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2.7/5

Golden Sower 2022-3 Novel Nominee. Fun mystery, although the frequency of the narrator's metaphors made me wonder when it's supposed to take place. Don't know if I would've liked it as much if not for the audiobook. Didn't care for the whole “smart sporty Not Girly Ever” twin and the corresponding witless twin. Pro-police throughout (imagine if a different kind of kid had been so involved) and church-y at the end.

I read this book because a student lent it to me lauding it as an absolute favorite (should I label it ‘course books'?). Although I have Questions (12yo's ability to fool three different groups of adults?? “Spell Robbers”??) the protagonist's frustration was surprisingly refreshing. The note on which it ended for its sequel was awesome, too; I'm a big fan of that hero trope.

Also I'm really glad about the hot trickster dad that's the only reason I actually wrote out this review.

[cw: Spoilerfatphobia, bullying, emotional child abuse, animal abuse]4/5Funny coincidence to see another [b:Starfish 40611543 Starfish Akemi Dawn Bowman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529682481l/40611543.SY75.jpg 49731957] featuring an emotionally abusive relationship with a mother. I have a soft spot for Bowman's novel and a poor relationship with my own mother (involving fatphobia, too), and that's what colors my feelings here: I love 75% of this book, but the conclusion felt unfulfilling. Ellie's vulnerability and journey to empowerment are beautiful. She starts off shy and drowning, and through sessions with a rad therapist and the support of a small in-group, learns to love herself and make room to breathe. Her bullies include generic school bullies, strangers, siblings, but most prominently her own mother. That is the relationship with the most tension in the book: it's heartbreaking whenever Ellie highlights things her mother says or does to her, but worst and most emotional is when Ellie admits Spoilerthat her mother doesn't love her, and that's what moms are supposed to do. This is why the conclusion falls flat: SpoilerEllie stands up for herself and confronts her mother, and her mother apologizes, but what changes will she actually be putting into place? What therapies will the mother go through to address her fatphobia and how she has been hurting her daughter for so long without realizing it? What about their other children? Both parents have been aware of that bullying and didn't do much to stop it aside from one scene in the book where Ellie's brother is grounded for a month, a thread that is not brought up again - and the brother mocks her after it.Also unsatisfying is the tacked on nature of the final confrontation with the school bullies, who straight up kidnap Ellie's dog and face no repercussions for this. Where are the parents or authorities here?This is a good debut. I'm glad I listened to the audiobook, which had a sweet and vulnerable portrayal. The verse served it well.

this took me forever to get (read: skim) through because i feel a bit like i???m beating myself on the head with a hammer shaped like a white 15yo prom-obsessed girl and i???m not about that. like, this is super accurate to the worst of teenagedom, i think, but isn't even the mia we met in book 1

read it for michael tho. always here for michael

2/5

This is not a final draft.

SpoilerThe first chapter may be, and starts off strong with the image of Emyr's wings pierced, but the latter half of the book simply isn't finished. There are so many things that the author wants to do here, but with each addition the story grows more complicated and frustrating and less believable or thoughtful.

There's Twilight-style imprinting (which our protagonist is told is to urge reproduction, but cannot be because there are other couples in the book who either can't or won't have children).

There's a blood contract based on that imprinting (which is resolved so weirdly and suddenly that I had to read the passage over and over again).

There's blackmailing that doesn't appear to have stakes because of how blas?? Wyatt is about it sometimes, and how anxious others (Derek exists as a caricature, a Darkling-lite, and I didn't care for the Darkling, either).

There's a clumsy pile of secrets that, when revealed, turns characters into one-dimensional ideas (e.g., Clarke).

There's an entire secret society of magical beings which functions only vaguely (why do they have US currency at all? If they're technologically-averse, how do Briar and Wyatt charge and use their phones so easily? Where do they get the wealth with which to travel first class, and how did the fae kingdoms separate and keep in contact so long ago?)

There's immersion-breaking moments where characters who have lived outside of the human world all their lives speak like they've spent years on tumblr (and let me make clear that I have no problem with characters like Wyatt speaking in tumblr-esque queerspeak and found it funny, but when Wade says ???Absolutely ridiculous. This timeline is completely fucked. I hate it here.???, that... took me out).

Many issues could be resolved through simple communication; why, for example, didn't Wyatt tell Emyr about Derek threatening him as soon as he felt comfortable with Emyr again?

And through it all there's no sense of urgency or real tension. There's friction, there's an anti-witch coalition, there's protests and secret groups and contracts and an upcoming marriage, there's a friendship that suffers and begins to heal again within a handful of pages, and overall it just feels like Wyatt is sort of... fucking around the whole time.

The Witch King celebrates queer culture and friendship and love. But it also seems to promote an aesthetic in its cover and marketing that is not yet present inside - one of adventure or something tidy and grand. There's a lot to work with, but it needed to spend more time with an editor, to have cut some elements and expanded on others, to create a likeable, believable world and to feel more complete.

2.5/5

Had to drag myself to the end for this one. I've never seen You've Got Mail so I'm not sure if context would help, but I found there to be simultaneously too much going on and nothing happening at all. Sad because I'm always down for a good rivals-to-lovers, but with how busy the plotlines were the relationships here had little chemistry.

But yo the dulhan with the rifle tho.

ETA: Apparently this is the book which was switched into the Nominee list instead of The List of Things That Will Not Change. I was made to read this book because of homophobia!

1.5/5 stars

This is a Golden Sower Chapter Book Nominee for 2022-23, which is why I picked it up as I'm not typically into books with animal narrators. Read attentively up to 65%, skimmed the rest; I would have left it without a star rating, but I grew impatient with the handling of language in this book and would like to leave a note about that in particular. I know this book is not really for me.

Stella is narrated in first-person present-tense from the perspective of a dog. Stella doesn't understand human language aside from certain phrases, like her name, commands, and foods. She mostly makes sense of what humans and other animals are saying through body language, smells, tone of voice, etc. But human dialogue is rendered in plain English - not, for example, italicized, or left indirect - so a reader will frequently have situations where they 1) read and understand what a human character is saying, 2) have it reinforced in the prose with Stella's reading of sight and sounds, and then 3) have Stella misunderstand the situation and react at odds. There is dramatic irony and then there is cognitive disconnect. Basic communication problems as a plot device are for sure a pet peeve of mine, but I really wonder at the editor's choice here, especially since Stella frequently talks about how human communication is weird to her, and she wishes she could understand them or speak with them, and there's even a moment where she tried. To top it off near the end of the book Spoilerher old trainer, Connie, appears in a metaphysical haze and speaks to Stella which not only broke my immersion but exasperated my major complaint to another degree.

Two teenagers meet in an extra-dimensional space after their deaths. Through a TV in this room, they watch the lives of their loved ones following their passing, communicate the best they can, and learn how their lives were intertwined.

This was a tender book that wormed its way into my heart. The cast was strong; Kenny and Caroline are sweet and loving people, and seeing their stories unfold along with them was more affecting on me than I expected. I especially liked the characterization of Caroline, who wears her heart on her sleeve and chooses kindness after moments of desperation, as well as her brother and father.

I would've liked to see more of Kenny's past; I understand depression, especially as a second-gen immigrant, and feel like I was told more about Kenny's rather than shown. His father was also a favorite.

All in all, a strong character-driven book about grief that I would recommend for book clubs.

I was given a free audiobook download of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review. Thank you!

I don't like fictional books about mass shootings; I read this because it was the 2021-2022 novel winner of the Golden Sower Award.That said - this is torture porn. I felt gross reading it. It's like what [b:The Hunger Games 2767052 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) Suzanne Collins https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1586722975l/2767052.SX50.jpg 2792775] was trying to warn us about. It has nothing to say about shootings and how to prevent or recover from them, and only clumsily explains why this one is happening at all.Moreover, if your characters of color exist primarily for your white cast to be racist at them, I'd rather you didn't have those characters at all. Relatedly, it's “Islamist terrorist” not “Islamic.”

3.5/5

full review maybe pending? overall a satisfying read - loved the characters and the concept, although it takes some wincing to get used to the sacred geometry/tools - but the prose, for which i am always thirsty, is average. not generic-YA-voice, but not anything spectacular, either. as a result i found myself bored of the prose, but not of what was actually going on, if that makes sense.

zan and ozo are good. as are all the kids, but aaminah especially is my girl.