taliahsbookshelf's Reviews (215)

This. Book. Blew. My. Mind.

The premise, the plot, the characters, all of it fits together in this super intricate way. It's easy to follow but it's not easy to anticipate what's coming next.

I can't pinpoint the exact moment when I was reading that I went "Oh, this is what good writing is," but I can tell you I knew it. The whole time, I was engaged with the plot, I was invested in the characters and their journey, and I was intrigued by all of the challenges. Every time I put it down to take a break or go for a walk or get a snack, I couldn't stop thinking about it. To me, that's a sign of good book. And this? This was definitely a good book.

Although there is some worldbuilding that I felt could have been expanded to make this a duology, Micaiah Johnson crafted a world that feels eerily realistic and having a simple standalone definitely worked out.

While this does contain a romance, it's not the main plot of the book, and only serves to further character development of everyone involved. That being said, though, I was invested in the romance and was rooting for it to work

so I'm glad it did

. Bonus points: the romance is sapphic and the main character is an unlabeled (in the book) queer woman (most likely bisexual). 

I will let you know: This isn't a YA novel. Although it doesn't contain any graphic scenes, the messaging and the divide between good and evil are incredibly subtle, though very power. I think younger readers could pick this up and would absolutely enjoy it, but marketing it as anything other than an adult sci-fi would be disingenuous to Micaiah Johnson's writing.

Favorite quotes:

 Thank you to BookTok for forcing me to finally read this. A journey and a half, I found myself sucked right into the politically intriguing nature of Elfhame and the suspenseful plot. Every single character has so much to them and Holly Black's writing encompasses a desire to know more and to be truly involved in the world of faerie. The worldbuilding was absolutely stunning. Complex writing, but simple enough to be easily sucked in without much thought. Descriptive language that pulls the reader in and makes them feel like they're experiencing everything as Jude, not just alongside her. And that ending? It left me desperate for the next book. 

Favorite quotes: 

Don't let the title fool you - though it may seem like this book is about death, it is in fact the opposite. This book is full of life. This book is about life. What happens when you live? Although they both die at the end, they both live before.

While reading this book, I found myself often grappling with the concept of mortality - what does being alive really mean? What impact do we have on other people even though we have no idea? How do the tiniest interactions we have with the people around us affect their daily lives in more profound ways than we can even imagine? These are all questions that I was asking as I read Silvera's work. Profound, though not difficult, I think everyone should read this book at least once, if even just to appreciate the tiny details that set it apart from other works in the same realm.

My recommendation to everyone is to follow along the characters using Instagram as a tool - Silvera did wonderfully with connecting a real Instagram account and posts that match everything that happened perfectly, and it made immersion so much better. Although it broke from the story, the feeling of really seeing what was going on made it incredibly worthwhile.

But that wasn't the only symmetry I appreciated - although our two main characters both receive a call that today is their End Day, there are so many other characters who get a piece of the story. We see their lives through their own eyes, but also through the eyes of our two main characters as they find themselves going through their final day. The symmetry between each of the chapters of everyone who didn't receive a call is stunning, and it faces the reality of death head-on.

As I write reviews for books, I do my best to find the flaws in a book - what did I like, what didn't I like, and why didn't I like it? Because everyone has different tastes, some may like a book I don't, and vice versa. However, for this particular book, I recommend it to everyone, regardless of your typical taste in literature. This was a journey that forced me to come to grips with some of life's most profound questions, the kind of questions people typically put off until those questions arise right in front of them. It's been more than a month since I finished this book, and I still think about it regularly and come back to those questions I mentioned at the beginning of this review. Give it a read - see what life really means to you.

Favorite quotes:

 Five years ago, I said goodbye to my favorite series. Imagine my surprise when I'm scrolling through Amazon and see a book by James Patterson with a suspicious-looking cover. That surprise deepens when I notice the words "First came Maximum Ride..." written right underneath what appears to be the title. See, the Maximum Ride series has probably had 5 or 6 "endings" to the series. Each time, fans have begrudgingly said goodbye to favorite characters, only to be smacked in the face with a new James Patterson book in the series, yet again. However, 5 years ago, it really did appear to be the end. Patterson must have been bored during quarantine, because along came Hawk.

Don't get me wrong, this was a great book for long-time fans of the series. But if you're looking to get into the books now, definitely don't start with this one, despite the claims of some reviewers. Trust me, even as someone who read these books religiously back in middle school and high school, I still found myself having to look stuff up because of subtle references that made big differences. (Do I recommend you go read the books in order if you haven't already? Absolutely. Where have you been? Living under a rock?)

Meeting up with my favorite characters from the past was heartwarming, but I will say, I missed Max's voice the most. Getting a portion of the book in her voice again was awesome. However, is it maybe just time to say goodbye for real? I mean, great book, and I'd love to continue on with the Flock, and I'm loving the next-generation vibes from this one. However, this is the 10th book in the series, and maybe it's time to let Max go, and instead focus on the world as a whole.

That all being said, what's up with the world? We left off the last book after a nuclear blast that basically fried the entire planet, and I was not really convinced by the lack of, well, apocalyptic-ness? This felt more like 2012 dystopia than a 2020 Maximum Ride continuation. Still, I was drawn in from the beginning, and got hit by every single stinking twist, just like I always do with James Patterson. Do I recommend it? Yes. But only to people who want their hearts shattered. (Iykyk). 

I chose to read this book while simultaneously listening to the audiobook available on Spotify. I loved the narrator's voice. They did a fantastic job staying consistent with the voices, which made it super easy to follow along with the story. Anyways, now onto my thoughts about the actual book itself.

The best way to describe this book would be if you took the competition from the Selection, the murder game from the Hunger Games, a magic system that felt almost kind of loosely related to something you might read in Shadow and Bone, and then threw in Skyrim's Dark Brotherhood storyline (yes, I am quite confident that is where the idea for the third test is from and will hear no criticism on this point).

As for the writing, despite what I'm seeing a lot of people claiming, it's not similar to SJM or Leigh Bardugo? I just didn't get that comparison. I think all three of these writers are unique and have very different writing styles, and I wouldn't lump them all into the same category. (Additionally, those of you who continue to compare this book to ACOTAR, besties, do you understand that a) ACOTAR was not SJM's first book, and her writing style did develop significantly from her actual first book and b) SJM is... questionably good at writing? But that's pretty debatable and not what my point is here.)

Now, onto the characters. I liked the characters. I liked the almost impersonalized way of developing the background characters. Everyone wore masks, and physical appearances weren't as important as in a lot of other books. Readers get to make up our own assumptions and ideas. I get some people's point when suggesting that it can be hard to track who is who when everyone is just a number for the majority of the book, but... if you take the time to write it out, or just keep track of things, or color code, or whatever works for you, it's actually not that difficult at all. If you can understand the different Grisha and keep them straight, you can keep 1-23 separated especially since most of them die.

The main love interest, Elise, was... certainly a love interest. I think this was the most boring part of the book for me. I liked that Elise is unlabeled queer, but the relationship between her and Sal felt almost rushed, and not well developed. I wasn't sold on their feelings for each other, and it was kind of boring to read through the "romantic" parts. I found myself no longer paying attention and kind of zoning out during these parts, but everything else kept me engaged, so I can't complain too much.

Onto my biggest frustration with other reviewers: I was reading through reviews and trying to condense my thoughts when I came across a few suggesting that Sal's gender identity (gender fluidity) was "pointless, distracting, and not important to the plot." Hey, guys, I hate to break it to you, but someone's gender identity doesn't actually have to be a main plot point! Shocker, I know, that people exist with characteristics and life events outside of just their sexuality and/or gender identity. It's good to sometimes read a book where the main character is coming to terms with their identity, or growing into it, or facing huge hurdles as a result of it. But this isn't that book. Instead, it's a novel with a plot line totally separate, and our main character happens to be genderfluid. I personally prefer reading these types of books, because you can be LGBTQIA+ without it being the main point of your story. It's a part of you, rather than the main point of your life.

I actually really liked this book. It was recommended to me by a creator on TikTok, and it looked semi-interesting. Y'all. When I tell you this book blew my mind, I mean it. The twist with Ruby (I'm leaving it at that because Ruby is my favorite character - I will fight anyone who says otherwise) was so well-crafted. I was jumping back through my annotations and realized that Linsey Miller hid the most obvious conversations and tiny details in the most obvious places, but it worked really, really well.

The reason I didn't give this book a five star review was because although I really enjoyed the premise and the competition and the characters (Ruby especially), the magic system was just confusing and very poor, not well explained, and didn't have understandable rules (if you are looking for a book with a solid magic system, this isn't it), and the romance (if you could even really call it that - see above) was weak and I didn't sense any real chemistry.

Was this the best book I've ever read? No. But it didn't have to be. It was good and I enjoyed reading it. I looked forward to times when I could just sit down and read it for a while. I found it easy to get lost in the plot and lose track of time because I was so invested. This got me out of a reading slump, and I think that's pretty important for a lot of people.

Spoilers:
High-level spoiler:

My favorite characters went Rath, who we never heard from again, Four, who, well, y'know, got MURDERED, and then Ruby WHO GOT MURDERED. Are you kidding me? I am very upset. Why Ruby? (I get why, but let me have my dramatic moment of crying for Ruby because that was rude)

 

Review trigger warnings: discussion of sexual assault (paragraph will be hidden in a spoiler tag for those that want to read the review but don't want to read that part)

TL;DR: Don't read this. If you liked the first three books, leave it at that. You're not missing much, because this book didn't add anything worthwhile, and the story is no more resolved than it was in book 3. Do not recommend.

I want to start off by saying that if I didn't reserve 1 star reviews for books I DNF'd but got close-ish to finishing, this book would have been a 1 star. As it is, I feel like even a 1.5 is too generous, because this book was not good.

The first three books in the series were decent. They followed a plotline that seemed realistic and easy to track. I had some issues with them (you can read my reviews on them through my page), but overall they served their function of looking at this horrific thing that happened and making it into a readable plotline. The characters were, for the most part, pretty dull to me, but they still had a function in the story. I didn't feel outright rage that the characters even existed, or that we were being dragged along through the story by someone who isn't a reliable narrator, but the author is trying to pretend they are. That type of writing is fine when the author chooses to acknowledge that their character is probably a sh*tty person, but Susan Beth Pfeffer doesn't do that in this book.

This one follows the story 2 years after it left off in This World We Live In. I was intrigued. I was interested to see how the world had grown and changed after the initial shock was over, and people had made it through in one piece. And then we got this trash. The hierarchical system set up in this book doesn't make sense. You're telling me that a soccer player is considered more important to this body of people than a greenhouse worker? Sure. Sports right now have a certain aspect associated to them that gives prestige. But in a world devastated by the moon, I don't think that would hold up. The explanation given for this is lazy at best.

There was one (singular) positive experience I had reading this book. Now, if you've read my other reviews for this series, you'll know I've had a pretty big issue with the lack of character development for characters, especially Miranda. I can wholeheartedly say that Miranda had the biggest arc, and she wasn't even the main character. I do appreciate that part. I think Alex finally got the depth he deserved. That being said, we didn't actually get to see any of that development. It happened in the two years between books 3 and 4. We just get to see the characters after this time.

Next, let's talk about the absolute worst part of this book. The sexual assault.

For some people who are victims of SA, it can be healing to read a story through the eyes of someone who has undergone that experience as well. Not for everyone, but sometimes it can be. However, this book isn't like that. This book forces the reader to look at the assault through the eyes of the rapist. Let's call it what it is: Jon was going to rape Julie, and he probably would have raped Sarah. But not only do we a) not see any consequences of this, b) have to go through Jon coming up with excuses to justify his behavior, c) have Sarah at the end of the book just falling into Jon's arms, but ALSO have to do it through Jon's POV. This book could have probably gotten bumped up a half star for me without this portion. It wasn't necessary to the plot. It wasn't necessary to explain anything in the previous books. It didn't add to any character development of anyone, and it didn't have a place. There was no justifiable reason to include that, and yet there it was.

If that wasn't bad enough, we also are forced to see Jon objectifying the girls around him. This is a regular occurrence. This is another example of something that didn't add to the plot and had zero consequences. To be totally honest, it feels like SBP chose to write this part in just so she could write it from the POV of an abuser and be able to get away with it.

But there's also the tiny issue of why this book was even written? After finishing it, I chose to read the author notes at the end, where SBP writes "I wrote an entire fourth book and sent it off to Karen." Karen is the editor. "She read it. Everyone at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt read it. And although they never actually said so, they hated it. That should have stopped me. But I loved my characters and I loved the world I'd created [...]. I tried again, and ended up writing the book you're holding in some format or another at this very moment, The Shade of the Moon." SBP, you should have listened to your editor and your publisher and never written this book. This was horrendous.

This series had so much potential. And I feel like this book could have taken it and elevated it to something that would have made it the perfect apocalypse read for anyone interested in the genre. It could have discussed human tragedies and responses, it could have gone into reactions to deep, overwhelming grief. It could have made a point about human survival and tenacity. And yet, it fell flat. Again, the concept of this series is amazing. The moon being knocked closer to the earth, causing catastrophe after catastrophe? Brilliant! But the execution was dull. The first two books were decent. They had their flaws, but continued to move the plot along in a way that made me want to keep reading. This book, on the other hand, made me want to just DNF it. I don't DNF books, but I got really close with this one. For starters, the first third of the book was just a continuation of "I'm Miranda Evans and my life sucks more than everyone else around me even though they're going through the exact same things I am." Frustrating, but I didn't like Miranda much in the first place. There isn't a lot of character growth we see from her until the very end of this book, and it's all contingent on Alex.

But let's talk about Alex really quick. I felt like Alex's identity was just being used as tokenism in the second book, and that became SO abundantly clear that was the intent when reading this installment. There was only one mention of his and Julie's identities - the bodega. That's it. It's incredibly frustrating that a character that could have been so rounded and a nice welcome break from your average middle-class white family reacting to the apocalypse just ended up... like Alex.

Fine. Let's set that aside for a moment and look at Miranda and Alex together. It's absurd to me to think that either one of them would just give up everything for each other. Matt and Syl? Fine. But Miranda and Alex

moving across the country (which at this point might as well be the universe for them)

? Doesn't make sense to me.

One of the most frustrating parts of the book for me was the ending with Julie. Miranda did what she did, and I get like the

"oh, Alex might not come back and it's better for her to die like this than live for a little while longer."

BABE. THAT'S SO ABLEIST. The thought that Julie

living, while paralyzed, is worse than being murdered in her sleep is ridiculous. It might have gone okay had Julie asked, or if she had just gone to sleep and then never woke up (on her own, without Miranda "lending a hand"), but that's not how it went

. Instead, I lost even the slimmest bit of sympathy I once had for our MC when she decided that she was going to

kill the younger sister of the boy she supposedly loves

. If that wasn't enough, I kept remembering the point Miranda makes a huge show of

what if Julie wasn't around? Then she and Alex could be together. And then Julie dies

. It felt like sloppy writing and poor development when it could have been the moment that changed everything.

Very disappointed in what could have been a great book and instead turned out like this. The writing is done well. I like Susan Beth Pfeffer's style. But having to suffer through these characters and the ableism and the complete lack of development made this a very poor read.</p>

This book took me a long time to read, which isn't super common for me. I just couldn't get into the story at first, and it felt like it was dragging on for the majority of the book. I got through it, though, and I'm glad I did. The ending wasn't surprising, per se, but it did make me immediately go and buy the second book so I could continue the story where it left off. The "twist" at the end (if you could even call it that) was expected. There really wasn't enough suggesting any other possible ending

besides Rishiana's death - I didn't expect that part

. For a fantasy, it didn't have a lot of characters (there were maybe 5 or 6 primary characters), which actually made it refreshingly easy to track who was who. The story itself was intriguing, though not super memorable, but I am looking forward to the next books in the series.

Spoilers:
High-level spoiler:

Why, oh why, did Ellina pledge allegiance to Farah? Like, I get the point that she's supposed to be a spy and feeding information to Dourin, but it just didn't make a whole lot of sense. Yes, she can lie in Elvish, and yes, that's a great skill for a spy to have. But why stay in that situation rather than encouraging a revolt so the citizens get Farah and Raffan out of power?

First things first, as much as I found Miranda annoying in the first book, Alex just seems shallow. You've got a so-called "typical" Puerto Rican-American, and a lot of his character is just based on this. To be honest, I felt like it could have been done really well, but the random Spanish phrases and the once-every-couple-chapters references to it just felt thrown in and not well-researched. There were a lot of times where I thought maybe this is it! Maybe this is the point that Alex grows up and overcomes the gender stereotypes that are pretty easily established at the very beginning of the book. Instead, we see see Alex's character development focused mainly on his sisters. Now, I'm all for character development of non-MCs, but I think when that development means the sacrifice of development for the MC, it isn't as effective as it could have been. Yes, Alex grew. But not in a way that actually helps progress the story, and not in a way that makes it character-driven rather than plot-driven. This is still a decent book, but there's a lot of tokenism that just felt kind of iffy to me. However, it was nice to see this crisis from the view of someone other than Miranda, other than your typical white teenage girl MC (don't get me wrong, I love reading these MCs and won't stop, but having diversity is really important, provided tokenism isn't the only reason for that diversity).

This is a good read - pretty easy, but still covers a lot of information and goes into into development on the story without sacrificing ease of understanding the plot and where it's going. Susan Beth Pfeffer does a good job setting up the series with this book, but it could just as easily be a standalone if you don't want to read the rest of it (though I suggest continuing). Our narrator drives me crazy - Miranda Evans is supposed to feel like your average teenage girl living through what people would probably call the apocalypse (the moon moving closer to earth - for more details, read the book!), but I just find her kind of whiny. Like, I get she's going through a lot and has a lot to process as a young girl going through all of this, but there's a tone taken throughout the book that makes it somewhat difficult to sympathize with her, even though it's written in first person. This was especially surprising with the diary format, but it still holds, regardless. Nonetheless, disliking the narrator/MC doesn't mean I dislike the book, and that was definitely the case for this.

Spoilers:
Low-level spoiler:

Reading back through this, I am realizing that Miranda's mom probably had a great idea of what to get, and I do think reading this again after the pandemic has given me a much better idea of how people would actually react if they were to go through something like this.

Low-level spoiler:

The first time I read this through a couple years ago, I didn't think twice about the surgical masks comment. However, given what we've gone through recently, I genuinely thought this was kind of funny. Obviously, this was not intentional on the part of the author, but I doubt anyone in the future going through something like what happens in this book would actually find the surgical masks "weird," just based on the pandemic and how everyone was wearing them.