the_bookish_fiend's Reviews (55)

Full disclosure, I was drawn to the Grishaverse after seeing the TV series.

The author has done a wonderful job creating a rich and complex universe, I sailed through the book in one sitting. It's easy to get lost in the Ravkan landscape as we follow Alina on her epic journey. 

However, I think the TV series did a much better job at crafting a more sympathetic portrait of both the Darklina and Malina ships.  
 
In the books, I missed the spark and humanity between Alina and the Darkling, apart from that sudden kiss and the Darkling occasionally observing Alina's training, there is little interaction between them. Jessie Mei Li's Alina has a lot more agency when it comes to her relationship with the Darkling. 

Mal's relationship with Alina also isn't as compelling in the novel, he's largely absent for most of the story, and while at the end he recounts the horrors he endured, I didn't feel for him as strongly because as a reader I wasn't privy to his struggle. The TV series took us along on Mal's journey and gave us more time to fall in love with and root for his character.

While the book definitely falls into a number of typical YA tropes (scrawny saviour girl with mythical powers, the "I'm not like other girls" mentality, love triangle, saving the world)it does a brilliant job at creating intriguing characters that leave me interested to see how they'll grow throughout the series. 

I'm definitely binge reading the rest of the trilogy this weekend.

"Why We Broke Up"  centers two teenagers, Ed and Min, as they navigate the complexities of budding relationships. 

The story begins with a box,  full of memoirs from a broken relationship, plonked down outside Ed's door. Their brief romance is strung together by each trinket,  antique movie tickets, stolen sugar, a toy truck all stand testament to their love. 

Our narrator Minerva details the significance of each item in a letter addressed to Ed. She works her way backwards towards the inevitable doomed end of the relationship,  reflecting on the accumulation of things that went wrong. We navigate the story through her thoughts, winding through run on sentences and the poetically romantic language of love and heartache. 

I enjoyed the narrative style of the story, and the central characters of Min and Ed perfectly capture what it is like to be young and naive and in love. 

However, there aspects of the book that are quite problematic. Throughout the book, Ed continuously uses the word "gay" as an insult to masculinity and throws around other homphobic slurs. Eventually Min corrects him saying 
 "You. Must. Stop. With the f** stuff" 

Despite correcting Ed, the primary focus of her concern doesn't seem to be the use of the slur itself but rather that it's often used in relation to her friend Al , who isn't gay.  When later on in the story one of Ed's friends asks "can I say gay?", Min responds with "Sure, you're not my boyfriend" 

While Ed's use of the word "gay" in negative light as well as other homophobic slurs may have been built in to demonstrate the influence Min eventually has on his character, they are unnecessary in this story. None of the characters are part of the queer community, nor is any part of the story dedicated to queer representation. The readers would still be able to see the effect the characters had on each other without the author  resorting to the use of homophobic slurs. 

While overall the book is an enjoyable read, the casual homophobia is really harmful and takes away from the story.