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shane_the_reading_rat's Reviews (1.21k)
just not in a place in my life currently where i find this interesting enough to continue. will probably pick up again in a couple of years
cute story!! honestly i should have checked further into this before starting though cause i didn’t realize it was magical realism (which is a genre i very rarely like). but this was fun. def not a favorite of mine, but fun :D
wasn’t a big fan of how facial expressions were drawn and how busy/full many pages were but honestly that’s just personal preference, you reading this review might love it lol
wasn’t a big fan of how facial expressions were drawn and how busy/full many pages were but honestly that’s just personal preference, you reading this review might love it lol
this book has the same vibes as fourth of july by sufjan stevens and it is perfect
got teary-eyed twice over octopuses
love feeding my special interest in animals brain go nom nom nom
love feeding my special interest in animals brain go nom nom nom
this is a book where basically every character is extremely flawed. tara is just trying to live her life, but she also tends to be a judgemental jerk (especially towards her transmasc friend, liam). her parents ultimately accept her, but they pick and choose throughout when they will and won’t acknowledge that she is a girl. liam is doing what he believes is right, but crosses tara’s boundaries several times. the list goes on.
and i think it could’ve been done extremely well if it felt like there was a point to it. basically every character at one point is either being transphobic, racist or both towards tara, with a lot of it going wildly unchallenged (seriously there is no one truly in her corner). eventually it just becomes an exhausting read, and im not normally a “but think of the children” type of guy but i worry a little that young trans teens’s takeaway from this book will be that “life sucks if youre trans and no one will really defend you and be kind to you” (ik that wouldve been my takeaway even just a few years ago).
also theres one specific section soon after liam is introduced where tara begins lingering on her belief that liam would’ve made a pretty girl, and reading that as a trans guy,,,, ow. did not like that section at all. i get how maybe some people could think like that but it really just sucked to have to read it.
authors note was nonetheless incredible, hence the .5 star. i just wish the rest of the book had been like that.
and i think it could’ve been done extremely well if it felt like there was a point to it. basically every character at one point is either being transphobic, racist or both towards tara, with a lot of it going wildly unchallenged (seriously there is no one truly in her corner). eventually it just becomes an exhausting read, and im not normally a “but think of the children” type of guy but i worry a little that young trans teens’s takeaway from this book will be that “life sucks if youre trans and no one will really defend you and be kind to you” (ik that wouldve been my takeaway even just a few years ago).
also theres one specific section soon after liam is introduced where tara begins lingering on her belief that liam would’ve made a pretty girl, and reading that as a trans guy,,,, ow. did not like that section at all. i get how maybe some people could think like that but it really just sucked to have to read it.
authors note was nonetheless incredible, hence the .5 star. i just wish the rest of the book had been like that.
im setting myself free of books im not enjoying and it feels so good
•frankly i do not fucking understand why this is called the absinthe underground when they only go there once briefly.
•i was gonna give this book points for vibes but yknow what. no. all the vibes were contained in the absinthe underground bar and they are evidently just never fucking going there again seemingly.
•WHY ARE THERE TWO PERSPECTIVES??? usually with romances im crying out and begging for dual pov but this just did not need it. they’re literally everywhere together describing the same things and esme and sybil’s personalities are bland enough that you could easily switch around whose chapters are whose and it wouldn’t make a single difference.
•this book feels like it has no stakes,like if their little heist in sybil’s brother’s house is just the precursor for how their trip into fairyland goes, fairyland must have a yearly death count of zero cause THERES ZERO STAKES ITS LIKE A PLAYGROUND BUT YOU COVER EVERYTHING IN BUBBLE WRAP
•usually i adore friends to lovers but this is just all *love interest does a normal thing* *inner thoughts* “ooo i wanna kiss her so bad shes so pretty but idk if she likes me :(” like bro shut up and ask the question YOU BOTH LIKE EACH OTHER FUCKING SUCK IT UP AND TALK ABOUT IT.
i support sapphic rights and sapphic wrongs but not sapphic mehs
•frankly i do not fucking understand why this is called the absinthe underground when they only go there once briefly.
•i was gonna give this book points for vibes but yknow what. no. all the vibes were contained in the absinthe underground bar and they are evidently just never fucking going there again seemingly.
•WHY ARE THERE TWO PERSPECTIVES??? usually with romances im crying out and begging for dual pov but this just did not need it. they’re literally everywhere together describing the same things and esme and sybil’s personalities are bland enough that you could easily switch around whose chapters are whose and it wouldn’t make a single difference.
•this book feels like it has no stakes,
•usually i adore friends to lovers but this is just all *love interest does a normal thing* *inner thoughts* “ooo i wanna kiss her so bad shes so pretty but idk if she likes me :(” like bro shut up and ask the question YOU BOTH LIKE EACH OTHER FUCKING SUCK IT UP AND TALK ABOUT IT.
i support sapphic rights and sapphic wrongs but not sapphic mehs
look, i might come back to this at some point, but that’s unlikely. i kinda hate this book, it feels like i’m reading something completely different from what everyone else has.
i don’t like the retelling vibes, it just isn’t clicking with me and the main character and love interests being literally named icarus and helios respectively feels like something i would have thought extremely deep at age 13-14 but now that i’m 18 it’s just,,,, a little cringe.
i cant stand the short chapters
this book is actually killing me
i don’t like the retelling vibes, it just isn’t clicking with me and the main character and love interests being literally named icarus and helios respectively feels like something i would have thought extremely deep at age 13-14 but now that i’m 18 it’s just,,,, a little cringe.
i cant stand the short chapters
this book is actually killing me
