I'm going to make a full YouTube video on this book because I have some complex thoughts. I enjoyed the book, but I also felt it was heavy-handed and erased importance nuance in doing so. The goal of the books was very obvious, and I definitely think that for people who aren't as familiar with post-colonial theory or who are looking for some kind of specific engagement this would resonant, but I have some questions about the presentation of the plot specifically. Namely, the final call to action seems very poorly considered. 

I gasped. I laughed. I cried. I was so invested. Every single character popped off the page, and I was just dragged deep into the plot. I couldn't put it down. So the book. Vis is the final living member of the royal family who was executed when the Caten Republic colonized his kingdom. We catch up with him a few years later when he is 17. He's just trying to figure out how to live his life and stay under the radar. But through a series of entirely surprising events (that are revealed to be very carefully constructed), Vis is drawn into the most elite circles of this society that he hates. He is embedded into multiple levels of secrets, conspiracy, and lies. He simultaneously has all the answers to the mysteries but also none of them. Vis is such an endearing character and narrator. I was hooked so quickly. 

Also that ending! How dare I need to wait to get the next book in the series. Islington has another series so hopefully that will tide me over. 

I remember enjoying this, but I don't really remember anything about it is was about. Terrible review lol 

This book was dull, vaguely misogynistic, and entirely predictable. I think everyone who has talked so positively about this book is just caught up in the weirdness of the book and has ignored everything else about the book. First of all, the plot, at the core, is women are always going to be in competition with each other and there's a limited amount of fame, attention, and love to go around with some sprinkles of female friendship is bad. Absolutely wild that people have enjoyed this book because the book isn't even critical at the end of this perspective. I thought it was going to be, but at the end it's just "yep, that's all, sucks to suck." Terrible. 

I obviously had to read Chuck Tingle's horror debut, and I was absolutely blown away. I read this in two sittings, entirely sucked in. The book is a little heavy-handed at points but reveals so much about the horrors of gay conversion camps and the extents of the actions of these organization to control young people specifically. The different camp survivors have very different ways of dealing with their trauma and their memories (or lack thereof) that cover the spectrum of ways people deal with religious trauma. I'm not sure if Tingle came from a religious background, but the way he handled religion and faith and people's relationship to those things was very respectful and nuanced. 

Spoilers for the ending here:

I usually don't like horror stories that end positively because that defeats the purpose of a horror novel in my opinion, but it actually worked here. I was very surprised and very satisfied.

Of course, being a Le Guin novel, this is absolutely excellent. The consideration of complex issues about revolution and economic systems and what works effectively in different material conditions. I made a whole YouTube video about this book going through a lot of my thoughts. But I genuinely, deeply enjoyed this book and all of its complexity and cleverness. 

This book was so much fun! It takes the story-within-a-story format but with a fun twist that sucks the reader in. This does the thing the best mysteries do in that the reader is given all the clues almost immediately but the detective still has to piece everything together at the end. The detectives are really relatable and the self-awareness of having a mystery novel publisher be our main detective was delightful. I think if you were a person who reads a lot of mystery novels you'd get even more out of it, but as someone who doesn't read a lot of them I still got a lot of enjoyment out of it. 

This was an absolutely excellent follow-up to the first book. The continuation of the character arcs was so well done. The twist at the end was believable and seemed entirely in line with everything that has happened to date. Jude and Caden continue to have this very complicated relationship that the reader never really can grab on to. The lengths to which they will go to protect each other but also to hurt each other continue to get tested and stretched in really interesting ways. I have no idea what Jude is going to do next, so going into the third book is going to be a great ride. 

All of the secondary characters became way more realized and interesting. Jude's self-centeredness becomes more obvious in the ways she entirely misses the actions of some people because she is so focused on herself and has written some people off as not being capable of keeping up with her or are otherwise not interesting enough for her. 

Jude is a true anti-hero in all the best ways. I love a good descent into villainy and this is doing that so well. 

Honestly, I have no idea how to review this book. Or how to rate it. I gave it a solid 2.5. Exact middle of the range so I don't have to make real decisions. Because this is a medieval epic, folktale, legend...thing. So critiquing it too harshly seems like critiquing Irish culture itself. But this was an experience. A lot of death. Not a lot of cows.