2021 year of liveblogging books

this is where i talk about the books i'm reading

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and here's the quotes for this one

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so that was actually a lot better than i thought it would be

things i liked

i really liked the romance, it was sweet and evocative and heartfelt (and thankfully i was wrong about there being a love triangle)

the writing wasn't half bad and was actually quite beautiful at times

i generally don't care about plot much, but i did find the plot pretty compelling and i'm invested enough to want to read the sequel

things i didn't like as much

the themes and political commentary were really overstated and obvious. like i guess it could be useful for young kids who are just starting to question the government, but i was just like yeah i get it the cops are bad rich people are bad oppression is bad i know

the dialogue was pretty awkward in some places, i definitely caught myself rolling my eyes at some of the writing

it was just overall pretty simplistic and didn't make me think deeply about anything, which is fine but just not what i generally look for in my reading experience

so yeah overall pretty typical dystopian ya fare. didn't blow my mind or anything but sometimes a book can just be interesting and fun to read and that's ok. would recommend if you're into ya, 4/5 stars

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i think the political aspects of this book feel too obvious and oversimplified but the romance is... 🥺🥺

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ok... actually some of this writing is makin me feel things 🥺

(i wanna k*ss a g*rl 🥺🥺)

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i don't rly have much to say abt this book tbh. it's just typical ya dystopia but with added misogyny (and possibly a bisexual love triangle of some kind?). systemic oppression for dummies

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why do ya novels always have to blatantly spell out their themes and arguments. they always feel like they're talking down to their audience. some subtlety, please, some nuance

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yeah some of this writing is uh. not great

i mean it's just very typical ya style writing, which is to say, not great

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ok here's the next book i'm reading! it's a ya fantasy novel i put on my reading list years ago before realizing i don't actually like most ya, and my dad got it for me for christmas. so we'll see if it's any good. the cover is pretty at the very least

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ok so idk if anyone is really interested in this, but i keep a commonplace book where i copy down quotes that resonate with me from every book i read and i thought i would start posting them here

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finished the tiger's daughter! including my re-read of time war this is the second book i've read this year. my goodreads goal is 60 but that will include books i read for school and re-reads

things i liked

the prose! it was gorgeous - just flowery enough without veering into purple territory. there were a couple awkwardly written bits here and there but overall exactly the kind of writing style i enjoy. engaging, readable, and evocative

the worldbuilding! i love that it just dropped you straight into this wonderfully constructed world without overexplaining. since most of the book is in the form of a letter, a lot of the worldbuilding had to be left up to context clues, and it gives you just enough info to extrapolate the rest. the world feels fully fledged without the writing getting bogged down in the details

i absolutely loved the way language and names and honorifics were explored throughout the book. the way different cultures have different naming conventions and different names are used in different contexts by different people and the implications of a specific person using a specific name in a specific context. i loved the qorin convention of gaining an "adult name" as you grow up and figure out who you are, and your childhood name being something deeply personal and almost private.

i also loved the way hokkaran honorifics were handled - it didn't go into detail explaining exactly what each one means. there's 32 so that would have taken forever and been difficult to remember. the writing leaves it up to context clues - which honorifics are used in which situation and by which people, when are they appropriate or inappropriate to use, what is the reaction by other characters to their use, etc. all this gives me a better understanding of hokkaran culture than just listing them all out in a glossary or something. the way names and honorifics are used within the story feels both natural and easy to follow

it was also really nice reading a fantasy novel that wasn't based off generic fantasy medieval europe

and of course, lesbians. i liked how it explored how lgbt people are viewed and treated within different cultures throughout this universe - like gay marriage being normalized in xian culture before the hokkarans conquered them

things i didn't like as much

i've already talked about this but i'm not a huge fan of the epistolary format. i kinda see what the author was going for in like, switching between the present day with shizuka reading the letter and the flashbacks within the letter, and kinda piecing together how they got from point A to point B until it all comes together at the end, but it kinda broke my suspension of disbelief. there's no way anyone would remember things from when they were 5 in such detail. shefali is an unreliable narrator at best, which actually could have been interesting if there was anything in the text indicating that she was supposed to be an unreliable narrator, but i'm pretty sure we're supposed to take everything in the letter at face value. and i just can't buy that. also the transitions between letter flashbacks and present dau shizuka reading the letter always felt a little awkward.

i also talked about this already, but i had difficulty investing in shizuka as a character since she's the heir to the throne of a huge empire responsible for the oppression and assimilation of many cultures

kinda wish there had been more class commentary - it feels like the "common people" mostly just existed as a monolith

this isn't really something i can quantify, but overall i just wasn't super emotionally invested. there are very few books that really impact me on a deep and lasting level, and lots of very well written books that leave no, or little, lasting impact. i don't know how to quantify whatever elements there are that make me feel and think so deeply, but this book didn't quite have them

overall, 4/5 stars. a very well written and engaging book with wonderfully done worldbuilding

i'm intrigued enough to want to read the rest of the trilogy, but i'm not sure when i'll get to it

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books i read in 2020 recapped in my favorite themes: monsters

circe by madeline miller // her body and other parties by carmen maria machado // the gay revolution by lillian faderman // the lightning thief by rick riordan

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big james flint energy

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books i read in 2020 recapped in my favorite themes: stories (part 3/3)

the starless sea by erin morgenstern // the two towers by j.r.r. tolkien // circe by madeline miller

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books i read in 2020 recapped in my favorite themes: stories (part 2/3)

curses like words, like feathers, like stories by kat howard (from the mythic dream edited by dominik parisien and navah wolfe) // the fellowship of the ring by j.r.r. tolkien // the two towers by j.r.r. tolkien // the starless sea by erin morgernstern // the book of pride by mason funk // circe by madeline miller // her body and other parties by carmen maria machado

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at some point i also need to make a post about worldbuilding and language and names and honorifics because i absolutely love how it's all handled in this book but maybe i'll wait till i finish it

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ok my one other complaint abt this book isn't rly a complaint, more just personal preference - but i'm just generally bored of stories centered on royalty. i find stories focused on regular people much more compelling. there's been so much media focused on how difficult and constraining it is being royalty and i just don't care. i think political drama and intrigue can be interesting, but it's more interesting to me when it's not from the perspective of the people running everything. and the whole "princess in a gilded cage" thing has been done to death.

honestly it's a testament to the quality of the writing that i'm at all invested in shizuka's story despite her being an heiress. she has a good heart, but is flawed in realistic ways - her ego, her lack of understanding of qorin culture, her lack of real world experience. and i don't feel like the narrative glosses over those flaws. however, "cosseted heir to the throne" is a character trope i will never be particularly interested in.

at least with shefali, she's not part of the dominant culture despite being an heiress of sorts within her clan. i find her story much more compelling. she might be next in line to become the leader of her clan, but since the qorin are a nomadic and communal society, that means actually living amongst and working with and knowing her people. she's not privileged in the same way shizuka is.

i do think i see what the author is going for with their dynamic - they're both royalty within their respective communities, but that means something very different for both of them. there's also the cultural dynamic of the hokkaran being the oppressors of the qorin and how that affects their interpersonal relationships as well - shizuka is much more ignorant of qorin culture than shefali is of hokkaran culture. they come to their relationship as equals, but the narrative doesn't ignore the complicated dynamics between their respective communities.

this ended up more analysis than complaint but what can you do. i see what the author is doing with the dynamic between shizuka and shefali, but as a general rule i'm less interested in stories about royalty

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ughh i'm so weak for gay sex as worship

i'm not even religious but add any kind of religious imagery to a gay sex scene and i'm like 😩😭🥺

(also was not expecting an explicit sex scene in this book but i'm definitely not complaining. it was really well written and kinda h*t 😳)