How to describe this book? Basically, if ever Amazing Race and the National Treasure film had a baby, it would be Inherit Midnight. Family secrets, anHow to describe this book? Basically, if ever Amazing Race and the National Treasure film had a baby, it would be Inherit Midnight. Family secrets, ancestral history dating back to the founding of the New World, a race around the world to see who would inherit the family's moolah... I mean, it's really not hard to find the similarities in pop culture.
The only difference is, I would rather watch Amazing Race and National Treasure over reading this again.
Now, don't get me wrong; this is NOT a bad book by any means, but in the same breath, it wasn't all that memorable, either. It's a stand-alone that you may want to suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy... because holy shit, guys, there are so many stuff here that I can only see happening in a 1 to million chance (unless you guys have a deranged grandma to force her money-hungry, non-remorseful kids and grandkids to go to a really deep hole in Venezuela and mine a diamond, because it's not like that's extremely dangerous for a bunch of pampered brats who never worked for once in their lives.... right?!). However, if you're looking for something fun without it making you think too much, this could be a good candidate. Just... be wary of a few things that may piss you off a bit, if you're as nitpicky as I am.
For starters, this book is a huge info-dump. Because the heirs are on a race to get to the finish line (read: $$$$$$), they will need to solve puzzles and riddles their grandmother has left them - something she thought to do on a whim after she nearly died - which, consequently, results to a shit-ton of background history that are given to us in heavy doses. I am not kidding. In every challenge (there are seven in all), the reader is thrown a bunch of names, a bunch of places, a bunch of stuff that happened to their ancestors, all told in such a matter-of-fact and lecture-like way that it leaves the reader rather overwhelmed, if not, detached, which honestly happened to me. It truly felt like I was in high school again, listening to this boring history teacher of mine spout facts after facts after facts, without even looking at any of us. And why should she? She was reading the "facts" from that goddamn history book. That's what it honestly felt like, which was a shame, because I love history, especially if it's taught in such a fun way (shout-out to my two history teachers back in university... you guys were the best).
Thankfully, Inherit Midnight did some cool "reenactment" bits in some scenes, but for the most part, you could pretty much skip the "history lectures" and not really miss anything. Although I don't think that's really a good thing for our book here.
Secondly, the writing here leaves a lot to be desired... there were a lot of awkward phrasing here. The number one culprit was:
"I stared at him in a way that showed I was annoyed."
Like... uhhh... really? How the frack did this phrase pass the editor?! It's just so awkward! I tried reading it out loud and couldn't help but cringe in second-hand embarrassment. I was like, surely, there must be a shorter and better way of saying this? Not to mention, the dialogue exchanged sometimes were so incredibly cheesy that I had to pause reading the book at times because I felt like I was being doused with cheese myself. Example (non-verbatim):
Lawyer: We'll strike a deal. If you win this race, we'll give you these letters. MC: Fine, but for every competition won, I want one letter back. Lawyer: *starts to disagree* MC: Take it or leave it. *heads to the door* Lawyer: WAIT! *chuckles* *shakes head* *chuckles softly* This is why we bet on you. You're ~~*DIFFERENT*~~. You've got yourself a deal.
When I got to that bit where he was chuckling and shaking his head, I wanted to rip the world apart. Is it just me? IS IT JUST ME?!?!?!??!?!?!?!!?!
Thirdly, Avery. She was an alright girl, but it felt like she couldn't do anything without Riley (the love interest and the lawyer's intern) by her side. It's like, without Riley she would've a.) chickened out; b.) chickened out; c.) chickened out; and d.) not get the clues; or e.) not notice the clues. She had her moments of intelligence and courage, but it was always after Riley would help her, and it really made me feel discouraged. Thankfully she does grow out of her shell later on... unfortunately, though, that's not my only issue with her. I felt that the way her reactions to certain events were very exaggerated and stupid. She reads a letter from her mother, and this MC right here than RUNS AWAY from where she and Riley were researching, leaving their things vulnerable to the grabby hands of their money-hungry, battle-ready competitors. I really get her being emotional with regards to her mother, as we learn she has never seen or heard of her, and it's really a nice side story here, but I just couldn't help but feel the way the way this was handled was so unrealistic.
Other than that, it was okay. I did feel that the romance could have been better set up. No, there were no insta-love, but it did still feel underwhelming somehow. And the competitors and side-characters were also really one-dimensional... pretty much a rinse and repeat of each other: backstabbing, money-hungry (yes, this demands to be repeated every time) fools. Like, after a while, it becomes hard to differentiate them because they're pretty much the same vultures as each other, with little to no depth at all. They're all just so intolerant and nasty to our special Avery for such a petty reason that it was hard to even take them seriously.
But, hey, like I said, this is a fun book if you suspend your disbelief. These factors included.
All in all, it was an okay read. Like I said, not bad, but not memorable, either. Try it out if you want to have something akin to The Amazing Race with American and family history mixed....more
I anticipated this book for months. It literally crushed me when I was rejected on Edelweiss, even thoughWoot boy, this will be a TOUGH one to review.
I anticipated this book for months. It literally crushed me when I was rejected on Edelweiss, even though I expected no other outcome. A fantasy world with a roman-esque setting? A world that was defined by its brutality and suffering? I desperately, desperately needed it; every fiber of my being demanded to consume it. Thankfully, Dahlia Adler (who's a great author so you better check her out!), generously sent me an ARC of this book, which I promptly read immediately.
And thus, it is with a heavy heart for me to report that mayhaps my expectations were a bit too high. It felt like experiencing The 5th Wave all over again. I was so excited for that book only to be sorely disappointed. Yeah, I ended up eating ice cream that day to drown away my sorrows...
Warning: this is a lengthy review as there were so many things I needed to say and expound, but there is a TL;DR section below if you want a summarized version.
Don't get me wrong, An Ember in the Ashes has a lot of things going for it. For one, this book definitely doesn't hold itself back when it comes to brutality. The book keeps reminding us how awful the Empire is - they indiscriminately kill the Scholars just for offending them, they forbid reading, they pillage and rape. But... that's the thing. The narrators keep telling us that. It felt that we only know it's brutal mainly because we're constantly reminded that it is without actually showing us how, except for that one time in the beginning of the book where people close to the MC were mercilessly killed. We're so limited to what our two main characters feel and see in their first-person POVs that the rest of the world was left out. I mean, aside from the book being "roman-esque", I didn't even know what the world around them really looked like. I didn't know the architecture, I didn't know what was going on in the streets, I didn't see how Scholars were being maltreated - just pure telling that this is so.
Which is honestly a shame, because this is a fantasy. The world is important. Setting the atmosphere and the environment is vital. I need to visualize everything, see the brutality and feel it for myself, in order to be emotionally invested in the plight. But it simply wasn't there. The world was nonexistent, and I'm left with nothing concrete to imagine.
Let's get back to its being brutal. While I don't mind brutality in a world, I do have an issue about rape being used to make it darker and grittier. The MC keeps getting reminded (and reminding us in turn) that she was too pretty, that she needed to be careful as the students in Blackcliffe were known for simply taking slave girls for a night of pleasure. It really bothered me that it kept getting emphasized in order to set a certain tone. Not to mention, using it as plot devices to move the story along. An antagonist takes an interest in the MC and physically assaults her with the intention of raping her, she screams, so here comes the love interest to the rescue. Another antagonist is about the catch the two idling about, and so he pretends to rape her in order to "save her from the antagonist's wrath", and I was just appalled. I just couldn't wrap around my head why this had to be done when there were other ways to go about this, which made me think if it really were necessary to go this far, and if this theme is more "tolerable" in a fantasy setting (since it's supposedly a "part of the world"). In any case, I didn't like how it was used so casually and repeatedly.
And there's the issue of the narration in general. The characters here take more on a passive role than an active role, as their actions are dependent on what is happening around them. It was definitely interesting to see how they would react to the things outside their control and how they would cope with it, but it definitely did not leave enough room for character development. Objectively, the characters were complex in their own ways. Laia wants to save her brother through the Resistance, and is forced to spy for them in order to convince them to help her. She is weak and admits it, but must gather her courage to help Darin. Elias, on the other hand, wants out of the vicious system, but is forced back by a mysterious third party in order to vie for the crown. He wants to make a change somehow but is chained by his duty and his friends who think differently. Subjectively, I just couldn't really care for them that much because of the lack of intimate internal narration. I mean, their POVs were so telling than showing, resulting to a narration that was flat and somehow simplistic... it isn't a surprise this is how it ended up for me.
One thing that I really, really, really liked though was the ending, because that was when the characters decided to do something for themselves rather than wait for things to happen to them, and it was fun (and intense) from then on out. Fair warning, however, this book is for now a standalone, and the ending does feel incomplete somehow. The problem by the end is not yet resolved, and there are hints that our two main characters will eventually do something about it, but a sequel is uncertain as of now, so... yeah. Just putting it out there.
OVERALL (a tl;dr if you didn't feel like reading my ramblings)
1.) The world-building is definitely lacking. The telling than showing style makes the setting a little blurry, which was a monumental disappointment.
2.) There is a fair amount of brutality here. While that's not really an issue in and of itself, the constant use of rape to set the tone in the story was problematic for me. Plus, its use as a plot device to move the story... no. That just didn't work for me.
3.) The characters have passive roles which really limited their development. Their actions are so dependent on the plot, and that fact that their stories were told in such a "telling than showing" style made the narration flat and the connection nonexistent.
4.) The ending was cool, though. Look forward to that, but it does end in a cliffhanger.
Although keep in mind that this is a single opinion only. If you look around, there are waves of positive reviews circling this book, so don't let my review discourage you from checking this out. Who knows, the things I mentioned wouldn't bother you as much and you'll end up loving it! :)...more
"It didn't have to happen if she didn't do this... if she didn't do that..."
"We didn't kill her. She did this to herself."
How m
"She asked for it."
"It didn't have to happen if she didn't do this... if she didn't do that..."
"We didn't kill her. She did this to herself."
How many times have we seen these excuses being said by bullies and perpetrators, in defense of their horrible actions? How many times have we read these kinds of comments by people on the internet, heavy words easily thrown under the veil of anonymity? Too many times, I bet. Once is already too much. And every time I stumble upon such words, such implications, I feel dark and empty inside, and I wonder if the people in our society are devolving into hideous monsters who have no ounce of compassion in their veins.
So to read a book about bullying, about slut-shaming, from the perspective of a bully and a slut-shamer, was... a different kind of experience. I can't describe it, but let's just say that after reading this book, I felt like showering myself ten times over.
Sara Wharton is about to go on trial. A schoolmate of hers, beautiful Emma Putnam with her fiery red hair, was found dead in the garage of her parents' house. She committed suicide, a tragic end that was the result of months and months of harassing and bullying online and offline from the clutches of Sara, her best friend Queen Bee Brielle, and the rest of their group. Because of her death, Sara believes her life is over. She lost friends. She lost her boyfriend. Her life was ruined. Why does everyone hate her now? She never wanted this to happen. She never wanted Emma to kill herself. All she wanted was for "slutty" Emma to leave her and her boyfriend alone. However, she is about to realize, that maybe, just maybe, things are not that simple.
Teasewas hard to read, especially the first 80-90%. I've read a lot of bullying books before, but it has always been in the perspective of the victim, making the characters easier to sympathize with. This book was different in that sense, as we see the story unfold from the perspective of a bully, someone who showed a complete lack of remorse of what she has done, someone who couldn't see beyond herself. She wanted to please everyone in her circle, especially Brielle, to the point that she had sex with her boyfriend so they can have something in common, to the point of bullying Emma just to keep up with Queen Bee. For many years, she has stayed in her best friend's shadow as her sidekick. Brielle says "skank!", she echoes it. Brielle says "whore!", she repeats it. Brielle calls someone a "bitch slut", she doesn't hesitate to call that someone the same names, too. And every time she does, she feels powerful. Like she finally has an advantage over someone. Like she can control them through the words she uses, through the actions she does. She gets a thrill out of it. Who knew making someone fear you was so easy? Just say a few things on Facebook, make fake profiles on Twitter, and you can change someone's outlook in life. Just with a click. Just with a few minutes. And then that someone turns up dead the next day.
You can see why I felt dirty while reading Sara's thoughts. She was so hard to like. I hated how for the majority of the book, she kept thinking she wasn't in the wrong. So what if she bullied Emma? Emma started it! It didn't have to happen if Emma didn't steal her boyfriend! Emma didn't have to end her life if she didn't allow what happened to affect her! Excuses after excuses after excuses... her internal monologue was largely disturbing and uncomfortable, and I thought to myself, "is this what bullies think when they get caught? That it's the victim's fault for being bullied?"
And the thing is, it's probably what some of them think. And it's probably encouraged by their peers, and because of that, they find themselves blameless. It illustrates to us the possible reasons why there is so much victim-shaming and slut-shaming up to this day. Everyone knew Emma was being bullied, and yet no one really stopped it. Since Sara and Brielle were at the top of the high school food chain, almost everyone followed their lead. Not to mention, the lack of parental figures to help the teenager's morals also was a factor. If there's no adult to lead you, to help you, to answer your questions, you turn to your peers. It's not always the case, but sometimes, they're the bad influence.
There was a scene later in the book where Sara's absent father was scolding her for not being accountable for her actions. He reprimanded her for being such a child, and that she should grow up. Sara, hurt, replied with tears (non-verbatim), "Maybe I am a child, have you ever thought of that? There was no one there to help me grow up."
One thing is for sure, this book made me think a lot about today's social issues. As a culture, as a society, there is still much for us to learn, so much for us that we need to be aware of. From bullying, to victim-shaming, to slut-shaming... these are things that still run rampant up to this day, and it's such a shame that acts of kindness are more the exemption than the rule. But the thing is, this toxic world that we live in, there are many factors that contribute to its being poisonous. It's true that it's up to the person to choose whether or not to make life hell for someone else, but we've to stop and pause for a while and think why such options seem better for certain people. We have to look at the greater picture. We need to stop thinking small and start thinking big. There are societal structures that could be really improved on to make our environment a better place. It also has to start in the family, the basic unit of society. We need to start being more compassionate. We can't assume that everyone is strong enough to take it all in. We need to start putting ourselves in the other person's shoes before we do anything that could potentially emotionally hurt them. We need to start seeing others as humans, not as rocks void of feelings.
All in all, Tease was a hard book for me to read, and even harder to review. So many thoughts are running through my head, both positive and negative, and I'm unsure if I was able to put them across in this review. But I always appreciate it if a book can push me to think critically and philosophize. Difficult this book may seem to read, it definitely opened my eyes to a very bitter and sad reality. I'll conclude this review with this:
Suicide is stupid? You wanna know what is stupid? Hurting someone so much emotionally, that they think suicide is the only answer
— Macklemore (@ItsMacklemore) March 19, 2013...more