The year is 2024 and from Decembers’ standpoint, I clockee in a little over one book a month (in reality I’m reading multiple books at leisure). There was no-book July and all-books October.
I’m done I’m done I’m done! Just when I didn’t expect to make my monthly quota, I smashed my goals! I finished my book for December! This is awesome.
Below are the books I’ve read so far and my commentary on them. Enjoy!
This book from this series had me kicking my feet. It’s the second installment in Holly Black’s fae series.
I’m going to endeavor to recap how this book made me feel. The feet-kicking part was when Prince Cardan pulled a 180 and proposed marriage. The rest of this book is about Jude continuing her climb from zero to hero to High Queen of Elfhame.
She did this by guts. She was determined and so she learned how to be a warrior. She stood up to (and unalived) her bullies. She learned to act while still in fear. She grew through pain and at this point in the series I don’t think she ever knew love. She just knows justice. And that’s cool.
Cardan made an entire island pop up as a flex. It was amazing. Also, he betrayed Jude last minute, which is true to the Fae values. The villains were captivating and so was the tension between “nations” and the near-war. This is a really good fantasy adventure book!
Here’s my naked truth review.
Ok. I get it now. Why everyone’s crying about this book. I cried too. More than I could imagine. My initial review, (all the way up to the near end)—was that it was slow, with one dimensional characters, and a protagonist that cries a lot. She’s a crier.
I didn’t “get it” until the moment she decides to break an abusive love cycle and chooses her daughter and herself, over a man that clearly loves her but can’t love her the way a woman deserves to be loved.
I get it, that she’s a true hero. She’s a strong woman who can walk away from the love of her life. She’s learned generational trauma and used it to fuel her eventual happiness. She ends up with the hero, the Prince Charming to her teenage dreams.
I’m more in love with the concept rather than the actual characters or main plot. The daily letters to Ellen Degeneres were more fun to read, but the rest of it was giving soap opera. Ryle Kincaid? Toxic from the start. A man can have amazing looks, a more than respectable job, be paid extremely well while also having monster characteristics.
In the end we have a choice to continue the cycle of self/relational abuse, or to walk away from the cycle. It really does end with us (me and myself, you and yourself too).
That theme of the book is what makes it great. It’s a truly great book with a shallow plot and one dimensional characters. The essence of it is golden.
This is the last book of the canon Folk of the Air series. Compared to the prior two books, this was less than submersible, very slow, with an unexpectedly rushed ending.
Sure, there were some unexpectedly cool things. But really, it paled when compared to the other two books. I still ate it up.
So basically Wendy Jr. travels to Neverland and has a toxica-triangle relationship between Peter Pan and Jamison Hook (Captain Hook’s son). The entire book is spent with her idolizing both guys while they torture and abuse her in their own specific ways. They’re two sides of a shitty coin.
Peter hurts her by action and heals her by words.
Jamison hurts her by words and heals her by action.
They’re both abusive! She chooses Jamison, thus choosing to be loved by acts and hated by words.
I don’t know if I could ever make such a choice. Those two characters are such extremes, and they do make up some of this earth. But she’s in neverland.
The notes I hastily wrote on the actual book ring true. Thats my overall judgment on it.
In the end Wendy Jr. has rebound sex with Peter, feels worse because she knows she doesn’t love him, and then she throws out every single red flag and sets fire (literally) to every encounter with Hook.
So she essentially ended the story the way she started it: baseline ignorant of everything and everyone. She was never innocent, just inexperienced. Then she threw away all the experiences because they hurt her. No lessons learned.
She never becomes her own identity, Peter never gets a chance to grow up, and Jamison never learns that piracy is not romance. It’s a bunch of Nevers.
Take away:
1. Learn red flags.
2. Fight the pedestal
3. Be very careful about what you choose to forget. There’s some things that you shouldn’t hold on to because they keep harming you despite being from your past. However, you you should hold on to the lessons you’ve learned despite what situation you forget.
The one you should be throwing into the fire or leaving at baggage claim is your old self.
Experience, pain, growth, self renewal.
I fell into this book because I am a Chicagoan and it takes place during a time when Chicago was being built. It felt so exciting whenever the plot mentions streets I know.
It’s also interesting because of the time period. Delia, her husband, and her affair were interesting things to read about but I literally had to put it down when they agreed on a triangle love/not love marriage. Something traditional in me got aggravated at the thought that her husband would be absolutely ok with her getting pregnant by her man-stress. And that they both agreed to be fathers. Like, no. I had to put it down because of that. It just annoyed me and aggravated me and I don’t know why.
I ended the book in a lavish hotel. Pretty cool right? I even made a video which I might post later. But overall this book was an immersion into the late 1800s early 1900s Chicago high society life. I really liked reading about Marshall Field, and the streets that were mentioned. Overall the book was ok.
This book has a lot of pages and at one point I had to throw it across the wall because the male lead is a monster of toxicity. Then I finished it unexpectedly because the book got less and less toxic, and more of a redemption plot.
What I appreciated about this book is the theme of marriage and relationships not being perfect, the theme of redemption, and the theme of working things out. The book was wise when it said you have to know your deal breakers and then commit to working out the kinks of everything else.
Yes this book was big and bougie because it talks about high society, marrying billionaires, and love transactions. But at the core of it is two people deciding to start over and be genuine with each other.
Personally, I would’ve left Dante because family is a deal breaker for me (which I realized in this book). But my dad (who’s amazing) is nothing like Vivienne’s social climbing monster father. So it’s easy for me to be biased and dip. I love my parents and the thought of abandoning them over some dude who ruined their livelihood is something I’d never do. Thank goodness I’m not her.
Obscene amounts of money do not cancel out toxicity and rage for me. I’m anti-rage. So if anything this book was refreshing in letting me see the intricacies of other peoples lives and allowing me reflection upon my own standards.
I want it all. A rich, handsome, loyal, green light husband. And why not?
Leave it to Holly Black to make all of her books center a woman. I thought this book would be about Oak, but really he’s just the backdrop to a girl’s life story. She’s a girl. I’ll call her that because that’s all she’s ever wanted to be.
But this is also her villain origin story; so she’s more than that.
The twist at the end gives me clarity that villains are human too. Or beings with thoughts and yearnings. Wren discovers she’s basically Sailor Saturn. And it’s her who’s had the power that probably overshadows King Cardan.
Oak is stuck with her and I see the reason behind her keeping him hostage. Holly Black gave me the eyes to empathize with a villain. They made her so.
There’s a book two so I can only hope that Wren reconciles her shadow and ends up becoming a good queen. Who knows? Her past is so horrible, so I believe she has right in causing destruction to those who abused her. And she did. Aside from Bogdana her un-parents are unalived. Unless Lord Jared comes out of no where, which wouldn’t surprise me.
The book was long and boring compared to the first two in Black’s fae series. I’m not hustling to read the next one. That’s all.
This book is so much better than the first book. It’s finally about Oak, and his journey. His whole life he pretends to be someone else in order to protect his family. His messed up dad teaches him to be able to turn on a psycho-warrior switch. So he goes on a quest with his childhood friend who he ends up falling in love with.
It’s about her but not about her at all. She has her own terrible struggles and spends the book being both powerful and powerless. And Oak, the Prince, eventually resuscitates her after she saves everyone else.
The reason I say this book isn’t about her is because it’s narrated around Oak’s self journey, and realizations about himself and what true love means for him: to acknowledge and accept someone for everything they are, sharp teeth included.
The plot is a lot of adventure and multiple villains and a nice return to Jude and Cardan (it feels good to know they’re so happy even eight years later). The book takes me everywhere; all over every fae island and even more. For as small as the book is, Holly has manage to bring the reader through entire worlds!
It’s entertaining. And I finished it in one go. I just wish Wren could’ve shown Oak the love he deserves, instead of moping and sulking the way she did. I hope that because they decided to be together, that she will change and become a better part of herself for him. Love should do that. Love is both acceptance and transformation. It is the key to helping one achieve higher states of themselves. She owes him that much.
Oak isn’t a villain as much as he self-deprecates himself to be. The only one who he truly harms is himself. For him, I wish that he makes the right decision and enters a partnership that will give him true love and acceptance too. I am doubtful because Wren has not done a single thing to benefit him.
But she’s all about being re-born and is in her creating era. So hopefully she recreates herself enough to be able to healthily love someone else. It’s hard to love another when you can’t love yourself.
Themes: self acceptance, recognition of love as acceptance and acknowledgement, and echoing the belief that to love self is to love others.
Overall this was an adventure book, and I liked it for all its immersion and creativity. Well done Author Holly Black!
There is some good to revisiting books you’ve finished. Mainly; you get hit with lines you probably didn’t notice before.
Also…
Professor Lupin omg. This illustrated version is all worth it. I’m not yet finished Re-reading this already finished book. More impressions later.
It’s April 24, 10:19 PM and I’ve finished it!
I am renaming this book “Harry Potter and the year of Misunderstandings.” Isn’t that a most fitting title? Professor Lupin, the best DADA teacher yet, was forced to leave due to a life of people misunderstanding him because of his affliction.
There’s the biggest misunderstanding: Sirius Black being a murderer when he was framed. That’s the whole premise of the book so I won’t expound.
Then there’s Professor Trewlaney who misunderstood everything but two prophecies.
He’s a boy! This whole time I assumed he was female. But beside the point: Crookshanks Granger might well be one of the true misunderstood hero’s of the book. He assisted Black in his hunt for Pettigrew, tried to end it himself, and even went as far as aiding Harry to have a Fire Bolt. And this whole time his malicious face and passionate actions were misunderstood as him being a mangy beast with no forethought to what he does.
My thoughts on all who are misunderstood:
Crookshanks, Lupin, and Sirius got a bad rep! Sirius was outright unfair. I’m glad he got time with his Godson, which is the best reprieve of having the most important people know you are innocent, despite what anyone thinks.
Lupin is a sad case of people being unable to see past an ailment (that may be managed). He is however, a deadly werewolf with high risk should he miss just once dose of his potion. As a parent of a child in the school, I wouldn’t take chances either and I’d send an owl asking for his resignation. Lupin was a good man for resigning. Too bad remote classes weren’t in the wizarding world.
Crookshanks is labeled as a beast and therefore treated as one. Ron wasn’t able to look past his nature. Labels are hard to overcome. Even if we do our best, in the light of those biased glasses it will all fit into the paradigm of beast.
Harry understood that Pettigrew needed to to honor his father, who would’ve not wanted his other two friends to become murderers. That’s a huge emotional sacrifice and it makes me believe that he really is the great wizard who cast a huge Patronus that drove away hundreds of dementors.
Dumbledore understood the situations, his limitations, and made executive decisions about a solution: using the time turner to save two people.
Can we change misunderstandings of the past if we travel back in time? Maybe and No. Lupin and Crookshanks were marked and had to jump hoops even even then, they were marked. Going back in time isn’t going to change anyone’s opinion about them.
Snape is always going to hate the Marauders, for what they did regardless of who they are.
And only a cold case with cold facts might redeem a man, such as what happened when Pettigrew was exposed as the true betrayer.
Misunderstandings otherwise become impossible to reconcile once biases are established: a beast, a werewolf, three bully’s.
Because you can’t be seen and aren’t aware, you can’t even modify your own actions with a time turner!
So once you’ve done it, you did it, and it’s done.
I believe the big takeaway from all of this is to keep acting as your best self, despite other peoples labels and biases against you. Be Crookshanks. Be Lupin. Be Sirius. And take comfort that those who truly know you have no misunderstandings of who you are and have become. Love yourself.
Misunderstandings don’t always have to be so Sirius. 😉
ACOTR. This book that has my coworkers in a bind….is basically creative fan fiction. I went with it as far as I could go. At first it was creative writing and the lure of watching a girl become a princess among two princes was enrapturing.
Until she actually became a high fae. Out of no where. Because the top four or five courts gave her some sparkly thing that revived her life. I literally cringed and that book went from interesting to predictable to ick.
The plot tripped on itself as soon as she became a fae. It just rubs me so wrong. Like it’s screaming fan fiction,
Rhys is interesting. I like him and his little sub plot. Everything else is trash. The author hyped up the Ama-something villain queen who basically lost her power and had her throat ripped out all because Feyre said “love.”
Ick.
I would’ve made a better villain than her. A Star Wars worm and typical spikes coming down on you is insulting. My tasks would’ve broken her mind. Involve unaliving her family. Force her to do the dirty on everybody in court. Make her 💇🏻♀️ herself like sashimi to the point of near death. There’s so many things the author could’ve ran with and she didn’t.
Suffice it to say that I will not be reading the rest of this lame series. All this slow burn to have everything resolve within two pages. It’s not even the good kind of whip lash. And what about that whole sexy night ritual? So much unexplained. Its messy writing.
The only reason I’ll even give this half a star is because of Rhys. Rhys is JIMIN hot and smart and dark but also interesting.
He should have his own book.
That’s all. Other than that: Ick.
This was one of my first fae books (not since years and years ago). It was interesting and very vivid. Sometimes way too vivid. The description of the rat king will forever make me queasy.
It’s an adventure book of sorts. The sex scenes were meh, but creative. The plum fairy jizzes different flavored goo. I wouldn’t mind that attribute to be bestowed on men.
I don’t have much to say about this book. It’s neither good nor bad. It’s not mid, it’s just there: like an art piece that you see at a gallery and soon forget. It’s art nonetheless.
The Dragon’s Promise
Finished June 22, 2024
Shiori’s dad and her bf Takkan do be making me cry though. Not just for their heartwarming words, but for the emotion and devotion that embues them. The “I would literally give my life for you” promise.
This book is a long one that literally takes you all over the world. Everything from the undersea dragon world, back to Tambu which her step mothers home land, multiple times to the demon mountains, the ghost island of lapzur, her palace and home in Kiata, and finally- the moon and Iro. I love that for her.
The book itself I do not love. I started this book last year and I didn’t think I’d finish it because I lost interest. It’s a huge effort on the authors part to immerse us into many worlds with intricacies and details about nearly everything. I don’t know why I got bored. I just did.
The story picked up toward the middle where there was a discernible plot and antagonists. The muddled plot line wasn’t lost under the sea anymore.
I like that Gen’s beginning was shown. I also love that the moon lady took her up to her home, courtesy of Seryu. Poor Seryu, he’s going to become a king and I hope he finds a mate that appreciates him and chooses him and loves him like me. It made me sad to watch him let her go. And I’m glad that he had a brief cameo toward the end, showing that he’s fine and there’s no hard feelings he’s harboring. It’s a wonderful thing to have hobbies and move on.
It was cool to travel everywhere in this book. And the sentences had good lines.
If anything, the author taught me to reflect on the function and meaning of Epilogues. For Mikrokosmos, I let Jung Kook do it because why not? It’s my story.
Back to this one. I rate it 4/10 stars for failing to keep me interested. The author is done with the series and so am I. Even if she released another book I doubt I’d read it. Both of us are complete.
JUNE AGAIN…
I’m barely out of my depression and this book had to go dark quick. It’s supposed to be fun and about a girl who does makeup and is silly and whom I can relate with. She makes friends with these two hot guys.
And the hot guys is where it gets dark. It’s a commentary on the kpop industry and the worst consequences of it. You probably already know what happens.
This is the second(?) book of the series. I want it to get light again. Can’t we go back to fun? Ugh, I finished this volume with a heavy heart. All that swearing too. It’s just too real and reflective of the dark side of Korean culture.
I’m going to need some time and a break away from this series before I consider going back to it. I have to, there has to be more closure and more comfort for me. I won’t even give this a rating. I can’t.
I MISSED my monthly book quota because my mind was hijacked by a mega hot guy with a big veiny penis. And isn’t that what this King Of series is about? I’m less than half way into it and this second book is significantly better than the last. Yes, it has overly dramatic physical reactions (like sparkles) and man scent tropes, but I like this book because the girl character is FILIPINO. How often does that happen?
And she shares similarities with me, more than any of the other characters I’ve read in other stories. Granted I make a lot more money than her, but we share a passion for writing. It’s her purpose and in many ways it’s been mine. We’re both trying to finish our life’s work. And we’re both stuck. I feel her. She’s writing an erotic thriller and in many ways so is Mikrokosmos.
This book is more subtle with the tropes, which I like. Kai isn’t dripping on a pedestal the way they wrote psycho Dante. He’s successful, well controlled, refined. I have yet to see why he is the king of pride. My best guess is that he probably turns her down because he’s too proud. More likely- they get into a fight and he’s too proud to back down.
Pride is a wall with a price.
I’ll let you know what I find out when I finish.
Just an update 8/5
The fuck! This book accomplished what the first book, with Dante’s unimpressive mirror sex could not… in like, two pages. I don’t know when or HOW I entered into spicy book world but this one had me hitting my hand against it. Not in an aroused sense, but more in a “damn he just says that” sense!
I also like this character more because he’s painted as a human and not some exaggerated ill-tempered beast. Kai is cool. More later!
Augusts book of the month is a manga!
I bought this manga (well it was bought for me) and I wanted it because the animation is super cute (as you can see, even if it is water logged – don’t ask because I can’t remember how it got wet!). The pictures are vivid and so intricately drawn with every scene having so much detail. I haven’t seen a manga this animated before.
Unfortunately there’s no real plot I can invest in: no quest, no goals. It’s just every day living with Hakumei and Mikochi. It’s a series that I won’t continue buying. There are scenes where they go to a market, make stuff at home, and go camping. It’s all drab. I finished it though, and that counts for something, since lately my life isn’t the most supportive of reading books. I give this manga a solid 3 stars, 2.5 but that’s mean. So it’s 3.
AUGUST AGAIN!
And here we are, two for two and at the cusp of 08/29. I’ve technically made up for July’s mishap, if I count HP1 as August book, and the manga as a substitute for July. I’m still at one book a month rate! Bravo! And what an unexpected delight to finish this. I didn’t have any intention to finish it for August. I was just casually reading and here we are! Once again: if it’s for you, it’s for you.
On to the review: I read this from the perspective of an adult watching three 12 year old kids navigate the adventures of a magical world. Oh to have friends the way Harry made. It’s interesting to see them as children, because they really were. This was a solid intro into the wizard world. Maybe it’s because I’ve read it at nauseam that I don’t have much to say.
I didn’t have much to say about the art work within the book (which made me get it in the first place from a book tok). The art wasn’t my style. That is until the three trials. I’ll include pictures below. The chess scene is a masterpiece.
Harry Potter is dated now. It’s an old story, an old book, and an old franchise. It’s managing to stay relevant the way Star Wars is, but for how long I don’t know. I can only read the same story so many times.
Reading this as a kid: 10/10
As an adult: 7/10, because I crave adult characters and their viewpoints, and possibly just a 7 because I might be biased from over-reading the story.
It’s still iconic. It will always be. I’m making our kids read it.
September to Remember
And the future my mind relies on (because it knows nothing else) might not even exist for me. I’m talking about God’s will. I’m writing while I’m alive and can do so.
This month has been rather different because I haven’t had the motivation to read at all, but I have found the spark to somehow think about the Lord God.
It’s been nearly ten years since I allowed myself that true curiosity. And so that is how I landed myself at wanting to read the Bible. However, my mind finds it extremely vast and I don’t have the concentration to actually read, and so— audible it is.
I’m not going to rate the Bible. That’s blasphemous. But I am going to comment on the new things I’ve learned from the plot. Genesis encompasses everything I learned from childhood Bible classes, and more that wasn’t spoken about.
My very first impression was that of sincere gratitude as I listened to how kind and generous the Lord is for giving us everything: life, land, food. And all things on earth were made for us to rule over and consume for our nutrition. That’s amazing. I’d like to listen to it again. It makes me feel so thankful to the Lord.
Genesis talks about creation, lineage, Noah’s Ark, Sodom and Gamora’s demise, Isaac as a sacrifice, Abraham and his wife, the person who got sold into slavery by his siblings and came out on top, and other things I’m falling behind on.
Some themes:
1. The Lord still granted so much mercy. Even when Cain did what he did, the Lord put a protection seal on him so that he wouldn’t come to any harm. He was willing to spare the entire city of S and G if there was a chance of righteous people there, however few.
2. The life span and lineage is a bunch of numbers and names I’ll never be able to learn without great and tremendous effort. People lived so long back then. The Bible chronicles every person too. I zone out.
3. The importance of a name: the Lord listened to Adam and whatever Adam named an animal or thing is what it was. There’s also the recurrent theme of the Lord renaming people he was pleased with. I think Abraham and Israel are prominent name changes for me.
4. The whole “my maid is going to bear a child” trope isn’t just my aunt-in-law: it was an actual trend among women who were barren. Abrahams’ wife did it out of doubt (she had her husband impregnate a slave), and there was a baby race between two wives where the second (more loved) wife was barren and delulu because she kept “having sons” by her maids: which is not your son ma’m.
5. There’s some rated x stuff. The two daughters who drugged their bio dad into having sex with them. 🤮
6. The plot. Like the guy who got sold by his brother to a “pick me girl’s” husband and she cried grape.
7. A mixture of 5 and 6: the black cat energy this lady had in taking her revenge for not getting a husband she was promised. She faked being a prostitute, and gained the father of her never-was-husband his official stuff for sex. So when the guy tried to have her killed she pulled a sly “the man who owns this stuff is the one who sexed me.” So she shoved it back in his face. Plot plus x-rated.
8. I’m surprised that monogamy wasn’t a thing back then. I’m barely skimming anything so I’ll be interested when it becomes law.
9. I’m six chapters from finishing the book of Genesis (7 is a trend and so are keeping track of things by numerical days and hours). Numerology is a big thing in Genesis.
So the book of Genesis ended with the story of Joseph (the person who got screwed by his brothers, sold into slavery, rose up by pharaoh because of his dream interpretations that were prophecy like, and ended up being the top man in all of Egypt “second only to pharaoh”.
Ok so this man, to me, is Mercy and Wisdom personified. He was put in charge of everything because of his wisdom, but more than that— he shows superhuman wisdom when reacting to his brothers who ruined his life.
Joseph did not blame his brothers, instead he told them not to be stressed because it wasn’t them who did that, but the Lord so that he could fulfill his destiny and help a lot of people out. That mindset is mega merciful, mega forgiving, utterly faithful and wise to say. His wisdom is in his faith in God’s plan.
Joseph is a real one. And I’m glad his story ends Genesis.
What is my impression of the Book of Genesis? What have I learned? I learned bullet points 1-6. I saw more of the plot, and some of it was surprising. It’s a big book with many stories that begin and end. That’s what makes it special to me, because it’s many books within a book. I’m excited to see if the rest of the Bible will follow this format. I’m not going to rate it. I’ll just say it’s vast and huge. Thank you.
October BOOKS
I finished a record number of books (both audible and ongoing) this month, and I don’t know how I did it! Below I’ll give my report on:
- The Viscount who Loved Me
- How the King of Elfhame learned to Hate Stories
- Imperial Woman
- Tales of the Celestial Kingdom
October Books: forgettable
The Viscount Who Loved Me
This is what I want. Exactly what I want. And the author of the Bridgerton series is known to elicit such emotions from me, but never as quick and Thunder bolt-type striking as this one. Oh, this is who I want.
BUT who I want is definitely not Viscount Bridgerton. It’s good he knows what he wants, is devoted to his family and doesn’t tolerate bullying. But—- I don’t like his personality at all!
Taking a few steps back—it’s because he’s an sexual assaulter! The first time he did it was because he was angry Kate was in his office. That was disgusting. I forgave him for trying to suckle her from death. But the scene in the garden and at her own home was— sexual assault on both accounts.
He’s crazy. So no!
Anyways this book deals with trauma and overcoming it with someone by your side. They both deal with mortality and having someone ripped from your life. It gets easier when they share this trauma, but I can’t imagine it’s ever truly resolved. Some things stay with you, and it’s harder to scrape off. But they’re happy now. And they can move on.
Their love-ship is very fantasy-passion. It describes the honeymoon period but if both people were obsessed. There’s a lot of devouring scenes. Of this I have no true opinion other than it remains true to this genre of novellas.
I do praise this book for the slow burn. I can’t tell when they transition from hating each other, to tolerance, to burning love. There’s no singular event that catalyzes the drastic shift. Anthony just gradually realizes he loves her. I can’t remember the story from her perspective but I imagine it’s much the same.
This book is a lot better than Benedict’s dry Cinderella story. However it pales to Eloise (which will always be my favorite), and Collin’s. So the order in which I like it makes Anthony fall to the bottom two, just above the forgettable Daphne (odd because I can’t remember ever having made an impression. Have I even read it?!).
Well. It seems as though the author is very good at giving life changing one-line sentences. She’s also good at transporting the reader back in time. That’s a general impression.
But back to Anthony. I do wish his courtship with Edwina was more dramatic as it was in the show. The book didn’t push that boundary and it would’ve been juicier if it did. The book is… ok. That’s all it is.
On to the second book of October:
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories.
I don’t think this book is inherently forgettable. It has forgettable elements. But it’s mainly so because I took too long to write this review. I finished this around the beginning of October.
This book is an account of multiple linear short stories that gives us a more in depth look into the childhood and important life events in Cardan’s life. It’s Cardan’s point of view.
There’s this overlaying “story” about a boy who loses his heart and has to spend three nights with a monster to break her curse so they could be together. The story keeps being retold in different ways as the plot moves forward. The final rendition involves us realizing that the monster girl has always loved the boy, and that the boy chooses to become a monster too so that the both of them escape. Something like that.
That’s not the story he hates. He hates disingenuity. Mainly: the fox dudes “say it as you go” talent of making any life event into dramatic. He steals Nicasia away and makes an story out of it, and that’s what he hates.
There’s other things that attest to his character, such as him setting the mortal slave who used to beat him free. A real villain would be short sighted and not do such a caring thing toward a people he despises. Carden looks down on humans, but he doesn’t despise them the way he thinks he does. Except Jude.
This story also includes his first impressions of Jude and a jump forward in time to when they’re already married and living their fae life together. He’s supportive of her in all ways, even when he disagrees with her.
Carden was a being who was forced to play a villain in order to survive. But his true nature is that he’s a fae who can sometimes be cruel, and has cruel tendencies. But his heart is not made of stone. There’s good in him. And I think that is the big takeaway from his character. It shows me that even shitty people who do shitty things are capable of love and doing genuinely good things too.
What do I think about this story? I like it. I like it because I love the series, and this gives extended epilogues and prologues. Nothing big. Just my steady affinity toward Holly Black books.
I finished a record number of books (both audible, ongoing, and new) in October. And I don’t know how I did it!
October again: Tales of the Celestial Kingdom
There’s a specific word for this type of book. I’m going to make my own name for it and say it’s a “para log”. The book is a series of stories that happen before and after the main two books.
The very first short story was about Xinyin’s parents: the moon goddess and Houyi. It took a while to get into, but by the end I was reminded of why I truly love this author, Sue Lynn Tan.
Her writing is just so beautiful. It really submersed you into different timelines within the plot, if you give it some patience. Each short story revolves around the perspective of one character. The stories are about side characters too.
I’m writing this a month or so after I finished the book, so my memory about the short stories is hazy. I do remember it went into the time when they had to save the emperor. I’m just going to speak about what I remember: the best and last story was about how Liwei allowed Wenzhi to live a mortal life and be restored as an immortal.
This epilogue was the king of epilogues. It really showed full closure about the romance between Liwei and Xingyin. And as I’ve always said, true love is about relationships that continue even when the romance has to stop. There are very few Diamond examples of this.
So the triangle was resolved, and we get to see Xxnyin travel to the mortal world to live out Wenzhis’ life with her. It’s a touching romance about how love can transcend both memory and life. Wenzhi lifes out his mortal life loving her, and upon being restored to his full immortality and memory— affirms his constant love for Xinyi still. It’s all she ever hoped for!
Overall I am very satisfied and glad this book was written. It adds a good foundation, backbone to the main plot, and a sense of full circle completion.
Bravo Sue Lynn Tan!
Last of October: Imperial Woman
Peal S Buck is a superb writer. I started listening to this audio a few years back and never continued because it got too political. This is the year I finished it. And I must say, it was an impressive feat to chronicle the young lady who would be counqubine, raised up by her wits to most cherished concubines, and then eventually and Empress who fought for her country so that she could pass it on to her child. And when disaster struck, she became the Buddah empress which strove to keep a nation in tact against the industrializing westerners that colonized her lands. She lost that battle.
I love this book because it takes you through the psyche of a successful and cunning woman who lives in the imperial palace. It’s a look into what life is like in a Chinese dynasty at a time when people solidly believed that the emperor was literally the “son of heaven”.
Minus the boring politics, I enjoyed her ascent. I watched as she spun both the emperor and his mother around her finger. I witnessed how she gained power by being the blackest of black cats. I saw her defeat cousin (the rightful first concubine) and become the first consort. When the emperor died she assumed a co-regency with her puppet cousin. Interesting that I can’t even remember the cousins name. Was is petal? Pearl S Buck succeeded in making her obscure.
Pearl S Buck has always had a talent of transporting one to a different time and place. She imbues her main characters with so much that they do seem real. The imperial woman was real. The imperial woman had a name that changed to a concubine name and turned empress name by the time she had risen to the top. It is very interesting. For woman, a name was the title.
I don’t have much of a critique other than what compliments I just said. This massive plot of a book is indeed Imperial.
November: Then She was Gone (finished 11/13)
It’s all kinds of messed up. Laurel sucks for choosing favorites (constantly being an asshole to her surviving daughter), and using her dead child’s baby to fully resolve her grief. Poppy, the child’s child, is written so poorly that she’s unrealistic. Who in this world is 9 years old and consistently behaves like a 30 year old? Not even 30 year olds are as mature and posh as Poppy. And yet Poppy moves on so smoothly when her entire existence as a kid goes off and.. offs himself?
Noelle the evil shitbag batshit crazy murderer is just that- a shitbag. She’s got a mental illness, but what makes her evil is her stupid personality. There’s mental and there’s crazy. She’s literally crazy.
Her boyfriend turned accidental murderer / loving father of Poppy— he’s just— he gave up too easily. If he loved Laurel so much and his kid so much he shouldn’t have just done that weird abandonment for both of them type shit. He’s tortured, sure. But that weird exit, it was just all types of meh.
Hanna is a dick for dating her dead sisters boyfriend. Theo is a small micro penis for dating his dead girlfriends sister. I get that he’s hot, and people use hotness as the foundation for love-ships, but no.
The two people I hate the least are of course poor Ellie, who’s just a literal innocent child— and her dad. If her dad is a golden retriever type dude who doesn’t know how to be rude or entirely messy that’s just who he is. His only sin was not grieving the way a Laurel wanted him to grieve. Then he went and moved on with a nice lady.
The other characters are inconsequential.
This story, the abduction and murder and reasoning are all so dark and just….dark.
I suppose I kept reading it because I couldn’t stop, like crime tv shows. It’s not good for the soul but you do it anyway.
It’s written in perspectives. And because of that I should spend some time questioning these perspectives. What was real and what wasn’t?
Anyone who can’t love but desperately needs love (like stank bitch Noelle) or my ex boyfriend who caused someone to ‘off herself’ inside a church—- is dangerous.
None of this helps me move on into thinking healthily about finding a new partner.
I read this for my very first book club at work. Before this, I read verity (ten thousand times more intense and still just as gross). It made a little nod to Lovely Bones. And it’s sort of in that genre, except not supernatural.
The title. Then she was gone. It’s also a title that doesn’t really stick to anything in the book. It’s like saying “good, how are you?” In response to someone saying “how are you?”.
I never once read a book I couldn’t put down, and at the end declared it trash. This was a first. Not much else to say and maybe because my mind can’t process it fully.
Just— no.
DECEMBER
Okay so this is going to be part 2 (I started my review a few months ago, scroll up). This book is more or less me. The female protagonist is a Filipino female who has been working on a book (her life’s work), deals with self esteem issues due to having rarely finished what she starts, and is in a “I don’t know where my life is going” mode. She meets a wonderful man who is the king of pride, except the pride part isn’t a sin.
What surprised me is how healthy Kai Young is. He’s proud, but it isn’t to a fault when it comes to relationships. He’s really healthy for her and that’s amazing. He’s proud of her. He defends her. He encourages her. It’s what I want (along with the spice and wealth!)
Let’s move on to concepts. I like how the book that Obscenely rich people are just people with the same range of emotions, but with more power to do more stuff.
Kai is a king, that’s for sure. But he uses his pride as his strength. He’s not a jerk. He’s moral. He’s polite. He’s absolutely amazing at everything he does. He prides himself at being the best. And I respect that because he doesn’t look down on people. That kind of pride is ok to me. It’s not a sin!
Isabella deals with her hard-to-deal with sibling, has a hard time finishing her goals, and is very independent. She’s an heiress with principles. She allows her poor self esteem to motivate her to break up with Kai and that’s something I’d never do. She has no pride and that’s her downfall.
I think for Isabella it’s a journey to getting pride, to finding the motivation to do what she set out to do. Kai submitted her novel and getting positive feedback from a publisher is what gave her the momentum to finish it. I get that. I get how important validation and praise can be.
I had more thoughts about this book. Honestly I did. It’s a surprisingly easy and quick read. I finished it when I didn’t think I would. It’s got spice. It has a window into a healthy relationship. It has everything. I thought it was an entertaining read.
If I summon any of the meaningful thoughts I had while reading it then I will add it to this blog. But really, that’s my impression for now.
Thank you for staying with me on my monthly book journey!
I finished. I finished what I started. And I also finished the first draft to mikrokosmos, so I’m ending this year ending many things. 🙂
Speaking of endings: I like how the end of the book is just Kai proposing. It ends with the “will you marry me obviously I will” question, and nothing more. It doesn’t get farther than that. And I like it as an ending, even as an epilogue. This book resonates with me and my life. I’m satisfied.
2024, fin.
Jeonin & Majuning 
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