saifighter's Reviews (253)

I enjoyed the introspective and sometimes poetic personal insight into Elliot's emotions during their life, but the non-chronological format kept me disconnected and sometimes confused. I understand from an emotional and even artistic reason why this was told non-chronologically, but I just feel like it doesn't work as presented. Pageboy feels like a sit down conversation with a friend, constantly stopping for a side tangent that doesn't exactly happen in order.

I was honestly really enjoying the book, even with its weird disjointed chapters. Until I got close to the end. And Page made some kind of defensive passive aggressive comment about how he can't be judged for having easy access to healthcare (when most trans people don't) because he needed it. This one moment in the book came off as incredibly privileged. It colored the whole book in a different light to me, a negative one. There is a point early on in the book where Page talks about never having a sense of community with other LGBT persons. I think that's what really is the problem for me with this book: it comes off as a wildly privileged introverted rich guy whining for 8 hours. I don't wanna call it selfish because transition and identity are just naturally selfish things to explore. But there is just this completely disconnect from other people in this book, including the reader. I feel like Page is keeping me at arms length, not because they don't want to tell the reader their story, but because they just don't like other people.

At the end of the day, the book is just fine. 2-3 stars. You aren't missing much.

Holy shit. Unreadable swill. This would have been an easy DNF but it just turned into a hate read.

I don’t trust anyone that gives this more than 3 stars.

In the first collection of short stories, I dismissed a lot of the languages used to describe young woman as characteristics of the setting and perhaps a unfortunate feature of translating. But this time they took that tiny smudge and turned it into an absolute shit stain.

Where do I even start? How about one of the main characters delighting in the sexual assault of one of the only named female characters. The CONSTANT description of breasts as the only characteristic of female characters. Dedicating a whole paragraph to describing and planning rape. How about describing 12 year old girls crying in the streets as they are being publicly groped/raped. The main female character being boiled down to “I can’t have children so I’m worthless” trope. The main character irritated that he wasn’t offered a whore at an inn because apparently thats just how you show hospitality. Every woman is just a baby maker or sex slave. Its fucking revolting.

This book was published in the 90’s but you could have told me of was published in the 50’s and I would have believed you.

Listen, I get that most fantasy is set in ye’ old time and woman weren’t people just property. But you have to make the conscious choice to treat woman this badly. I’ve read porn that treated woman better than this book does. You could replace every woman in the book with a pair of tits on a stick and you wouldn’t notice the difference.

I can’t believe that this trash spawned the game that I love so much. If you love the Witcher outside of the books, I pray you never pick up the books. This is literally just shit smeared on paper.

Also if I have to read the words “destiny” one more fucking time I’m gonna gouge my own eyes out.

I wanna start this out by saying that I actually REALLY like the book. I went into this already knowing a lot about MLMs and how they are basically cults. But I had never really heard a personal first hand account of it. Paulson is personal and detailed about her journey which I really appreciated. As a memoir, I think its a great read.

However-

As much as I actually enjoyed the personal account of being through an MLM, I cannot stand Paulson. (I'm about to get incredibly judgmental and I'm sorry in advanced) Her voice and personality are very present in the book. She very much comes off as the boss babe, upper middle class white lady, "being a mom is my entire personality", type of suburban wine lady that I can not stand to talk to in person. She is also very much a centralist and it shows in her actions and words in he book. A lot of the statement she gives about white supremacy and late-stage capitalism often feels performative since she never really deep dives into the topics or shows any real convictions. The only statements that really felt genuine where the ones made about misogyny and feminism because obviously that's the only social issue she can actual relate to and feel connection to (a very centralist problem). I actually really learned a lot about the isolation that stay at home moms feel and how that craving for community is what draws these woman to the MLMs. Another thing is that Paulson is so obviously financially well off despite being the victim of an MLM. There is a moment in the book where she talks about how "little" she is making through her MLM and the number is more than what a lot of American's live off of. Listen, I feel for her. Her story is super compelling and she is a victim of an MLM. But Paulson has a lot of work to do on herself if she really wants to truly be an authentic person because her convictions seem shallow.

But listen, if you can get passed the voice of the book then I would absolutely recommend this books. I think my interest in MLMs and cults just out weighed the fact that it felt like I was being spoken to by a centralist Karen.

This is a tropey high fantasy novel trapped inside a smutty romance.

Unpopular opinion: the romance is weighing Fourth Wing down, stopping it from reaching its full perfect potential.

Look, I respect it. Yarros has a background in romance/smut novels and this really seems like she's taking her first step into the cynical and critical fandom of high fantasy. I am cheering for her. The world of Fourth Wing is so vast and beautiful. Violet is the perfect underdog turned female power trip. Its got personally tailored magic, telepathic dragons, soul bonding, military intrigue, competitive academic setting.

And it is also, ferociously horny.

I don't know if I'm too gay to enjoy this VERY straight romance novel or if I'm just a "fade to black" girly. But I could not stand being BUMBARDED with Violet's horny teenage level thoughts. The romance is interesting and I actually really enjoyed their relationship. Its very Dragon Rider's of Pern so I'm familiar with the whole "psychically linked and soul bonded dragon and rider's weird sex lives" thing going on. Its an important and interesting part of the world building and lore so it kind of has to be a little horny but like geez. Call me a prude I guess but the horniness distracted so much from this amazing lore and world building. I ended up skipping over all the mouth staring and sex scenes.

I have gripes. I could nit pick further. I wish we had explained Violet's illness a little more. The dialog is repetitive. Dain is unfucking bearable and wildly under developed for someone who is suppose to be a "main character" and a corner of the love(?) triangle (?). But I just don't care. The book is so fun.

The audiobook is okay. Just cringe your way through the loud as fuck swallowing and deep breathing.

I honestly don't think I care enough about my mom to connect with this book.

Cool cover, liked the food motif. Wish it talked a little more about her struggle with her identity as a Korean-American. Mostly just grief porn though. But its written pretty well. I didn't hate it. I didn't like it. It was just okay. I just don't think its for me.

I am so incredibly annoyed. Not because I didn't absolutely love this but because I didn't find out the audiobook the library has is the abridged version until the VERY END.

15 hours of difference between the abridged and the unabridged. I was wondering why people were complaining about its length in the reviews.

So, this review is not about The Historian but the (I'm assuming) butchered version I listened to.

It was fucking perfect. Loved the format, the characters, the pacing, the plot. It was a beautiful mix of dark academia and gothic suspense. It such a slow paced little mystery seeped in the supernatural and history. I guess I have to read the physical copy to make sure I still like it.

Getting passed that, the audiobook is actually fantastic. A HUGE voice cast and with tones of talent. While I didn't really enjoy the music between scene changes, I didn't out right hate it.

Pending reading the full book, I think this is an instant favorite for me.

What do I even say.

Based on the reviews, I think a lot of people are misinterpreting what this book is really about. So lets start there, what is All the Beauty in the World NOT about?

#1) This book isn't about the Met. This is not some behind the scenes look of the history or goings on of the museum. The Met is honestly just set dressing, its a backdrop. The book is barely about art if we wanna get down to it. Art is just the lens Bringley uses to muse on his understandings of human emotion and experiences.

#2) This is a not a grief memoir. This is not Crying in H Mart. All the Beauty in the World is a celebration of life, not just of Bringley's brother's life, but of humanity as a whiole.

Bringley's brother dies and he decided to hitting pause on the world by taking a job as a guard at the Met. Bringley sees the Met as a place that almost exists outside of reality, a tiny pocket dimension away from the real world. In this place, he gives himself space to grieve, to come to greater understandings about the human experience, life, and his place in it through the lens of art. After 10 years, he finds another job, leaving his tiny pocket dimension and re-enters "the real world."

All the Beauty in the World is about Patrick Bringley and his love for art's depiction and understood of life and humanity. And it is truly an aw inspiring read. Bringley is so tapped into emotion, I'm so envious of his ability to put the overwhelming range of human experience into words. I so often found myself crying while reading. Bringley makes me feel so happy, fuck, BLESSED to have the chance to experience life.

Also, I find myself thinking a rare thought with All the Beauty in the World: "I could never write like this." You ever read a shitty YA novel and think I could write better than this? Well this is the opposite feeling. Bringley is a master and I am wildly jealous. Maybe I'm inflating it because I just loved this book so much. But Bringley has an ability to put things into words I don't think I could ever find.

That being said, I have no special connection to the Met like a lot of reviewers do. I like NGA and Hirshhorn here in DC but its not with the intimacy that Bringley describes for the Met. I'm not an artist either, though Bringley seems to imply that that label belongs to everyone. But I still really enjoyed this book. All the Beauty in the World is my current top contender for best book I have read this year.

I'm here to eat my own words: The Final Empire is good actually.

TL;DR: While there are still bits of this book that left a bad taste in my mouth, over all its a great read. Interesting magic system, lovable characters, a great "lets over throw the government" narrative, well written fight scenes, and (to my surprise) some stellar court intrigue.

The terrible male fantasy writer features are all here: sexism, racism, and more!

The female lead violently swings between being boiling down to Generic Girl gender role and "I'm not like other girls." Very much dude trying to write from a female point of view even though he clearly don't understand woman outside of tropes and stereotypes. Also there is only ONE named female character (the other one is dead before the story even starts). All other woman are either mothers, servants, cooks, or prostitutes. Its a very "more named horses than woman" kind of situation.

There is also the Skaa and Terrisman who are inferior humanoids who are literally bred to be subservient and weak. The Terrisman get an extra 'magic minority' trope on top of it. If that doesn't smack of racism and eugentics then I don't know what does. And yeah I get that the book is pushing the "they are just like us" narrative but its still feels really weird.

I'm also not totally happy with the "not all of our oppressors are evil, some of them are good" message coming through. I like Elend, I think he is one of my favorite characters, but it just rubs me the wrong way. I think I have been spoiled by other dystopia uprising narratives that just do not fall for this (Hell Followed With Us and Iron Widow).

Now looking at this list, this is pretty bad. Definitely these are all reasons I would DNF this book. I don't think Sanderson did this on purpose, its just you know the Mormon culture and upbringing just kind of accidently slipped out onto the page on this one I think. Somehow Sanderson beats the odds and the good out weights the bad. Which is pretty amazing because this is a REALLY bad list of shitty things going on in the book.

For starters, the magic system is the coolest shit I have read. And listen I am not a fangirl of Sanderson so I'm not just blowing smoke. It is actually really interesting and unique. Even before I really started liking this booking (about 40% of the way through) I kept reading because I just wanted to understand Allomancy. And Sanderson doesn't just info dump all of the information at once. We get it little by little, which really egged me on to read more.

As well, The characters are all really fleshed out and loveable. I really fell in love with each member of the crew a little bit at a time. It really makes me excited to learn even more about them. And while some of them play pretty heavy into some tropes, most of the time I didn't mind it.

Also, the book is actually really well written. Fight scenes are actioned packed while also being really easy to understand. I do think Sanderson might need to use a thesaurus every once in awhile but honestly, no complaints.

The last thing I want to say is a little selfish but I actually really liked the court intrigue happening in the book. I love court intrigue. It felt like the book had this balance of both good and bad and I just couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to keep reading. But around the 40% mark of the book, we are introduced to the court intrigue. It felt like a piece of bait thrown out just for me I'll be honest. It kept me hooked and I ended up not DNF-ing.

So , should you read The Final Empire? If you are interested in different types of magic outside of generic DND style magic then I would say yes. Just go into it with low expectations. Just know that it suffers from bad fantasy features and just enjoy the good it has to offer. If the interesting magic system isn't enough to draw you in then I would say you can skip this one.

The sequel is officially better. The Warrior absolutely surpasses The Coward in every way.

The antagonist (The Malice) creates a situation where we really get to stew with these characters, getting more insight into their thoughts and feelings then we did in The Coward. Even with returning character Kell and Willow, we get to see new sides of them and really get to know them. It endeared me to them even more than in the first book. Then of course the new characters. Odd (pronounced Ode in the audiobook for some reason) is so interesting. I love him so much, what ever the hell he was. And while we didn't spend as much time with Yara I also really grew to love her too. I really cherished my time with this crew. I wish I had more time with them. I'm so heart broken that its over.

Aryan also continues to carve out a stunning world for us as we explore the culture and people of the nonhuman race in the story. Seeing Willow interacting with their people was such a treat. And then there is of course what ever the hell is up with Odd and the Malice. So many interesting creatures/people in this one. I loved it.

The writing it great. Fight scenes are great. We really get into the grim darkness of it all. When we spent time with characters or a scene such a lovely picture was drawn for me.

The plot if pretty bare bones, but after two books I think this might just be Aryan's style. I am super happy that the B plot wasn't a complete snooze fest this time. While I wasn't as attached to Sigrid as the other characters, her quest was pretty cool/bad ass. But at the end of the day its really just generic D&D quests for the A and B plot. I'm not complaining.

What I will complain about is the neck break speed at which the plot moves at. I just don't really enjoy this pacing. I just wanted to slow down a little bit. I also was a little bored with the ending (again). It just wasn't as satisfying as I hoped it would be.

This is a small thing, but there are mentions of LGBT characters and it is treated well. They aren't main characters and their is no romance but the fact that it is mentioned in passing is great. Aryan didn't have to put that in but they chose to do it. Add Stephen Aryan to the list of male fantasy writers I trust.

This was a great read. I want 10 more books. And of course there is no fan fiction to fall back on. I'm honestly so sad its over. ;A;