This was alright, not great but could have been worse

I'm not really going to leave a proper review for this, mainly because I don't care enough about these books/this author anymore to put that much effort into it. But this book was just ok, maybe even good, and definitely the best Cassandra Clare book that I've read in a very long time, and that's solely due to the characters in it. I have loved Magnus and Alec since the moment I first met them in 2011/2012/whenever I read City of Bones. Magnus continues to be exactly my kind of humour, even if it is a little bit of the bad kind of cheesy at times, and Alec is just wonderful and I love seeing his character develop. An added bonus that I wasn't expecting was getting to see how Aline and Helen met, that was absolutely adorable. The plot was alright, interesting enough to keep me entertained, but nothing overly special about it

Cute is not the right word to describe Murderbot but that's all I can think of so we're going with that.

This was so cute! I've been wanting to explore adult sci-fi lately but am a little intimidated by it, so I thought this might be a good intro since it's short and kind of silly. I really enjoyed it! I'll definitely be reading the rest of this series (and probably soon, considering how short they are). It's a very quick read, I really like the narrator for the audiobook, and the internal thoughts of Murderbot are hilarious and weirdly relatable. My one issue is that we didn't get to know the other characters very well, so it was a little difficult for me to understand Murderbot's motivations for caring about them the way he does. But otherwise this was a solid read and I can't wait to read more about this adorably awkward little killing machine

Read for O.W.L.s Magical Readathon - Ancient Runes: read a book with a heart on the cover (see my O.W.L.s TBR video here)

I... am so conflicted about this. It was a very entertaining read, not perfect by any means, but definitely a lot of fun. My overall enjoyment of The Paper Magician made me want to give it 4 stars when I was getting close to the end. But then I actually got the end and read what was in the fortuity box, thus discovering that Ceony and Emery are at some point going to actually enter a relationship together, and immediately wanted to lower my rating to a 2 at the most

Why oh why did this have to have romance in it

If this was just a case of Ceony having a crush on her mentor, that's fine. People get crushes on their teachers all the time. I myself had a huge crush on my 1st grade teacher. It happens, it's normal, no big deal

What IS a big deal is when said teacher reciprocates those feelings. I don't care that Ceony is of legal age, I don't even really care about the gigantic age gap. What I do care about is the huge power imbalance that these two being in love would bring forth. A student/teacher relationship is NEVER acceptable, and yet that is the turn that this book took. Big yikes.

I feel like I wouldn't have minded the romance if Ceony had been his student for a while, had a crush on him the whole time, and then several years after her apprenticeship was done they got together. If that's how the next books play out then I'm fine, but I have a feeling that's not going to be the case

Anyways, onto other things

The plot was decent. The first half was pretty solid, but by the time we got to the third chamber in the heart I was tired of it. It got a little repetitive and didn't feel like it had much purpose to it. It was also a little too convenient that Ceony just HAPPENED to make a guess how to get out of the heart and it was right. I wanted there to be more struggle, more angst, more DRAMA. But everything felt a little too easy. I was never really worried that any of the characters weren't going to make it, which made reading the whole middle feel kinda boring. I feel like I could have skipped the whole part inside the heart and gone right to the end, and not feel like I missed much

I do really like the characters though, mainly Emery. Ceony is ok, I liked her for the most part even if she was a bit bland. But Emery is fantastic, I really enjoyed his character. I hope he isn't near dead in the next books lmfao

Overall, not bad, not good either, a bit problematic but I will continue on with this series

Read for O.W.L.s Magical Readathon - Defense Against the Dark Arts, read a book set at sea/the coast (see my O.W.L.s TBR video here)

This was enjoyable. It's definitely not a favourite, but I can see why it's so well loved. I love the writing style, it's absolutely gorgeous, and the way the story was told was beautiful, especially in the last few chapters.

I think the reason I didn't give it a higher rating is because of Achilles himself. I really didn't like him towards the end, and I know I wasn't really supposed to but it made it hard to get through. He was great in the beginning, I loved his honesty and blunt way of speaking and how he never came across as arrogant. But once his pride set in I had very little desire to read about him, since he was acting so childish. I just didn't understand how Patroclus could still love him that much after all that he had seen him do. After all the temper tantrums, all the murder and raiding, and the choices Achilles made. Patroclus was too quick to forgive, and I think he deserved way better. I don't think Achilles was worth doing what Patroclus did

I did really love Briseis though, she was a breath of fresh air among all the horrors going on around them. I especially loved her for speaking her anger at the end, and someone finally telling Achilles what he deserved to hear

Overall I am glad I read it, but I definitely don't think it's as good as everyone else seems to think it is lol. I would like to read Circe though, if only for the writing style

Read for O.W.L.s Magical Readathon -Arithmancy: read a book outside of your usual genre (see my O.W.L.s TBR video here)

This was such a fun read! I had a feeling I would like it and I was so very right, ugh this was fantastic. Can't wait for the next ones!

Read for O.W.L.s Magical Readathon - Charms: read a book with a white cover (see my O.W.L.s TBR video here)

First read: some point in early 2012. 3 stars.

Second read: April 23rd, 2020. 4 stars

Read for O.W.L.s Magical Readathon - Care of Magical Creatures: read a book that has a creature with a beak on the cover (see my O.W.L.s TBR video here)

I'm pleasantly surprised, and also very relieved. I first read The Hunger Games when I was 15 years old. I devoured it then, and I remembered liking it quite a lot. I was genuinely surprised when I looked at my rating today to see that I had only given it 3 stars, because I hold this series up so highly in my mind. I apparently liked it more the second time around, which is what I'm so relieved about. I was nervous to re-read this because I thought my tastes would have changed too much, and re-reading would ruin this series that I hold so dearly in my heart. But instead it did the opposite; I remember why this story has stayed with me so well for nearly a decade, and reading it again brought me right back to sitting in my 10th grade science class, sneaking in paragraphs under my desk whenever the teacher wasn't looking. It brought me back to the days (years, really) where I would sit and binge read and entire series in one weekend with plenty of time left over for homework. I read this in one sitting (aside from a few snack breaks) and enjoyed every second of it. I cried at the all the same parts I did the first time around, laughed at the same parts, and even though I know this story very well it still somehow felt fresh. While I do recognize that the writing is my no means extraordinary, there's something so compulsively readable about this book that even now I still loved it.

I think one reason why I actually enjoyed this more as an adult is that I have a better understanding of politics now. I knew literally nothing about how politics worked when I was a teenager. I don't think I even knew who the prime minister of my country was until I became old enough to vote, and I didn't understand what a dictatorship meant until I met someone in university who lived through one. I didn't even know what poor leadership looked like, with how little I paid attention to how my own country was run, let alone the one below me. But now as an adult, with a passion for politics and social justice that I didn't have all those years ago, I understand this story a hell of a lot better. I can understand their anger, their need for rebellion, the fear they face every day. Living in Canada I definitely don't experience those things first hand, but I have seen it in the real world now, and I know what it means. So while I was a little scared that reading this from the lens of someone who had grown up would ruin this series for me, it actually gave me an even deeper appreciation for them and I found it to be a lot more valuable than I did then. The first time I saw this story the same way the people of the Capitol did, as a love story. But now I understand the people of the districts, and I'm actually really looking forward to re-reading the other books before Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes comes out, if only to see how much of this story I missed when I was really only in it for the romance

3.5⭐️


Read for O.W.L.s Magical Readathon - Muggle Studies: read a book from the perspective of a muggle (see my O.W.L.s TBR video here)

This was good. Not great, kind of boring to be honest, but I think it’s a good set up for better things to come