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★★★★☆ Not as good as the previous books. Slightly bogged down by too many locations. Emily's moral ambiguity and connection to Ikol was nice though. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★★★ I was listening to the last few chapters on audiobook (bless Tim Curry and his downright villainous voice) and had my eyes closed, and when that epilogue reveal happened, my eyes shot open like I was a Dead thing come back to consciousness. The first 100 or so pages of this didn't entirely hook me, as we had a new protagonist and not a whole lot happened. But once it really got going, I was very invested. Lirael and Sameth were fantastic protagonists and I loved them both so much. Garth Nix is phenomenal at writing characters that act their age without being annoying or cliche. Even Sabriel and Prince Pinocchio aka Touchstone were recognizably the same people, despite so many years having passed since the first book. The animal sidekicks in this once again utterly stole the show. As usual, Mogget was A+, but the Disreputable Dog was new and just as awesome. And their dynamic was golden. I absolutely adored everything about it. The world in this never ceas...

(I hate movie covers but oh well) ★★★★★ I buddy read this with Nana ! It was a re-read for me, my first read being in junior year of high school, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it once more! How quickly one accepts the incredible if only one sees it enough. Honestly the best thing about this book is Robert Neville. He's sad and alone and a little bit crazy, and I loved him. The poor guy deserves a nice long hug and a good ol' dog. He's such a fantastically complex character, and I really savored his sarcastic conversations with himself: Crossing your fingers, Neville? Knocking on wood? He ignored that, beginning to suspect his mind of harboring an alien. Once he might have termed it conscience. Now it was only an annoyance. Morality, after all, had fallen with society. He was his own ethic. Makes a good excuse, doesn’t it, Neville? Oh, shut up. *sighs contentedly* That's the good stuff, right there. The very ending s...

★★★★★ This book finally did what all 4 books before it failed to do. It made it to my favorites list. That was how you survived when you weren’t chosen, when there was no royal blood in your veins. When the world owed you nothing, you demanded something of it anyway. I started this with low expectations, to be honest. I had been let down by Six of Crows  and didn't want to repeat my disappointment. And I think those low expectations saved me just a little bit. While I still had reservations in the first 100-or-so pages, by the midpoint, I was sufficiently hooked. Honestly, I feel like the real problem with this duology is that the first book is bogged down by thematic set up that only pays off in this book. The plot was better paced, held more tension and stakes. There were real ideas here to latch onto, and real character moments that didn't feel too contrived or that they were entirely for the aesthetic. I felt myself begin to truly care for the characters an...

★★★☆☆ We are our own memory-keepers, and we have failed ourselves. Honestly, I lowkey hated the first two thirds of this. It was dreadful. Dreadful isn't even the right word for it. It was like a soap opera set in a middle school being relayed to you on the cringest tumblr account imaginable. It was a time capsule from 2009. #10yearchallenge to the extreme. There was no personality. The atmosphere was minimal. Not a single character had a personality. The passing of time as imperceptible -- months passed and I hadn't even known it was a new day. The "love story" is almost nonsensical. Their attraction is explained through exposition and the tension consists of the two of them sitting next to each other. How riveting. Just like the 6th grade. It was just a little bit mind-numbing. This was written similarly to Lois Lowry's  The Giver , and while I love most of her work, I admit that she's has a pretty boring style. It works for middle grade but n...

★★★★☆ Most of this book was actually quite boring. Very little happens; it was all just Rose just running around being angry. It wasn't really bad though. The characters are all fairly consistent and feel believable. The situations are a tad unrealistic, but not to the point that they're cringeworthy. Honestly, it was the very ending that actually made this book enjoyable. It was quite emotional and I admit, I shed a tear. My biggest issue with this series so far is the friendship between Rose and Lissa. Everyone says that they're the best of friends, and that their friendship is a great part of the series but I'm so confused. What friendship? This book seems to use its social hierarchy problems to show how hard it is for two Dhampir to have a relationship or how the Moroi need to start using their magic for defense. But what about the power and emotional reliability imbalance between Rose and Lissa? Rose is struggling with PTSD the entire book and Lissa is...

★★★★★ This was my second time reading this book, but because I originally read it around the time of its release, 2010, when I was 11 year old,  I didn't remember much about it. I only remember not really liking it at the time. I found the conflict to devalue Percy and company's journey and struggle. I found that the villain's motivations lacked profound themes, and had no character analogous to Luke. I missed the first person and the chapter headers. But most of all, I found that a book without Percy in it was not something I wanted. Essentially, this was just too YA for my MG mind. And I was also completely wrong. Rereading this was a really special treat. It was like opening a time capsule almost a decade later. I've changed, and therefore my priorities and preferences have also changed. What I found lacking in my reread of the original series was present here, and even better than I'd hoped. The thing I loved about this the most was the atmo...

★★★★☆  "Need covers itself with love, but need… need is never love. Always beware of the one who needs you. There is always a want behind a need, you see." This is an amalgamation of every YA book I've ever read before. It's tropey, cliche, predictable, and trashy. But I liked it. So, essentially, Rose Clary Hathaway, after running away with her mom to the human world (and her mom's subsequent "death"), is discovered and goes back to Camp Half-Blood Academy, the school where pure-blood wizards and their mud blood siblings train to protect the world from vampire demons. There she meets Chaol Dimitri Westfall who trains her back from flabby mortalness to god-killing awesomeness - but is a pure she can never be with. She also meets the Apollyon, Rowan Whitethorn, who is a stalker with anger issues, an accent of uncertain origin, and magical tattoos, but is against all odds her unwitting Mate™, destined to either be with her or destroy her. ...

★★★☆☆ January 9th edit: yall I totally forgot to rename this. Here are all the previous books in case you forgot too: 0.5 The Assassin's Blade AKA Celaena Sardothien and the Cross-Country Murder Spree 1 Throne of Glass AKA Celaena Sardothien and the Weakest Love Triangle 2 Crown of Midnight AKA Celaena Sardothien and the Most Mood-Swings 3 Heir of Fire AKA Celaena Sardothien and the Book She Remembered What Her Real Name Was 4 Queen of Shadows AKA Aelin Galathynius and the Sudden Romance With a Previously Platonic Character 5 Empire of Storms AKA Aelin Galathynius and the Horniest Road Trip Ever 6 Tower of Dawn AKA Chaol Westfall and the Book That Was Good Because Aelin Wasn't In It 7 Kingdom of Ash AKA Aelin Galathynius and the Deus Ex Army-Out-of-Nowhere Machina (original review before I read it) What I want to happen: ~Aelin dies and stays dead (good riddance) ~Dorian stops being a gross sexist pig, or dies ~Rowan can die too tbh ~Manon kills her ...

★★★★☆ I actually sort of liked this almost unironically. It's mostly the exact same plot as the original Twilight (with some major changes as well 👀) but the less dramatic narration made this a lot more legitimately enjoyable. My personal favorite character was male Bella, here as Beau , who was honestly a total cinnamon roll! His quiet introversion was nice, especially for a boy character, and I appreciated that. There were times when the plot was going just a bit too fast near the end where I either 1) forgot he was a boy and/or 2) his general apathetic demeanor made what should have been more emotionally intense scenes feel awkward and almost as if he's...a bit of a sociopath... Female Edward, aka Edythe (because it isn't a YA book if there isn't a name with an unnecessary Y), was nice. I liked her. She felt just like a slightly less horrible version of Edward, which she was by all means, a lot of the time. The other characters were pretty ...

★★★★☆ "We all learn, little woman, that before we can be old and wise, we must at first be very young and foolish." This is marketed as young adult, and while the writing style and pacing were definitely of that genre, the main characters were both 12 throughout the entire novel, which was surprising to me at first. The plot was well paced, though, and the characters well rounded, so it was not a bad thing by any means. I was drawn into the story and the world as soon as Cettie 's character was introduced. She had a gothic quality to her that reminded me of Jane Eyre , and her storyline gave me strong Mansfield Park vibes, which I really liked and appreciated. Unfortunately, I did not feel such about our other heroine, Sera , at least not for a long while. I found her initially more along the lines of the princess part of Barbie's The Princess and the Pauper: whiney, ungrateful, and ~ so unconventional~ But after some hardships, her character r...

Recap ★★★★★ What a wonderful Christmas! Of course, that end of the year fatigue and all the craziness of the holidays kept me from reading nearly as much as I'd have liked, I did have some good reads this month.   ★★★★★ (Descending from pure awesomeness to horrible awfulness) 1. Sabriel ~ Garth Nix   ★★★★★ 2. A Christmas Carol ~ Charles Dickens   ★★★★★ 3. The Fates Divide ~ Veronica Roth   ★★★★★ 4. The Archived ~ Victoria Schwab   ★★★★★ 5. Dracula ~ Bram Stoker   ★★★★★ 6. The Last Olympian ~ Rick Riordan (reread)  ★★★★★ 7. The Pirate ~ Harold Schechter   ★★★★ 8. The Dream Thieves ~ Maggie Stiefvater  ★★★★ 9. Pandemonium ~ Lauren Oliver   ★★★★ 10. Two Princes of Summer ~ Nissa Leder   ★★ 11. Turned ~ Morgan Rice   ★★ 12. Magica ~ Reynar Swan   ★★ January's TBR I'm going to start posting the next month's projected TBR (whether or not I actually follow it is a different story) at the end of...