thaisasaurusrekt's Reviews (115)

Cool dystopian look into what the world would look like if we were monitored on our behavior in every aspect and every moment of our life, but also rewarded for behaving like the regime wants you to, and being punished if you step even a hair out of line. How it forms a generation who’ve only ever known this system, and trying to unlearn those patterns and recognize that beyond the propoganda, policing one’s actions constantly contradicts one sense of self. 

It made for some good reflections on what it means to be a person with agency and freedom and why someone would want to work with or want to rebel against such a system. The story itself was a bit surface level, and we never had any deep connections with any characters, which was quite alright.

Plot what plot, incredibly convoluted story with no real direction were going in. The character acted like a 12 year old the whole time and the romantic relationship supposedly formed within 3 days. The amount of times the words ta-ta’s, xiao long bao, too sie rolls were used were far too much, and apart from the bit of intriguing trauma near the end, this was a boring read and a waste of time tbh.

Based on my engagement with the story, this book is god tier, I couldn’t put it down. But there were some elements that were all over the place and didn’t quite live up to my expectations, I wish we’d have more time with the setting and war and let things simmer and go deeper but alas.

The book felt like an adult book trying to discuss heavy topics of war, sacrifice, genocide, classism, propaganda, addiction, brutality in many ways over, but somehow seemed to be held back by a YA shell that led to themes not being worked out as far as they could be, perhaps due to Rin’s emotional intelligence being that of a potato.

The horrifying historical war events R.F. Kuang used as inspiration were written extremely well though, and truly illustrated how horrible humanity can be to one another if vilified through nationalism and inhumane propaganda.

The book is truly split into three parts, each with a vastly different pace which felt jarring. I cared much more for the cast of students at Sinegard then I ever did with the Cike, and perked up whenever we got to meet them during the sieges in the story. 

Character wise, Altan was someone I grew to hate, Kitay is precious and Nezha was truly the enemies to lovers boytoy, but I appreciated that a rivalry of pure hatred drove them to become each others betters, but had them ending up as equals. Curious to see how they’ll continue to grow.

I do appreciate that Rin as a character commits 200% to any goal she’s set, repercussions be damned. And id like to see the concequences of her actions in the next book. For now it seems she’s become the very thing she hated before, and the nationalist propaganda machine of Ninkan has worked into her quite well. Looking forward to that battle in the future for her.

I never thought undertaking could be a good setting for romance, but here we are. Less of an enemies to lovers and more of a we really hate eachother thanks to predjuces and miscommunication and now we're professional loathers. Whenever we see eachother we can't decide if we want to strangle eachother or maybe fuck? 

The loneliness of their professions which leads to them becoming pen pals, and then more then pals is very cute to follow. The entire cast was a fun bunch, very slice of life esque. And i appreciated the intrigue provided from the parallel world, hints of gods and monsters and a bit of zombie action on the side. A fun albeit predictable read, that tugged at your heartstrings occasionally.

I expected a book inspired by studio ghibli to be more for me, but the writing style and step by step narrative just wasn’t for me

Man this book hooked me through and through. What i thought would just be a fun heist story loosely based on the brothers Grimm fairytale of the goose girl ended up being a super compelling redemption story of a girl who has every reason to be wretched after the world has been wretched to her due to a lowly status, misfortune and being unwanted by her parents, being worked to the bone and abused by a noble family while making it seem like every lash is due to her own incompetence, and teaching her that she always needs to choose for herself to survive, because no one will look out for her, experiencing all this as a child.

In Vanja's mind, it's eat or be eaten, and she comes up with a plan to steal her way to fortune, to be able to escape not just her abusive environment but also her godly godmothers, fortune and death, which give her the choice between them to be bound to them in servitude, which Vanja rightly doesn't see as a choice at all. When a fumbling spectacled detective follows her tail, seeming to not only know the details of the heisting she's been up to, but he's also dug deep enough that she needs to look into the mirror and actually process the horror's that she's been through in her childhood, to grow past them. Emeric makes for a fun counterpart where they're both constantly keeping each other on their toes, and a true match to Vanja's cleverness, though Emeric does actually have a conscience.

Will her own greed take her over in the end? She's got riches, the stolen life of a princess, and nearly her freedom. But when she's cursed over her wants to become the very riches she's always dreamed of, the clock starts ticking for her. I didn't expect her to truly be able to come to the realization that she can learn to trust again and she can learn to be selfless for those she loves, but Emeric makes for a very compelling case, with them growing closer throughout the book, and him showing her that she's a good person who became bad through her circumstances. One thing I like is the commentary on nature vs nurture, but also how it's easy to be a good person when your class, wealth and social connections are all handed to you on a golden platter while the rest go through hardships that the nobles can't even imagine, let alone think it's because of them. 

Amazing book. I'm rating it a 5* because this seems to be catered specifically to me, and with each new break in, lie, tall tale, heist and even a court case in the end, I was impressed with how well the author managed to tie every loose end together for a satisfying ending and a hopeful view on Vanja and Emeric's futures.  And I didn't even realize there would be demi rep, but I love how it was done so organically. 

An interesting take on a time loop adventure combined with a high stakes murder mystery that gets more bizarre the further you loop. Throw in a cool system of realities layers on top of eachother growing increasingly bizarre and terrifying, both in location, infrastructure and beings, and a character who can utilize the area between time and space to traverse through them, and you have a fun playground for eldritch horrors to come to life.

I enjoyed the cat and hound game played between the main character Kembrall, a brilliant agent and master of time jump shenanigans who will fight for all that’s good and seek justice for those she cares to no matter the cost until her newborn becomes a cost she has to take into account as an exhausted new mother and Riks, her mysteriously elegant and deadly time crossed almost doomed but not really rival and secret love who she bickers with about everything . 

Them begrudgingly working together after a job gone sour which wrecked their budding romance creates a fun dynamic of trying to figure out what happend in their past while running around and trying to prevent as many murders as possible, while also dealing with immortal celestials trying to create a year of reality in their image by spilling blood left and right.

You go in knowing a blood price must be paid, but the question remains: who will pay it with their life?

While a fun story, I didn’t think it was all too deep. The constant mention of kenbralls newborn also wasn’t for me, though it did portray (quite accurately I imagine) the affect a baby can have on your physicial body and condition as well as your mental state and social engagements.

Very cozy and cute story, almost felt like it was a dnd group learning to trust eachother and showing how the support of friendship can conquer all hardships