chaptersofmads's reviews
822 reviews

Jordan Ifueko, we do not deserve you.

This book was so good, holy crap. If I had ever had any doubt in Jordan Ifueko's stellar ability to craft a story (which I didn't) this book immediately quelled it. Everything she writes is nothing less than a masterpiece. No matter whether the focus is on worker's rights or a cute little gecko animal sidekick, you're about to read something incredible.

I loved everything about this book. I adored Sade and getting to follow her was an absolute delight. She's put through so many absolutely atrocious things, but the story never feels... overtly grim. That isn't to say the atrocities are just ignored, because much of this book focuses on the structural issues in a society that relies on people it can't even treat as people.
Running alongside that, there's also an underlying message that Sade's life is her own, no matter what other people attempt to place on her, that gives the story a strength. Her struggles with being small and then the ultimate realization that 'ants vs giants' still plays into a system she doesn't wish to uphold was handled so well.

Also, this is a highly personal compliment, but as someone that's been deconstructing from my religion for years, Jordan Ifueko's personal stories have been incredibly helpful in making me feel less alone. And because of that, there were quite a few lines in this book that I tied with deconstruction (even if that wasn't the original intention) and they meant the world to me.
(Especially a particular paragraph in one of the last chapters.)

That's not even starting on the love interest (whom I adore) or the animal sidekick or the disability rep or the side characters I loved or the food descriptions or the magic system or even just my own excitement to be back in this universe. Getting any mention of characters from the Raybearer duology felt like a little treat and I loved how they were handled.

If it wasn't clear, I loved this book. It's so cozy (not in the genre sense, but in the feeling of a warm fireplace and nostalgia) and magical, while also being both harrowing and incredibly empowering.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book along with anything else Jordan Ifueko has written/shall write from now unto the end of time.

"Trust is a greedy thing, like gifts. You expect it but you never give it. I stopped trusting my pen and tongue. But the pen also stopped trusting me."

First read of September completed!

Hope Ablaze is a book that tackles a lot of heavy, important topics whilst also balancing them with celebrations of love, family, food, and the fmc's Muslim identity. The moments of community and pure joy were so lovely to read about. I also really appreciated the way this book called out liberals and progressives that still operate as if they need to "save" anyone wearing a hijab.

There were some aspects of this book that were a bit messy, particularly in terms of pacing and characterization. Sometimes there were big moments that were reduced and small moments that dragged on. The characters would have really heavy moments and their next scene together made it feel forgotten.

I'm not someone that's ever gotten into poetry but some of it... didn't translate well, at least to the audiobook version. It came across very juvenile, which I suppose makes sense with this being a YA book; but with the main character's talent for it, I was hoping for a bit more.

Overall, I would recommend this. As I said, I had a few issues with it and I felt the ending was a bit out of place, but I still think this book is important and manages to (successfully) touch on quite a few topics that the YA age range would benefit from reading. 

The best installment yet!

B.B. Alston continues to write the most magical, high-stakes, complex middle grade series I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I felt every emotion while reading this book and even ended up crying at the end, which I think may be a first for me (in regards to middle grade.)

This was such a creative book, with so many fun twists and turns and actual dark events that keep the stakes of the story feeling as high as they're meant to. Amari continues to be one of the best characters I've read and I love how we delved a bit into her flaws in this book, even as her strengths grew.

For most of my time reading this, I was leaning towards a 4.5 rating until I started to tear up and realized that most books don't make me feel that heavily. I also really loved how Halloween-y this one felt! It's perfect for this time of the year.

These books means so much to me, especially since reading them has been such a bonding experience for me and my little sisters. I cannot wait to see where the series (and B.B. Alston) goes from here. (I also can't wait for my little sisters to read this installment and see their reactions hehehe)

I really do recommend this series, especially if you have kids in your life - but even if you don't and you just need some childlike whimsy. It's so magical and easy to enjoy, but also has a lot of complex/real-world elements that make the magic even more meaningful.

Overall, a spectacular addition to the series. Highly recommend. 

 "Every act of translation requires sacrifice."

ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

A scholarly take on dragons and their languages, with a focus on revolution and class wars.

Read the above line and tell me this isn't the perfect concept for a book. You can't. Granted, my favorite series is a political dragon fantasy with an emphasis on revolution and class wars so my tastes may be slightly biased. Nevertheless, this remains one of the most unique concepts for a YA that I've heard in a quite a while.

That being said, the concept could have been executed slightly better. Don't get me wrong: this wasn't bad. It was fine, pretty enjoyable in parts and some of the conversations were very interesting to read. I particularly appreciated the first half of the book, with it's focus on the politics of the world and the MC making poor choices due to her belief that she was already too flawed.

(I also LOVED the dragons. Which isn't surprising, but still! Dragons! With personalities!!)

Some YA novels transcend the age category and can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of age and/or preference, some don't, though, and that's fine. This is one of those books. If you're an adult reader that has grown out of YA, this one will not be for you. The characters are all very stereotypical, particularly the villains who are almost cartoonishly evil. The conversation around grey morality is reduced to "there is goodness and badness within us all; everyday is a chance to choose goodness" and that's about it. The writing style is also very, very stilted - with most lines being written like: "I tell him." "He blushes." "I say."

These aspects become unavoidable in the second half of the book when the threat starts closing in and the reader is confronted by how little sense it actually makes. The last bit of this book lowered my rating just a bit, based on a number of factors, but one of the main ones being how much of this book falls apart if you look at it too closely. Specifically the fact that the MC (the brightest linguist of her age) was thrown by

dialects?

All of this to say, this wasn't bad. I liked quite a bit about this book! I also felt a bit let down by it. However, I do think a lot of people are going to absolutely love this one. (So long as they ignore the Fourth Wing comparison. Their only similarity is the fact they both have dragons and violent students.) It's got a forbidden romance with a priest-in-training (my sister kept calling this "children's Fleabag" whenever I talked to her about it), dragons, a flawed main character, dragons, languages, and also! dragons!

Overall, I'm incredibly grateful for the chance to read this and I hope it finds an audience that absolutely adores it. 

“There is more than one kind of darkness, and none is darker than doubt, for the light required to illuminate it belongs not to a jewel or a flame, but your very soul.”

A nice conclusion to a really fun middle grade series.

In terms of using middle grade fantasy to teach about complicated emotions, no one is doing it like Roshani Chokshi. There were so many moments in this series where she deftly explained/sorted through a character's emotions in a way that would make kids feel seen/understood and this installment is no different.

The core of this novel is Aru not truly knowing what she's fighting for anymore or if there's even any reason for her to fight at all. There are lot of other things that go into it, but throughout the story she's consistently been shown that the world isn't quite as easily divided as she had once assumed.

For a finale, I felt like this fell a bit flat. The pacing felt a bit slow and I never felt the urgency of this being the final book where everything finally comes to a head. In fact, the final battles felt kind of lackluster compared to previous installments.

That isn't to say this was a bad finale or that we receive no closure, because that's not the case. There are a lot of bittersweet moments sprinkled in and I do appreciate the fact I didn't feel like the author was beating me in the head with the 'remember! everything is ending! look at where they started! remember the first time they met each other?' stick that a lot of authors use because that's my mortal enemy lol.

It just felt a bit... empty, for the last book, I guess?

I will say! (without spoilers) I loved the creative choices made about certain characters at the end. It was messy and painful, while ultimately hope-filled and I was so happy to see that was the direction it went in.

Overall, like I said, this was a nice conclusion. This is genuinely a really good middle grade series and I completely recommend it to anyone looking for a good series for a kid in their life (or that just wants to revisit the nostalgic vibes of MG fantasy.)

I wasn't planning on ever reading this book but I just finished season 2 of the TV show (which I liked! It's not perfect, but I really like the casting and enjoy watching it) and wanted to see if this would tie up any of the loose ends that would have been the focus of the next season, if not for the cancellation.

Operating under the assumption that the show and book would have carried the same plot twist/reveal, it technically did that? and the reveal was... a bit on the stupid side. When I say a bit, I mean really on the stupid side.

This whole book was kind of a rushed mess where nothing majorly happened? The mystery was boring, with next to no suspense. The ending was insanely convenient. Anything of consequence was either incredibly predictable or brushed over like it meant nothing.

The only thing I enjoyed were the characters and even then, I struggled. (Nate having an "Except for me, though, right?" response to someone saying all men are pigs was incredibly annoying.)

So... this wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, which is the only reason I'm rating it, but I still really didn't like it. Every time I read a book in this series I feel like I must be missing something because everyone else seems to think they're phenomenal and that is not my experience lol.

Overall, not very good, not terrible. A disappointing mystery but an easy read, especially if you have any affection for the original characters. I wouldn't say I recommend it, but I also wouldn't not recommend it.

This wasn't a perfect book, but it was perfect for what I needed right now.

There were a lot of lines in here that excellently incapsulated what I needed to hear/be told. The parallels between mythical monsters and what society considers a 'dangerous woman' were really well done and I appreciated how they were talked about.

Some of this book does read very heavily of the author's insecurities so if you're someone that struggles with internalized fatphobia/body-shaming/self-harm, I would be mindful of that going in. They're not pushed by the narrative as okay, but they could still negatively effect someone that's already struggling with certain thoughts.

Also, this goes to show that it's not difficult to write an inclusive feminist book that acknowledges trans/nb people as well. I'm not a member of those communities so I don't know how well it was handled from that perspective, but I did appreciate the author acknowledging that women didn't just refer to ciswomen.

Overall, this was good and it's one I plan to revisit in the future. 

“But if you were determined to want the impossible, there was a better way to get it. Zhu thought with amused defiance: Change the world, and make it possible.”

This was rough.

I've been trying to think of how to review this and I don't think I can? My thoughts/feelings are incredibly conflicted and I'm not entirely sure how to corral them into something coherent, much less a concise review. This is one of those three star reads that could have earned a different rating at any point of my reading experience.

Attempting brevity, this was - in many ways - a really good sequel. The writing style and Shelley Parker-Chan's grasp on character work remain phenomenal. As with book 1, there were moments - specific lines, thoughts, dialogue - that felt like a kick to the gut in the best way possibly. So much of this book focuses on the way societal expectations/prejudice harms the society overall and I thought these aspects were handled really well.

At the same time? I really struggled reading this. I kept finding myself checking to see how much I had left of the book, which was something I never worried about with book 1. Part of that is because (tonally) this book is really heavy. There is almost no levity between the moments of darkness and devastation. The other thing is that this book (particular in the middle) started to feel really repetitive.

I saw other reviewers criticizing just how many sexual scenes there were in this book and the fact almost none of them were healthy experiences. I agree, but only up to a certain point. The sexual scenes were not wasted or included merely for shock value. Every single scene had a purpose, even just revealing the POV characters mentality/view of the world.

With that being said, there was a point where it started feeling like too much. I'm not criticizing the author for including the scenes. As I said, I believe they were (mostly) important. However, I do think it bears mentioning if you're someone that prefers to stay away from books with explicit content.

I want to be clear: (in my opinion) none of the sexual scenes in this book constitute as spice/steam. They all happen for a myriad of reasons, between a myriad of people. A lot of these scenes/experiences operate as conduits for an examination of the society or the characters' relationships with themselves. Much of this book revolves around internalized shame or women having no option in society that doesn't include wielding sex as a weapon; subjects that are extremely important but can be difficult to read, especially when you're in the mind of the person having the negative thoughts.

Similarly, the self harm in this book is almost romanticized (though I don't believe that's the intention) as it is the only way for a particular character to feel as though they can function in their body. This is an adult book and I'm not worried about people being influenced, but I do believe it could be triggering for someone that has struggled with S/H before.

Beyond that, I did struggle with a lot of the events that took place in this book. Some things happened a bit too conveniently or felt included just for the sake of including them. I can't say much without spoilers, but I guess I just wanted Zhu particularly to develop a bit more than the narrative/plot allowed her. She almost felt... larger than life in this book, even in her own perspective.

Overall, I do think this is a well-crafted book. I know the majority of this review focused on my critiques and that makes it sound like I had a bad time, but I didn't. There were parts where this was a difficult read, but for the most part it was intensely readable. I did care for the characters, even at their most twisted and dark, even when every time I thought they wouldn't go lower, they found a new low lol.

If you're someone that can handle the intense subject matter, I do recommend this duology. Shelley Parker-Chan is an incredibly gifted author and I can't wait to read whatever they write in the future - especially if it's anywhere near as impactful as even a few of the lines in this series.

This may have fallen a bit flat for me, but I still consider this a really good duology and I know I'll think about it for a long time.

“I thought about how the world can be anything and how sad it is that it's this.”

You know when someone recommends a book for fans of the Hunger Games but then you read it and the only similarities to THG are a trial setting (usually poorly formed) and a love triangle (usually also poorly formed) and you realize that the person that recommended you the book apparently ignored all of the themes of the Hunger Games?

This is like the opposite of that experience.

This book is hauntingly brutal, with moments that make this dystopian society feel as though it is not that far away. Drawing parallels between what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen if we don't make radical changes. Parts of this novel can read as an almost satirical look at society's acceptance of violence, through the eyes of spectators of these events.

There were also times when this book felt a bit too... on the nose, I guess, with how it was handling certain topics. As if it didn't trust the reader to come to the correct conclusions on their own. That's a personal critique and to be fair... maybe that was a necessary inclusion for some people.

It's a criticism of the prison system. It's a look at the fascination with and dehumanization of anyone that society deems 'other'. It's an accusation of complacency and all of the forms that it can take. It's also about love and sacrifice and what it means to be human.

Also, I was struggling a bit to read this until I switched to the audiobook. The audiobook is fantastic. I especially loved the fact that one of the narrators actually sang the songs his character was singing.

Overall, this definitely deserves the hype. It may not bring anything new to the conversation around these topics, but it repackages them in a way that is incredibly impactful. I highly recommend to anyone that can handle such a bleak story. 

“I’ve only ever known myself in song, between notes, in that place where language won’t suffice but the drums might, might speak for us, might speak for what is on our hearts.”

I liked this quite a bit less than Open Water but that definitely doesn't mean it was bad.

The writing style felt a bit more redundant and convoluted in this book, though I still found myself completely affected by so many of the sentences in here. Caleb Azumah Nelson has a way of writing emotions in an almost stream-of-conscious way that is incredibly poignant.

It's a beautiful, raw look at the relationships between family members, ourselves, and our homes - as well as a celebration of the cycles that life can tend to move through. It's a story with a heart of forgiveness, forgiveness offered to others as well as to ourselves.

Even with my criticisms, I still believe this was a beautiful book and I continue to be impressed by Caleb Azumah Nelson's writing style.