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when will YA authors realize that the mr. darcy fantasy isn’t “hot rich guy is a huge dick to you” but “hot rich guy fucking respects and listens to you”
[ R E F L E C T I O N ] — Elizabeth Lim
“A reminder that where there is beauty, there is also strength and courage and resilience.”
dates read: 06.15.20 — 06.15.20 rating: 5/5 genre: ya, fantasy, adventure overarching theme: mulan is constantly haunted and challenged by the underworld to face the possibility of destroying her family’s honor and exposing her true identity. only when she confronts her true self, does her real reflection shine back at her. ships: mulan/shang baby! otp for life! cool parts: lots of subtle nods back to dialogue featured in the movie but does an excellent job of pulling it in and making it nuanced in a fun way. all of the exchanges feel genuine. mulan is like a real life Hercules as you read about her traversing the underworld.
Fav Quote;
“I am Fa Mulan, a girl who would sacrifice her life for her family and for China. I am a girl who journeyed into the Underworld to save her friend from dying. I am a girl who has fought battle after battle to finally recognize herself in the mirror. And now I do.”
ACE OF SPADES by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students' dark secrets to light. Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can't escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn't afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power. Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they're planning much more than a high-school game...
Last read:
Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Number of Pages: 374
Rating: ★★★☆☆
First published: September 14, 2008
Read: April 19, 2022 - May 12, 2022
Thoughts:
First of all, I have to say the first chapter decidedly is not an inducement to keep reading the novel. It seemed like a first draft that the author or the editor forgot to come back to and fix. It feel different than the subsequent chapters. Why the editor didn’t correct it or ask the author to rewrite it? I think that does a disservice to Suzanne Collins since I liked her novel, however because of this I didn’t continue with the book when I first tried it years ago.
I liked very much the reflection of how much planning, effort, work and time goes into obtain food and the mention of how much free time one has to do other things when one has the privilege no to worry about hunting, harvest, gather, clean, etc.
Another aspect that I appreciated was that it was pointed out that people don’t have much time to consider about how a despot government manipulates history because the primordial concern is to get water, food, medicaments and protection from the cold. Nevertheless, it didn’t passed unnoticed that in the school the children were only taught political propaganda.
It was great of the author to highlight that the districts didn’t have communication between them and that was a way to prevent the people from unite and remove the regime.
Katniss is an inspiring protagonist. It was fascinating watching her being the caretaker of her family, then Rue and then Peeta. I like the way she thinks and solves her problems; I admire her compassion and I felt moved by her grieves, like the lost of her parents.
I’m intrigued by Haymitch and I expect to learn more about him in the next couple of novels.
My only other complain is the insistence of Katniss of being oblivious to Peeta’s feelings for her. That’s way too cliché in young adult fiction, as well as the love triangle for wich I never care for.
Book Review: The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
(*** out of 5)
I read this immediately after I read The Girl From the Well, and I was shocked at the size of the gap between my enjoyment of each book. I was very impressed by The Girl From the Well and highly recommend it. But, The Bone Witch was a real disappointment. It was slower than I-95 at rush hour, and I might had given up if I hadn't checked the reviews for the sequel, which made me decide to slog through it so that I could read a much better book.
It starts out well enough with a decent version of the "person does not know that they have magic/ superpowers/ royal blood, etc. trope." I'm not belittling tropes at all. It's what the author does with the trope that counts. I won't go into plot details, because you can get them with any synopsis. I'll just mostly tell you what bothered me about the book.
As mentioned, the book was very slow. I feel that it could have been edited down quite a bit.I got the idea that it was padded to be able to get two (or more) books out of the story. To make matters worse, I feel that the book should have ended at a point further along in the story. There still could have been a spectacular cliff-hanger. In the main narrative, Tea (the lead character) is about 14-15. This part of the story gives the feeling of being present tense. However, it is inter-spliced with a series of scenes from when she is 17. The age 17 scenes imply some of what will happen in The Heart Forger. During one of the age 17 scenes, Tea tells a bard that she met the only two people that she was ever attracted to on the same day.
While the identity of one of the boys is crystal clear, there were two (in my opinion) candidates for number two. (I guessed correctly about number two, based on another common trope.) There is very little development in Tea's relationships with the two boys. They must be saved for book two. (I hope!) To me, more on the relationships would have really helped the book, especially because we learn that everything that Tea plans to do at 17 is related to what happens to these two boys. The two narratives seem out of sync with each other.
That said, there is enough good about the book to believe that book two will improve the story. Chupeco's prose is very readable, and she does well with world-building.
I'll let you know if The Heart Forger was worth the effort.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30095464-the-bone-witch