omnombailey's reviews
95 reviews

What an incredible, unique story. It took some time to adjust to the prose; the omnipotent narration is initially jarring when so few modern stories use it, but it eventually felt like the story was being told me, like I was listening to an elder pass on a legend. The magical realism was amazing, as was the Mayan mythology, and while the pace of the book is rather rapid, the descriptions of each location are vivid, almost tangible. I love the characters and their stories. I couldn't put this down in the last quarter of the story. It's also been a long time since I've teared up over fictional characters, but here we are. Definitely worth the read, even if it's a touch hard to get into at first. It will grow on you. 

 Less of a cohesive story and more of a collection of snapshots. The courtship between Jimmy and Elsie is really precious and I snorted hard over a couple of scenes, but I wish it had more depth than oneshot gags every page. Despite being an extremely quick read, it was enjoyable. Plus the hardcover copy is gorgeous. 

 A lovely story about grief and all its shapes and forms. The back and forth between the present day and flashbacks were delightful and gave an extra layer to the characters and narrative. It was a pleasant surprise to see some LGBTQ+ characters who weren't riddled with angst over their identity and they didn't have an overly perfect happily ever after. Everything was genuine and raw, but not at the expense of who the characters were.

While I loved the simplicity of the prose, sometimes it was too simple. Variety in sentence structure would've been nice, especially when most of the passages read like "She did this. I did that. Then I did this" over and over again. Same with the dialogue at times, which came across stiffer than I imagine the author intended. I found those moments distracting, which is a shame given how grave the themes are of this story.

Despite some of the less stellar aspects, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Once I started, I couldn't put it down and resonated with both Marin and Mabel. Also a quick read, which is as much of a treat as the narrative. 

I  had tremendously high expectations for this book after reading the first one, Girls of Paper and Fire. While it was a great book on its own, it still struggles with the pesky "middle of the series" syndrome.

Most of the narrative is the main characters going from place to place, either trying to recruit help for the rebellion or run away from the king's forces. In between are some delightful moments between characters that I adored, especially with

the growing tension between Lei and Wren. I was happy to see them in situations that made them question each other (mostly Lei with Wren) instead of being stuck in a honeymoon phase. Don't get me wrong - I do want them happy together, but they definitely have a lot to talk about.

Seeing Lei mature from the previous book is extremely bittersweet; it's great to see her less whiny, but also knowing why and how she got to that point (via sexual trauma) just breaks my heart every time. Her coping is extremely authentic and relatable and thus makes me root for her even more.

I also grew to love the shift in perspectives to those back at the palace. I wondered what happened in the wake of the assassination attempt and seeing the lives of those Lei and Wren left behind was an absolute treat. Though the tense shift was always jarring (going from first person present to third person past :\ bleh).

Sadly, a bunch of points fell short for me.

I was never a fan of Bo; he felt too forced and I was constantly annoyed he was never taking anything even half seriously. I feel he was written to make the reader laugh and find him enjoyable, but it didn't work for me. I did enjoy his brief relationship with Merrin, because their obvious flirting since the beginning felt like a freaking neon sign to me, so it was great to see some more queer characters. Bo's death only worked for me because I was far more invested in Merrin than Bo and seeing Merrin devestated was heartwrenching, but I don't think that was the intention behind all of that :\

And Lova.... *sigh* I think if Lova had zero backstory with Wren and didn't show up as a deus ex machina 75% into the story without ever being mentioned I might have enjoyed her more. On paper, she's character I'd be into, but her feeling entitled to Wren despite Wren being Lei left an awful taste in my mouth. I want to say Wren did mention Lova in the first book when it came to her previous lovers, but that still doesn't excuse her randomly showing up to save the gang from death. Oh what's that? She's been following them the whole time and there's been zero foreshadowing? Uh-huh, alright. Sure ಠ_ಠ I struggled with finishing the book because of her waltzing in and stealing the spotlight. I hated it and didn't want it and thus it made the last quarter of the book feel ridiculously forced. I probably would've given this 4 stars if Lova was never a thing because I despised anything in a twenty foot radius of her so much.

For the most part, this was an enjoyable read. Not as brilliant as the first book, but a good addition. Well-written with lovely prose and equally lovely characters not you, Lova or Bo. It's definitely hooked me for the next book. 

A really fun read. Art is phenomenal. The pacing is a bit stutter-y, but the overall narrative worked well. A lot more emotional and sad than I prepared myself for, but I still enjoyed this. Honestly I just want to see more of Harley and Ivy being wacky, adorable girlfriends together. 

I had stupid high expectations for this book and was excited to read it, only to feel meh most of the time reading it. The story itself isn't atrocious - the prose is nice enough to read and the banter can be enjoyable - but I had such a difficult time suspending my disbelief to accept what unfolds in this book.

For a story that takes place in our contemporary world, it floored me that it took as long as it did for the climax to happen. Alex and Henry spend a vast majority of the plot untouched by the consequences of their actions. And I get it. It's a fluffy romance that's meant to be escapism, but it's difficult to escape when the world mirrors so much of our own.

I don't typically read pure romances, so I'm not sure if this is a genre thing or not, but wow, were problems resolved lightning fast. I wish the story stewed in those issues longer. Hell, I wish it just sat still for a couple of pages instead of jumping to the next thing. Any and all conflicts are immediately resolved, making aspects like the enemies-to-lovers and fake relationship tropes extremely short-lived. I kept forgetting Alex hated Henry so much due to how quickly it was chucked out the window.

Any subplots outside of the romance were kind of forgotten, only to be brought back when it was convenient for the plot. At one point, June doesn't want to be on the campaign team and wants to be a journalist... and then that kind of gets swept under a rug. And I can't remember if there was a section I skimmed that detailed more on this or if the author actually forgot to connect details. This happens so often that it came to the point where I stopped paying attention to secondary characters doing anything outside of Alex and Henry; it just wasn't important.

There were many annoyances throughout the story: I could never get a solid read on Alex's mom as a character and she felt like a different person each time she showed up; Zahra read like she belonged in an anime and not an American romance novel; Henry and every British character read like a stereotype; pages upon pages of details regarding kissing and groping and stuff, only to have the actual sex glossed over at best (and there's a lot of sex); Alex's mixed background never felt genuine to me (I have a hard time believing someone who's eaten tacos and stuff in California is NOT complaining about inferior avocados while in DC); anything and everything with Liam ticked me off; Alex clearly has a drinking problem and no one ever stops to call him out on it, especially Henry with his sober sister; etc etc.

But regardless of this, I did find myself enjoying it enough to keep turning the page: the prose is simple yet evocative, witty yet emotional; the plot keeps moving forward, despite some of the scenes lingering in filler-ish chapters; June and Nora are 100% dating in the background and you can't convince me otherwise; Alex being bi and 100% ok with that; Henry's frustrations with not being able to be himself; everything leading up to Henry and Alex's first kiss; etc etc.

I realize despite being queer af, I'm not the intended audience for this book. This might've been a cute slice of escapism for a lot of people, but for me I couldn't stop scrutinizing the details and how very little added up. Regardless, it was a fun distraction from what I typically read and I'd be curious to see what else this author publishes in the future. 

 What a garbage story.

The only thing I liked was the synopsis, which was what drove me to get this book to begin with. Even that was written better than this entire novel. It just isn't good. Every aspect is boring and outstays its welcome rapidly. Maybe people into hard sci-fi will love the pages upon pages of explanation, but it felt like unnecessary filler to me. All the way until the end, new elements of the world are explained. That doesn't make for good storytelling. The prose is either too simple or over-exaggerated. The pacing was awful, going from a four-minute chapter to an hour chapter. Many of the narrative arcs make no sense, especially the middle when Enoch is with the king. I had such a difficult time making sense of anything and I don't know if that was due to my boredom-induced skimming or the absolute lack of concise explanation in the story.

The worst was having to stomach the parts when Enoch stumbled upon ~a girl~ for the first time and he immediately thinks OH MY GOD SHE'S BEAUTIFUL. Every time. With every girl. Which sadly isn't a lot, considering there are only two girls throughout the whole story (maybe three if you want to count the cat thing he gets). And to make matters worse, one of said girls is subjected to having her wings removed/clipped, which reads like a rape scene. I get it was trying to be disturbing and paint how awful the king is, but wow it was really thoughtless.

Halfway through reading, I had to look up the author to see if he had written anything else, because this hot mess read like Baby's First Novel. Come to find out this guy has written stories for Blizzard and works there as a narrative something or other. And honestly? That explained a lot about this novel; it reads like a reject Blizzard game novelization. And that is not a good thing.

This book was a chore to read. I don't even know why I forced myself to go through it. Maybe I hoped something interesting would happen? Well, it never did. Plenty of loose ends were left forgotten and the climax was abrupt and uninteresting. Apparently it's the first book of a series, but considering there hasn't been a second book in five or so years.... Yeah.