tendaii8's reviews
290 reviews

The horrors of slavery and the middle passage are something we hear about but don't fully comprehend and this is a fact I am confronted with every time I engage with even the smallest of pieces that speak on the topic. Mother of the Sea in just 47 pages wholly engaged, horrified, and radicalized me, inciting a feeling within me I have been looking for from a story for a long time.

I have so many thoughts and considering how short the story was I feel that this is a good indicator of how amazing I found it to be. Our main character, who is largely nameless, is forced into an impossibly nightmarish situation and Elliott's brief yet striking narration of the circumstances paints a vivid picture people now are widely unaware of until they take the initiative to learn about it themselves. The Middle Passage was a disgustingly brutal truth in the journey of enslaved Africans and I have found in my experience it is the least spoken about and Elliott thankfully does not shy away from its realities.

The most horrifying part for me (besides the obvious) was the character Olu. Watching a mixed-race man actively engage with, profit from, and almost enjoy (or at the very least be apathetic towards) the situation was a sickening experience. All I could think was "How dare you speak your mother's tongue that was stolen from her, and use a name you actually don't care about, to force your power over someone you don't see as kin but as property." It was a great representation of how people can pick and choose aspects of themselves, using what little privilege certain aspects of their identity allow them (I'm assuming this character was able to pass) to grasp what little pieces the system will throw at them, ignoring the fact that the very same system would sooner subjugate them than accept them.

Oddly enough my favourite part is not the story itself (although anything I say cannot discount the haunting beauty of the narrative and the way it was written) but in the author's note at the end. I found that my own experiences and feelings were reflected back at me as Zetta Elliott eloquently details her experience with religion and inspiration for this story.

While my own similar feelings hit a little later in life for me, reading about her journey and inspiration connected to me personally in a way I haven't experienced before. I found I loved the additions of Zetta's exploration of the Black feminine in fantasy and fiction exceedingly therapeutic.

This is the kind of story I wholeheartedly believe should be on the required reading lists of every middle/high school history class (though with the way things are going now it's more likely to get banned) and I can't wait to share this with more people in my life.

It will be incredibly difficult for me to effectively articulate all my thoughts and feelings as I am still firmly entrenched in all the emotions this book incited. I initially wasn't going to read Babel until next year despite owning a copy of the book but it was put on the reading list for one of my classes this semester. I was literally in the group in my class in charge of leading a discussion on the book (despite not having it finished by then). In those 3 hours, we still couldn't discuss all that could be addressed so forgive my inability to encompass it all here. Reading this book was incredibly challenging for me purely because I am an angry person who struggles to remove myself from the stories I'm reading. I feel as if I am one of the characters in the book and take everything that happens extremely personally making reading about a lot of the interactions the characters have to suffer through a real test of my own will and patience. This is honestly why it took me so long to read.

To put it simply, Babel, or the Necessity of Violence is an exploration of language, power, and colonialism blending historical fantasy and critique of Western society and imperialism. As this is my first R.F. Kuang novel I wasn't sure of what to expect when it came to writing style or how extensively the subject would be explored. Reading this book felt like opening a wound, leaving me so incredibly vulnerable I could do nothing but watch in horrified fascination as it just got worse. I can only imagine the countless hours of research that could have gone into the process of preparing to tell this story, and while I've never felt quite so unintelligent when reading a book, I could not imagine any other way this could have been written. Kuang has a beautifully abrupt and realistic way of writing that not only enthrals you in the story but also aggressively confronts you with the reality that everything being said is steeped in reality and lived experience (why else would so many people have been so upset at its content when it came out).

Some themes and schools of thought are easy to determine and engage with because they are so embedded in the narrative it's virtually impossible to escape, so I will not be speaking on these topics in this review (especially since I beat them to death in my notes and highlights as I was reading). Maybe one day (when I'm not still so thoroughly fried and recovering from the reading hangover I'm experiencing) I may come back to expand on my other thoughts in this review, but for now, I'm going to have to leave it on the note that this is easily one of the best pieces of literature I have ever had the pleasure of engaging with and I cannot wait to read Kuang's other works. Right now I would kill for a prequel novella based on Griffin, following Lovell coming to get him, his time in the university and obvious falling out with his cohort and his induction into Hermes. 

I love reading about men begging and being desperate for their women, but I love listening to it even more 😏. I didn't know what my feelings would be at the end of this book because I have been stung before and didn't particularly love the first one but this was genuinely so enjoyable. I honestly think listening to the audiobook versions of this particular genre of romance is the only way for me because it makes it much easier to ignore the things that would usually make me physically cringe and it's so much more entertaining.

Between writing Butcher and Blackbird and Leather & Lark, I can tell that Brynne has grown as a writer. While some of the dialogue and humour remain a bit too gimmicky for my taste, this story felt so much fuller than the first one. The characters, plot, and romance all improved, and I found myself genuinely interested instead of just vaguely intrigued. I'm really excited to see what Fionne's story brings in the next book!

I have many mixed emotions about this book so I'm going to try my best to explain why I decided to not complete reading this story. Usually, I can hold out to at least 50% when reading a book but from what I saw from other reviews it didn't seem like the issues I was having were gonna get any better and I decided to protect my peace. I would like to preface this by saying I may come back to this book in the future, just so I can see where the story goes, but I am not in the place to continue right now.

I wanted to love this book so much that it almost hurts. I have been dying to read more stories based on Indigenous traditions and mythologies so when I found this story I was so excited. The exploration of language and culture in just the bit that I read was beautiful further adding to my sadness at my situation.

I love a morally grey dark romantic interest as much as the next girlie, but Sal is almost too much. I love a morally grey MMCs because, despite all his issues, you can always tell that he at his core puts his love interest first. I initially got that with Sal, but that turned 180 when she discovered his secret. Despite all his proclamations of love, it's like he thought he no longer needed to treat her with respect or woo her after she knew about him.

Leaving her in a fit of rage, drenched in his cum, handcuffed to the bed for essentially saying no was when everything started taking a downward spiral and it didn't stop. Every time they would come together after that, it would feel abrupt and very much avoid the larger issue at hand. You can only blame her hormones as an excuse for her accepting his touch so often, but that was essentially the only reason they would make any progress in their 'relationship.' Why is she ok sleeping next to him? Why is he just allowed to touch her and come onto her whenever he wants without any pushback or her fighting him? The way I'm wording it is getting very victim blamey which is not my intention but I'm struggling to find a better way of expressing my issues with her character's complacency. Her usual internal monologue is "Find a way to escape, fuck that crazy borderline-abusive guy" and then on the next page she's begging for his cock so I'm struggling to understand. In the short time they have been together (from where I read up to) he has bulldozed over her opinions, kept secrets, and has been unnecessarily aggressive with her. I've read enough Fated Mates stuff to understand that to a degree he is a slave to his emotions, but even the other people in his life see his behaviour towards her as a problem.

I could usually see past all this enough to get to the part in the story where he gets better (if he hopefully does), but this entire thing felt like she was moving from one toxic situation to the next, and that's what really got to me. All her life, she has been controlled in every aspect of her being with no space to breathe or do anything for her own well-being. I thought Sal, despite whatever dark issues he has, would be able to provide a space for her to get what she needs: freedom and a safe environment that allows her to express her emotions and embrace the things that actually makeup who she is as an individual. instead, he is more of the exact same thing, so not only is so moving into another toxic situation, it is the same type of toxic situation she has been surviving her whole life.

Again I may come back to this in the future when I have more patience to read about an MMC that I'm really struggling to find any redeeming qualities for (I want to see her stand up to her mother so bad), but I'm not sure when that would ever be. 

I feel terrible about this because I received an ARC copy which I am incredibly grateful for. The book itself is decently well-written and engaging despite some parts feeling slightly cringy at times, but I just don't think I'm in the right head space to be reading a book like this at the moment.

My main issue is honestly the content warnings. I've read a lot of dark romance and monster romance and I can comfortably say that not much gets to me but I feel like the warnings at the beginning of the book don't fully express the extent of the contents of the novel. The warnings listed can be applied to what is in the book so it's not as if they are incorrect and misleading, but I definitely was not prepared for sex slavery and the notion of camps from warnings like "kidnapping," "forced captivity," and "breeding." If you're going to have themes like that I think it should be expressed explicitly as such stating terms like "slavery" or things that will let people know that there are multiple women being forced to breed (I thought the breeding in the warnings was just a breeding kink). Because of this, it was incredibly hard for me to get into the book at all.

Another issue I had was the relationship between the monsters and the humans. Obviously, this is the main theme of the book but my biggest concern was the treatment of the half-humans. Outside of infiltration and military purposes, what role do they have in monster society? How are they treated by the other monsters? Are they accepted as monsters as well or are they just seen as more humans to use to their advantage? I understand that they're also needed because there is a shortage of female monsters but they weren't really talked about as active members of society outside of the gang issue. Hopefully, this is something that would be explained later in the book and please correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like it was just going to go overlooked.

Any other issue I had with the book is personal preference and again I just don't think I'm in the right head space to read a book like this at this time but it was really hard for me to care about either of the characters or the plot. I got to chapter 10 and realized I just didn't care about what might happen.

This was so poorly written it was painful. I don’t mind the fact that it was predictable but as I’m reading it on my phone I find it ridiculous that I was 100 pages into the book and the main couple hadn’t even met yet. She’d often get attacked out of seemingly nowhere with zero build up and her insistence of not going along with what the people trying to protect her were saying in the name of independence pissed me off. Like YOU’RE IN DANGER. It got really annoying.

It’s really disappointing because I don’t see many books in this genre with main characters what disabilities like this (please give me recs if you have) so I had some high hopes.

I was honestly hoping for this book because even though I had issues with the first one, I see a great deal of potential in this universe.

Unfortunately, I DNF’d this book at 55% because the writing never improved. This could be because reading it started feeling tedious to me, but it was almost as if it got worse. To me, it reads as if it’s a Wattpad story. Stories where people are posting their work, and because of their lack of experience, end up giving too much detail or explanations where it isn’t needed. There was also an extreme usage of a certain unsavoury word and though I understand why that is, it started getting very irritating. All I could think of was how I wish there were at least more synonyms. After I got halfway through the book I just couldn’t take it anymore because I found myself dreading the next page.

Honestly, I can see people enjoying this book, especially because I actually find the story incredibly unique, it just wasn’t for me.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. 

Overall I really liked the world, story and characters. I enjoyed seeing the interactions and learning new things about the world, especially the power structure which was really interesting to me. I found it to be an incredibly interesting premise and it was a fun way to play it out. 

The reason I gave the book such a rating is because of the writing, to be honest. I don't usually rate books based on the writing but more on how much I enjoyed them. Unfortunately, the writing was such that I couldn't ignore it and it got in the way of my enjoyment. There were many times throughout the book when I would be reading and all of a sudden get very confused about what was happening, who was talking, or what they were talking about. I feel some things in the relationship dynamics especially in the explanation of some of the magic could have been addressed better. 

Another issue I had (and this is completely just personal opinion and preference) was the character's hesitancy in admitting their feelings. Logically I understand why these were the issues they were, but after a while, it became incredibly tedious and tiring to me. They would act and speak as if they were admitting their feelings for one another but then immediately turn and be like but I am not in love because I don't believe in such an emotion. Just not my thing. 

I'm giving it this rating with the hopes that the second book will improve.

Where do I even begin? Overall the plot was interesting which is why I kept reading, but there were so many things that irritated me and took me out of it that it started feeling like a chore. The only reason I’m giving it a 2 and not a 1 is that I like the way it ended when she gave those two assholes what they deserved. 
Edit: I have since changed this because looking back on it I realized I was being way too nice to add that star. It really didn’t deserve it for such a bare minimum thing to do. 

The hypocrisy of men! That absolute audacity to treat her the way her supposed bonded mates treated her was one of the things that got to me the most. She would bear her soul to them because they practically force her to, and as soon as she asks a single difficult question, she all of a sudden doesn’t have the right or the place to know?? Like what gave you the right to know her shit if she can’t know yours? And then they want to have the freedom to do whatever they want with whoever they want because they're apparently children who can't commit, but god forbid she has the same right. All throughout the book, it was just a constant battle of these men wanting everything from her but not wanting to make any of the same sacrifices and it was driving me insane. 

A major theme in this book is consent, or more accurately, the lack thereof. Apart from the numerous and constant scenes, mentions, and implications of rape, there are other representations of consent being taken away. Her mates take it upon themselves to mark her as theirs so that she may never leave them, doing so without her permission and with no intention of staying as loyal to her as they want in return. Instances like this happen repeatedly in the book. 

My last issue is the age gap. I understand that in this world it is probably at least relatively normal to wait for a bonded one to mature because they live long lives. I can see past that and I was. But if you want your audience to believe that it is okay for them to do this then you can’t have multiple main characters treating her and calling her a child. After you have established that she is an adult, to turn around and have multiple characters saying “You’re an inexperienced child so you can’t do this” (paraphrasing) completely contradicts it and makes it very disturbing.