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851 reviews by:
verypeculiarpages
I sat down to start this book and next thing I knew I had finished the entire thing. This was SO GREAT. This was my first Nic Stone book and I really enjoyed it! It’s very relevant to today’s issues (which is super depressing considering this was published three years ago) but Stone is able to weave levity and comedy into this very scary and serious topic.
I loved the characters! Justyce was great. He was funny yet you could also understand his pain and fear and anger throughout the book. I liked SJ a lot and I loved her relationship with Justyce! Manny was amazing as well. The various relationships Justyce has in this book are all good—his mom, Manny’s parents, SJ’s parents, his teacher—and it was nice to see him have such a support system.
This book really discusses the issue of racial profiling and murder by police in a clear and concise way. The book is only 200 pages yet Stone packs so much into it. I think it’s a really important and powerful read and I’m looking forward to reading more of her books soon! Super excited for Dear Justyce now!!
I loved the characters! Justyce was great. He was funny yet you could also understand his pain and fear and anger throughout the book. I liked SJ a lot and I loved her relationship with Justyce! Manny was amazing as well. The various relationships Justyce has in this book are all good—his mom, Manny’s parents, SJ’s parents, his teacher—and it was nice to see him have such a support system.
This book really discusses the issue of racial profiling and murder by police in a clear and concise way. The book is only 200 pages yet Stone packs so much into it. I think it’s a really important and powerful read and I’m looking forward to reading more of her books soon! Super excited for Dear Justyce now!!
OH MY GOD I LOVED THIS
**
I thought this was adorable! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic. I loved Felix— sometimes funny and sometimes inspiring and sometimes brave and wonderful and proud.
I’ll admit that I haven’t read too many books with trans characters (very few that I can recall) but this one still seemed extra special and definitely made me want to search for more books with trans characters! I loved reading about Felix’s ups and downs in the journey to self-discovery and even more inspiring— self-confidence.
Ezra was great and I thought their relationship was frickin’ amazing!! Definitely cried at the end. And I loooved Leah (Lea? The downside of audiobooks is that I never know how names are spelled; EDIT: I WAS RIGHT!) so much! She was wonderful and supportive and great. There were many special moments throughout this book that I adored and I’m 100% buying a physical copy to add to my shelves! One of my faves of the year so far!
**
I thought this was adorable! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic. I loved Felix— sometimes funny and sometimes inspiring and sometimes brave and wonderful and proud.
I’ll admit that I haven’t read too many books with trans characters (very few that I can recall) but this one still seemed extra special and definitely made me want to search for more books with trans characters! I loved reading about Felix’s ups and downs in the journey to self-discovery and even more inspiring— self-confidence.
Ezra was great and I thought their relationship was frickin’ amazing!! Definitely cried at the end. And I loooved Leah (Lea? The downside of audiobooks is that I never know how names are spelled; EDIT: I WAS RIGHT!) so much! She was wonderful and supportive and great. There were many special moments throughout this book that I adored and I’m 100% buying a physical copy to add to my shelves! One of my faves of the year so far!
Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
This book, though set in the 90s, can unfortunately be easily transported almost exactly to present times. The plot line surrounding murder of Black people at the hands of police and protests are super relevant, and there’s a lot of great content and commentary surrounding that subject. This debut follows a Black teenager named Ashley, who grew up in a rich white neighborhood and attended the white school, surrounded by white girlfriends who are sometimes realistically awful. Following the events of the 1992 LA riots (a topic I am woefully uneducated about), Ashley is forced to rethink her friend group and her place in her family and society.
There are definite bright spots in this book that shows promise for the author. I enjoyed how Reed wrote the familial relationships, like Ashley’s relationship to her parents, her sister Jo, and her cousin Morgan. I also loved LaShawn and his role, though I wish he had gotten a bigger role sooner in the book. Ashley’s friendship with Lana was also great, and I liked the ending!
The downfall of this was the pacing and editing. I felt that the plot was clunky, and that the writing felt sort of random and out of place at times. It might have been the format of the ebook, but the narrative was a bit confusing when switching between past and present, so maybe the print copy will fix that.
Overall, I think this is still a valuable book for today’s issues and it definitely shows potential for this author. I learned a lot about the ‘92 riots that I never knew before, and the characters were interesting and well-written.
This book, though set in the 90s, can unfortunately be easily transported almost exactly to present times. The plot line surrounding murder of Black people at the hands of police and protests are super relevant, and there’s a lot of great content and commentary surrounding that subject. This debut follows a Black teenager named Ashley, who grew up in a rich white neighborhood and attended the white school, surrounded by white girlfriends who are sometimes realistically awful. Following the events of the 1992 LA riots (a topic I am woefully uneducated about), Ashley is forced to rethink her friend group and her place in her family and society.
There are definite bright spots in this book that shows promise for the author. I enjoyed how Reed wrote the familial relationships, like Ashley’s relationship to her parents, her sister Jo, and her cousin Morgan. I also loved LaShawn and his role, though I wish he had gotten a bigger role sooner in the book. Ashley’s friendship with Lana was also great, and I liked the ending!
The downfall of this was the pacing and editing. I felt that the plot was clunky, and that the writing felt sort of random and out of place at times. It might have been the format of the ebook, but the narrative was a bit confusing when switching between past and present, so maybe the print copy will fix that.
Overall, I think this is still a valuable book for today’s issues and it definitely shows potential for this author. I learned a lot about the ‘92 riots that I never knew before, and the characters were interesting and well-written.
“We are not blessed by the Goddess of Beauty. We are cursed. I don’t want to do this.“
4.5 stars!! I really enjoyed this! I was interested by the premise because the worldbuilding sounded so unique, but it totally exceeded my expectations. All of the rules of the world are so intricate and creative and I was constantly surprised by where Clayton took the plot. It definitely had a mystery/thriller feel and after page 100 I almost couldn’t put it down!
There are so many wonderful and layered characters throughout this book. Camille (Camellia) was a fascinating narrator and it was hard to judge if she was making the right choices because of her position and the pressure from the royals. There are a lot of twists and turns, and though you see Camille’s desire to do good and rebel, you still don’t quite know how each choice will pan out. My favorite side characters were Bree, Rémy and Edel! They all acted as some type of support system for Camille and I just loved them all. I also liked Claudia! I’m holding on my judgement of Amber until the next book, but for most of this one she wasn’t my favorite, though she did show promise at the end!
Sophia is truly awful. I was terrified for all the characters that had to be in the same room as her. She is a really interesting villain and I hope she gets some major karma in the next book. I also hope that Charlotte comes back into the fold because I would love to know more of her story! The one character I had an issue with was Auguste, because I was NOT into the romance between him and Camille so that took me out of those scenes a bit. But his arc still left me entertained!
Overall I’m really glad I finally read this one and I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel!
4.5 stars!! I really enjoyed this! I was interested by the premise because the worldbuilding sounded so unique, but it totally exceeded my expectations. All of the rules of the world are so intricate and creative and I was constantly surprised by where Clayton took the plot. It definitely had a mystery/thriller feel and after page 100 I almost couldn’t put it down!
There are so many wonderful and layered characters throughout this book. Camille (Camellia) was a fascinating narrator and it was hard to judge if she was making the right choices because of her position and the pressure from the royals. There are a lot of twists and turns, and though you see Camille’s desire to do good and rebel, you still don’t quite know how each choice will pan out. My favorite side characters were Bree, Rémy and Edel! They all acted as some type of support system for Camille and I just loved them all. I also liked Claudia! I’m holding on my judgement of Amber until the next book, but for most of this one she wasn’t my favorite, though she did show promise at the end!
Sophia is truly awful. I was terrified for all the characters that had to be in the same room as her. She is a really interesting villain and I hope she gets some major karma in the next book. I also hope that Charlotte comes back into the fold because I would love to know more of her story! The one character I had an issue with was Auguste, because I was NOT into the romance between him and Camille so that took me out of those scenes a bit. But his arc still left me entertained!
Overall I’m really glad I finally read this one and I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel!
I have conflicted feelings about this book. It caused me a lot of stress. It was slow going at the beginning of this, and for DAYS I struggled to find any motivation whatsoever to even pick it up. It was the slowest start to a book I've had in quite awhile. When I finished this last night, I was confused and a bit annoyed with it all, but after sleeping on it, I woke up with a strong urge to read the next book immediately and it made me look on this book more positively, so I bumped up my 3-star rating to a 4.
First, a sidenote. I've seen praises for the worldbuilding of this series everywhere, but I'll admit that I was pretty confused for most of the book. THIS IS MY FAULT. There's a handy-dandy guide at the beginning of the book that details all the different tribes and such, and it's SUPER FRICKIN' IMPORTANT TO READ. If I had actually paid attention to that in the first place, I think I would've enjoyed the book more.
OK, so moving on to why I was confused and annoyed by this book originally. Let me start by saying that I'm a big romance person. I look for romance in every book I read, and if there isn't much of one (or one I dislike), it definitely takes me out of the book (with a few exceptions). At the start, I could clearly see the romance forming between Dara and Nahri, and they were nice!... at first. Once they got to Daevabad and Nahri met Ali-- it was all over. I liked Ali a lot, and as the book prorgressed I really looked forward to his chapters. Ali and Nahri's dynamic is one that I am ALWAYS into, so I was cautiously excited. And Dara just got progressively worse. He was rash and rude and all of the stories about him just sounded terrifying. But still, Nahri stubbornly clung to him and forced me to deal with the conflicting emotions of being on the wrong side of what was looking like a love triangle. I DID NOT WANT THAT PAIN. But I couldn't help the fact that I just flat out prefer Ali. LOVE TRIANGLES IN OUR YEAR 2020 GOOD GOD!!!
All that being said, I enjoyed the overall plot. More so now that I've started the sequel. My favorite scenes were between Nahri and Ali (DUH) but I wish I had seen MORE of stuff. Like, we just skim over Dara and Nahri spending TWO MONTHS in the desert and suddenly she loves him?? Ugh. And then Nahri and Ali spend WEEKS together cultivating a friendship that we see almost none of before we're thrown into the thick of it. I just can't stand time jumping where it feels like I'm missing things I'd really love to see. The side characters in this were fine, but not suuuuper memorable (besides Muntadhir and Ghassan) but it looks like the sequel will definitely flesh everyone out more, so I'm exctied about that!
I was really debating against continuing this series when I finished this last night. Especially seeing that Dara would have a POV in the next two books, which didn't sound particuarly fun to me. BUUUUT all I'll say is that some Empire of Gold reviews are making me think I should stick it out.... and I'm already a good chunk through Kingdom of Copper! Hopefully my luck wins out and I'll end this series in a better place than where I started.
First, a sidenote. I've seen praises for the worldbuilding of this series everywhere, but I'll admit that I was pretty confused for most of the book. THIS IS MY FAULT. There's a handy-dandy guide at the beginning of the book that details all the different tribes and such, and it's SUPER FRICKIN' IMPORTANT TO READ. If I had actually paid attention to that in the first place, I think I would've enjoyed the book more.
OK, so moving on to why I was confused and annoyed by this book originally. Let me start by saying that I'm a big romance person. I look for romance in every book I read, and if there isn't much of one (or one I dislike), it definitely takes me out of the book (with a few exceptions). At the start, I could clearly see the romance forming between Dara and Nahri, and they were nice!... at first. Once they got to Daevabad and Nahri met Ali-- it was all over. I liked Ali a lot, and as the book prorgressed I really looked forward to his chapters. Ali and Nahri's dynamic is one that I am ALWAYS into, so I was cautiously excited. And Dara just got progressively worse. He was rash and rude and all of the stories about him just sounded terrifying. But still, Nahri stubbornly clung to him and forced me to deal with the conflicting emotions of being on the wrong side of what was looking like a love triangle. I DID NOT WANT THAT PAIN. But I couldn't help the fact that I just flat out prefer Ali. LOVE TRIANGLES IN OUR YEAR 2020 GOOD GOD!!!
All that being said, I enjoyed the overall plot. More so now that I've started the sequel. My favorite scenes were between Nahri and Ali (DUH) but I wish I had seen MORE of stuff. Like, we just skim over Dara and Nahri spending TWO MONTHS in the desert and suddenly she loves him?? Ugh. And then Nahri and Ali spend WEEKS together cultivating a friendship that we see almost none of before we're thrown into the thick of it. I just can't stand time jumping where it feels like I'm missing things I'd really love to see. The side characters in this were fine, but not suuuuper memorable (besides Muntadhir and Ghassan) but it looks like the sequel will definitely flesh everyone out more, so I'm exctied about that!
I was really debating against continuing this series when I finished this last night. Especially seeing that Dara would have a POV in the next two books, which didn't sound particuarly fun to me. BUUUUT all I'll say is that some Empire of Gold reviews are making me think I should stick it out.... and I'm already a good chunk through Kingdom of Copper! Hopefully my luck wins out and I'll end this series in a better place than where I started.
SO. MANY. FEELINGS.
***
“Congratulations, Manizheh, you’ve done what no invader has accomplished before: you’ve broken Daevabad itself.“
Oh boy. This was...A LOT. What else can you expect from an almost-800 page finale? It was a wild ride but I am really happy with this ending! I was able to close the book with a smile on my face, and this book definitely cemented this series as one of my favorites!
After being a bit underwhelmed by City of Brass but absolutely LOVING Kingdom of Copper, I had a good feeling that I was going to be pleased with this finale, especially after reading some early reviews. My biggest gripe with COB was the romance and my dislike of Dara, but both KOC and Empire took the story in a new direction, and my opinion of Dara was actually at its highest during this last book. We get to explore more of Dara’s motivations and backstory, and his actions at the end really brought his arc to a satisfying conclusion (though I know there may be some that disagree). His last chapter with Nahri actually had me really emotional, so cheers to Shannon for her incredible writing!
“Not wanting to be destroyed by despair doesn’t make you a coward, Ali. It makes you a survivor.“
Ali is my SWEET BEBE. His chapters have always been my favorite, and this book was no exception. It’s just impossible to not want to protect him from all harm (and he suffers A LOT, so it’s hard) and I couldn’t be happier about where he ended up. He’s really grown SO much since the beginning of the series when he was reckless and quick to action without thinking of the fallout; now he PLANS things and gets shit done and it was amazing to watch! I looooved his last scene with Mundtadhir and Zaynab, sooo frickin’ great and 100% the part that made me cry the most!
Nahri was excellent. She was somehow more vulnerable but stronger than ever in this last installment. It’s been fantastic to watch her adapt to all of the horrors and political scheming and emotions over the years and she’s just grown into an incredibly smart, loving and TRUSTING (!) woman. I love her a lot. This book was great for me since Nahri and Ali spend a majority of it with each other, and I so wish I could ramble on and on about how much I love them, but I don’t want to spoil too much.
In the end, I was very happy with this book as a series finale, but it just didn’t quite hit the 5-star mark for me. There were parts that were a taaaaad slow, and though the (many) twists of the plot were thrilling, it’s still a LOT of information to process, and at times I was just so frickin’ anxious I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was terrified when the battle was over and I realized that there were still a hundred pages left, but afterwards I’m so glad I got those pages. It made the ending not rushed and I was able to just take in all the extra details. THAT BEING SAID, I still somehow wish I had gotten...a tiny bit more? The ending is not really open-ended, but it just alludes to a future that I wish had been a bit more concrete. Don’t get me wrong, I am SO THRILLED by what that future entails, I was just hoping for that little extra something. Overall, Daevabad was magical and wonderful and I will definitely be returning again.
***
“Congratulations, Manizheh, you’ve done what no invader has accomplished before: you’ve broken Daevabad itself.“
Oh boy. This was...A LOT. What else can you expect from an almost-800 page finale? It was a wild ride but I am really happy with this ending! I was able to close the book with a smile on my face, and this book definitely cemented this series as one of my favorites!
After being a bit underwhelmed by City of Brass but absolutely LOVING Kingdom of Copper, I had a good feeling that I was going to be pleased with this finale, especially after reading some early reviews. My biggest gripe with COB was the romance and my dislike of Dara, but both KOC and Empire took the story in a new direction, and my opinion of Dara was actually at its highest during this last book. We get to explore more of Dara’s motivations and backstory, and his actions at the end really brought his arc to a satisfying conclusion (though I know there may be some that disagree). His last chapter with Nahri actually had me really emotional, so cheers to Shannon for her incredible writing!
“Not wanting to be destroyed by despair doesn’t make you a coward, Ali. It makes you a survivor.“
Ali is my SWEET BEBE. His chapters have always been my favorite, and this book was no exception. It’s just impossible to not want to protect him from all harm (and he suffers A LOT, so it’s hard) and I couldn’t be happier about where he ended up. He’s really grown SO much since the beginning of the series when he was reckless and quick to action without thinking of the fallout; now he PLANS things and gets shit done and it was amazing to watch! I looooved his last scene with Mundtadhir and Zaynab, sooo frickin’ great and 100% the part that made me cry the most!
Nahri was excellent. She was somehow more vulnerable but stronger than ever in this last installment. It’s been fantastic to watch her adapt to all of the horrors and political scheming and emotions over the years and she’s just grown into an incredibly smart, loving and TRUSTING (!) woman. I love her a lot. This book was great for me since Nahri and Ali spend a majority of it with each other, and I so wish I could ramble on and on about how much I love them, but I don’t want to spoil too much.
In the end, I was very happy with this book as a series finale, but it just didn’t quite hit the 5-star mark for me. There were parts that were a taaaaad slow, and though the (many) twists of the plot were thrilling, it’s still a LOT of information to process, and at times I was just so frickin’ anxious I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was terrified when the battle was over and I realized that there were still a hundred pages left, but afterwards I’m so glad I got those pages. It made the ending not rushed and I was able to just take in all the extra details. THAT BEING SAID, I still somehow wish I had gotten...a tiny bit more? The ending is not really open-ended, but it just alludes to a future that I wish had been a bit more concrete. Don’t get me wrong, I am SO THRILLED by what that future entails, I was just hoping for that little extra something. Overall, Daevabad was magical and wonderful and I will definitely be returning again.
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