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typedtruths's Reviews (1.8k)
I wish I could start this review by saying that The Next Beginning lived up to the hype but sadly, it just did not. Time travel is one of my favourite sub-genres but the focus on romance in this particular book was off-putting.
My biggest problem with this book, and likely the reason why it did not work for me as a whole, was the fact that I just did not connect to the characters. In fact, I found them to be rather flat. Katherine was meant to be this incredibly sassy and feisty woman (especially in the 2019 timeline) but I just could not see that. Her sense of humour was oddly juvenile, and her interactions with Matthew, especially the fridge notes and dialogue, were more often than not actually quite awkward. I could not wrap my head around the fact that she was meant to be a professional, married woman when she talked the way she did and giggled like a schoolgirl way too often. Her voice was too reminiscent of a teenager - and a young one at that - so I found it very hard to connect to her or take her seriously.
Matthew was the better of the pair. I enjoyed his sensibility for the most part, and that he was a little more mature and good-natured. I liked that he was a solid presence in this story, and I felt that his character was more consistent throughout the timelines without being too rigid. I did not ship him with Katherine though, and I think this is also what let me down about this story.
For a romance, I found it very hard to care about Matthew and Katherine’s relationship/s. I understood that the point of this story was that their love was strong enough to transcend time, but the only timeline that I was even remotely attached to was the 1854/Crimean War timeline. It strongly disliked the fact that we were meant to ship these characters based solely on their past relationships. From the very first page, we knew that they were each other's “true loves” and ‘meant to be together’ so there was no real angst or tension. I was not anxiously waiting for them to realise their love for each other because I knew that they would. I found that this was most problematic in the 2039 timeline because it was used to excuse instalove. I know the entire point of this story is that Katherine and Matthew’s love is pure and strong and all that nauseating lovey-dovey babble, but that does not take away from the fact that Katherine and Matthew’s 2039 romance developed too fast for my tastes. They barely knew each other at this point but were somehow ‘in love’. Just because they loved each other once, does not - in my opinion - mean that they should or do love each other every time. I have massive problems with the fact that the Matthews/Katherines were treated as interchangeable. They are different people with different pasts, circumstances, and feelings. They should not be all lumped together.
I also felt that the switch in timelines could be a bit jarring. I found the mixed media element a little bit confusing since it did not say which timeline the document/snippet belong to until afterward. Sometimes, I actually had to go back and reread the section because it was from a different timeline than I thought when I read it the first time. There were also times where I just really wanted to stay in a particular timeline and not skip between the four, so that did get very frustrating.
Other thoughts (minor spoilers):
• The teen pregnancy was a bit gross for me. It made me feel uncomfortable.
• The ending was anticlimactic, and I didn’t understand why Matthew and Katherine would not risk going back for Clove?
• The historical fiction sections felt a little bit lackluster because the romance took the focus. I did not think that the Carlisle timeline history was explained particularly well. I really wish it had developed these parts more!
• My favourite part of the story was the swapped timeline bit. It was well-written and exciting. It drew on the time travel stuff that I had been hoping for. I loved the radiation sickness bit as well. As tragic as it is, I thought it was realistic.
Overall?
I am really disappointed by how little I enjoyed this book. Normally, time travel stories are the only sci-fi I am willingly pick up but The Next Together was too romance-driven for my tastes. I disliked Katherine a lot, and struggled with Matthew’s underdevelopment at times. I did like the different timelines but I wished they had been elaborated on more. I don’t think I would recommend this book for time travel fans (try Timeriders instead), but this may appeal to sci-fi romance fans.
My biggest problem with this book, and likely the reason why it did not work for me as a whole, was the fact that I just did not connect to the characters. In fact, I found them to be rather flat. Katherine was meant to be this incredibly sassy and feisty woman (especially in the 2019 timeline) but I just could not see that. Her sense of humour was oddly juvenile, and her interactions with Matthew, especially the fridge notes and dialogue, were more often than not actually quite awkward. I could not wrap my head around the fact that she was meant to be a professional, married woman when she talked the way she did and giggled like a schoolgirl way too often. Her voice was too reminiscent of a teenager - and a young one at that - so I found it very hard to connect to her or take her seriously.
Matthew was the better of the pair. I enjoyed his sensibility for the most part, and that he was a little more mature and good-natured. I liked that he was a solid presence in this story, and I felt that his character was more consistent throughout the timelines without being too rigid. I did not ship him with Katherine though, and I think this is also what let me down about this story.
For a romance, I found it very hard to care about Matthew and Katherine’s relationship/s. I understood that the point of this story was that their love was strong enough to transcend time, but the only timeline that I was even remotely attached to was the 1854/Crimean War timeline. It strongly disliked the fact that we were meant to ship these characters based solely on their past relationships. From the very first page, we knew that they were each other's “true loves” and ‘meant to be together’ so there was no real angst or tension. I was not anxiously waiting for them to realise their love for each other because I knew that they would. I found that this was most problematic in the 2039 timeline because it was used to excuse instalove. I know the entire point of this story is that Katherine and Matthew’s love is pure and strong and all that nauseating lovey-dovey babble, but that does not take away from the fact that Katherine and Matthew’s 2039 romance developed too fast for my tastes. They barely knew each other at this point but were somehow ‘in love’. Just because they loved each other once, does not - in my opinion - mean that they should or do love each other every time. I have massive problems with the fact that the Matthews/Katherines were treated as interchangeable. They are different people with different pasts, circumstances, and feelings. They should not be all lumped together.
I also felt that the switch in timelines could be a bit jarring. I found the mixed media element a little bit confusing since it did not say which timeline the document/snippet belong to until afterward. Sometimes, I actually had to go back and reread the section because it was from a different timeline than I thought when I read it the first time. There were also times where I just really wanted to stay in a particular timeline and not skip between the four, so that did get very frustrating.
Other thoughts (minor spoilers):
• The teen pregnancy was a bit gross for me. It made me feel uncomfortable.
• The ending was anticlimactic, and I didn’t understand why Matthew and Katherine would not risk going back for Clove?
• The historical fiction sections felt a little bit lackluster because the romance took the focus. I did not think that the Carlisle timeline history was explained particularly well. I really wish it had developed these parts more!
• My favourite part of the story was the swapped timeline bit. It was well-written and exciting. It drew on the time travel stuff that I had been hoping for. I loved the radiation sickness bit as well. As tragic as it is, I thought it was realistic.
Overall?
I am really disappointed by how little I enjoyed this book. Normally, time travel stories are the only sci-fi I am willingly pick up but The Next Together was too romance-driven for my tastes. I disliked Katherine a lot, and struggled with Matthew’s underdevelopment at times. I did like the different timelines but I wished they had been elaborated on more. I don’t think I would recommend this book for time travel fans (try Timeriders instead), but this may appeal to sci-fi romance fans.
#2) The Tea Dragon Festival ★★★★★
this is one of the most gorgeous pieces of art i have ever laid my eyes on
➸ Trigger warnings for
▷ Representation: Greta (mc) is a sapphic woc; Minette (li) is sapphic and has amnesia; Erik (mc) is a wheelchair user and in a m/m relationship with Hesekiel (sc).
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“The thought was this: that all my life had been murk and depths, but I was not a part of that dark water. I was a creature within it.”
2020 is blessing me with some truly beautiful books
quick thoughts : 4.5 stars
• An author's writing style makes or breaks a book for me; it's integral to my overall enjoyment, so it says a lot that I immediately wanted to read everything and anything Madeline Miller ever penned. Her writing was gorgeous, so lush and poetic and haunting. I highlighted almost every single page. It drew me in and felt like reading the original Odyssey: a fairytale, an epic poem being recounted to me as a bedtime story.
• I couldn’t but thinking of Taylor Jenkins Reid. Miller has a similar way of writing a story you know is a fictional biography but making them feel so vivid and real, it’s a shock to close the book and be pulled out of the story, realising you weren’t watching a documentary or experiencing the life of a real person. Combine that feeling with Katherine Arden’s way of making the unreal feel not just possible but unequivocally truthful, and her way with creating a setting that feels like a person, and you have this gem.
• It was a little slow though, and I was scared of getting bored the whole time… without actually getting bored? I didn’t know where the story was going to go and I wish it had more structure... but even I don’t know what that really means or would have looked like. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I did leave this wanting a little something more but I have no idea what the fuck that actually is??
• I just adored Circe. This was a book about motherhood and learning that family is the family you choose, not your blood. The mistakes and flaws of your blood aren’t you own. You get to make your way. It was so hopeful.
• The nods to the other figures from greek mythology were like cameos in your favourite tv show. I don’t know how true to the myths and history Madeline Miller stood because I’m not too familiar with Circe outside of The Odyssey but I loved how real she made it feel
• I also realllllllly loved the depiction of Odysseus and Telemachus. The feminist take and emphasis on how heroic men are depicted in myth (especially compared to the women) were just so. damn. good!
• overall, how soon is too soon to reread this masterpiece?
➸ Trigger warnings for
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#2) Tunnel of Bones ★★★★☆
Reread #1 (Jan 2020): ★★★★☆
This was exactly like I remembered it. I adore our fierce Grffyindor Cassidy and her best friend, the ghost, Jacob, who is permanently wearing a Captain American shirt. The Scotland setting is amazing and the world-building flawless. It’s fast-paced and exciting but with a lot of layers and hope and heart. I love Lara and hope this isn’t the last we see of her. I didn’t need to reread it but I’m not sorry I did.
➸ Trigger warnings for
▷ Representation: Lara (sc) is Scottish-Indian.
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2.5 stars
i'm really not sure how i feel about this one yet... and edit: a month later, I still don't.
quick thoughts:
• I hate when I finish books feeling like this: I liked it okay but I didn’t enjoy it that much, I almost put it down but I didn’t want to actually put it down… so Confusion, mostly.
• It ended like I hoped it would but it took me too long to get into that I'm not sure how much I enjoyed it overall.
• The world-building was different and clever and pulled me in, but there was just a few things that didn't work for me.
• I reallllly didn’t like Markos. It started off with him being anti-democracy and trying to kiss Caro without her permission because he heard rivergirls were ‘experienced’ and he assumed he'd be able to seduce her so she would take him where he wanted. I don’t know if that initial situation and his sheer classist arrogance put me off so much he became too irredeemable but I couldn’t stand him.
• This felt like a straight, white Christian American author wrote it and I don’t even know how to express that as a justifiable sentence and how it impacted my enjoyment but you know what I mean?
• ... I still want to read the sequel, though. so really idk what to think about this one.
➸ Trigger warnings formisogyny, slut-shaming, classism, attempted kiss w/o consent (op & discussed), child abuse recounted, arranged & forced marriages mentioned, alcohol consumption, blood & gore depiction, graphic physical injuries, dead bodies, grief depiction, death of a brother, death of a father & mother (nop), murder, attempted murder, torture (nop), gun & knife violence, stabbing, fire, shipwreck, drowning, kidnapping, captivity, loss of autonomy discussed, and war themes discussed .
▷ Representation: Caro (mc) is mixed race and brown-skinned.
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i'm really not sure how i feel about this one yet... and edit: a month later, I still don't.
quick thoughts:
• I hate when I finish books feeling like this: I liked it okay but I didn’t enjoy it that much, I almost put it down but I didn’t want to actually put it down… so Confusion, mostly.
• It ended like I hoped it would but it took me too long to get into that I'm not sure how much I enjoyed it overall.
• The world-building was different and clever and pulled me in, but there was just a few things that didn't work for me.
• I reallllly didn’t like Markos. It started off with him being anti-democracy and trying to kiss Caro without her permission because he heard rivergirls were ‘experienced’ and he assumed he'd be able to seduce her so she would take him where he wanted. I don’t know if that initial situation and his sheer classist arrogance put me off so much he became too irredeemable but I couldn’t stand him.
• This felt like a straight, white Christian American author wrote it and I don’t even know how to express that as a justifiable sentence and how it impacted my enjoyment but you know what I mean?
• ... I still want to read the sequel, though. so really idk what to think about this one.
➸ Trigger warnings for
▷ Representation: Caro (mc) is mixed race and brown-skinned.
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#1) Lumberjanes, Vol 1: Beware the Holy Kitten ★★★☆☆
#2) Lumberjanes, Vol. 2: Friendship to the Max ★★☆☆☆
#3) Lumberjanes, Vol. 3: A Terrible Plan ★★★★☆
#4) Lumberjanes, Vol. 4: Out of Time ★★★★☆
#5) Lumberjanes, Vol. 5: Band Together ★★★★☆
#6) Lumberjanes, Vol. 6: Sink or Swim ★★★☆☆
#7) Lumberjanes, Vol. 7: A Bird-Eye's View ★★★★☆
#8) Lumberjanes Vol. 8: Stone Cold ★★★★☆
#9) Lumberjanes Vol. 9: On a Roll ★★★★☆
#11) Lumberjanes Vol. 11: Time After Crime ★★★★☆
#12) Lumberjanes Vol. 12: Jackalope Springs Festival ★★★★★
quick thoughts:
• i'm a little disappointed there was another artist change. luckily, i adore kate leyh.
• her style is so bubbly and bright, and the colour scheme and the panelling were so beautiful. so it wasn't too bad
• this series is just so much fun. Ten volumes in, I should be getting sick of it but I honestly never what it to end
• I really loved getting to see the girls' parents
• It was a little plot-heavy for my taste, but the scavenger hunt was clever and I liked seeing Bear Women again
• The fox was also kind of oddly terrifying and legitimately gave me chills. I don't know what that says about my scare threshold....
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