four stars

A Mage’s Power by Casey Wolfe | Review

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Pages: 270

Genre: urban fantasy, lgbt (m/m)

 

Synopsis

Rowan is a prodigy of magic, he’s taken two out of five masters in the Schools of Magic and set up an enchantment shop – named “Charmed to Meet You”! His only friend (outside of school) is a werewolf named Caleb, who consider him part of his pack. They’re both gay.

Shaw works for the Inquisition, the organization charged with policing the magical races collectively known as magicae. Recently, it has come under scrutiny as magicae begin to disappear and reports of violence increase. With secrets of his own on the line, Shaw is willing to risk everything to find out just what is going on behind all the locked doors.

When Rowan and Shaw are entangled in each other’s worlds, it becomes evident that their hearts are as much at risk as their lives. They must find the truth and stop a conspiracy before it’s too late.

My thoughts

Rating out of five: four stars

fire

It was a fun and easy read, I picked up the book and then almost didn’t put it down as I read the story in a couple hours. A couple times I stopped just wondering why I was still intrigued, because nothing much was going on. Rowan comes out of his shell a bit as Caleb and Shaw forces him to look up from his textbooks and work long enough to go out with them. It hit a bit too close to home as he lists his interests and I’m noting down that I need to go out more myself. Still it takes skill to write so good characters, this book had a cozy atmosphere and I enjoyed reading their banter. Shaw and Rowans relationship moved quickly, which left me wondering where the author would go from there. But they let Shaw and Rowan keep just enough secrets for themselves, for reasons that seemed natural like building up trust, and it worked out and fit with the plot. Caleb was definitely my favourite character as he’s a bit snarky and wilder, but also protective and just cool. I think I liked this book because of the same reason as I liked “The Raven Cycle” by Maggie Stiefvater – it’s more the characters than the story.

A trio of one mage, one werewolf and a newcomer witch, all gay, walks into a bar ... and they become bestfriends and have a good time for the most part. That’s how I view this book. There was spent a lot of time early on in the book to set up the world and Shaw and Rowans groups and daily life, towards the end it’s more action in a very satisfying way. I like how Rowan is a prodigy in magic because of talent and that he works hard, but he’s still has flaws and more to learn.

While I was reading this book I found the lack of action in the beginning somewhat boring along with a few predictable twists, like I knew who the dark witch they were looking for was going to be. But afterwards, thinking back, this book just gives me this warm cozy feeling that even I can’t explain. It has grown on me? I think and hope this book needed time to set up and that I’ll get to read more plot unfold in the second book.

 

some favourite quotes (SPOILERS)

“Why do you think I live out here?” Rowan asked after a while. “I assume because you like nature.” “I do, but it’s more than that.” Rowan turned around. “If I’m out here, I can’t hurt anybody else. I trained hard at the Guild so that I could control this.”

“Drink,” he ordered, working at the bindings. Rowan popped the cork, a little smoke rising from the potion. “Not inspiring,” he muttered, tossing it back before he could think better of it.

“He was grinning from ear to ear. Shaw figured had his tail been out, Caleb would have been wagging it furiously.”

The Future by Neil Hilborn | Review

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Genre: poetry

Pages: 100

Rating out of five stars:

fire

I’ve long wanted to read Neil Hilborn’s first collection of poems “Our Numbered Days” after first watching his slam poems or spoken word pieces a few years ago. I was taken with how honest and passionate he seemed like, often talking about mental illness, being diagnosed with OCD and bipolar disorder. This second collection of poems contains much of the same subjects, as Neil draws from his everyday life.

From the first poem “How do you sleep with an IV in?” I was completely here for it. I started reading this book while I was in the hospital with a lot of pain, perhaps not on accident as I knew Neil would talk about his own struggles and I needed something to connect with. I’ve read this book again afterwards, to be sure I liked it and was surprised by how much I marked and highlighted passages. Here’s the first sentences of “How do you sleep with an IV in?”:

It’s just for dehydration, the nurse

says. She hangs up this alien bladder

full of fluid so clear that it couldn’t

possibly be from anywhere but space.

The poems are often looking forward, as the title “The Future” might give away. But it looks forward by talking about the past. It wonders what would happen if this one thing was different. It’s about people, about journeys, about love (of course), about being on the road. Overall I find myself really liking Neil’s voice, how he thinks and his phrasing and that’s overall what holds on to me more than the subject of the poems.

Now I tried to pick out a part of a poem, to give examples of how good they are. But my favourites are a couple pages long and you need to read the whole thing to fully get it, so just trust me and get the book, thanks. 

Favourite poems (for now): “How do you sleep with an IV in?”, “LAKE”, “I’m back, not for good”, “Blood in my sock”, “As much wind as possible”, “psalm 12, in which the author alienate his audience”, “The Future” – this one deserves an extra note as I was highlighting whole pages, Neil talks about his brain and suicide, about why he haven’t killed himself yet. He describes killing himself as a “glowing exit sign at a show that’s never been quite bad enough to make me want to leave”. There’s lots of reasons and ways people are suicidal, so many I don’t yet know and of course poems like this doesn’t give you that complete understanding, but they’re an important step in seeing other’s experiences. It feels good to see thoughts like these expressed so well on a page.

Did I forgot to mention I love the poem titles? For those who feel like poems are difficult or lack self-irony, Neil Hilborn’s poems are the oposite of that. I would completely recommend this collection and I wish him all the best. I’m going to read “Our Numbered Days” soon.

 

Thanks for receiving this copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente | Review

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Genre: sci-fi & humor

Pages: 350

First off I finally got a kindle cover! It’s slytherin green!

Synopsis

Turns out, humans aren’t the only sentient creature in the universe and they’ve come to realize that. The people of other planets are questioning if the humans are even sentient. They’re going to have to prove it, through a contest. After a war that nearly tore the galaxy apart the other planets went together and created an intergalactic song contest, because song is what the universe is made of obviously. The “new” planets is obligated to join. But if they lose they have proven they’re not worth keeping around, so they will be eliminated completely, the species along with the planet. Humans doesn’t even get to choose their contestants, it’s the one hit then forgotten band Absolute Zeroes who has been chosen to represent Earth among these murderous aliens, musical geniuses or divas.

My thoughts

Rating four out of five:

fire

I was confused about was going on most of the time, could not keep the aliens or even human characters apart, thought one of the main characters was a man instead of a woman for most of the book (turns out it wasn’t the bromance i thought) and have to admit that the writing is an aquired taste, perhaps for the crazy and adventorous. But I was blown away by this book and how entertaining it was, a type of book that I’ve been looking for a long time. It’s all over the place and funny, with some morals here and there if you’re looking closely and parts to analyze. Everything seems just thrown in, and I love the style. It did certainly become better after the first twentyfive percent so hang in there if you’re confused. 

First tip when reading this book: do not try to understand everything on the first read through! You will use forever, the writing won’t flow and you’ll be frustrated. Just let go and enjoy the ride, especially if english isn’t your first language and so many weird words than usual, in so many strange settings throw you off. Which leads to tip number two: read this book in your first language, if possible. It will be difficult to follow anyway, from someone who has read almost exclusively english books the last seven years.

This book was marketed as this crazy, colorful, intergalactic Eurovision song contest with the name of Metagalactic Grand Prix. If you’ve ever seen eurovision and enjoyed it, this book might be for you, especially if it’s the drama, costumes and stage show that is entertaining. Because that’s what some of the aliens live for, which is so funny. Some just kill each other or others, which is why they got the contest, to “unite” aka keep an eye on each other. Politics is wonderful in these kinds of things. There were so many times I wondered if the author Valente was drawing parallells to reality and social commentary, but I could not stop reading every time, so I guess I’ll have to go back and reflect a bit more. I like her writing from other books, which was what drew me to this one, but I could not imagine the creativity and originality I would find.

On the other side there’s another marketing thing I think went wrong for this book; comparing it so obviously to “the hitchhiker’s galaxy”. Valente says herself that it wouldn’t have been made without it in a way I loved: “Without Hitchhiker’s Guide, this book would simply disappear in a puff of logic. Good lord, without Hitchhiker’s Guide, I would disappear in a puff of logic.” But it sets an expectation for a format she doesn’t have, which I think mainly is the reason for bad or average ratings I’ve seen. You need to go into this book willing to be confused and entertained.

For some of this book I feel like the hilarious, sarcastic cat who found herself on a spaceship, away from earth:

“Thus, for her, the voyage passed by like a training montage in a hastily made feel-bad film, in bits and flits and pieces the feline found it far too much work to understand or care about.”

The humor in this book is definitely my cup of tea … of coffee? “But you’ve just never had better coffee than the fair-trade organic late-harvest darkest of dark roasts at a Voorpret espresso bar. And you don’t nuke that sort of thing from orbit. It’s just so hard to find a good cappuccino when you’re traveling.”  The humor is dark, and often packaged in pretty words or situations. I love when the song contest is on and the contestants are plotting against each other.

The feeling this book gave me: being a confused tiny creature laughing out loud at how the book reflects so many parts of life and irony in the darkest things, how the erratic writing style match my brain a lot (but might be even more extra)

 

Here’s some parts I love, I mean watch out for spoilers,but if these won’t get you to read the book, it might not be for you:

“Mainly because the original Flus had broken off from the collective consciousness ages back, conquered everything he could get his blades on, and replaced the local gene pool with his own personal microbrew, so not only were they a hive mind, but they were all clones as well, and Muntun was, in point of fact, Planet Hitler, 100 percent populated with telepathically linked, genetically identical, sociopathic knifeasaurus dictators.” 

“Oh, I had a fantastic time talking to the depressive socialist moonbeam. After fifteen minutes, I actually asked it to kill me, but I was informed that would be nonunion work. Then Capo tried to eat it, which did not go well. Did you know my new best friend is trying to put four wee moonshines through university on a tradesman’s wage? It’s a daily struggle.”
 
“Life is beautiful and life is stupid. As long as you keep that in mind, and never give more weight to one than the other, the history of the galaxy, the history of a planet, the history of a person is a simple tune with lyrics flashed on-screen and a helpful, friendly bouncing disco ball of glittering, occasionally peaceful light to help you follow along. Cue the music. Cue the dancers. Cue tomorrow.”

Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson| Review

aquapages // eline1 Comment

Stormlight #2.5

Pages: 270

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Synopsis

Lift has appeared a few times in the first two Stormlight books, but here you get an entire story around her. From how she saved the prince, to seeing more of how she is able to use her awesomeness, Lift being hunted and hunting the Darkness and trying to find out if she wants to take on responsibilities.

 

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

fire

I read this fairly quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it. I just picked this book up because I wanted to start Oathbringer and saw many recommendations to read this first. Lift’s story was a really positive surprise, as there wasn’t much focus on her in the first two Stormlight books I didn’t realize her childish personality had such a context and background. She’s smart, in ways I recognize from Mistborn’s Vin and that helps to take her seriously. I really liked her as a character and am looking forward to finding out her place in Oatbringer and why Sanderson seemed it necessary to tell this story. Not that I’m complaining as it’s a good one!

The story itself managed to surprise me a couple times. Like I suspected certain people to be more than appeared, which Sanderson always does in these books, but not in the ways that mattered in the end. I especially like how the whole self-discovery of Lift is well-done, without being very obvious about it as she’s running away (again), handling a new city and plotting her way through every crisis. There’s no better way to get to know characters personalities than through their interactions with others and a few moral dilemmas.

It had started to consume her. If she’d stayed, how long would it have been before she wasn’t Lift anymore? How long until she’d have been gobbled up, another girl left in her place? Similar face, but at the same time all new?

Also Wyndle is absoloutly adorable, even if he seems pretty annoying to have to deal with all the time. I love the dynamic talking with Voidbringers or other daemons/magical animals brings. In every book, but this one in particular, Sanderson writes with such a playfullness that I sometimes think he’s mocking us all and it’s wonderful.

I would recommend reading this book if you’ve started the Stormlight Archive and is interested! I read it between the second and third book, as seems to be right. A tips is to get the “Arcanum Unbounded” by Sanderson as it contains Edgedancer and other Cosmere short stories by Sanderson, for about the same price.

The feelings this book gave me: pure glee and grinding my teeth in fear of Lift getting caught at every corner, warm feelings for this world and all the personalities in it.

 

favourite quotes *spoilers*

“I want control,” she said, opening her eyes. “Not like a king or anything. I just want to be able to control it, a little. My life. I don’t want to get shoved around, by people or by fate or whatever. I just . . . I want it to be me who chooses.”

“I will listen,” Lift shouted, “to those who have been ignored!”

 

 

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi | Review

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Pages: 540

Genre: fantasy

Synopsis

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic, when her mother was alive and powerful enough to summon souls. It was all taken away from her when the king one night suceeded in making magic disappear. That began the horrible mistreatment of maji people, where magic-users like Zélie’s mother were murdered. Zélie is determined to bring hope and magic to her people again. She gets some unexpected company of a princess running away from the castle and needs to go against a prince under the king’s orders, trying to get rid of magic for good.  

 

 

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

fire

Children of blood and bone, what a fitting and heartbreaking title. The story is clearly connected to current events and murders of black youth in USA. As I read I was making the connections to current events around refugees and murders of black youth in the US, and in the afterword the author clearly states that as her intention. Full applause for making it clear, there’s no hinting or possibility for misinterpertation here. The way magic is intertwined with ethnicity and racism in this book is also something I’ve rarely seen before and makes this work as an excellent fantasy book as well.

the few things i didn’t like

It was a bit typical that there’s one moon left before magic disappears forever, so all the events need to happen quickly which leaves little time to develop abilities. Very convenient for the storytelling, but a choice that doesn’t match the excellence of the rest of the book. Another thing I did not like was how the plot is furthered so much by group settling down with new friends, being attacked, a lot of people killed, which leads to guilt and some drama, before it all starts over. It’s not unormal in fantasy journey books and it’s done well, but it made the book more predictable.

the characters

I never started trusting prince Inan and after finishing the book I still don’t. Every time the brother Tzain makes his distrust of him and frustration of Zélie clear I’m cheering, even though he gets annoying at times. Zélie is a character I can fall in love with. I didn’t quite get there in this book, but so excited for her development in sequels. Amari, Inan’s sister and the princess, grew on me and the author really played with and twisted the stereotype of naive princess’ first time in the big world. I especially liked her story and the tension between her and her brother, where they struggled to separate what was their awful actions and what was them being controlled by a very abusive father (the king).

A thing that for a while seemed like could bridge the differences in views, experiences and politics between Zélie and prince Inan was seeing into each others feelings. I liked how it didn’t fix everything, it didn’t create instantly understanding or world-peace, but it’s laid out as the first step that everyone need to take. Magic simply made it easier for these two (I still am curious to know why).

“In that moment I realize how wrong I’ve truly been. It doesn’t matter if I’m in her head. I’ll never understand all her pain.”

Also can you blame me for not trusting Inan’s slick talk –

“With that desire, everything becomes clear. It all begins to make sense. We don’t need to fear magic. We only need each other.”

The feeling this book gave me: I couldn’t put it down and ended up reading long into the night. It’s definitely entertaining, but more importantly is how it talks about conflicts between different ethnicities, how both sides have done wrong, but only one is very visibly enslaved. This book contains a lot of good thoughts and ideas, my concern is that the young adult label won’t make it reach audiences that needs it the most. The title is so fitting in the point it makes that children from all the groups are the same, but at the same time one group has had much more of their blood spilled and that has detrimental results. If you want to give a, not so political as maybe humanitarian message, through fantasy this is the way to do it.

favourite quotes

“You know how to win,” she says. “Just make sure you know when to fight.”

Now chaos surrounds me, pulsing through every breath and heartbeat. It sings as blood splatters through the air, screams as boats explode into oblivion.

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin | Review

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Genre: historical fiction, magical realism

Pages: 390

“She’d already lost her face. She could not let the rest of herself (however dark, however broken) slip away. So she traced and she named. She hurt and she raged. She remembered.”

Synopsis

It’s 1956, Hitler has taken over Japan. Yael was put in a death camp as a five year old girl, experimented on and instead of dying like so many others, her looks went from dark to fair. And then she got more magical abilities, which helped her escape. Years later she’s on her own when she runs into the resistance. She competes in a motor cycle race through Asia in honour of Hitler, trying to get close enough to assassinate him. She gets the spot pretending to be another girl, which gets tricky as both her brother and ex-boyfriend shows up.

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

fire

I might’ve bought and started reading this book by mistaking it for another. Never regretted it, I wouldn’t normally pick up a book like this, but it was an amazing read. It’s a weird plot, but it was done so well. I loved the moto race, I loved the characters and how magic is braided into a “historical” event and war crimes.

The girl Yael is pretending to be really was fierce and would do anything to win, something she needs to learn to be if she’s going to complete her goals. It makes an interesting conflict to see her struggling to deal with how far she’s willing to change, what limit she has to cross to no longer feel like herself. How she interacts with the brother and ex-boyfriend (maybe?) puts another level of difficulty on both the plot and writing and it was done really well. The times in the death camp is just heartbreaking, as she watches everyone she loves dying and leaving her all alone. Seeing Yael have small moments of fun even on her journey for revenge means something.

I completely recommend this book to anyone that’s interested, it was entertaining, sad as well as thought-provoking read at times.

favourite quotes

“Live? In a world of fangs and lonely? Or die. In a cage of smoke and needles.”

“Her self-reflection was no reflection at all. It was a shattered mirror. Something she had to piece together, over and over again. Memory by memory. Loss by loss. Wolf by wolf. It was easy—too easy—to pretend. To fill that empty space inside her with other lives. Bernice Vogt. Mina Jager. Adele Wolfe. Girls who never had to face the smoke or watch the syringes slide under their skin. Girls who never had to stare into the eyes of the Angel of Death. Again and again and again. It was too easy to get lost. This was why, every night before she fell asleep, she peeled back her sleeve, traced the wolves, and said their names. Because somewhere in there—in those fragments of gone souls and memories—was Yael. Not chemicals, but essence. The real Yael.” 

“Toasts 7:00 – Dinner 8:00 – Dancing 8:15 – Murder 8:16 – Escape Of course, the final two hadn’t been on the list, but that was where they fit in the timetable.”

Secrets for the Mad by dodie | Audiobook Review

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Genre: memoir 

Rating out of five stars:

fire

who is dodie?

Dodie Clark, often just dodie, is a musician and youtuber I follow. Her music is lovely and relatable, her honesty refreshing and she makes videos on topics like mental health and depersonalization, bisexuality and just being a young adult.

the audiobook

I wasn’t rushing to read this book when it was released, which is why I only got to it now. It didn’t feel like a book I needed to read from what I gathered, but it got good reviews and when I found the audiobook I was sold. dodie’s voice is lovely and calms me, which is weird to admit. Her phrasing of thoughts is good as well.

The audiobook is great! I highly recommend to listen to memoirs this way, especially if the author is narrating it like this one, and you like their voice. It’s the person telling their story, with all the emotion they have about it visible. 10/10 audiobook, especially as some chapters include songs that fits with the times and ideas she’s talking about. It was my favourite parts and reminded me why I love her music. Also it was nice that all her friends voiced their parts in the audiobook, giving another perspective on dodie’s life.

what it’s about

The book felt aimed at teenage girls especially, as dodie takes a lot from her own experiences and those she is told from fans. The first chapter, one I really liked, is about how she was writing and a girl found her, told dodie her story of struggles and anxiety and dodie gave some advice, shared some experiences. I think that’s very transferrable to the content of the rest of the book.

I loved the song-parts and when she described them. I realize that I’m more interested in how she thinks about the world as a young adult in the business she’s in, something I get through her youtube videos and songs. In many ways this feels like a book that is written too soon, but at the same time it might be people out there that really needs it, if only for the idea that everything, every situation is temporary, much more temporary than it feels when you’re fourteen and not in control of your daily life. And for that alone I’m glad this book exist and is out there spreading that message.

Comparing this book to other memoirs I’ve read, it has a lot less to say and less new information or personal experiences to share, because dodie is already an online personality. Lately, after the book was published, she’s openly questioned how much to share, but I feel it’s a real thing in this book as well. She doesn’t seem to pour herself into it, like her music lyrics. But it fulfills the role of comforting and giving advice to young people, along with other smaller things like giving a bit of backstories to songs or times in dodie’s life. It’s a book that I expect is important for certain people, which is why I give it a good rating, but I didn’t personally gain a lot from it. It could also be that I felt like she was telling a story I in many ways already know, between having followed her casually and having been a teenage girl. 

My Fight / Your Fight by Ronda Rousey | Audiobook Review

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“If you can’t dream big, ridiculous dreams, what’s the point in dreaming at all?”

This book was ridiculously inspiring.

Genre: memoir

Rating out of five:

fire

My thoughts

This book is a lot about fighting, about Ronda’s routine, mindset and training, which I expected, but also about her background in judo and life growing up, dealing with struggles like her dad’s accident and then suicide, and all setbacks she’s had fighting and in life in general. Have in mind that it was released before she lost her champion title, I’m just late reading it.

 

Things I learned about Ronda Rousey:

(I already knew she was a strong superhuman)

She can tell a story. I listened to the audiobook, which might’ve increased this even more, but there’s so much power behind her words and looking over the writing afterwards it’s written just how she would express herself. It feels like a nine hour motivational speech/documentary, with tough as well as good times, and it was amazing. I mean –

“The kind of hope I’m talking about is the belief that something good will come. That everything you’re going through and everything you’ve gone through will be worth the struggles and frustrations. The kind of hope I’m talking about is a deep belief that the world can be changed, that the impossible is possible.”

I never realized how emotional Ronda is, even if she clearly says so at the beginning. She cries a lot, and with each time my respect for her grows. It must be difficult to cry in a room with fighters, and then say it to the world with such confidence.

She’s had some shitty boyfriends. Not all shitty, some just with their own alcohol/drug problems, but I wanted to punch most of them. Telling her to be more feminine? Get the fuck out. Who did they think they were dating? Another ex-boyfriend took nude photos of her without permission, which is all kinds of fucked up. Not wanting to let him have that control of her, never knowing if he really deleted them in the end, she did a nude photoshoot.

 

– her backstory –

There has also been some very bad times in Rousey’s life. At one point she had walked out from home while everyone was sleeping, was between gyms and eventually thrown out from friend’s house, without much money. All after being in the olympics. How the fuck can’t olympic athletes earn money to sustain themselves?

When I all of a sudden realized how alone she was, without real possibilities to turn to or even work towards, it was heartwrenching. Had to remind myself it would get better, obviously knowing she ends up in the ufc someday. That’s what Ronda seems to focus on too looking back, that she’s earned good things out of the bad times. She’s never complaining or bitter, but still emotional about certain things.

“You have to fight because you can’t count on anyone else fighting for you. And you have to fight for people who can’t fight for themselves. To get anything of real value, you have to fight for it.”

– MMA career –

Other things I noticed was how much anger, or maybe agressiveness, is shown at times, and I certainly understood why she’s a fighter. I’ve always wondered how much of the focus in her mma career was on the sport and being the best fighter she could be and how much was show and entertainment.

Turns out she already had more experience than I thought fighting in judo, and she also was aware it also was about giving a show and personality people that people could be captivated by and cheer for. A good mix, then. She was the first female champion in the ufc, and the one who opened up a lot of possibilities for others.

It’s interesting listening to her future plans and movie roles, from the future knowing she lost the way she did. But in the book she even admits it all might end some day, in an instant. And how she describes every other loss she’s had through her career, I don’t doubt that losing the champion title was extremely hard for her as well.

 

– fighting and bulimia –

In many ways this book is made for a broad audience, but also fighters, becase she describes in detail her pre-fight routines, food and weight loss. She’s quite open about her problems with bulimia early on in her career, but with the more professional team in ufc she got an expert on food around her, which made her realize she could eat nearly normal and still make weight.

She doesn’t say it outright, but there’s clearly tension on the contsraint and unprofessionalism fighting in judo, in comparison to mma. Which makes sense because it’s where the attention and money lies, but it’s still weird.

“Once you give them the power to tell you you’re great, you’ve also given them the power to tell you you’re unworthy. Once you start caring about people’s opinions of you, you give up control.”

– final thoughts –

It’s a book I would recommend to everyone interesting in fighters and sport, or just looking for inspiration to work hard to achieve something. The audiobook was the best kind, a memoir told by the person it’s about, and I would completely recommend that as well, I can imagine it would be great listening to it while working out.

 

 

 

 

The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan | Review

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Genre: contemporary young adult, has gay characters

Pages: 320

Synopsis

Mattie tries to hide her passion with escapalogism from her family, friends and classmates. She has one best friend, Stella, who leaves for boarding school for the summer. Her anxiety for college applications and being completely alone for two months propells her into finding and starting her project. She’s been watching videos of artists like Harry Houdini for a long time, and she goes to find Miyu, the reclusive daughter of another famous escape-artist. Her loft if full of equipment, but the training is challenging and sometimes dangerous. There’s lots of locks to be picked and a submersion tank to dust off.

Mattie learns of her potential, of what she can do if she throws herself into her passion onstage, finding a community who cheer and heckle her. But then her worst fear comes true, someone she knows finds out. She imagines her new separated worlds crumbling. It helps when she realizes other teenagers are also trying to figure out themselves and carrying secrets.

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

fire

I went into this book without expectation and it blew me away with its witty dialogue, truth on friendship and characters being passionate about their interest (which is possibly my favourite thing).

It was an entertaining read, Mattie and her friends were so well-written and I never could’ve imagined how real their characters or world would feel. It’s a good plot, I especially liked how things in everyones life built up to each of Mattie’s performances on stage. Which for the record was in true magician style with anxious assistants and a baffled crowd, where I wanted to clap for her myself in relief.

Miyu goes from being just an obvious mentor to becoming a whole human being as I learned more about her, she kind of transformed in front of my eyes in a way that facinated me. At the beginning I did not care about the small paragraphs about her mother’s life, then as I realized what they were it gave the book some nice details along with giving another perspective, the story was no longer just about Mattie, but had become bigger.

I can’t get past how painfully relatable Mattie’s thoughts and attempts at friendships was. In books like this some big events happens that forces the introverted character to come out of her shell, but I really liked how in this book it was a choice. It was definitely started by smaller things happening, like Stella going away for the summer and trying to find out what she was passionate about before big decisions like college. But it was Mattie herself who chose to put herself out there, to go to Miyu and ask for training. The way it went down was actually inspiring, especially for someone who keeps her interests very to herself.

The official release date of this book is June 19th. I need more young adult books with the realness I’ve found in this book along with Maureen Johnsons “Truly Devious” and Becky Albertallis “Simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda”. They’re all very different books plot-wise, but to me they felt very similiar in style and how relatable they were written, in a genuine way I wish more ya had. Genuine characters that could’ve been actual teenagers, I hope it becomes even less of an exception in young adult books.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

*some more discussion and spoilers below this*

There’s a couple of things that bothered me, and I don’t know how to explain them without spoiling a few things. There’s this string of events that drives the plot, mainly started by Mattie choosing to go to Miyu and get really into escapologism. And somehow it ends up with bringing them all together, which is fine, but one of the last performances leads everyone to end up with someone. Everything always works out in the rest of the book as well, in a way that took me out of it at points. Everything bad that happens I can think of, like Will being outed, turns into something that propell further actions. Also the friend group talk about being awkward people, yet everyone knows what to say in any situation, which creates a split in my perception of them.

That said, everything good in the book heavily outweighs this, and I would completely recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining young adult story about finding oneself. It seems like a perfect summer read as well.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami | Review

aquapages // eline4 Comments

Pages: 480

Genre: fiction, magical realism, japan

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Do I pretend like I know what this book was about? 

Rating out of five:

fire

This book was great *looks nervously around*. No, it was actually good, the main guy Kafka ends up living in a library, so of course it’s great. But this book is intricate and has so many hidden meanings that I haven’t yet deciphered. It deserves a second read through, at least. I’m almost angry at this book, at how confusing and well written it is.

Murakami’s might explain it better himself; “Kafka on the Shore contains several riddles, but there aren’t any solutions provided. Instead, several of these riddles combine, and through their interaction the possibility of a solution takes shape. And the form this solution takes will be different for each reader. To put it another way, the riddles function as part of the solution. It’s hard to explain, but that’s the kind of novel I set out to write”.

Let’s just say it’s one magical and fantastic story. And also magical realism, which I love. Would absoloutly recommend it.   

It’s following different storylines, some I cared less about than others, but all are important and make sense in the end. There’s Kafka who’s fifteen and have run away from home, the main plotline. There’s Nakata, an old man that during world war 2 was a part of a group of schoolchildren who all suddenly lost consciousness in the woods. He lost his memories and became mentally challenged, but gained the ability to talk to cats. He uses his time to search for lost cats. He’s great. 

There’s a lot more characters, lots of mysteries in this book and lots of surprises. I adore this book, and perhaps I’ll figure out what it all means someday. I heard reading Murakami’s other books might help, so I’ll start there. “Kafka on the shore” doesn’t have one clear plot and it’s one of the things I love most about it.