Currently reading
The Friday Society
Traitor's Son
The Thousand Names
What Really Happened in Peru
The Rise of Renegade X
This was very, very well written. Don't read if you have a propensity towards nightmares and despair over the depravity of men.
This is a really thoughtful character exploration. It's set before the events of [b:Unspoken|10866624|Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy, #1)|Sarah Rees Brennan|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333397426s/10866624.jpg|15781826], following some of the same characters. We see them in their natural habitat, so to speak, before all hell breaks out in the main series. (Ahahaha, not that all hell doesn't break out in this one. Kami, amirite?)
I'm not sure if this would work very well as a stand-alone piece, but oh it fits so elegant with Unspoken. I'm trying not to make this into a list of spoilers, so I just deleted the list of "things i loved". However, I think all of the things I love fall under the heading of how AWARE the author is of the nuances of people and tropes. Like how Kami's bad romance with a college guy doesn't go the "expected way," (and how I didn't realize I'd expected it until it didn't happen,) and how Kami and Angela wound each other when they see each other as Character Roles, and anything with Rusty.
To sum up: if you read this, you should read Unspoken as well. But you should always read Unspoken.
This book is so grounded in the city, and in New York in particular. It fills me with joy. A very fun book. (Also, CITY.)
My ships are currently Jem/Happiness
Will/Happiness
Tessa/Whoever she goddamn please
Magnus/Everyone
Henry/Charlotte/Happiness
Jessamine/Sense
Sophie/Safety
So really not much changed from the last book.
This book was for me, this weekend, the perfect book. I was feeling very low, and the book made me laugh and love the characters and invest fully. So thank you to the author for writing it.And I am QUITE distressed that I will have to wait so very LONG for the next book. We wants it, precious, we wants it.
This was written to be fun, and I think it succeeded. A fun, colourful, enjoyable romp of a romance. *I liked the minions.* However, I felt it didn't really deal with the ethical issues around mind control, which makes me uneasy. Maybe if there had been just a paragraph more to explain that she knew that she was ostensibly controlled and found it funny? I don't know.
I am fascinated by how often Diana Wynne Jones creates people who I would consider unpleasant in any other circumstance-- liars and cheats, unfaithful and lazy-- and makes me identify with them. And it's not that I think their failures are interesting (it's not the bad boy effect) they just serve to make the characters REAL. She is SO good at that.
