51miBYV+mkL

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

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3.5 Stars (3.5 / 5)

It took me a while to get into Attachments, but in the end I was hooked! This is Chick Lit through and through, basically a rom-com with little substance or merit, but just plain feel-good fun. As I said, it takes a while to get in to. I found myself focused on Jennifer and Beth’s emails in the beginning, which are fun but a bit banal, when what I really needed to realize that this is far more Lincoln’s story then theirs.

Lincoln is the geeky guy, lacking in social skills and confidence, and as such is just kind of floating through life without a direction. Working in IT Security, he spends his nights reading flagged company emails and feeling terrible about it. That’s how he comes to know Jennifer and Beth, meeting them through the emails they write to each other. Through the roller coaster ride that is their friendship, we see them through a lot…and so does Lincoln. When he realizes he’s developing feelings for Beth, he knows he can never do anything about it because of how much he’s already violated their privacy (even if it was his job).

What I really loved about this novel was Lincoln’s personal growth. It’s about him learning confidence, independence, and self-worth. And it’s only after he starts to love and respect himself that he gets the girl. Overall a cute and fun romantic romp, plus a story of self-discovery and growth. Nothing new or unique about it, but sometimes you just want something light and easy.

51miBYV+mkL

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

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1 Stars (1 / 5)

Time Quintet #1
This is going to be a hard review to write, and I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me, but I just did not like it. It took me sooooo long to get through, and I just flat out did not want to read it after a time. This book is praised as a ground-breaking fantasy novel, but the plot was so disconnected that I just couldn’t engage with the story. The fantasy elements are not purposeful, but instead seem to be thrown in to make the world flavorful without adding any substance. We skipped and hopped our way through the universe, and I don’t feel like I really got to explore anything.

And the characters just felt so flat. Meg started out strong and independent, but by the end just became a whiny kid. Charles Wallace was interesting at first, but even his “genius” became boring and redundant after a time. I’m still not totally sure why Calvin even had to come along. And Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whasit just seemed to serve as an element of “strangeness” without actually being necessary to the plot (except as a means to an end).

I know a lot of people won’t agree with me on this one, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Maybe things would have been different had I been younger. Maybe then I wouldn’t care about the cool science concepts of the beginning that are basically abandoned for boring fantasy thereafter. And maybe things would have been different if I didn’t have all the great fantasy novels to read that I do now. Maybe…

51miBYV+mkL

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

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4 Stars (4 / 5)

Akata Witch #1

“I’d seen the end of the world in its flame. Raging fires, boiling oceans, toppled skyscrapers, ruptured land, dead and dying people. It was horrible. And it was coming.”

This book is so different that I knocked it up from 3.5 to 4 stars just for that. I know practically nothing about African mythology, which made this novel feel so fresh and new. There is not a lot like this out there, and I can’t help but love when something new and different comes along.

Akata Witch is set in Nigeria, where Sunny learns that she is a Leopard Person, someone who is in touch with her spirit-self and can use juju to work magical feats. She discovers a whole hidden world of learning and magic, one that embraces the differences between people instead of scorning them. Sunny, along with her cohorts Chichi, Orlu, and Sasha, is tasked with defeating a great evil and saving the world from destruction.

I’m not sure how much of this book was based in real Nigerian myth and culture, and how much was Okorafor herself, but everything felt so genuine I have to applaud it either way. Some of the aspects of the story were a little hard to swallow, but that could be my unfamiliarity with african culture (grown men beating each other to death was a little hard for me to digest). The style and pacing of the novel put me off at first, everything seemed to feel a bit superficial, but once I realized this was a Middle Grade novel (and not YA as I originally thought), my annoyance bled away and I was able to fully engage with the story (apparently my expectations can have a lot more to do with my enjoyment of a book than I realized).

All and all a very interesting and unique story. I will definitely have to check out the sequel!

51miBYV+mkL

Legion by Julie Kagawa

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4 Stars (4 / 5)

Talon #4
In Legion, we finally begin to see Talon’s plans come to fruition, and their endgame starts to become clear. Our ragtag band of rogues is in the thick of it once again, attempting to put a stop to Talon’s plans once and for all. And Ember finally learns her importance to the organization and puts herself head-to-head against her brother, Dante, for the first time.

In Rogue and Soldier we get flashbacks from Riley and Garret’s points-of-view respectively, and Legion is no different, finally cluing us in to Dante’s backstory. It was great to finally learn more about his and Ember’s youth and how they grew up in the organization. It helps to understand Dante’s perspective and why he is so driven to succeed in Talon.

While still a bit predictable, there were a few surprises in this one that I didn’t see coming. Overall, a very fun series and I look forward to seeing how things end.

51miBYV+mkL

War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

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4 Stars (4 / 5)

Red Queen #4

“I am less than his crown, and he is less than my cause.”

And finally we have the ending of the Red Queen series. I think that it ended in just about the best way we could hope for, given how King’s Cage ended. There was triumph and sorrow, love and loss, growth and change. It’s not quite the explosive ending that I’ve come to expect from this series, but it was overall fulfilling and satisfying.

Mare learns to let go of her hatred, and live for something greater than herself. Evangeline shows she’s far deeper than anyone has ever given her credit for, and she learns to stand up for what she believes in. The two spark up an unexpected connection that was both terrifying and fascinating.

The book was nowhere near perfect: it started out melodramatic and melancholy and took far too long to get out of it. Maven’s character didn’t get the attention that he deserved, not like in King’s Cage, and ultimately his story arc felt cheapened from what it could have been. I did love getting parts of the story from new points-of-view: Iris, Maven, and Cal, though the later two were so infrequent as to make them almost negligible; I wish that had been explored a bit more. Overall, I was satisfied, but not wowed by War Storm. I felt like it could have been bigger, it could have been more, but it was good, and I am content.