kaz
loved the fairytale-esque unravelling of the story. and overall a really wonderful journey supported by both progression of the story itself and the progression in characters/relationships. i also always enjoy references to other characters/lore in the cosmere no matter how subtle.
(4.5/5)
highlights below (warning: spoilers)
Spoiler
???Hon, no man is worth getting killed over,??? the rat said. ???If you manage to escape, you should head on home to your rock.???
“dirty socks aren???t an acceptable strainer for pasta, and if that???s true, I do not want to think about it.”
“At this point in the story, I was concerned with trying to figure out how many different shades of orange I could wear at the same time.”
“We just remember it that way because it???s comforting. Beyond that, memories have a way of changing on us. Souring or sweetening over time???like a brew we drink, then recreate later by taste, only getting the ingredients mostly right. You can???t taste a memory without tainting it with who you have become.”
“Don???t wake me up unless Death himself has shown up, nails in his eyes. Even then, see if you can stall.”
this was definitely a very challenging read, and a lot of the content hit close to home. but it was also very informative, inspiring and well-written. I couldn't put it down like how you can't look away from a car crash.
if you're interested in the book, I recommend looking at the trigger warnings before reading.
i was very happy to be rewarded with this book after slugging through the first book.
good fantasy smut lol
this book took me soooo long to read, i think i put it down at least 3 times.
the world building was interesting enough that i managed to finish it.
ending was so intense.
heavy on the metaphors + has an eerie/haunting energy to a lot of the stories. can be quite graphic and explicit at times. but also vague and implicit at times too. really enjoyed the retelling of ‘the girl with the green ribbon' (the husband stitch). inventory was a bit wicked but i also liked it. eight bites and difficult at parties were standouts too.
Spoiler
“I will curl into her body, which was my body once, but I was a poor caretaker and she was removed from my charge.”
“It's like you're not even in there. He grabs the sides of his arms. You're responding to all the wrong things. Please stop, I say. He reaches for me, but I knock his hand away. I need you to be simple and good, I say. Can't you just be simple and good? He looks straight through me, as if I already know the answer.”
i understand the valuable message that the author wanted to portray through this story. however, it was very hard to read as i felt like there was a lot of romanticism of abuse. the tone of the book made me uncomfortable. it almost felt like a love triangle book more than anything because of how far the severity of abuse was reduced. i was also bothered by how the “token” gay character was copied straight off a stereotype.
the worst part was the lack of trigger warning/s. i can't imagine it being a good read for a lot of people purely because of this.
steris is such a sweetie and i???m so happy to see her character blossom in this book. other than that, it was a pretty standard sanderson adventure but nevertheless very good.
wasn???t sure what i was expecting going into it since it???s set 300 years after the first trilogy but i loved how fast paced it was. interesting characters + it was cool to see how the world developed after the ending of era 1 (love the integration of firearms w allomancy). also the reveal(s) in the epilogue were mmm chefs kiss, very good??? sanderson always has mad endings to his books tbh. v excited to see what the next book holds.
pretty good plot. characters weren't particularly that memorable, except abbott - who was infuriating and almost made me stop reading, and therefore, well-written, but yeah i really hated him and the stuff he said actually gave me flashbacks
was kind of a palette cleanser; much more light-hearted compared to the other stuff i've read recently.
the atmosphere in this book was so good, i don't even know how to explain it.
i really do enjoy a good dystopian story.
really confused about what genre this book falls under?
not really for me, but i can understand why people enjoy it.
this is the second Ishiguro book i've read. similar to Never Let Me Go, i enjoyed how the exposition and worldbuilding was sometimes implicit, left for the reader to fill in the gaps. i also thought that Klara's perspective was well explored and developed. also the ending was bittersweet and made me feel kinda melancholic.
this bit hurt >>???Mr Capaldi believed there was nothing special inside Josie that couldn???t be continued. He told the Mother he???d searched and searched and found nothing like that. But I believe now he was searching in the wrong place. There was something very special, but it wasn???t inside Josie. It was inside those who loved her.'
i found myself waking up in the middle of the night to think about the story because i was so desperate to know what happened (even resorted to reading a few chapters in the middle of the night). i appreciate the way the plot/history/mysteries unfolded through various timelines and characters (and especially how the story ended). thank you to the author for creating this world. it will have a special place in my heart.
it???s pretty eerie reading this novel post-pandemic. characters were well developed & easy to engage with. plot was interesting and unravelled nicely despite the time jumps. the ending made me a bit emotional.
listened to a good chunk on audiobook which I definitely recommend.
love a good feminist dystopian story; always appreciate well written (fictional) commentary on the patriarchy