Dystopians are just too much for me a lot of the time now. The world is shit. No one in power should be in power. The people in power spend their days inciting hate and bigotry. I just can't seem to enjoy books like that...except when Neal writes them apparently. This is such a strong conclusion. Don't get me wrong...it's horrible seeing all the bigotry in this world be absolutely comparable to our world but it's still somehow palatable. 5 million gold stars to Shusterman and THANK YOU FOR KEEPING THE COVER THEME FOR THE WHOLE TRILOGY!

HUH...wow okay I liked this way more than I thought I would.

It's not a really unique plot by any means but the magic was cool (though it would definitely have been fleshed out more). The characters were my favourite part and woot woot for queer rep!

Rep: asexual, transgender, f/f romance

3.5/5

I loved the message to this but it felt like there was a disconnect between a lot of the panels and what the panels were supposed to be showing me. I felt a bit lost in a few places. The illustrations were beautiful but they didn't totally line up quite right.

Rep: transgender

In traditional Mindy McGinnis style, this book fucked with me and gave me an empty feeling at the end. As someone also not good with blood and anything medical and bodily...

Aw this was cute. It's definitely got a lot of traditional mg influences and points but it's a quick read with fun characters which is what I need during a pandemic.

3.5/5

I definitely need to re-read this when I'm in a different headspace. Right now, I feel like I had the issue of being interested in the fantasy elements of the book but really bored by the contemporary part of it.

Tilly's my favvvvvvv. I loved that we branched out from the British perspective. I am ever so curious about the archivists now. I am concerned that the grown adults are so damn gullible in this story though...

This had a very slow meh start for me that I debated reading past the first 50 pages but I'm glad I pushed through it. I love that YA is suddenly using the crap out of blood magic. I wanted just more of the magic itself though I did enjoy all the political maneuvering and the chase. The characters were okay. Would I spend $26.99 CAD on the book? No. I wouldn't have touched this if my Library didn't have the book and Audible had the audiobook as a daily deal. But I'll definitely read the sequel via the library.

agh...i wanted to like this but it just fell so flat for me. I love the covers of this series so much but that's kinda it.

Fun fact: I thought this would make me cry but it made me angry more than anything else. JUST...don't be a bigot, okay? Can't believe I need to say that but here we are!