miyaosamu's reviews
312 reviews

Thank you to Holiday House for an e-arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

i absolutely adored olivie blake's ya debut under a different pen name with its focus on woc in stem. i found myself in eccentric bel maier, one of our two high school senior mains though definitely not as much of a mechanical engineering whiz as she is. as smart as she is, she goes through the motions in life with a lack of motivation to aim higher particularly at the start of the book with putting important things off that makes her stress even more thinking about her future. teo luna on the other hand, with being the son of a tech ceo and expectations from not just his parents but everyone around him, he works himself to the maximum in order to live up to them. but also in the beginning struggled with teamwork on their robotics team in listening to others input, so glad bel contributed to his development in realizing a lot of aspects he needed to work as a team. not just teo, both of them also struggle with a lot of weight on their shoulders in terms of expectations in making their parents happy with what they choose to do in life and where to go to college. bel with her divorced parents along with her mom asking her about college constantly and teo with his dad wanting to maintain his image.

the romance aspect of this story gave me so many butterflies, i'm just a sap for a good ya romance at times. but bel and teo were the cutest along with how they helped each other grow individually coming to realizations about choices they can make for themselves and accepting each other how they are, not being influenced by outside perspectives of who they should date. side note, particular details i personally loved, was the filipino representation! bel's mom being full filipina, making bel half, it was just so great to see tagalog and food references in ya genre that i didn't really see growing up. was endeared with the scene of bel's mom being the usual filipino mom in instantly persuading teo to eat with them. with its stem main focus my mechanical romance was everything that was needed to change things up in ya romcom genre. if you're looking for a quick read but different to one's usual ya romcom i definitely recommend picking this one up! 

“It is not a question of if you will survive this, but what beautiful things await you when you do.”

Truly a staggering yet devastating read, written in unwaveringly unflinching truth of what Chanel gone through after January 18, 2015 and the brutal year of the trial that followed. Chanel Miller, who was known as Emily Doe pre-2019 as her victim impact statement went viral in 2016 during the times of the high profile case of the Stanford sexual assault. This memoir like her statement but goes into more depth and detail of her internal emotions and day to day life after that night. Definitely not recommended for the faint of heart as details of the night are repeated constantly as readers see that she was forced to relive that night as well seen in court on the stand every time. We see how the policies in Stanford's system both fail her and the justice system incessantly fails sexual assault victims time and time again with not just sentencings but failure to see the system's own flaws with how victims are scared to speak up as they see cases with even sufficient evidence are not even enough to give them the justice they deserve. Reading all that Miller suffered in the mental strain the aftermath and the trial put her and her loved ones through was heartbreaking and draining seeing the lack of empathy people have for victims in general public and the legal system. But with her victim statement its inspiring to see how much her words made an impact worldwide and she was able to see that there is good in the world, leading her to be able to reclaim her identity becoming one with anonymous victim and putting this story out for the world to acknowledge.

“We don’t fight for our own happy endings. We fight to say you can’t. We fight for accountability. We fight to establish precedent. We fight because we pray we’ll be the last ones to feel this kind of pain.”

 

r.f. kuang has truly done it again, babel blew away all my expectations and shattered the standards of the dark academia genre. she outmatched herself really and not just by causing even more extreme emotional damage as tpw trilogy had. kuang put her entire mind, heart and soul into the workings of this one, from the depths of knowledge on translation theory and linguistics to her distinct characterizations. the themes brought to the forefront of student revolution, decolonization in resisting colonial rule and its never ending ramifications along figuring out one’s place, accepting the role rooted in their identity of going against powerful nation of britain. even so, ones in power still looks down upon them and their motherlands deeming them inferior, thinking that they “saved” students uprooting them from their homes that they gave them such privileges of studies and only prioritizing of what would be in britain's best interest as babel students are expendable to them.

trying to write as little spoilers as possible, though definitely want to write out a more thorough review closer to release date, with just endless pondering on my mind like one being my thoughts on our individual characters of robin, ramy, victoire, letty and more. with the way kuang articulated internal struggles on what it is like to be a foreigner in a country where there are people who will never truly accept ones as they are even as much they try to assimilate, it will never be enough for them and one loses their identity in the process of going about attempting to be accepted in their eyes. this being said, also her depictions of white fragility and the realization of how much they have to be comforted when their ideals are proven wrong, kuang wrote it so unerringly exact in the perspectives seen through this story.

from the oxford campus atmosphere to seeing the rigorous language classes, pulling readers in feeling like one were at the college with our main core four. in how they go about their days in classes, at cafes, and familiar of the habits each one has, readers see the cohort of our four grow and depend on another so quickly. the found family dynamic of it all made my heart beyond full even though the early on foreshadowing, having its intended impact, shattered my soul having me terrified for what direction the storyline would go in. following these university students, seeing them at their happiest moments together up until they come to realizations of knowing they can’t be those blissful kids ever again in order to be loyal to their truest selves.

the entire system of silver working that is woven into real times and history, but being fictional spearhead of power that britain holds is complete utter genius down to its very details. simply inexplicable brilliance how it functions, the match-pairs needing two words of different languages but the user saying the term must in fluent in being able to think and dream in said language. the use of silver bars in daily necessities was very much reminder of current times with advanced technology such as ai and self-serve tech putting workers out of jobs. the numerous possibilities with the bars is clear why the characters say they feel like a god themselves when finding a match-pair that is a success.

characters are put through the absolute wringer, particular robin, ramy and victoire. i’m quite sure readers will love robin seeing everything he’s put through and his conflicts at every turn as he grapples with hard choices and develops him tremendously. be sure to expect definite usuals in kuang’s writing style with her impressive use of foreshadowing, as tpw trilogy readers knowing she frankly does not just implement it without reason. additionally, her phenomenal plot twists, as in the beginning i thought i knew where the story was going with many of my theories proven true as the story went on. but all of sudden, rfk takes your head for a spin at precise moments and then you’re at a complete loss for words and terrified, no longer knowing where she’ll take the story and how it would all end.

there’s no way to prepare for this novel at all, let the story and characters captivate your mind and feelings as kuang fills your brain with all things linguistics and the intricacies of translation theory, and gives you characters to love while causing an insane amount of suffering all the same.


Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for an e-arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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01/06/22 update: both the us and uk covers are so stunning, its everything an rfk dark academia book deserves. desperately need it to be august already, its 8 months too far away.
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05/04/21: shaking and crying in anticipation in hopes that this gives me a new brainrot because the tpw trilogy has been causing me breakdowns for the last six months... 

“But diaspora was this, too: two cultures that could both be his, history that was waiting to be made.”

this contemporary chinese-american diaspora art heist from li was an enjoyable debut, getting its themes of effects of colonization in taking back what belongs to one's country and assimilation yet still connecting to one's roots, across. following a group of immigrant kids in their 20's with each distinct characterizations and problems with the weight on their shoulders on living up to either what their parents or in supporting the family. particularly will and irene's sibling dynamic was the one that i was most focused on, seeing both of them going through their memories of their lives shared with the other and the internal constant comparing both didn't think the other had. though li's writing is strong with writing an atmosphere of what it feels to be in your twenties and still trying to figure things out, there was just something lacking in the story overall personally. regardless loving to see each character's individual perspectives but it just felt like every chapter always ends abruptly with a hopeful feeling when there was definitely more depth that could've been given to each individual along with the heists themselves devoid of a feeling of thrill though i understand there's more of the realistic feel to it as the group has so much to lose with daniel's fbi dad and all of their college/work futures. nonetheless, this was still a pleasant debut from li that's rarely seen in the ya contemporary genre with its aspect of heists with the deeper meaning behind it of struggles of belonging to either america or one's home or parent's home country and doing what one feels like needs to be done in order to belong.

huge thanks to penguin group dutton for sending me an arc via netgalley!

“All parents leave their own scars. We're the ones who have to heal from them.” 

edited gr review:

when i say that i cannot believe “he's a minor deity from the norse pantheon” is an actual quote...

stuck with you was just miscommunication at its utter finest. demonstrating how the story practically wouldn't exist if the characters knew how to talk and hear each other out. once again with this second story, already within the like first two chapters it's the mc describing how massive the love interest is physically exactly like the first one novella:
“his sequoia wide biceps...corporate thor...he's as towering as a greenlandic mountain range...have to go rock climbing to reach him.”
also add on the amount of emphasis on scandinavian viking and how blue his eyes his eyes are. the author has a particular format of talkative mc with broody quiet love interest, insta-love quickly turned somehow into enemies to lovers, going on and on about how the love interest externally looks and compares in size to main.

though e2l is attempted to be incorporated, this installment was more like communication gone completely wrong, sadie goes through so many instant assumptions in her mind it was just so frustrating especially having to listen to it. the story was honestly overall bland and boring how quickly they connected and sadie falling headfirst putting faith in a guy she met within less than 24 hours. the arrangement of the plot switching up timelines every chapter, which i understand is to keep readers on edge to wait to find out what went wrong but it just didn't work for me. the story had potential in going a different route if sadie had better communication skills but mostly was open minded to hearing what erik had to say, not completely ghost him and weave up a whole different story in her head.

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the author has a particular format of talkative mc with broody quiet love interest, insta-love quickly turned somehow into enemies to lovers, and going on and on about how the love interest looks physically. with this second story already within the like first two chapters it's once again the mc describing how massive the love interest is physically just like the first one:
“his sequoia wide biceps...corporate thor...he's as towering as a greenlandic mountain range...have to go rock climbing to reach him.”
... also add on the amount of emphasis on scandinavian viking (when i say that i cannot believe “he's a minor deity from the norse pantheon” is an actual quote) and how blue his eyes his eyes are.

though i said enemies to lovers, this installment was more like communication gone completely wrong, sadie goes through so many instant assumptions in her mind it was just so frustrating especially having to listen to it. the story was just overall bland and boring how quickly they connected and sadie falling headfirst putting faith in a guy she met within less than 24 hours. the arrangement of the plot switching up timelines every chapter, which i understand is to keep readers on edge to wait to find out what went wrong but it just didn't work for me. practically the story in its entirety wouldn't exist if not for sadie's terrible communication skills and just heard out what erik had to say. not completely ghost him and weave up a whole different story in her head. 

side note, not the star wars prequel slander thrown in sadie's internal monologue just randomly. guess it just throws me off when books make media reference opinions like its twitter or something out of blue.😭😭😭

 “take a shot every time she says how big he is.” - sara


like truly, i swear the author used up all the synonyms that exist of big and huge. i'm not much of an audiobook reader so listening to this was .... an experience. hearing all of the mc, mara's internal monologue was hard to get through for a good chunk first half without cringing. while she did grow on me a bit by the end, a lot of her thoughts just her overanalyzing trying to place liam's motives under the friend level not being able to process how much he likes her. this rating would've been one star, more like one point 5 rounded up, only saving grace being the roommate aspect was cute nothing too special but them bonding, getting to know each other in a domestic setting, and what the other enjoys in their free time. do wish we got to see liam being to tell off mara's coworkers, that would've definitely been fun to see.