hannahreadss_'s reviews
191 reviews

2.5?? (honestly, i'm not sure)

even though this is a short book, it took me a whileeeeee to read.

honest to god what the fuck does taylor put in her damn writing, it isn't even the most compelling or detailed-driven, but i consume each word like my life depends on them.

i don't know how to rate this. and i don't know how to review it either. so i'm gunna give myself some time to think about either of those things. hahahahahahahahahahahah. i still don't know. this is her least problematic book though so uhhh.

spoilers littered throughout. you've been warned (:

first things first: ALL the men gave me the ick and i'm not sure if that was on purpose or just my taste. is it me? am I the problem? billy was so delusional, it was infuriating. like i get it, egotistical and overwhelmingly guilty for his actions but pls stop talking. and sorry but graham was ignorant to think him and karen were going to be anything, (view spoiler), considering she told him to keep them a secret, like that’s a big ole sign !! karen was my favourite actually. she knew what she wanted, she was confident, talented and her character was consistently the least annoying.

also women’s body, women’s choice. i do not care how selfish you might think it is, if you aren’t the one carrying an egg, shut up.

eddie was annoying but i did get his frustrations and this gave him character depth than jut being the annoying 'bad guy'. daisy, oh daisy honey. i was slightly in love with her and yes my taste in women is apparently questionable. i definitely thought in my head, i can fix her. just give me a chance . simone was the best character out of them all (i will not be hearing otherwise on this), she deserves the world and i wanted more of her.

as we can all see; there are a lot of characters in this (something tjr does a lot) and it can be hard to have any distinction between them. tjr didn't do all that well in this case, mostly at fault of the interview-style format. honestly i kept forgetting who was who in the beginning and i still couldn't tell you what rod’s job was, or teddy's and who the fuck was hank again? i genuinely forgot pete was even an actual fucking person until it was pointed out right at the end and i realised he hadn't been interviewed. like. i didn't even notice. though that was the point of his character - in it for the fun, just going with the flow until it's time to dip- i don't think it bodes well that i forget about a whole character. because there were so many people, no one felt fleshed out. instead they were all one-dimensional with their one personality trait that propelled them through the narrative and was their reason at the end.

the blurb and tone seems to allude to a mysterious event on July 12 that caused the disbanding of daisy jones & the six, at least that's what i was expecting but it was evidently clear within the first like 30 pages what was going to happen. unsubtle foreshadowing.

did i still inhale daisy jones & the six like it was oxygen? course i fucking did. it's just so easy to read. and i did enjoy it, which could be a shock considering the review lmao. it was emotional and aggravating and believable. i wish i were as cool as daisy fucking jones. minus the substance addiction and sleep deprivation though.

also big up everyone that came on this reading journey with me. i'm sure you all really enjoyed my off-handed comments.

as an ex-swimmer this is already hitting close to home.

my face when i thought it was just a cute little story about swimmers and their pool: 😋
my face after finishing this, realising it is NOT just a cute little story about swimmers and their pool: 😟

this felt like a memoir. fluid, poignant prose with moments of hilarity and an interesting first-person plural pov,  something i've never come across. i actually really liked it, and everything else about the swimmers, but i will say it felt like three short stories that had one common thread keeping them together, rather than one whole story.

otsuka must be a swimmer because she described it perfectly - there totally are rules and it does sort of feel like flying.

as many others have stated in their reviews, this was lovely.

while handling fairly heavy subject matter - sexism, especially in an all male-dominated career/hobby, patriarchal society - reading the lady's guide to celestial mechanics felt like being wrapped in a soft, warm blanket under a starry night sky.

i know next to nothing about a lot of things: astronomy, sewing and drawing included, but easily understood everything i was reading and even learnt a few things. it actually made me want to buy a telescope but given 1) i live fairly close to london (#airpollution) and 2) i have no money, i decided best not to divulge in this impulsivity.

i adored both lucy and catherine. they were strong female characters who were utterly charming. their pov's did get somewhat muddled during chapters which did break my reading spell but other than that, they both had distinctive voices and grew as individuals while simultaneously being perfect together. the ending wrapped everything nicely and

[i was very happy when all the snobby little men got their arses handed to them on account of oléron

the art style alone has to be one of my favourites i've ever seen. the cover was what caught my eye; incredibly adorable and visually appealing and i was not disappointed because the story is just as cute.

the use of the pastel colours against brighter, stronger colours especially the pinks and purples with the greens was stunning but there were a few times where it was slightly difficult to interpret the scene, to figure out what exactly was happening. very lighthearted but with a lovely message - working together to create something beautiful.

i also enjoyed that each little sprite had its own personality through their name, appearance and mannerisms.

a short read but totally wholesome with stunning illustrations and a wonderful overarching message, it's okay not being able to do absolutely everything and it's okay to ask for help.

*thanks to netgalley & publisher for an e-arc. all opinions are my own.*

i’m not sure honestly at time of finishing. if i spend a bit of time mulling this novella over, i might change the rating but for now i’ll go with 3 stars.

the writing is so uniquely descriptive and captivating that it’s probably my favourite part of this. incredibly detailed and vivid.

very politically heavy even if the actual plot semantics are simple enough. the ai nature is very cool for lack of better words, and dark. which i love.

first book of 2023 was quite the ride.

i'm actually supposed to be working so let me get back to that... review to come because i have many thoughts.

you know when something is so vivid that you can practically taste the words, that you have a city, a planet, no, an entire universe in your head because of what you've just read?

i can barely see shit. that whole, 'imagine an apple, what do you see' fiasco made me realise i do not have as imaginative a mind as i previously thought which sucked because i'm really awful at maths and science and i'm not a top athlete, so if i'm not creative, what's left at this point? i'm getting distracted, what i'm trying to say (with a lot of bullshit) is that machine's last testament is so incredibly vivid that even i could get a rough sketch of everything that was being described and honestly, it's probably one of the selling points of this book.

there are a few other things that are really great, which i'm getting onto, but there are also a couple things that didn't work for me which meant this was a four star instead of a five. because i'm nothing if not ungenerous.

OKAY enough babbling, here's everything i loved:

as i've just mentioned, this was so good. for some, it might be slightly lethargic to note everything that there is to see, but for me it worked. the details were so creative. so wonderfully descriptive and never what i would ever have thought to describe foliage or the arc of a building or the clothing aesthetic. unique, detail orientated descriptions. all the characters were fleshed out with actual personalities and i was roooooting for ovuha, let her be a menace. everyone was really hot too, which is always a bonus. the sex scenes? jesus.

there were various pronouns AND neopronouns wound seamlessly into the prose, including they/them and xe. there was also a range of different sexualities with both main characters being queer. basically this was a big queer fest and after reading this, i forgot straight people actually exist.

it actually reminded me a little bit of i, robot (the film because i haven't yet read the book) with one main, supreme AI controlling everything and every AI. the themes of surveillance and immigration intertwined with imperialism were hard hitting and an honest depiction. they were handled with care, thoroughly explored and honestly, probably a pretty accurate representation of past and current events.

i'm quite a morbid person with a slight fascination with death and such so this was right up my alley. it wasn't visceral for the sake of being gory either. there was a time and place for the violence, it served to add to the plot and create this concept that given the chance, people will leave their humanity at the door if it allows them to live a lavish life.

oh god, i've gone on a lot haven't i. ah well.

now, things that didn't work for me:

i have a small brain. i also have a worrisome memory, and while i don't need to be reminded constantly, i'm not susceptible to vastly complicated and layered amounts of information all at once. if you don't have issues, know that i am incredibly jealous of you firstly, and that you will have no issue in this department if you so choose to read this.

there was something missing, not there. i didn’t believe this intense connection could have formed so quickly and thoroughly in such a short time frame and such little interactions. minor spoiler ‼️ there were a maximum of 10 interactions they had in the beginning and yet ovuha was so in love that she based their entire plan on whatever suzhen wanted? too insta-lovey for me. i felt like it needed a bit more of a slow-burn.

while i did love the world building and felt immersed in this narrative, i do think the mechanics were overlooked. i was getting confused as to how a lot of things were able to happen and couldn't tell if it were me being stupid and missed something or if it just hadn't really been mentioned.

ironically, there were both moments of info dumping AND moments were everything was so utterly vague i genuinely had no fucking clue what was happening. see previous point.

it was slow at the beginning, all action was condensed together and it affected my understanding of, again, what the fuck was happening at moments.

overall i think this was an ambitious first novel that was immensely creative but lacked the finishing touches. i'd also like to point out, for most of it, i did have a loose idea of what was happening before anyone comes for me.

let me be a part of muderbots crew.

this is definitely an unusual book. like, borderline weird. (think bunny level weird). i don't think i fully grasped what was happening or the subtle, underlying messages at any point. partly due to the fact that the narration was so separated, so individualised, it felt more like short stories tied together than a full novel.

wickedly original and hard-hitting themes (sexism, misogyny, homophobia) incorporated flawlessly into the narrative though !!

overall; this was a very slow but intriguing reading journey.

i just don't think i understood much of it.

this book made me see the beauty in maths, and i oathe maths. ultimately, a simple, poetic book of found family in the most unexpected of places. very heartfelt and moving, in such a short amount of time, so i applaud Yōko Ogawa for making me feel so much in so few pages.