I have lots of mixed feelings about this sci-fi debut novel, and as I type this, I’m still going back and forth with my star rating. Here are my initial thoughts:

✨ All-queer characters!!! It has a lovely sapphic romance brewing between two of the main characters, but what I love the most is how this book gracefully and thoughtfully handled Nathaniel’s coming to terms with his identity as an aro-ace.

✨ As an able-bodied individual, I can’t speak for the disability rep. However, I did appreciate how Tarnished Are the Stars emphasized that disabilities don’t make anyone “less than” other people.

✨ The world-building showed so much promise, and it’s arguably the strongest asset of this story. However, a few of my questions were left unanswered, which is a small disappointment on my part. I wish we could have been given more insight behind the banning of tech in this new world.

✨ This book explored abusive relationships and how abuse can come in many forms. More importantly, it shed light on how some victims fail to recognize themselves as victims in their situation.

✨ Character motivations were probably the weakest point of this story. In the beginning, I struggled to empathize with Anna because her hardheadedness was borderline ridiculous.

Spoiler

She was so eager and willing to risk the safety of her entire village in the hopes of helping out the son of the very man she despises? Make it make sense!

I couldn’t help but feel that many of her actions, especially in the beginning, were done for the sake of moving the plot forward.

✨ Speaking of, the character motivations of the supposed antagonists were murky at best, downright unbelievable at worst. I won’t beat around the bush: I am pissed off. I feel cheated.

✨ Relatedly, I was greatly enjoying where the story was going, despite its hard-to-believe aspects. I was very willing to suspend my disbelief and allow myself to be swept away by the narrator (because the narrator of this audiobook is extremely talented!) — but then the big reveals happened and I couldn’t wrap my head around them. Specifically, the climax of this story truly ruined my reading experience!!! And I am salty!!!

✨ Not a fan of the ending either.

✨ It’s really the feeling of great betrayal that’s prompting me to give this book a low rating. The lack of payoff in Tarnished Are the Stars is impossible for me to ignore.

Not recommended!

Did I think this book is really cute and endearing? Yes.

Could I take the (first-world) problems of these characters seriously? Nope.

Did I laugh out loud whenever the main character complained about losing sleep or not getting any work done because her mother kept asking her to come up with tweets? Every single time.

Overall, would I recommend Tweet Cute? Yes, if you’re willing to suspend any and all disbelief at the absurdity of their struggles.

Although I didn’t fall in love with every short story in this anthology, it still holds a very soft place in my heart. I think A Thousand Beginnings and Endings is perfect for immersing yourself in Asian folklore with a sprinkle of unique sci-fi on the side. Full review to follow.

Ratings per short story:

1. Forbidden Fruit by Roshani Chokshi (Filipino)

Don’t let my rating fool you because I really, wholeheartedly adored The Bird and the Blade. I’ve been eyeing this title for a very long time (ever since I read Vicky’s review), and I am very pleased to confirm that, in many ways, this book has successfully met my expectations. Megan Bannen’s debut novel delivers a beautifully riveting, albeit heartbreaking, fantasy retelling. Maybe if I weren’t such an avid reader of Asian fantasy written by Asian authors, I’d have given this one a higher rating.

While I am completely unfamiliar with its source material (an Italian opera entitled Turandot), I don’t think that took away any enjoyment from my part. I do feel, however, that knowing more about the play may have better prepared me for the last one-third of the book. Nevertheless, I can easily imagine the original Turandot being “a product of its time” (meaning: deeply racist and sexist), and I appreciated how these themes were subtly challenged and subverted in this retelling, especially with regards to the burden of women (e.g. valued by their beauty, expected to be silent and docile, treated secondary to men).

I also really liked how The Bird and the Blade features an entirely Asian cast and is strongly rooted in Chinese and Mongolian history. It is a part of history that isn’t often highlighted, and it is a part of history that I admittedly know very little of — and yet, it is clear to everyone, myself included, that Megan Bannen did an impressive amount of research as she wrote this story. As a Southeast Asian woman myself, I am *understandably* wary of white authors telling Asian stories, especially ones that draw from real history, so it greatly pleases me that The Bird and the Blade is written with care, thought, and proper research.

In line with this, although this book is led by Asian characters, the story does not revolve around the struggles faced by Asians — which is a major brownie point for me. I’d love to see more Asian-led fantasy from all sorts of authors, but when it comes to portraying our struggles and our experiences as Asians, non-Asian authors need to stay in their lane.

Anyway, there is certainly plenty to love about The Bird and the Blade: excellent writing style, effective foreshadowing, complex character relationships that eventually sneak into your heart, political intrigue, forbidden romance, themes of filial piety, sacrifice, loyalty, and morality. Personally, I was greatly impressed by the author’s choice of using a non-linear approach to narrating the story, which is inherent to Eastern storytelling. I also just lived for all the details and metaphors and overall richness that The Bird and the Blade had to offer.

On a less positive note, I do have a few qualms with this book:

(1) The prince-slave dynamic between Jinghua and Khalaf. While I understand that their relationship largely stays true to the source material, I would have preferred that the power imbalance in their budding romance was challenged more strongly. Maybe Tasha Suri’s Empire of Sand has skyrocketed my standards for romance involving slaves, but I do stand by my belief that this novel could have done so much more to address the this incredibly huge boulder in their relationship.

(2) Again, I think the ownvoices Asian fantasy books that I’ve read and loved (books like Steel Crow Saga and The Bone Witch) have completely, utterly ruined me for fantasy written by white authors because I could not help but feel that The Bird and the Blade lacked a certain essence that makes Asian-inspired fantasies so enthralling and alive. With a focus on history, politics, and war, there was a disappointing lack of culture in this novel, and it was hard for me to ignore.

(3) The lack of trigger/content warnings. The Bird and the Blade can get really messy and really serious, and I wish warnings were put in place to better prepare its readers.

All in all, I am so happy to have finally read this book! I think Megan Bannen shows so much promise as a debut author, and I can definitely say that I will be on the lookout for her next books. Although this fantasy retelling pales in comparison to my favorite fantasy books, I still think that The Bird and the Blade is highly enjoyable and worth picking up. It offers a much-needed respite from white-centered, European fantasy, explores a historical timeline that is often overlooked in world history books, and delivers a really powerful story that challenges our perception of freedom and sacrifice.

Recommended!

Trigger/Content warnings:

Spoiler

suicide and graphic death; depictions of grief; sexism and misogyny; mentions of rape (off-page); war; self-harm; slavery; kidnapping; graphic violence; verbal abuse; torture; gore; loss of loved ones

Mothers who crossed oceans for their children's joy
To live in forms
And lines
And checks

In hand-me-downs and stare-me-downs

In a language you may never sit in comfortably.
A language with no back to carry your meaning.

In missing home.
While making your children a new one.

You deserve adoration.
Your stories are the ones we are waiting for.

- From May This Poem Meet You In Your Language

This poetry book touches on themes of toxic family relationships, parental abuse, self-love, cultural erasure, Blackness, and love. However, although I usually enjoy seeing these themes in poetry, it seemed to me that the author's exploration was a little bit all over the place. I would have really appreciated some more cohesiveness and depth. There were some potentially great pieces that weren't expounded on or weren't given the polish they needed to really shine.

Moreover, it was challenging for me to wrap my head around what a fire like you was trying to achieve. Again, I couldn't identify the central idea behind this collection.

Overall, I found most of the poems to be... quite lukewarm. I'm pretty disappointed that I didn't love this one, especially because I genuinely look forward to poetry written by women of color.

Not recommended!

* I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

I brought The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea for my beach trip with Kate, and this definitely made for a perfect beach read!

Full review to follow, but here are my initial thoughts:

Amazingly, I did not hate this as much as I hated the witch doesn't burn in this one. In fact, and perhaps even more amazingly, I did not hate this collection at all.

However, for her sixth published poetry collection, Amanda Lovelace shows very little growth as a poet and as a writer. Much like her previous books, her pieces tend to get annoyingly repetitive to the point that it sort of feels like she's plagiarizing herself (but she isn't, I guess). Her poems remain contrived and insubstantial. The way she explores themes, such as body image issues, mental health, and (white) feminism, is still really surface-level.

In addition to these shortcomings, I can't help but notice the astonishing lack of metaphors in Break Your Glass Slippers, which is really odd for a collection that's a loose reimagining of Cinderella. I expected a lot more creative parallels and metaphors, but instead, I was given really bland, really preachy poems. The "fairy godmother says" pieces were, in my opinion, the worst because, aside from coming across as incredibly preachy, they also seemed inorganic and forced.

I think that, in comparison to her previous works, Break Your Glass Slippers isn't Amanda Lovelace's worst. However, this small poetry book isn't memorable at all. For the most part, I felt utterly bored and unimpressed.

This one isn't for me, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone either.

* I received a digital ARC of this book (via NetGalley) from its publisher in exchange for an honest review.

my poems are all
starting to sound the same.
they blur into each other
the way the traffic lights do
when they reflect on the street
after a rainstorm
and the whole city
lights up at night
and it makes sense
because lately it's
been rainstorm after rainstorm
so why wouldn't these words
get washed into each other?
but i'm worried
that this isn't just happening here
on paper
i'm worried
that it's happening
inside me too
because it's getting a little hard
to tell the difference
between feeling too much
and not feeling at all
so it's kind of like these late-night rainstorms
except the only difference is
there are no coloured lights inside me
to ease the darkness
but i'm still writing these poems
even though they're all the same
because maybe you need to hear me tell you
it will be okay
in a hundred different ways
until you start believing it
so here's another poem

I have no particularly strong feelings about letters to the person i was, that is, I neither adored nor hated this poetry collection. Nonetheless, I found this little book to be quite refreshing: a much-appreciated breath of fresh air from all the romance-centered poetry found in most contemporary collections. A nice, warm hug even.

I really think that I read this collection at the perfect time. Some of the pieces really resonated with me, and I was able to connect with them in ways that truly surprised me. Many of them were centered on self-love and self-healing, and these are themes that are so, so important. I loved the ringing sincerity of Sana Abuleil's works, and I loved the hopefulness shining throughout this poetry book.

Although some of the poems in letters to the person i was fell flat, the collection still boasts some pretty thoughtful pieces that are perfect for self-reflection. letters to the person i was is not the best poetry I've come across, but I do think that it makes a great read if you're feeling blue, if you're feeling lonely, or if you generally just need some comfort.

Recommended!

* I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.