shidoburrito's Reviews (1.54k)

Things got...in Shirotani's words "disgusting". In a good way.

I have to be forced to read historical fiction. I just can not find an interest in history, even when it's written well. So this must be a very well written book because I feel I flew through it. Was it the most amazing book I've ever read? No. But that's because I personally don't like history. What it did do was keep my interest and have great characters and make me tear up a little bit. I think what made my reading fast was the fact I skipped most of Alfred's chapters and his crazy little mind letters. I really was mostly concerned with Joana and crew and Emilia.
A great read for teens and older with interest in historical fiction, WWII and even Titanic.

Do you like chocolate? Do you want to learn about the child slavery that goes into the harvesting and fermenting of that chocolate through a tale of two brothers on a cacao farm? Do you root for their escape or for their continued servitude for the sake of your sweet tooth? Read to find out!

I have watched the anime and liked it, but I didn't even recognize this manga as being the same since the art style is so different. I really like the art in this too, it almost looks like Obata's!

LOL Ebisu.

I saw that most people liked this book even better than the first, but I must disagree. This book was great, but it took a while for it to really get going. Cabal is a man that likes to hear himself talk and this book takes after its main character, very much. And is Lonnie going to be a thing now? I don't really mind her character, but I enjoy Cabal as the lone-wolf character. Also, I think the main reason this book got a star subtracted was because his brother wasn't in it. :(

Yes! This book was perfect! I mean, I'm sure the fact that the first half being entirely in Horst's point of view had nothing to do with skewing my rating... Either way, this book did not suffer from it's previous slow downs. There was humor all the way through. There was action! Adventure! Romance! Intrigue! Battenberg (or at least the mention of it), and more surprises! Aaaaarrggghhh, I need my friends to read this so I have someone to geek out with IRL!!!

FIVE MILLION STARS!!! That's a rating, right? Just OMG someone get on this fandom with me already! I love love love love all the characters! Zarenyia is the absolute best (after Horst, of course) and I can't wait to read the short story "The Big Spoon" for more of her antics. But seriously, this series, these books, these characters, I have fallen in love with all of it. Now I don't know what to do with my life.

BTW, I think I sprained a muscle laughing because when I Googled how to spell Madam Zarenyia's name Google thought I meant Madam Zeroni from "Holes" and my mind just broke.

I guess my lower rating is due to the fact that I just got done with a book I absolutely loved and the fact that I was expecting more from this. I really loved Unwind (the rest of the books didn't really need to happen) and I felt the same about this. Why make it a series? I loved the way it ended. Let the readers draw their own conclusions or figure out for themselves what will happen. We're not idiots. This book was pretty much Unwind (without the delightfully terrifying chapter that will forever haunt me) with the same character types. One thing that has always bothered me is Shusterman's portrayal of adults and parents. They are usually non-existent, but when they are written about, they are so callous they are inhuman, and never very realistic or believable. Sure, it's the distant future and everything is easy-going now, but would a parent ever really be as unfeeling towards a child they birthed as these characters are? Or maybe I've just become a grown up and if I were still a teen I'd be all like, "Yeah, my parents don't care about me! They'd totally forget about me or punish me by selling me for body parts! Adults suck!" Who knows? The best adult characters are, of course, Faraday and Curie, but come on! Put a little depth in there!