simonlorden's Reviews (1.38k)

Very interesting concept, I'm curious where the story can go after that ending.

Brutal, but sexy. Good thing I already got the second book from the library because I was sitting there at the end like, what?? That's it?? Slower paced than I imagined, but I'm excited.

AHHHH.

New favourite book. Found family, friendship, witches and demons, betrayal - and beautiful characters. Kai has everything I loved about Murderbot: the snark, the gender feels, the non-human who has no idea what he's doing but he wants to protect his mortals (and those who are not). I love them so much.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a lovely collection of fantasy stories about spring, nature, and all kinds of creatures. There were fae, unicorns, gods, and of course, humans. There was a range of moods, but most of them fit together nicely. I admit there were a few stories that I felt were so different that they shouldn't have been included, so it was a bit too mixed.

There were also a few stories where I felt that they should have been longer. Season's Keep, for example, felt like a couple of scenes cut out of a longer story, and I felt there was more missing than shown.

Several of the stories were queer, which was also a nice touch :)

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

This book was a wild ride. I want to say first that there were things I liked about it - the swan shapeshifters and their culture were interesting. This book actually spans several years, and as the year turns there are festivals and hunting and several scenes about how the royals feed their people, and those were interesting.

But the larger plot wasn't to my liking at all. First it leaned into one of my big YA pet peeves, where the adults forbid the protagonist from doing something she loves instead of allowing her to do it in a safe and controlled way. Like, yeah, that's gonna end well. Having the parents suppress half of Kiar's identity like that was uncomfortable to read, and I almost abandoned the book halfway because of it.

I kept reading though, and around 70-80% in I was starting to wonder why the title was The Swan Harp when there haven't been any harps anywhere, or even musicians except for one scene.

Well, wonder no more! Because at 80% it turns out that this is actually a ballad retelling and then everything goes downhill from there.

I gotta say though, I think it's a weird choice to title your book after something that only happens towards the end.

I really didn't know what to think about that last plot twist. It completely changed the tone of the book at the end, and while there were some hints and build-up, it didn't feel like enough.

I'm also surprised this is first in a trilogy, because it kind of felt like a complete story to me, as chaotic as it was. 

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Penny fell down the stairs when she was seven years old, and since that day, she remembers everything in perfect detail. The thing is, she doesn't remember anything before that. She has no memories of her father, because he left while she was in the hospital, and he only ever sends her one postcard a year on her birthday.

The truth is that I don't really feel much about this book. The chapters, the sentences and the individual lines are all very short, so there is much less content than you'd expect from the number of pages. I'm sure that was supposed to make the book fast-paced, but it just made it all feel kind of choppy. The side characters are kind of forgettable, while Penny herself is very sheltered and makes a lot of stupid decisions which is frustrating to read.

Penny's mother is also emotionally abusive, which kind of doesn't make sense in light of the ending, but I suppose trauma does weird things to people. 

Overall, I finished this book because I was curious what would happen, but I don't think it will stay with me.

I liked Sabine and Malek, but I wasn't a fan of Dax, and I didn't like the whole "men fighting over Sabine like she's their possession" angle. So, overall I'd say I liked half the book and didn't like the other half. Not sure if I'll read the sequel yet.

Kind of a chaotic, difficult to understand story. I almost set it aside at one point but then it pulled me in.

 

Remek bevezető nem csak a transzneműek életébe, hanem abba is, hogy a mérgező maszkulinitás (pl. "a fiúk nem sírnak") mennyire káros a cisz férfiaknak is, meg úgy általában ad egy jó alapot a nemek közötti egyenlőtlenségek világába. Nekem az elején volt néhány fejezet ahol úgy éreztem, hogy kicsit túlmagyarázza, de nyilván aki még sosem olvasott erről, annak nem lesz ilyen érzése.

A legérdekesebbek azok a részek voltak, ahol transz emberek (főleg Blanka, de volt megszólalás egy-egy transz férfitól is) arról nyilatkoznak, hogy a tranzíció után mennyire megváltozott hogy hogyan viszonyulnak hozzájuk az emberek. Pl. transz férfiak munkáját hirtelen többre értékelték, Blankáét kevesebbre, pedig amúgy ugyanaz az ember ugyanazzal a tapasztalattal.

Egyébként az én kedvenc részem a poliamor leszbikusokról táboráról szóló fejezet volt, amire baromira irigykedek.