moth_meg's reviews
155 reviews

“I’m not important. You’re not important. Winning the war, that’s the only important thing.”
 
“No,” I said, “I disagree. Markov was important. So am I and so are you. That’s why we have to win.”
 
Kolya raised his eyebrows, impressed that I was standing up to the little fanatic. “I’m especially important,” he announced. “I’m writing the great novel of the twentieth century.”

City of Thieves is an exploration of individualism against the backdrop of war, where collectivism commonly dominates the public attitude.

In the midst of a siege, two young men risk their lives in search of a dozen eggs. While it did take me some time to come to appreciate this unusual premise, I ultimately found the book engaging and original. Benioff places emphasis on the ordinary - simple things do not disappear in chaos. If anything, they ground us. Our reality is built upon friendship, sex, poetry, literature, chess, and eggs.

The story is told in first-person by Lev, a Jewish teen living alone in Leningrad during World War II. Lev’s narration is a stream of consciousness, often reminiscing or philosophizing mid-action. This style suits the story well, breaking up the nonstop movement of the main plot.

The reader, privy to the entirety of Lev’s inner monologue,  hears the worst of him- his selfishness, his immaturity (especially in his perception of women), his weakness, and his cowardice. Think Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye.
 
However, I couldn’t help but warm to Lev. Since the main plot of the book only spans a single week, there isn’t room for traditional character development. It would be unrealistic to shove a full character evolution into such a brief window. 

But Benioff is clever. Rather than rushing a change in Lev, he forces the reader to question and reframe their original perception of the character. Lev’s wit, empathy, and stubborn will to survive are all revealed throughout the course of the story. We’re left feeling that Lev had these qualities all along, they only needed to be unearthed.
 
Much of this character revelation is enabled through Kolya, who serves as a perfect foil to Lev. When Lev freezes in the face of danger, Kolya is impulsive to a fault. While Lev treats life with a healthy amount of cynicism, Kolya romanticizes everything from women to literature. Their odd couple dynamic and budding friendship is the heart of the book.
 
In contrast to the slow start, the ending is executed quite well (although I predicted fairly early on that

Kolya would die

). The final chapters are remarkably tense; delivering triumph, tragedy, and bitterness without missing a beat. 
 
Only one aspect of this conclusion fell flat. The romance

between Lev and Vika

felt forced.

While I enjoyed Vika as a character, I didn’t see anything beyond platonic chemistry between her and Lev. It seems that he only likes her because he’s ridiculously horny (as Benioff takes every opportunity to remind us), and she only likes him because he saved her life. Their happy ending, while sweet, seemed tonally misaligned with the rest of the story.

A light & whimsical read!

Howl's Moving Castle is a character-driven story with wonderful imagery and a unique depiction of magic.

I adore the Studio Ghibli adaptation of this story, so when I learned that the movie was based on a book, of course, I had to read it.

I had such a fun time comparing and contrasting the events of the books with what played out on screen. It felt like I was unlocking bonus content! I really enjoyed getting a bit more of Sophie's backstory. I found the relationships between Sophie and her stepmom and sisters really interesting 

and learning about Sophie's affinity for magic through her talking to the hats was such a great touch

.

This is one of the rare cases where I can say I do still prefer the movie to the book. Personally, I felt that Sophie's relationship with her confidence through magic was better addressed in the movie,

especially with the visual depiction of her old age melting away as she gained faith in herself. In the book, it was much less clearly implied (if at all) that Sophie's own magic was what kept the curse so strong

. I also thought that the additional themes of war addressed in the movie added some depth and heightened the stakes beyond those in the book.

Overall I enjoyed this one quite a bit- I'd recommend it to any fans of the Ghibli version, or to anyone looking to unwind with a magical weekend read!

Disappointing.

What I wanted:

Strangers, each with their own sinister intentions, playing a deadly game of cat and mouse in a remote mansion, cut off from society by the harsh Wisconsin winter. Jane Eyre meets Killing Eve meets And Then There Were None.

What I got:

A  "love story" between a middle-aged incel (Ralph) and a troubled beauty (Catherine).

A Reliable Wife had so much promise, but it somehow let me down every step of the way.

I’m hardly an expert on 1909 Wisconsin, so I was interested to learn about the history of this location and how it would play into the plot. The one thing I could imagine about the Wisconsin winter during this time period is how barren and isolating it must have been. Unreliable, potentially dangerous, characters trapped together in a mansion amidst a blizzard, plotting against each other, and becoming increasingly paranoid and unstable throughout the winter- I was hooked.

Alas, this was not the atmospheric thriller I was hoping for. Rather, this book is a character study of lonely people; people who are so desperate to be loved that they are willing to commit (or forgive) any crime. Once you understand this fact about the main characters, all of their actions become easily explained. I was anticipating something more mysterious, more haunting, more disturbing (and disturbing as in emotionally interesting, not just weird sex stuff… but I’ll get to that later).

Here’s a quick summary (complete with spoilers).

Ralph’s mom was very religious and cruel to him, so he grew up to have a really messed-up relationship with his sexual feelings and impulses. This leads to him becoming a sex-obsessed adult. He over-analyzes purity and is unable to detangle his loneliness from his lust and the associated guilt he has been conditioned to feel. He ends up getting married, but then his wife cheats on him- so now he also has trust issues. Ralph copes with his resentment for his wife by beating the son that resulted from her affair, Antonio. Naturally, Antonio grows to hate Ralph and runs away as soon as he is able. Antonio basically becomes a sociopath as a result of the abuse he endured as a child. As an adult, he is obsessed with getting revenge against his father.

Catherine is an unlucky but beautiful woman forced to turn to prostitution to support herself and her younger sister following the deaths of their parents. Catherine meets Antonio and falls in love with him because he’s hot and gives her a crumb of positive attention. Antonio convinces Catherine to marry Ralph, then poison him with arsenic (because… revenge). Catherine ends up warming to Ralph and becomes convinced that he is a good man because he feels remorse for abusing Antonio and wants to make amends. Ultimately, she chooses not to follow through with the murder and wants to live happily ever after with Ralph. This makes Antonio mad, so he shows up to cause trouble. He ends up attacking Catherine, so Ralph murders him. It also turns out that Ralph knew about Catherine and Antonio’s evil plot all along, but he doesn’t care. Ralph’s ambivalence to the attempt on his life seems to be a product of the guilt he feels over how he treated Antonio and the love he feels for Catherine for ending his loneliness.

So, there is a murderous plot but it takes a backseat to the characters’ personal issues. Twists are revealed suddenly and with minimal foreshadowing, so even major plot points feel like mere blips on the radar of this monotonous and gloomy study of loneliness.

I was misled by the book jacket, that happens. This was not the story I was hoping for. Unfortunately, that was the least of this book's crimes.

Let's get into my least favorite elements of this book.

The Writing

While I’m sure that some enjoy it, Goolrick’s writing style is just not to my taste. He makes heavy use of repetition, which is one of my least favorite rhetorical devices. Instead of challenging the reader to pick up on context clues or convey his points through symbolism, Goolrick directly tells the reader his point. And then goes on to tell us a few more times after that.

Goolrick also chooses to use an omniscient style of narration- revealing the inner thoughts of every character. While most chapters seem to focus on the point of view of a single character at a time, there are some scenes where we are privy to the thoughts of everyone involved. I found this to be a strange choice for a story with so many mysterious elements. I think that the book may have benefited from leaving some of the character’s intentions unknown in order to maintain that sense of mystery and build suspense.

The Themes

I came away from this reading experience feeling like I'd been hit over the head with a repetitive and unoriginal thesis statement. People are driven by their past traumas, pain, and insecurities. People can be selfish, people can be cruel, people can be irrational. Sometimes people can move past their issues by accepting the sins of their past and focusing on the future, but usually, they can't. Bummer.

The description of this book draws a comparison to Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. If this was indeed Goolrick's inspiration for this book, it would appear that he managed to extract some elements of Bronte's story while failing to replicate anything that actually makes Wuthering Heights a classic. Revenge plays a major role in both stories, and the authors both make statements on human nature that aren’t very positive. That said, Wuthering Heights is so well regarded because Emily Bronte’s poetic prose elevates the story, not to mention the added intrigue of the historical context and implications of the book. As I read A Reliable Wife and reflected on this comparison, I found myself wishing I was just reading Wuthering Heights instead.

The Twists

The "big twists'' in this story don’t pack much of a punch. Instead, these reveals actually alleviate tension rather than building it, lowering stakes and making the story less exciting.

Twist 1: The reveal of Antonio as our criminal mastermind
Antonio is completely defined and driven by his daddy issues, so he makes a completely uninteresting antagonist. There is never a glimmer of hope that he will be redeemed or any encouragement for the reader to sympathize with him. Imagine writing the victim of child abuse to somehow still be a completely unsympathetic villain… why can’t we have complex characters in this book? This reveal also takes away Catherine’s agency as a character and reduces her to a puppet. Catherine isn’t fighting a growing affection for a man that she wants to kill, she is simply trapped in a love triangle.

Twist 2: Ralph’s awareness of Catherine poisoning him… and he doesn’t care
A murder plot that relies on a slow death by poisoning is risky because the murderer could get caught before the job is done. If the reader were allowed to speculate about what might happen if Catherine did get caught, or watch Ralph struggle to understand what is happening to him, the story would have been so much more exciting. We might be afraid of what Ralph might do to Catherine if he found out- would he murder her? We might actually root for Ralph to figure out what is happening to him before it’s too late, or at least pity him for being unable to save himself. But Ralph is able to save himself, he just decides not to.

Twist 3: Ralph having known of Catherine and Antonio’s relationship from the start
Already knowing that Ralph was content to allow Catherine to murder him, this is hardly a surprise. The only impact of this reveal is to further convince me that Ralph has zero critical thinking skills since he could have saved himself and Catherine a lot of suffering by simply having a conversation with her about this midway through the book.

The Characters

I didn’t find either of our protagonists to be particularly compelling. Catherine felt flat and uninteresting, while Ralph was just plain unlikeable.

Catherine is a pretty basic archetype; the unlucky girl with a heart of gold. She's beautiful yet unloved, life has been unkind to her. Initially, Catherine is portrayed as some kind of femme fatale, complete with cheesy lines like, “she enjoyed her body, the way women sometimes do”. This aspect of her character fades fairly quickly, as it becomes clear that her character is indecisive and nervous rather than dangerous and capable. For all the talk about her good looks, they ultimately play no role in the story. So why did her great beauty feature so heavily in her characterization? Probably because there isn’t much else to her.

Catherine has been manipulated into plotting Ralph’s murder because she has never known any kind of ~real love~. I found the revelation that Antonio was behind the whole thing to be incredibly disappointing. Catherine’s most interesting quality was the mystery surrounding her motivation. Was she some kind of black widow serial murderess, had she done this before? What in her past drove her to the point where she was willing to take a life for money? But no, the motivation is not Catherine’s at all. She is simply a pawn in Antonio’s grand plan. Catherine also likes to read. This never really ends up being important, but I guess it's an effort to humanize her. This is her only other notable trait.

I found Ralph’s pov’s really tough to get through. His inner monologue consists of two things: self-pity and sexual desire. A character doesn’t need to think about sex every other line to convey loneliness or even perversion… sometimes less is more. A few impactful lines would have gotten this point across. Better still, let the reader learn about Ralph’s character through his behavior instead of his thoughts.

Ralph’s thoughts show that he is unable to separate the personality and being of a woman from her sexuality.

He admires his first wife for her “purity”, then grows to despise her for her infidelity. He spares no critical thought to why their relationship failed. Ralph knows Catherine is killing him, but he becomes obsessed with her because he wants to have sex with her. His relationships with these women are defined by sex, their personalities and thoughts irrelevant

. While Ralph’s misogyny was likely a norm of the time period, it certainly won him no favor in my mind.

It appears that Ralph’s redeeming quality is meant to be that he regrets abusing his wife’s son, Antonio. Forgive me if I’m running low on sympathy for a man who would beat a child, but I really don’t find his guilt to make up for any of his actions.

Finally, Ralph and Catherine don’t have chemistry. There wasn’t a single moment in the entire book where I found myself rooting for their romance. With their romance being so centered in the plot, I would have really liked to see at least a bit of rapport building between them. Instead, it feels like these characters simply settled for each other to alleviate their loneliness.

The Ick

I complained a bit about the emphasis on Ralph’s sexual thoughts, but I feel the need to create a separate section to really explain it. These long, repetitive sections about Ralph’s “desires” are just plain gross. I’m not mad about the sexual themes, I’m mad about how poorly they are written. So many lines made me cringe.

For example, this phrase:

“her nipples rose up and radiated heat”

Or when a penis is described as:

“pliant as a fish”

Once again, it’s not the subject matter that bothers me- religious guilt, especially around sex, is an interesting topic and can be an interesting element in a story. Ralph’s intrusive thoughts and inner conflict could’ve been an engaging element of his character, but this is just poorly delivered.

Many of these graphic and uncomfortable descriptions,

including the sexual assault at the end of the book

, felt so unnecessary- played for shock value more than anything else. A good author can write these terrible moments like an accident you can’t look away from. You are passionate about the actions of the characters because you’re invested in their story. That’s not what this felt like. Rather than engrossing me in the story and making me feel horror on behalf of the characters, moments like this pulled me away from the world of the book. I found myself wondering why the author would write these scenes in this way, and wishing I didn’t have to be reading them.

Redeeming Qualities

I imagine that this book would have been easier to enjoy if I had known what I was in for. My expectations and hopes for this book played a large role in why it disappointed me so much, and it would be unfair to pin that all on the book itself.

My reading experience did improve noticeably around the middle of the book, with insufferable Ralph out of the center of the narrative. The second half of the book is much easier to read - the pacing is better, and the scope of the story is a bit wider with Antonio as another main character.

There were a lot of interesting concepts in this book (which is why my expectations were so high), and while I wasn’t happy with how they were ultimately handled, I still have to give Goolrick credit for sewing those seeds.

But would I recommend this book? Nope.

I love mysteries, and Agatha Christie is a credit to the genre. I can’t believe it took me this long to finally read one of her books!

The characterization is… *chef’s kiss*. Christie is able to capture the spirit of a character in just a few lines, which is really important given that this is a short book with a large cast.

One scene describes Miss Debenham laughing, “with just a hint of uncontrol in the sound” . It’s such a small detail, but it creates such a distinct image and window into Debenham’s state of mind.

Christie’s talent for subtly showcasing personality is most visible in the characterization of Poirot himself. I’ve seen Hercule Poirot reproduced on tv and in movies, but I never really liked or understood his character until reading Christie’s version of him.

I initially found Poirot to be obnoxious and annoying, and couldn’t see how this character managed to charm so many audiences. Upon reading this book, I immediately realized what I was missing. Poirot is meant to be a ridiculous character. He is eccentric and awkward, intentionally a deviation from the smooth/cool detective trope.

There are moments where the reader laughs with him, but also moments where the reader laughs at him. I found that much of Poirot’s charm actually came from the voice of the narrator, explaining to the reader not just his genius, but also his ungraceful moments.

Here are a few lines that really drove the point home for me:
“[Poirot is] the sort of little man one could never take seriously”
“Poirot tried to look modest but failed signally”

This personality and subtle commentary that shines through the voice of the narrator elevates the entire story. I get the sense that I’m watching and eavesdropping along with Poirot, observing his investigation unwind through the eyes of Christie herself.

While this book is a mystery, it is far from a thriller. The pace is slow to moderate, recounting the action through interviews after the fact rather than including dramatic scenes firsthand. I didn’t mind this relaxing version of a murder mystery, especially given the short length of the book. Had the story been drawn out any longer, I think I would have become frustrated with the pacing and lack of tension, but I can appreciate it as is.

My enjoyment of the story was unfortunately hindered by the fact that I already knew the twist ending. The story is just too famous, and while I hadn’t read or watched any version of it before, I was able to pull the twist from some random corner of cultural knowledge after the first few clues were revealed.

One bright spot of having the mystery spoiled was that I was able to pick up on Christie's use of foreshadowing from pretty early on. She does a great job sprinkling these details across the book.

However, I don’t think this is the type of mystery that the uninformed reader would be able to crack before the big reveal. There is just too much dependence on knowledge of events that happen outside of the main context of the story, of which the characters are aware but the reader has no way to know (view spoiler). I do usually like to have a fighting chance at solving the crime on my own, so I hope that this isn't a common feature of Christie's books.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this and will definitely revisit the Poirot series at some point in the future. I’d recommend this book as a light weekend read, great for a casual bit of mystery without too much tension or stress. It pairs well with a nice cup of tea or a glass of wine, maybe a blanket.

 

 Kaz lives in a world full of magic and heroes, but he is neither of those things. He wants money, power, and—above all else—revenge.

This book was so much fun to read. Six of Crows delivers nonstop action, excellent characters, and a gripping adventure that pulled me in from the start. The premise is classic fantasy adventure meets heist, featuring a cast of well-developed antiheroes.

Six of Crows takes place in the same universe as The Grisha Trilogy. Having only read Shadow and Bone of that series, I was worried that I might be missing some background knowledge, especially since the action begins rather quickly and not much time is spent on getting to know the characters or the world before diving into the main plot. However, Bardugo makes heavy use of flashbacks and fleshes out everyone's backstories eventually. I wish that I had known this going in- she really does an excellent job leaving out information to build narrative tension, but I was too busy worrying that I had missed out on a previous book to appreciate it.

After a few flashbacks, I was able to realize that this was just her style and focus on the story unraveling in front of me. These flashes of the past are integrated really gracefully into the rest of the story, which really goes to show what a great storyteller Bardugo is. The time jumps feel so natural, it's easy to remain fully engaged in the story. I found a similar thing to be true for the worldbuilding. Knowing that there were previous books in the universe, I initially wondered if I was missing crucial information. Yet again, I found that all the essential information was revealed in due time.

I actually soon forgot about the original trilogy altogether, getting completely wrapped up in the new story. The mature content and writing style felt more evocative of Ninth House (a completely separate work of adult fiction by Bardugo) than Shadow and Bone. In my opinion, Six of Crows is a significantly better book than Shadow and Bone, showcasing a more complex form of storytelling, a more intricate plot, and a more compelling set of characters than its predecessor.

The story is told through multiple points of view, which can be hit or miss for me. In this case, I think it worked extremely well. I felt invested in all the characters, there was no perspective I wanted to rush through. Each of the crows has a distinct personality and skillset, each contributing to both the functionality and found-family dynamic of the team.

Additionally, switching between different viewpoints allowed Bardgugo to maintain a sense of suspense. Had the whole story been told through Kaz's eyes, the reader would've been in on details that were much more fun as surprise reveals later on. Tension is created when we get to see the progression of the story from the perspective of someone who is along for the ride rather than always having insight into the master plan.

The main characters are neatly paired up into couples, which might bother me if it weren't so well-written. Each pairing feels so different and contributes something unique to the story. These different relationships also play out on very different scales.

The romance between Nina and Matthias is front and center, Kaz and Inej seem to have a long road ahead of them, and the chemistry between Jesper and Wylan is only teased towards the end of the book

. In future installments, I hope that Bardugo will also invest more time in developing friendships between the crows. The seeds for some great platonic dynamics have been planted, and I want these relationships to get their turns in the spotlight.

The setup for the sequel, Crooked Kingdom, is perfect. Bardugo delivers a clean ending to the narrative arc of the first book, but the premise and stakes of the second book are clear.

Save my girl Inej!! I'm also so looking forward to seeing how Kaz plays out his revenge arc against Pekka Rollins after sparing his life- he must have big things planned for him. I'd also love to see Jesper further explore his Grisha abilities and identity

. I can only hope that Bardugo continues to deliver the magic she captured in this book. 

Something keeps drawing me back to this series. Reading the Twilight Saga reminds me that there are so many different ways to enjoy books, and a star rating representing quality is really just one small piece of that experience. This is a two-star book, but a 5-star experience in terms of discourse, lore, and community. 

The way this book bounces between being seemingly self-aware and then completely unhinged is so strange and weirdly entertaining to me. I love the random (and fleeting) moments of clarity where a character will say something completely rational.

Take this good advice from Charlie:

Of course, she doesn't listen.

Or this hot take on Wuthering Heights from Edward: 

The book is quoted frequently and romanticized throughout the book after this.

Bella can be genuinely insightful and funny one moment, then completely irrational and obsessive the next. Although her inner monologue about Edward can be cringe-inducing, I still think she’s a likable character. Maybe i’m just charmed by Kristen Stewart.

I love to read Bella as an unreliable narrator, or Edward as the villain. But at the end of the day, Meyer has made it clear that was not her intention with the books. Somehow the true entertainment value of the twilight saga comes from the readers- the "Twilight Renaissance" has encouraged readers to take the books less seriously and laugh when they’re comically bad, but also to look more deeply into what’s there, finding unexpected characters to love (Charlie) and to hate (Edward).

Twilight has become a piece of media that people love to hate, and as far as I can tell, Meyer has handled that gracefully. Regardless of why people gravitate to this series, it’s impressive that she created something that SO many people have been drawn into.

<b>Moral of the story: I don’t love Twilight, but I sure do love talking about it.</b>

Now for some actual complaining...
 
This has been my most frustrating experience with the Twilight Saga yet. The first problem I have with this book is the narrative surrounding consent and coercion. The way these topics are handled does not sit right with me. 

From the start of the series, these books have romanticized a very imbalanced power dynamic. Eclipse takes this a step further on all fronts

, showcasing Edward's hold over Bella by having him literally kidnap her and hold her in his family's house against her will as well as emphasizing the fact that he tracks her every move

. Yes, Bella is in danger for the majority of the book, but her desires for privacy and agency should still be respected. It's disturbing to read how she tolerates and rationalizes this abusive behavior. I would have loved to see Bella stand up for herself and hold her ground just once instead of melting as soon as she remembers how pretty Edward is.

Even worse, both Edward and Jacob are incredibly manipulative of Bella in this book.

Edward pressures Bella into accepting his marriage proposal using every tactic he can think of, including expressing his belief that if they were to have sex before being married, she would be damned

. These implications regarding premarital sex and virtue are extremely uncomfortable, especially in the context of the rest of the story.

You would think a book that tackles the topic of sexual assault of varying types through Rosalie and Bella's experiences would at least attempt to add some nuance before implying that sex before marriage sends you straight to hell

.

And then there's Jacob. The love triangle (an already tired trope) is executed horribly. We know what Bella's decision will be from the beginning, there is no suspense, no tension. 

The moment Bella realizes that she "loves" Jacob, she has already let him go. Not to mention the fact that Meyer absolutely destroys his character on the way to Bella's realization. Jacob threatening to kill himself in order to manipulate Bella into agreeing to kiss him is beyond immoral and completely goes against everything that was appealing about his character to begin with.

Jacob's main function in the story is to serve as a foil to Edward and embody the human life that Bella is choosing to leave behind. He sees and treats Bella as an equal rather than "protecting" (i.e. controlling) her as Edward does. At least he *did* until this book. Truly disappointing in terms of both characterization and plot development. 

I would have much less of an issue with the inclusion of these plot points in the book if they had actual consequences. Rather, all characters are quick to forgive, which both minimizes and normalizes this shitty behavior. 

I am fascinated by the way that Meyer includes so many plot points and characters that could be incredibly dynamic, then chooses to skate past them without diving deeper into what could've been very interesting arcs. Tell me more about the Cullens and their backstories! The glimpse into Rosalie's past life is one of the highlights of this book, and I gladly would've read more chapters devoted to her story

. Bloody revenge in a wedding dress! Give me more of that story PLEASE

. And to double down on my previous point, I would've loved for Bella to have been able to talk with Rosalie about the broken boundaries in her own life. Maybe they could've bonded. Maybe they would've teamed up to teach Jacob a lesson.

A central narrative through the book is that of the "third wife", a Quileute woman who sacrificed herself to save her husband and sons as they battled a vampire. [Sidebar: let's not forget that the Quileutes are real people and have <a href=https://studybreaks.com/thoughts/twilight-quileute-tribe/>faced real consequences</a> as a result of the Twilight series.] This story feels a bit like Chekhov's gun, it's referenced so many times that we know Bella is going to commit a similar act. When this moment finally comes, it feels incredibly anticlimactic.

Not only does this moment take place away from the larger battle (which we don't even get to see), but it is revealed that Bella's risk was completely unnecessary. She cuts her arm to distract the vampire-fighting the young werewolf Seth, but Edward tells her later that Seth was only pretending to struggle, and that he was only thrown off by her attempt to help him.

And just like that, Bella's act of bravery is trivialized.
 
Stephanie Meyer left me wanting much more in terms of plot, character development, and excitement. I knew not to expect much from this book since Eclipse is also my least favorite of the Twilight movies. Will my curiosity (and critical streak) be strong enough to push me through Breaking Dawn? I'm not sure yet, but I suspect it won't be too long until I'm tempted to see demon baby Renesme in her literary form...