Avid readers, don't bother, you can find better magical worlds and better woven mysteries than this. Cozy readers, you do you, enjoy your popcorn book, no shame ^_^.

This book, as far as representation in literature goes, is phenomenal. It's about time a trans hero was put front and center! A gay romance that's not between secondary characters. A rich focus on the different Latinx cultures in America. And a spotlight on the homeless youth crisis in America. All great ingredients for a book.

But this book AS A BOOK falls flat. It doesn't commit one way or the other as a paranormal adventure or a paranormal coming-of-age/romance, so neither genre really gets its due. Instead, the book is mostly a slice-of-life story, and it gets pretty boring: They go to someone's kitchen, they go to school, they go to another kitchen, they go to school, they have every opportunity to ditch routine and follow magical-murder-mystery clues or have a manic-pixie-moment and carpe diem around LA... no, we stop in another kitchen. Boring.

The reveal at the end was both advertised from hella far away (hmm, jealous uncle, yes, I've watched The Lion King, too), and totally trippy. Yadriel, the alleged protagonist, is a passenger in this story, and has almost no agency in resolving the conflict; instead, a devil-jaguar punishes the wicked, and Yadriel watches in horror, unable to protect anyone.
Come to think of it, Yadriel doesn't have much of a character arc, either. Yadriel's coming-of-age already happened, he knows who he is and came out to his family already, past tense. He only serves as a vehicle for us to get to know Julian. Yes, he overcomes his prejudice against Julian, but "pride and prejudice" doesn't seem to be an underlying theme which links all the plots. Wanting to be Seen, perhaps, is the theme? But then, linking a trans hero and a serial killer by theme, and saying they might both have been led down this path if they hadn't earned the validation of their peers, is WAAAAAY problematic! I could keep puzzling, but I think the pieces just don't fit together. Yadriel's coming-of-age story, Julian's wolf pack of queer homeless kids, and a murder-mystery on Dia de Muertos, are given unequal gravitas, and fight with each other rather than braid together.

This was a phenomenally written book, up until the last 50 pages. Naughty? Absolutely. But done with finesse, and with respect for all the stages of young/new/forbidden romance. For a YA vampire romance, I was impressed by the healthy sexual habits modeled: Ask for consent, ask about protection, admit your boundaries... As far as the plot was concerned, I found all the "twists" INSANELY obvious; the fact that Poppy missed the reality in front of her face is ASTOUNDING! But maybe that's the point, maybe it's not supposed to be a big reveal, and maybe the book is merely highlighting Poppy's naivety/cloistered lifestyle.

But in the last 50 pages, the book drops all that good writing. So much so that I almost knocked off a star. Casteel has all the answers, but he taunts Poppy, making her feel foolish for liking him/sympathizing with him, and making her pay the price for the abuses inflicted on him and his people. He knows her better than that by now. What's more, he blames her for /his/ behavior, claiming he can't control himself around her. Big old red flag, and the biggest problem with most YA vampire romances. It is not a girl's fault if she makes you horny, dude, and it's not her job to keep you in check, vampire or not. All of the respect goes right out the window. I get that he is manipulative, and has played many parts, including feigning respect to get people to oblige him. But he has been with Poppy long enough to know she is not his enemy, was naive of the atrocities her government was committing, and might even HELP him if he apologized for mowing down innocent and guilty alike in his quest for vengeance (if not out of genuine remorse than out of respect for HER suffering)! But no, his arrogance ratchets, and he humiliates and terrorizes her no differently than The Duke had. I don't know how we're supposed to invest in an enemies-to-lovers romance between these two when he is so atrocious and controlling.

I hope Casteel turns around in the next book, because his selfishness could sink this series. Poppy is brilliant, and my heart goes out to every teen who has had their dreams crushed by their first "love".

A beautifully written book, sometimes cute and sometimes melancholy, not unlike how friendships can go, and at the heart of this story IS a tale of friendship. Putting me in mind of Coraline, Coco, and Casper, I feel for Cassidy (who apparently is joining a club of C-named spooky protagonists XD) as she grows into herself, almost loses herself, and tests her friendship with Jacob.

HOWEVER, I had to remove an ENTIRE STAR for how often this book references Harry Potter. (I am honestly shocked that JKR didn't sue over how many times this book mentions her own, she's usually so snippy about stuff like that.) Listen, I'm a huge Harry Potter fan (Go Slytherin!), but I am not a fan of She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and all the drama she has stirred up in real life in recent years, definitely since this book was published. The references didn't age well. Every single one jars me out of City of Ghosts, and back into reality where REAL PEOPLE, my friends, are suffering no thanks to Twitter-Knows-Who. Also, the references were used like a crutch. A character is described as...like a character in Harry Potter. A place is described as...like a place in Harry Potter. A girl's personality is summarized in her sweater color, her Hogwarts house colors, instead of in her /actions/ in /this book/. And frankly...V.E.S. is too good for that. V.E. Schwab's writing shines all on its own, there is no reason to hide in JKR's shadow. I don't know if it was insecurity, or a genuine love of Harry Potter that seeped in, maybe a little of Column A, little Column B... But cut out all the Harry Potter references, and you're left with V.E. Schwab's brilliant, atmospheric, detailed yet succinct, writing. You wear your own crown, V.E.S! Never forget it!