Jasper

So this book was definitely boring. I get that not much can happen in a short novella like this, but the whole conflict was just miscommunication, which is a tired trope and is not very interesting. I found the drawings and design cute, however, and since it only took me a day to read, it was not a bad or wasted experience.

(3.5) This book was so incredible, the way Griffin and Theo were characterised, as well as the realistic way that their relationships with each other, as well as Wade and Jackson changed throughout the story.
It was so delightful to see Griffin and Theo's relationship play out, between chapters of the current day, 2016, where Theo was dead. The way the book was written, with the shifting from the past, when Griffin and Theo were dating, to the present, when Theo died in California with his new boyfriend, didn't feel confusing. I was able to tell what was going on and didn't feel like the story was throwing around it's perspective too much, which was good.

I found the complicated relationships Griffin had with Theo, Jackson, and Wade very interesting.
How his relationship with Theo was the best thing that happened to him, until Theo went to university in California and they got more separated (physically and metaphorically). After Theo starts dating Jackson, he makes a promise to Griffin that he'll go back to him once Griffin gets to university, which he says behind Jackson's back. It's really interesting to see how Theo loves both Griffin and Jackson, and how the things he does, such as teaching Jackson Griffin's special kisses, slowly reveal him to be a more grey character than once perceived by Griffin.

Griffin's developing dependency on Jackson is compelling, as he ends up flying to California to see how Theo lived there, and then has sex with Jackson as revenge on Theo for teaching him Griffin's kisses, which was personal to their relationship.
What seemed like a good, helpful relationship for both Griffin and Jackson, expose its rather unhealthy aspects. I like how Griffin tries to maintain a friendship with Jackson at the end of the book, so that they can still heal together, but be able to live their own lives and not rely on each other in such an unhealthy way. I enjoy how Griffin learns to acknowledge Jackson and Theo's relationship in a good way, and allows Jackson to keep his happy memories of his relationship with Theo.

I do have a lot of praise for this book, although its downfall is probably the eventual relationship between Griffin and Wade. Once I finished this book, I just felt unsatisfied with how it ended with Griffin and Wade slowly developing a relationship, after having sort-of-casual sex while Theo was alive. I feel like for this relationship to have worked, Griffin and Wade should've been given more history and development of their friendship, because before they kissed, I saw nothing that would make them like each other. All of the development of Wade and Griffin's relationship comes after the reveal of the fact that they had sex for a while. Although I enjoy the way Wade challenges Griffin's compulsions (in opposition to how Theo believed they made Griffin special), but I feel like there just wasn't enough substance for their relationship at the end to be believable and satisfactory for me.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. Unfortunately, it just didn't hit me like More Happy Than Not and They Both Die At The End did. TBDATE filled my heart with love for Mateo and Rufus, and sadness of their deaths, and MHTN emptied it, they did what they did well, and I felt good after I had read them. History Is All You Left Me was different. It just didn't have the same spark that the others did. MHTN and TBDATE had a reason. HIAYLM didn't have as much of a purpose; a reason for ending where it did, something purposefully written in a way that makes the reader think a particular thing. For me, History Is All You Left Me lacked that quality.

I kind of don't know how to review this series? Because, to be honest, there is a lot that's really messed up about it, which I'm too tired to go into. But for some reason I just...loved it??

Watching Neil grow as a character and gaining a new family (found family always gets me) was beautiful and at the end of the book I actually got invested in Exy itself, which is, haha, something I never expected. The last game did feel a bit strange to me, however, like the author didn't really know how to write it, but it still felt satisfying.
I loved all of the Foxes so, so much. It felt so brilliant to finally see Kevin losing his fear and becoming the ‘Queen'.

The only thing I didn't really like was Neil and Andrew's relationship, which just felt confusing and unsatisfying to me, but ah well.

The epilogue was utterly shocking, but also managed to complete the story in a fitting, if incredibly dark, manner. After the violent, shocking death of Riko, it was also lovely to contemplate on Neil's growth and change as a person and the future that he now had, that he never could have dreamed of. While some aspects of this book were strange or disappointing to me, Neil and his family, the Foxes, made it all so worthwhile to read. As messed up as this series is, I'm glad I read it.

This is the gayest Warrior Cats book I've ever read. Really good art, but the story was a bit lacking. It felt like it went on a bit too long, especially at the end with Barley's brothers. It just felt like they were stretching out the story to make it long enough. Other than that, this was a great book and I love Ravenpaw and Barley together, they're so cute!

[Some minor continuity errors, but that is to be expected in a Warrior Cats book]

I know that Michael Morpurgo tends to write pretty depressing novels, but this one felt especially so, until the end, at least. The first story was surprisingly tragic and the third story was also quite sad. I will admit that I wasn't particularly engrossed in any of the stories, especially not the fourth one (which I believe is called Milk for the Cat, though I can't quite remember presently).
However, the ending of the novel, with ‘Mad Miss Marney' was quite sweet actually, and I enjoyed that one, though the twist was a bit obvious and not done very interestingly. 3 stars.

Yeah so this reaaaally wasn't for me. The only reason I finished it was because I was already half way through when I realised I didn't want to read this anymore, and I'm really bad at not finishing books.

This book was just utterly miserable. I was not expecting such a gruesome, horrible story, nor the unexpected references to rape, as well as the incredibly graphic depictions of slavery and racism. It was a very, very difficult book with little reward for me; even the ending where Wilson chose to come back to Andrea, while sort of sweet, was tarnished by the uncertainty of the letter from Cricket and Wilson's surprise son, as well as the annoying cliché where the main character writes the book that you're reading.

I just did not like this book at all. I can sort of see how someone could like it, so I'm not saying no one should read it, I just wouldn't recommend it to almost anyone.

This is a really sweet book about found family, flamingos, and a carousel from the perspective of Kezia as she recalls her childhood during World War Two and tells it to Vincent who finds himself ill during a trip to France.


spoilers
I found the ending a bit rushed, with the explanation of Alan and the return of the Caporal. I feel it could've been better if just a little longer had been spend on this part of the book after Kezia's story had been finished, especially on Alan, since he was mysteriously referred to earlier in the book. Even Kezia herself spoke about him as an afterthought since she forgot to tell Vincent about him, and had to be prompted by him.

Other than that, this book was wonderful and sweet and I really loved the story about Kezia and Lorenzo.

Umm going into this I was not expecting what happened. This book is supposedly a children's book, but is so grim and depressing that I was often very shocked. I am above the recommended age, so I was able to deal with the dark themes of this book, but I don't know if a younger me would've. I think as a child, this book would've upset me a lot. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, but that is from the perspective of a teen rather than a child.

I spent most of this book thinking, ‘why am I reading this?'. This book was just so dark, so depressing, that I lost the point of it. What's the point of a book if everyone dies?? I get that there can be lessons to learn from it, such as with Romeo and Juliet, but this just felt sad with no redemption. But the ending makes it better.

The characters of this book are a mixture. There are a lot of characters I don't like, such as Thread and Moonlight, who are able to get away with their manipulation and mistreatment of Spider. At least by the end Thread frees the moth in his web to go back to his partner. I was honestly quite surprised as the rest of this book had been so grim with no apology that I was not expecting the moth to be freed, so it was a nice surprise.
Buster and the Flea were nice additions to this story who also unexpectedly didn't die! I found the whole scene with Spider being taken to be dog food a bit extreme, however.
I think characters like Jesse were, at least for the reading age, a bit innapropriate to include. Not that Jesse the fox was inherently a bad character, just that her death was very violent and upsetting. Even I was shocked and horrified by her death, so I wouldn't like to think how a young child would react.

I took about 4 or 5 years to read this book. Not that I was reading it that entire time, but I bought it and read maybe the first chapter or two and then left it for years and years. And I am so glad I did. This is not a book I should have read when I was a little child. It deals with concepts like manipulation, abandonment, ableism, cannibalism, violence, severe bullying, and more.

TLDR: This is a good book and I recommend reading it but not at the recommended age because I found it very upsetting at times.

This book is very similar to Tawnypelt's Clan, another short story from the Warrior Cats series, in that it makes it seem as if the main character will stay with their new companions, and then does not.
I understand that they can't really have important things happen in short novellas that many Warrior Cats readers will not read, but it feels like a let down to not have Daisy stay with Smokey and his children. The setup for this book, with Daisy upset at the beginning after losing four of her five children, shows that her staying with Smokey on the farm would be a good idea, but then she just doesn't, which doesn't make a ton of sense from what we've learnt about her and what she wants.

I did enjoy how this book gave some much needed character development for Mousewhisker, Daisy's only remaining child, and shows the effect on Smokey after Daisy took his children away.