wchereads's reviews
379 reviews

This is truly one of THE books of ALL time 

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the e-arc. I feel genuinely honoured that I got to read an ARC of an Andrew Joseph White book not once but twice. 

Compound Fracture is BRUTAL. Synopsis says this book is not for the faint of heart and... yeah! They were not kidding!

The moments of tenderness and unconditional love, as a result, are even more of a breath of fresh air. 

There are many things I loved about this book: the unbridled and unapologetic queer joy from Dallas; the fact that their entire family (their brother plus the coolest sister in law) exists, really, Amber is just so cool and the way she takes care of Miles makes me WEEP; the way Miles' grandparents rallied around him

after he was outed

despite not exactly understanding the identity of transgender, but enough to know that it was a violation and that their grandchild NEEDED their love and support; Miles' journey of learning and self discovery. He does have a good point about resiliency: it is overrated, because why is there morality associated with pushing through a godawful circumstance when they shouldn't have to in the first place. Nonetheless, I am happy for him, for Dallas and family, for the this journey that led to him discovering a community that is there for one another and the joy and love that comes from having it.

As is typical of an Andrew Joseph White book, it has amazing autism representation. Like abolition / anarchism, it is also something I have been learning more about since my partner understood that he is on the autism spectrum. While reading CF, I'd recognize things that my partner also does and show it to him while giggling. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth was his first Andrew Joseph White book btw and he sobbed for a moment after finishing it, saying he felt so seen. I am sure that he will love this one too.

I am not sure if I love this one as much as TSBIT but mostly that is just because I don't do very well with gore and injury details. I appreciate this book deeply and especially the anarchist message. 

I look forward to whatever Andrew publishes next!

put down my ereader and spent a moment crying, twice. I will always love a found family. I love women (in general but also in this book) but I especially love a good found family and a well-written fantasy AND queer-normative world. Xylie is my baby girl and I will protect her with my life. I am about to become insufferable about this series until everyone around me has heard of it and/or read it - preferably the latter. ordering my own copy as I type. This is baby's (me) first romantasy and it did NOT disappoint. So glad I avoided all the SJMs and Yarros by being a hater slow reader. I canNOT wait for the sequel.

Thank you to BookSirens for providing the e-arc!

A short read that has good points especially in part I (which was a very concise overview and good refresher on the history of Palestine post-occupation), though I fear that it fails to be truly radical by the end. There's still a strange condemnation of Palestinian resistance (yes yes the resistance cannot resist by committing war crimes oh does isntreal care? Do you think Isntreal CARES what Palestinians do? Whether they resist with weapons or not?) and the author was very ambiguous about where he stand exactly on "two-state solution." I especially am not a fan of this paragraph: 

Yeah sure it was a peace conference but you wrote about it yourself... Look where that peace conference got us... And then ending the chapter by quoting Refaat Alareer while saying

Nah bro he was KILLED. MURDERED. I am NOT taking solace when I read his words I am PISSED. The author won't say it so I will: FUCK Israel and I hope this state is dismantled FOR GOOD alongside all the genocidal imperial government that won't stop meddling in other people's business, the US Empire being the first of many.

putting the romance, relationship & character development and characterization aside (which I all greatly enjoyed), one thing I really love is when a story presents an alternative society / community / structure that is more fair and humane than our capitalistic hellscape, such as the Druk funded shipping company in this story. I absolutely loved the crew and would love to read more about the Kingdom of Druk.

Since I've become more abolitionist, I've been more disillusioned with stories that feature settings like corporate and extravagance and have already DNF-ed a couple of books as a result. I am happy that this book is not only a cute sapphic romance with extremely relatable and believable growth, but also imagines what a better world can be. Will be catching up on all of Alyssa Cole's romances now.

I did like the fluff and getting to know all the characters though it is a bit too slow-paced and dragged on at times. I LOVE whenever the book goes into a bit more detail about Xiomara's archeology work and also Calehan's big and loving family. There was a little snippet at the end of the book that I'm sure is the beginning of another one featuring another member of the Yellowbird and I'd love to read more of that.

I want some grilled sandwiches now

I enjoyed reading this and mulling over its discussions of themes like how propaganda is used to fuel war efforts because I really fell in love with the author's writing style, though I won't call it an enjoyable time due to the heavy subject matter.
 
One of the fictional empires, Varkal, is disturbingly similar to Isntreal and I must admit it pleased me a little to read about how it was at the verge of decimation due to relentless warmongering. 

Alefret is an incredible, believable and relatable character and I loved reading from his perspective and being in his mind, though the torture, abuse, discrimination and ableism he constantly experienced were very hard to read about. 

The last 30% or 20% got a bit confusing and I am still mulling over what this imperfect ending is trying to say. 

Nevertheless, I know for a fact I will be reading the author's other books since this book gripped me immediately.

THIS WAS SO CUTE