Alina

DNF at 17%. The first nearly 90 minutes of this audiobook were dominated by a diatribe against online dating that was repetitive and did nothing for the plot or characters, save to establish Olivia as annoying and unwilling to change or reconsider her positions. She also spends a lot of time talking about how certain animal signs are compatible or not compatible, but doesn't go into any detail as to why. I was hoping to get a glimpse into the Chinese zodiac, given that it's the whole point of both in-universe dating services, but it could have been replaced with any generic personality test and had the exact same meaning to the reader.

I really enjoyed this retelling of the myth. Psyche is unquestionably the main character here - the story focuses on her life and challenges, she is the one who most grows and changes, and she is the one who must perform labors to save her lover. I appreciated the focus on other aspects of her life, from training to her family politics and the side story of the Trojan War kicking off. It's always fun to see how authors interpret the various Greek gods' personalities and interpersonal squabbles as well. The audiobook is dual-narrated.

What a ride. I am so glad I listened to this book rather than reading it myself because of the pronunciation of all the names!

I love a flawed heroine, and Zetian certainly is that. Her solution to every problem is to kill the problem, literally, and not once does she learn from this despite it almost never working the way she planned. I found myself cheering for her in a way I didn't expect, and gasping along with her at each reveal. This book sets up a saga that I'm sure will be as epic and sweeping as the legacy of Chinese literature that it follows.

The world building here is also fascinating - the blend of historical reality, modern day sex-based discrimination, patriarchy, and futurism is complex and intriguing. Parts of this world are familiar, while others feel out of reach and foreign. I'm looking forward to learning more about the universe outside Huaxia in future books.

This was a super cute read. If you like YA romance and you're not bothered by surface-level or mildly inaccurate references to musical theater or D&D specifically, give it a try.

I really enjoyed this book. As the first installment of a series, you expect to have a fairly open-ended narrative that could reasonably continue, but I felt Ithaca did a nice job wrapping up the immediate story satisfactorily. The narrator being Hera was an unexpected but nice touch, allowing us to get a truly omnipotent view of the action with some snarky observations thrown in for good measure. Despite (or perhaps because of) her Goddess nature, Hera is an unreliable narrator, prone to favoritism and grudges, and this adds some interesting color to her interactions with the minor cast, especially Athena and Clytemnestra.

Penelope is a smart woman and a capable leader, but as a main character I felt I didn't get a great picture of her. Hopefully she comes into focus more in subsequent books.

Well, I wasn't expecting this book to be a Cam/Pal love story, but wow is it beautiful. I absolutely sobbed during the Birth of Paul and most of the rest of their scenes towards the end. They're the picture of what Lyctorhood should have been from the start.

Nona was a bit trickier to follow, given Nona's general lack of understanding of...anything, but her narrative voice is delightful and full of childlike wonder. The way she describes certain things made me appreciate the little things in new ways. There are some Big Events happening behind the scenes, but Nona is blissfully unaware of most of them, even when she's witnessing them with her own eyes, and so the reader has to really read between the lines to follow the overarching conflict as it builds to the end. It's interesting from our perspective to see certain characters that we think we know portrayed in a completely new light. It's not clear how much time has passed since the end of Harrow the Ninth, but things have progressed in unexpected and yet completely expected ways. I'm really looking forward to the final (hopefully) installment in this series and finally getting some John-damned answers.

Harrow the Ninth trades one annoying lesbian narrator (complimentary) for another, equally but differently annoying lesbian narrator (also complimentary). It trades the mysteries of Canaan House for the mysteries of Lyctorhood and God Himself. It answers exactly none of the questions set forth in the first book and instead opens up a whole new world of what the fuck. It introduces a new cast of characters with absolutely no plot armor and strange unknowable motivations for doing the things they do. It is trippy and wonderful and weird and made me go "WHAT" at least a dozen times.

I read this in tandem with a friend and we had the best time sharing theories and reactions to the absolutely wild series of events that transpires in these pages. Also, the MEMES. Tamsyn Muir is a mad genius. After the first book took me about a month to get through (mostly due to the first few chapters), I absolutely blitzed through this one in a matter of days. We're really cooking at this point in the series, and even though you know you won't be given any answers, you just have to hold on tight and enjoy the ride. It's a fuckin wild one.

What a trippy book. Sci-fi can be difficult for me to follow, and Muir approaches the world through Gideon's understanding, which means things aren't always explained. This took some getting used to, but ultimately served the narrative and made the world feel real and lived-in. Unraveling the mysteries of Lyctorhood was fascinating and horrifying. The sharp turn the book takes into horror at a certain point was bone-chilling (lol) and felt earned. A fantastic start to the series and a compelling story I know I'll be returning to over and over again. "We do bones," indeed.

Truly, it's like this book was written for me specifically. The magic system feels fresh and inventive but still relied on enough "basics" that it was easy to follow, the characters are all likeable even when they're not, the YEARNING, breaking generational trauma....The Honey Witch has it all. I absolutely adored it. A bisexual protagonist and a femme/femme romance?? Yes, thank you very much. Reading certain passages made me actually squeal and kick my feet and I cried so hard at the ending. Will be looking out for more books by Ms. Shields!!