i really liked chapter 9. but other than that the writing was bad and i couldnt care less about a white 50s straight couples marriage

nothing burger of a book tbh 

the beginning is really slow but once you get to the underlying themes I really started to enjoy this book, its an interesting twist on something that's almost a cliche now

this was annotated as a present for my sister so I was really engaged with this text. honestly its crazy how topical this is to the upper class of 2025

I really really really liked the ending of this one. you think its going in one direction and then winn makes it about something else. very melancholic 

I liked this so much more than say nothing. keefe is a great narrator and storyteller, I can't wait to revisit this. also fuck the sacklers, its actually kind of crazy how they started out wanting to help people then just turning to greed

 im a huge gamer and im really into gaming history, so the premise of this book really stuck out to me. i think the first 150 or so pages were really special, and i think there was a magical feeling present while reading this book.
 
 that being said, i think the middle and ending sections are a bit more rough. these characters honestly keep making similar mistakes because they honestly have pretty strong personalities. they also dont really change as people, though i think that in of itself isnt bad. it does, however, make for a repetitive read, especially when it feels like so much of the tension of this book comes from miscommunication, assumptions, and things left unsaid.
 
 i also think the third act of the book stumbled it for me. when you get into the Big Event that happens, it is really emotional. but the actual story that happens after just... had zero appeal for me. which, i suppose is the purpose, but it just kind of made the story end on a fizzle to me. the ending doesnt really feel finished at all, which  i suppose was intentional but I really didn't feel like the last 40 page  were necessary if that was how the book was gonna end. spoilers ahead: 

also.. does anyone else feel kind of .. i guess uncomfortable with how the shooting was portrayed? i think the npc section was well written, but i dont know something about it just kind of left a bad taste in my mouth and i dont know why

 
 something smaller that REALLY bothered me was the types of games they made!! they were making undertale and life is strange in the 90s and honestly the sections where they made their own games (other than solution and maybe mapleworld) just really threw me for a loop. also i think you could really tell whenever zevin wanted to prove she knew how to use a glossary and that messed up the writing in some parts for me.
 
 i will say though, there were a lot of things i liked in this book. as mentioned before, i really appreciated the first 150 pages and how strong the two main characters were, and their families were great. i also REALLY loved how the experimental sections were structured

the npc and pioneers specifically

and i would eat up a book written like that. the video game references also didnt feel just like someone who googled popular video games and sprinkled them throughout the book, you really could see a lot of references peppered through out.
 
  i think this is a great read for a lot of people, and i can see why its so popular. 

bruh this is 100% a triology that was originally a duology but the publisher made the author stretch out. seriously. almost all of the big plot points involve people introduced in the book that werent even properly foreshadowed about in the previous book. everything just felt so self contained and so boring. i will say this is much better as an audiobook rather than reading


everything forward will be a spoiler so watch out.

so first off, what happened to rayan? hes so watered down yet so looked up at in this book. i remember really liking him but hes just such a watered down character compared to last book. i guess being king does that?

secondly, i thought this book was getting really interesting when yeeran finally went back to waning and had her thing with salawa. especially when it came to going back to mosima!! then furi kills her and yeeran is just OKAY WITH THIS???????????? like shes sad for 30 minutes and then is like well furi wants whats best for me so its okay that she killed the woman i loved for years :) WHAT??? i also feel like things could have gotten so interesting romance wise if she didnt die but i guess the author didnt have a good reason why yeeran would choose furi over salawa so lol just remove her entiriely. this is honestly my biggest gripe with the book and the entire time i was thinking how boring everything was now that salawa was gone

thirdly, the romance in this book is awful. i already said rayan is so watered down, mainly bc he and lettle just never interact in this book. also furi and yeeran bc of what was mentioned above. and the new romance between alder and golan is just SOOOO BORING. its instalove and not even believable. they just started making eyes at each other and i was like where did this come from?? seriously?? also wasnt golan complicit in killing the queens the last book?? why is he still here??

I also laughed out loud at the free the light initiative. if youre going to make a political book dont make it so corny

anyways the ending wasnt crazy enough for me to want to continue but maybe i will when the next book comes out

does anyone else feel like this years international booker prize list is REALLY good? seriously, ive had a lot of hard hitters so far. this book is weird and uncomfortable for a purpose, and i really enjoy how it really forces the reader to address their own ableist thoughts. would recommend, especially with how short it is

i really enjoyed this one. really good for if youre in the mood for weird fiction about grief. i think this would hit even harder if i was currently going through really intense grief.... and i defintely want to reread this at some point. its very short (took me like, an hour and a half to read) so i think its worth the read at least.

... also did anyone else get the vibe that this was about a queer couple??? like lesbian maybe?? i dont know if its confirmed anywhere in the book but thats the vibe i got at least