![]() Much like the first book in the series, “Necromancing the Stone” is witty, snarky, and full of pop culture references that make me giggle. If there is a pun to be made, the author makes it with their whole chest and I cannot state enough how much I love that. For a book about a necromancer, this series never takes itself too seriously and ends with a surprisingly touching message about friendship and family (of the blood and found kind). The book series, I am happy to say, never strays into the overly goofy or campy areas either, despite the obvious fun the author had writing it. Sam is one of my favorite male YA heroes because he’s just so… normal. Even in this second book as Sam navigates the consequences following “Hold Me Closer Necromancer”, his newfound powers, and a house that lowkey tries to kill him, he never strays from who he is at his core: a good guy. He’s not a soft, sensitive poet, he’s not very suave, and often chooses flight rather than fight. But he’s sarcastic, nice, loyal, and tries to do better whenever he can. He’s genuinely a decent guy and I love how normal he’s portrayed, even with the whole necromancy bit.
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![]() I struggled with this review, no lie. Because “Iron Widow” is a vibe I love. You have this exciting sci-fi fantasy world with incredible mecha fights that, visually in my minds eye, are just incredible. I love visually exciting action and “Iron Widow” delivers on that front. But I wouldn’t call this book a feminist powerhouse that breaks the patriarchy. Or, I guess it does break the patriarchy through the easiest means necessary: annihilating everyone in the way until the only power left is Wu Zetian (their words, not mine). What this book is, is pure female rage. I love female rage. Punish the boys that hurt the girls, all day every day. But when a book is, supposedly, meant to be this strong female character that breaks a system that benefits from young girls’ ultimate sacrifice, Zetian doesn’t do any of that. Female rage cannot be the only personality trait for a main character, and yet, here we are. ![]() It’s been a while since I read the first book in the Witchlands series, and as such, a lot of the fine details were lost to me when I started “Windwitch”. Silly me thinking there would be some kind of recap in this book to start. “Windwitch” starts pretty much the moment that book 1 ended, so we’re being plopped right back into the center of a really explosive (heh) scene. If you’re like me and can’t remember a lot, will be left to play catch up for a while in terms of remembering all the various characters and their political alignments. Good news is, not much gets progressed in terms of the overall series plot that was semi established to begin with. “Windwitch” felt like its own contained story separate from everything else in this series, which I have… mixed feelings about. ![]() This book was delightfully cute! This YA space “thriller” reads almost like a sitcom, where the aliens look like the Pac-Man ghosts, the jocks are overly brawny, the nerds overly brainy, and the key to saving the galaxy as we know it is the love and innocence of an eight-year-old girl. Which can, at times, put this book on the younger side of the YA side of things, but more on that in a bit. We are told the story of young Max, his two friends, and little sister being abducted in a humorous 1st person POV after the fact. As in, the book starts at an inciting incident, Max says, “ok, but let’s back up and see how we got here”, and hijinks ensue. It all starts following a trip to Muir National Forest gone very wrong—including a pair of the most over the top “Granola Twins” in existence. The book is charming in it’s silly, over the top humor and scenarios—including many a bathroom joke. Although, I will say that having read all the books and seen the media this book claims as comps, it’s not a very accurate picture. ![]() I am very late to the party on this series, I have accepted I will be late to most of these kinds of series. In my defense, post-apocalyptic and dystopian YA novels aren’t my go-to genre much anymore. But I have friends who love these books, and, well, it was time. Plus, Mafi is such a beautiful writer, her stories so full of delicious prose, and “Shatter Me” was no exception. Though this first book felt very much like a “series” book with very little getting resolved come the end. |
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