Jamie
Contains spoilers
a book all filipinos should read at least once in their lifetime.
the story starts strong with a harrowingly grotesque prologue, and moves forward following a priest-detective hybrid tandem as they uncover a bleak and anger-inducing mystery: the monthly murders of young boys by a payatas serial killer.
i thought characterization was great. priests saenz and jerome theorizing the murderer’s methods and motives was always a page-turner, and i enjoyed their symbolic parent/mentor and child/mentee dynamics. ben arcinas was so successfully infuriating that i genuinely wished for him to rot in hell (i was pleasantly surprised by his redemption arc albeit i thought it a bit too swift). there is this one chapter — by far the most impactful and most demoralizing — where the victims' mothers were informed of their sons' murder , that on its own, i would've rated six stars. overall, i never would’ve thought a book following the investigations of two scholarly priests would be this interesting.
critique-wise, i will say that the first third of the novel contains quite clunky exposition but i found that smaller and smaller circles gets warmer and more insightful as you read progressively. things start to get seriously unsettling about 75% in the book so be forewarned. unfortunately, the weakest component of this story is its conclusion: it was too abrupt (though, perhaps that was deliberate on batacan's end, so that she could demonstrate how misfortunes never wrap up with satisfaction). on a similar note, i am fervent in wishing that alex should've gotten a less depressing, less unjust ending. but i guess that's the point of this novel: to illustrate how unfair life can be.
to future readers, don't start this with expectations of mindboggling mystery. i've found its qualities are more appreciated if received less for the criminal investigation unfurling, and more for its (realistic) reflections of filipino cultural faults. it remarkably unveils insight into the utter incompetence of philippine law enforcement, goddamn corruption, expediency, and complete absence of due process. as i read through the chapters, i thought that smaller and smaller circles might as well be a work of non-fiction.
such important thematic coverage of injustice. quite the heavy book and quite the wake up call. it left me angry. irate, even... more dreadfully, this book is a meaningfully imposing narrative of victims of abuse who consequently inflict abuse too... of a child so badly harmed that he grew up broken, driven to harm others in turn. the sad reality of victims of evil, and of how they wrongfully mistreated and forsaken.
2.75 stars
this is the kind of book that warms up to you. i found the writing overly descriptive and at a lot of times in the beginning, parts were unnecessary. but by the third chapter (which featured my favorite story), it grew on me, even if it did feel slightly contrived. this is the kind of book that requires steady patience to receive its simple, heartfelt themes. on another note, the librarian and her assistant are PRECIOUS.
if you asked p. djeli clark to write a bad book, it would probably still turn out pretty great.
at this point, i've read master of djinn, and all its prequel short stories and novellas so i was delighted to experience his familiar lush writing that paints an even more lush world. the more i read his works, the more i'm appalled by clark’s prose's vivid quality. as such, the dead cat tail assassins had me dazed. reading this was like — forgive my poor metaphors — watching watercolors paint an artwork, one brush stroke at a time. i could sense the port of tal abisi, the shimmer, sky's initial tower, all so viscerally. it's the type of prose that can't help but read so smooth and fluid yet has you compelled to pause and savor its beauty, word per word.
the premise is hilariously fun: a zombie assassin contracted to kill someone. except that someone is herself from the past. why? because some old powerful guy's seeking vengeance on her for killing his child-murderer son who was supposed to grant him immortality. it was weird. but so fun. the dialogue contains great banter with just enough back and forth, and with a satisfying amount of times it had me chuckling.
clark's latest novella is animated not only with his lush writing, picturesque world-building, and hilarious dialogue, but especially through his distinctive characters. eveen and sky are some of the strongest (and i don't mean this in a captain marvel kind of way) female protagonists. fennis is too precious. i mean, c'mon, a bad ass zombie, a baby-faced man, a sassy time refugee, an eccentric scientist, a power-hungry politician, a delinquent sorcery nerd, and one (or two?) jamaican-sounding fiery goddesses all in one story? sounds like a recipe for a good, chaotic time.
my only critique is that a great deal of the story was packed into mere 200+ pages. it almost felt like a number of the events and plot points that transpired wouldn’t have felt rushed if the story had more air to breathe, more space to live in (especially that one chapter where three new characters were randomly introduced, two of which killed in the same chapter). i have to caveat though that this isn't a major fault; i simply believe that eveen's adventures would be appreciated and relished much more in a longer format.
throughout the entire book, my brain could not stop wondering (in the most fun way possible), "how is this happening?", and that pretty much synthesizes my reading experience. tldr: ridiculously, magical fun.
some miscellaneous thoughts:
- asheel the maniac hunter, you will always be legendary
- that ending will absolutely leave some people dissatisfied but i ate it all up (cmon, sassy heavily-accented goddess doppelgangers?)
- “yuh acolyte hav ah dutty mout. but shi talk truut—sistah.” needs to be tattooed on my forehead
if it were not for ford's lovely writing, this rating would be 0 stars, because of the boring plot points that ultimately made this story fall severely short. especially in comparison to his previous works...
a lot slower than the first. slightly underwhelming but only because the first was so. good. got better towards the end.
3.5 stars!
thoroughly enjoyed the magic system of forging. got emotional, got moved at some points as well. felt like a read that i need to give some time post-finishing it for me to wholly appreciate it!
an awesome revisit to my favorite characters. doesn't quite reach the mark as final empire did imo but still had several great moments! itching to continue with the third.
had no idea i could enjoy a grim, central military story this much... had equally no idea i'd enjoy the character relationships and the world-building this much...
3.75 stars
an exceedingly well-written fairytale retelling. t. kingfisher's flow-y prose whisks you seamlessly through the story. loved hester and imogene. loved the bits of magic, darkness, mischief, humor, and amusingly placed gore. only wished the ending wrapped up a little more neatly.
felt like some chapters were significantly less interesting than the others. favorite ones though were those on confirmation bias, causal attribution, and examples!
i enjoy a good old atmospheric story as much as the next person but this just read like a pointless narration. a little unsettling at times, but mostly inconsequential...
I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH! I LOVED THE PLOT AND THE CHARACTERS! THE SCENES WHEREIN NAUGHTY JOHN STRIKES WERE MY FAVORITE! ONLY THING I HATED WAS THE FACT THAT EVIE ENDED UP WITH JERICHO AND NOT SAM LLOYD! SAM LLOYD!!!
I JUST FINISHED THIS BOOK OMG THE FEELS I CANNOT BELIEVE I FINISHED THE SERIES AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH FINNICK! PRIM! WHYYY
perhaps it was my skyrocketing high expectations, perhaps it was the fact the main character is a literal AI, perhaps it was the slow plot... ancillary justice was just quite dull. and distant. felt no attachment to the story. last few chapters were slightly interesting. overall, alluring concept that to me, fell cold in execution.
you could tell this is sanderson's first work, but nonetheless, was a decent read! found the magic system and religious themes quite uninteresting until the end, what a sanderlanche!
quite a delightful, whimsical read. cozy despite some descriptions actually being quite gruesome (i'm looking at you, witch of the waste).
only the first chapter was worth reading but at least i found its contents insightful! albeit scarce in this book...
holy... this messed me up in the best, most horrifying way possible. raised my heartbeat. had to stop reading so many times just to take a breather. itching to read the sequel.
i felt countless visceral urges to pause reading so i could catch my breath. only to turn to the next page and have my jaw drop. again.
this is a world that gets bigger and bigger, darker and darker, and more deliciously horrifying (and devastating). putting this book down was an impossible feat.
i will say though that the first 60% of the book reads quite slow but the end makes up for it by a mile. also, helena and vonvalt's relationship still bothers me as it did in the first book.
an adequate conclusion to the trilogy. enjoyed the first, was mesmerized by the second, and now unfortunately left wanting more from this third installment. felt simultaneously a bit lost and too rushed. not enough depth provided regarding all the spiritual unravellings, leaving immortal lore scattered. at times, was a great exploration of morality, but was too distracted by the deus ex machina overuse to fully appreciate themes. a portion of my three stars is likely due to nostalgia and character attachment...
became unputdown-able by the second half. horrific in the best way possible. a suspenseful and exhilarating debut that sets the stage excellently for the rest of the series.
a few small caveats: found the insinuations between helena and vonvalt odd... helena could be annoying at times too as a main character.