Reviews and Comments

Ooof. Hmmm. I liked it, mostly. The whole "literally everything in this place can kill you" thing got exhausting for a moment before the plot really got started. And the explanations of the social logics of this place were often lost on me. I do like the way the world gets revealed though, and this is an explanation for the existence of a dangerous magic school that I'm only slightly annoyed by. I like the characters and the little details and hm, well, I enjoyed reading this.

Edit: oh right, there's a mention of an Arabic worksheet that might be racist or might be Islamist or might be a comment on either, and it annoyed me so much not to know which.

Finally, my first Akwaeke Emezi book. Not the one I'm most interested in, but one that sounded not too stressful. And it really wasn't – I was surprised by how fluffy, calm and cute this story is. It's about love and feeling safe with someone and deciding for that, even if it's the less expected choice, and one that some people disapprove of. The sonewhat stressful part of the story is this friend who has a crush on the main character and is not just upset when she gets together with his dad, but actually turns into a total asshole, violent and misogynist. There's a lot of difficult feelings and grief, but there's also a deep comedy to the whole thing: as a reader I know that these two people are so obviously good for each other, they're both very solidly adults, the side characters don't seem to mind so much, only the guy's kids are super freaked out about how horribly inappropriate this is and how everyone will talk.

It's a very bi story for what it is, but what I liked even more is that next to a story about big unexpected love, it's also a story about relationships that didn't happen, or didn't last long. Also, I'm not a fan of detailed descriptions of penis-in-vagina sex, but it was ok, the rest is good enough that it doesn't matter.

It's definitely fun! Not too sad or exciting despite the bad things happening. A bit heavy-handed in the meta commentary saying that stars are people and need privacy, but very convincing and cute in actually portraying stars as people. The big plan in the end is fun, but leans mostly on hoping that forensics won't look too closely, which, given the fame of the people involved, seems risky, although I am willing to believe that it's the best idea they have – I certainly don't have a better one

I finished this in July, while I had covid. I liked it a lot and there's a large gap in my books since then. I thought maybe I'd go back and mark all the ones I read, but no, I think I won't.

Yes I like this one. It's a "boring" book, slow and a bit repetitive. It's, among other things, about the sea, about birds, and about wanting to die, like the birds are dying.

It's a world that is almost realistic. I don't know if people can really swim so far and so fast and survive such cold water, but it doesn't sound completely implausible that these people can. Or if that one injury scene makes sense. No idea.

But the big thing is extinction. All animals are dying. The sea is mostly empty. One character says that rats and cockroaches will probably survive. But seagulls are gone, and crows are declared extinct. Crows? Really? I can't believe that crows will die before humans. (Also, I watched a documentary that said octopuses thrive because sharks are getting fewer.) But I don't have to. That's just what this book world is like, and I don't mind.

There's a lot of cold weather and frustrating relationships and life going wrong.

Ok, ich bin so froh, dass ich das gelesen hab. Ich mag Tamara Bach, weil die Geschichten für mich sehr lebendig sind und sich echt anfühlen. Das ist mir bei den Jugendbüchern manchmal ein bisschen peinlich, wenn ich das so als Erwachsenes sag. Aber naja. Diesmal ein Kinderbuch. Könnte mir auch peinlich sein, ist es aber nicht. Das Buch ist einfach wunderschön, und es passiert gar nicht viel, aber es ist trotzdem nicht langweilig. Und wieder fühlt es sich einfach sehr echt an für mich.

Das mit "echt anfühlen" ist nochmal stärker im Kontrast, weil ich davor ein Erwachsenen-Buch von Thomas Brezina gelesen hab, und genau wie seine Kinderbücher fühlt sich das kein bisschen echt an. Es macht Spaß, fühlt sich aber auch sehr weit hergeholt und ein bisschen überspannt an.

Jedenfalls. Dieses Buch ist sehr süß. Ich schmelze ein bisschen.

It's good. But even harder to read than the first book, in which everyone has been thoroughly retraumatised, which shapes what happens in this one. But also, again, the plot knows very little mercy. If something can go horribly wrong, it probably will.

It's the blurb that caught me, in a "I feel like I relate to this on a deeper level" way, without knowing if I relate to the baby moose or the human parents, one of whom happened to birth it. So I will probably be disappointed because the book is supposed to be fun, not deep!

This one is so intense. It's a very hopeful story, but not an easy one. Don't expect anyone to be rewarded for doing the right thing. Don't expect an almost almighty kingdom to have mercy.

I'll definitely be reading the second book. That was a cruel little cliffhanger.

Eh, that's not my favourite kind of story. But I still enjoyed reading it, mostly. I just felt like some of the paths it went were a little too much on the "high emotion, low story impact, just so something is happening" side.

Ok, I love this one a lot. It's an "escaping abuse" story, but while it does have its tense moments, it didn't set me on edge too much. The whole thing, except for the very beginning, felt stable and grounded and comforting. Obviously, Hester, the almost-old unmarried lady who likes poking people with her cane, used to breed geese and is trying to protect her easy to impress brother, is my favourite, but almost all the characters do their part to make this more cozy than horrifying. Bad things are done, and they're all caught in something hard to grasp and harder to research, but they're caught in it together and that's what matters. Very satisfying.

Yes!! I'm aware that "It's just like Certain Dark Things, only without vampires" doesn't sound like praise, but it is. I loved Certain Dark Things. I liked Mexican Gothic too, but quit halfway through because I wasn't feeling up to an All Abuse All The Time story. So I was uncertain whether this one would be right for me, and yes it is. It feels very soft to me although there's a lot of violence, and I like the unusual energy of the characters and the way everything is connected in a way that's neither too subtle nor too blunt. And how the plot goes on in a pretty steady way, keeping me interested without the exciting events getting overwhelming.

This was... fun. It's like teenie fantasy with teenie fantasy tropes, and toxic relationships as the norm and consent being discussed in a way that I have my issues with. But everyone is a bit older, so it's not as awkward. I actually enjoyed large parts of the main relationship despite it being quite horrible in a few ways. The erotic tension worked great for me, although I was underwhelmed by The Sex Scene. The world mostly convinced me (with some "ok ok fine") and the friendships are great.