I have no notes. everyone was right about this series… I wake up, I think of aot. I go to sleep, I dream of aot. it’s not even a form of escapism becaI have no notes. everyone was right about this series… I wake up, I think of aot. I go to sleep, I dream of aot. it’s not even a form of escapism because I look at the world and think of aot. there’s only been a few times a piece of media has captured my attention so throughly before, and yet never quite like this. do yourself a favor and read or watch this. or don’t, because personally I know I will be lost for a while trying to find something new to fill my mind the way this series did....more
2.5☆: I think a large part of my rating can be summed up by the fact that I didn’t originally read this as a kid or have much personal connection to i2.5☆: I think a large part of my rating can be summed up by the fact that I didn’t originally read this as a kid or have much personal connection to it. I was hoping it would still hold up even without the nostalgia, and it might for other people, but to me it didn’t feel like a story as much as a series of random events to showcase interesting things about the world. and as cool as the world is, the lack of overarching plot left me feeling pretty meh about the book. not that I can’t appreciate a good nonsense plot, but if alice had some kind of specific goal or if there was like a problem in the world she needed to solve I think I would’ve liked it more, but alas we didn’t get anything resembling that till the end. speaking of the end, this part might just be my bad since the “it was all a dream” trope is a little too oversaturated and seen as a cop out in modern day writing, but I hated that it just ended with her waking up. I’m sure it was unique for its time, but I think it’s a bit too late for me to appreciate it now given my exposure to the trope and its connotations. the thing is despite all of my disappointment with the original book, I’ve actually always enjoyed alice in the wonderland retellings (shout out to marissa meyer’s heartless, my one true love), and I’m pretty sure that’s just because they address my main critique of actually having a plot to go with all the world building that happens. I think the lack of plot wasn’t particularly helped by the fact that I never really cared about alice? I don’t know, she always just felt kind of there, like those faceless video game mcs set up to be audience surrogates. and I don’t mean to hate on a kid for being a kid but any time alice actually showed a bit of personality, it just felt like she was being the problem ...more
1☆: patch is a love interest so bad he makes me miss edward cullen. he’s actually almost so awful it’s funny bc this mf has more audacity in his left 1☆: patch is a love interest so bad he makes me miss edward cullen. he’s actually almost so awful it’s funny bc this mf has more audacity in his left pinkie than I could ever aspire to have in entire my life. anyways, this deserves a one ☆ even if only for how terrible their biology class was (speaking of which, what is with trashy 2000s supernatural YA and biology classrooms?)...more
2.75☆: what have you done to deserve your eyes today? the better question is "what have my eyes done to deserve the 120 pages of what the fuck I put t2.75☆: what have you done to deserve your eyes today? the better question is "what have my eyes done to deserve the 120 pages of what the fuck I put them through today?" overall a relatively interesting premise with a lot of execution errors, tbh I think I would've liked it better if the horror had more nuance and/or was pushed more...more
1☆: I refuse to believe this man has ever felt the touch of a woman much less breathed in air that hasn't just been recirculating around in his grandm1☆: I refuse to believe this man has ever felt the touch of a woman much less breathed in air that hasn't just been recirculating around in his grandmother's basement...more
3.25☆: looking at what originated the classic trope twist of “be careful what you wish for” was interesting but it’s a little bland especially after r3.25☆: looking at what originated the classic trope twist of “be careful what you wish for” was interesting but it’s a little bland especially after reading the many modern adaptations...more
4☆: I will NOT be hearing anybody out about megumi's dad, go to therapy besties4☆: I will NOT be hearing anybody out about megumi's dad, go to therapy besties...more
4☆: I read “Everything I Never Told You” before this book, so I wasn’t unfamiliar to Celeste Ng’s writing pace/style and this book pretty much deliver4☆: I read “Everything I Never Told You” before this book, so I wasn’t unfamiliar to Celeste Ng’s writing pace/style and this book pretty much delivered to my expectations. In my opinion, the book had a strong start that definitely got me hooked/invested but as I got further into the plot, events were happening with no real pay off. I finished about 75% of the book and I was so frustrated and bored that I had to put it down and revisited it after 2 months. I don’t know if it was the break helping me look at it with fresh eyes, or if I just needed to read one more chapter until the action and the events started falling into place, but the book really took off towards the end. While I like the ending and I know it was intentionally open-ended, I feel like there were a few too many unconfirmed answers. Overall, it was a great slow burn (even if it did get a bit too slow for me) and Celeste managed to make me care about settings and characters most authors couldn’t manage to pull off. If you were a fan of this book, you’ll definitely like her other works....more
so I just remembered I technically wrote fanfiction for this with a whole alternate ending angsty romance arc (with illustrations too??) for 7th gradeso I just remembered I technically wrote fanfiction for this with a whole alternate ending angsty romance arc (with illustrations too??) for 7th grade english ...more
**spoiler alert** 3.75☆: this book was so close to becoming one of my favorite reads from february just because of how much it appealed to my hopeless**spoiler alert** 3.75☆: this book was so close to becoming one of my favorite reads from february just because of how much it appealed to my hopeless romantic side. it’s definitely super unrealistic and normally I despise insta love but the characters really grew on me and the way Yoon writes made it so easy for me to turn off my cynicism and suspend my disbelief for just a little bit.
one of the best parts of the book was natasha and daniel’s backstories. so as someone who’s also a child of immigrants, daniel’s dilemma of what his parents wanted vs what he wanted out of life (and even the way charlie took out his self loathing out on daniel) made me feels so seen and was honestly pretty reminiscent of many of my own experiences. natasha on the other hand had a background I couldn’t relate to, but was intrigued by nonetheless. with the amount of misinformation and xenophobic discourse surrounding the issue, it’s more important than ever that we see stories covering the topic. my only problem with the way this was handled in the story was it just felt more like a convenient plot device to force them to only have a day together rather than the more serious issue that it is.
another thing that stood out to me was the shifting perspectives, especially the way many minor characters were given brief one off sections. I didn’t really expect it to work that well, but there was something about briefly peering into other character’s povs that really fleshed out the story so much more, yet didn’t feel clunky and pull me out of the narrative.
unfortunately despite everything I liked about this book, ultimately the plot just felt way too forced. I knew full well this book would be unrealistic and up until a certain point I was along for the ride regardless. I even made it through all the “we were destined to be together” and “the dark matter of the universe is love” stuff. the last 30% ish off the book had the fastest character development I have ever seen (and not in a good way either, it was like a switch had been flipped) just so natasha would also see a reason to invest in this 6 hour relationship.
I feel like this book would’ve been so much better if instead of falling head over heels in love, both of them still had crushes on each other but were able to help the other realize something important (ex: daniel pursuing his passion and natasha coming to terms with ??? (idk I can’t even tell you what exactly natasha got out of this series of encounters)) and then just never see or communicate with each other after that day. I honestly thought that’s what the epilogue was leading up to and while it was interesting seeing what the other characters ended up doing (especially irene), it definitely wasn’t worth hearing about them trying to keep in contact but slowly drifting apart. if we just cut it off at the end with natasha getting on the plane full well knowing they’d never talk again, I think it would’ve made the ending more impactful. because despite never seeing each other again, they’d still have made a huge impact on each others lives and carry that with them wherever the future takes them.
anyways, it’s an interesting read that I don’t think I’ll forget any time soon, but its definitely not for everybody. weirdly enough I’d say the most unrealistic part of this is that the american suicide hotline is actually effective....more
**spoiler alert** 3.5☆(series recap/review): *i'm going to add to this review over the next few days so bear with me if it keeps randomly popping up in**spoiler alert** 3.5☆(series recap/review): *i'm going to add to this review over the next few days so bear with me if it keeps randomly popping up in your updates lmao*
have you ever written an essay that started off well-structured with a good thesis but then you realized you only had 5 minutes left to finish writing it so it descended into utter chaos? that experience is just the promised neverland but in manga form
gracefield 4.5/5☆: the first arc as the kids escape from gracefield was one of my favorite manga arcs i've ever read. actually, the first season of the anime that covers this arc might be one of my favorite animes. evidently, i'm just a sucker for elaborate mental games (a la death note). one of the things that truly makes this begining arc fantastic is the characters. the main trio (emma, norman, and ofc best boy ray) all have distinct personalities and povs that are constantly challenged and evolve because of each other and the magnitude of their situation. emma is the optimist who's determined to escape with everyone, ray is the cynical realist who's been planning for this his entire life, and norman sits in the middle - a meticulous planner like ray who is aware of the flaws of their plan yet is determined to follow emma's dream and keep everyone alive regardless. besides the main trio, this arc contained a lot of other characters who all had equally complex backgrounds and motives. their "mom" isabella despite being the "villain" had perfectly understandable motives and wasn't reduced to some evil caricature who never cared about them all this time. she was just another victim of this heartbreaking reality and did whatever she had to do to survive. she truly believed it was easier for the kids to live in ignorant bliss for a few years instead of dying in the demon-infested lands outside. something I particularly liked was that none of the moves isabella made against the kids felt like some random unpredictable threat. sure from the kid's pov some of her actions catch them off guard, but it never felt like bs plot points and obstacles to throw the reader off. rather it was stuff the kids would've been able to see coming if they had the benefit of hindsight bias to cover all of their bases or if they weren't y'know literal 11 years olds stuck on an organ harvesting farm. the arc wrapped up promising, with the kids making their escape into a new world in a way that felt logical and not some last-minute deus ex machina / power of friendship nonsense.
goldy pond 4/5☆: the period between the escape from gracefield and entering the bunker was a change of pace and introduced more complicated dynamics to the demon-human relationship. ofc there was no way the conflict was simply a black and white fight of good vs evil. by meeting the peaceful demons (sonju and mujika) the kids got a new perspective on the true nature of how demons could be. they reach the bunker with the help of clues left by william minerva at gracefiled. I just thought the clues disguised as stories in books as well as the coded pen thing was cool and I know younger me would've ate that up. we don't know much about minerva at this point and I remember thinking that he was secretly going to be the main villain all along, I guess I wasn't too off? anyways, upon finding the bunker they meet yuugo. he's an adult who escaped one of the plants as a kid yet is pretty hostile to emma and crew since their happiness reminds him of what he lost. he's almost like a dark reflection of what emma could be if she lost her family and went on a downward spiral. their relationship with him is pretty much based on blowing the place up if he doesn't cooperate with them and eventually they get him to escort emma and ray to where they believe the next clue minerva gave them is. enter goldy pond. goldy pond wasn't my favorite. it tossed a lot of new characters at us without time to become invested in them before they were killed off by the demons who used the area to hunt the children for sport. it also was a lot of fight sequences which I tend to get bored of reading after a while. what did still make it interesting though was emma. emma has this huge "friendship is magic" and "why don't we just talk about it" protagonist vibe about her and this time it completely failed. not only were the demons not remotely interested in a compromise but they wanted the children to hate them more because it would become a more engaging and interesting hunt for them. realistically there's no way the cattle children can navigate their way through this conflict without blood on their hands and it forced emma to finally learn how to fight her way through.
tl;dr: the promised neverland was a good series that sort of ventured off into mediocrity instead of living up to its potential and i’m still salty about it.
anyways thank you if you somehow read all of this lmao. this is the longest review i've ever written and it's not even for a book/series that was particularly standout - just disappointing....more
3.25☆: I’m a little conflicted on reviewing this book because as much as I wanted to love it, a lot of it didn’t really work out for me.
As someone wh3.25☆: I’m a little conflicted on reviewing this book because as much as I wanted to love it, a lot of it didn’t really work out for me.
As someone who’s a fan of Schaeffer’s previous books, I can’t help but compare this to the Market of Monsters series. Something I loved about both of these series were their settings and world building. An urban fantasy setting with people routinely turning into their worst nightmares and corruption to rival Gotham is such an intriguing concept and I just wish the execution had lived up to that image (btw if this is a premise that also sparks your interest, I’d recommend This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab). World building is my bread and butter and I still have so many questions regarding how nightmares came to be and especially how the outside world is reacting to all this.
The thing about MoM is that all of the characters were very intriguing and multifaceted and the plot constantly challenged them and pushed them forward. And while the characters of CoN were likeable enough, the plot felt like it had too many holes and didn’t quite track for me. Another issue with the plot was the pacing. Right when it felt like we had just gotten past the exposition and started to get to meat of the story, the book was around 70% done. This might just be due to this being set up for the rest of the series, but even so, just the vague question of the mysterious figure behind the nightmares wasn’t enough for me to want to continue on the series when this book was so lackluster in terms of plot.
Also, slight tangent but this really felt so much more like Cyril’s story than Ness. Granted, things just keep kind of happening to Ness and she’s very much trying to avoid the plot (and this makes sense given her character and backstory) but be that as it may, it’s not easy to write a compelling story when the characters show no interest in being involved in it.
I will say, I’m a bit confused by the target audience for the book. All signs have been pointing to YA, especially given the topics handled and Ness’s age, but it really does read like a middle grade. In fact, Ness really seems like she’s a lot younger (I’d guess about 14-16 instead of 19) but you could always argue that she’s intentionally written that way due to her trauma.
I can read a book with a bad plot and great characters and I might even be able to push through a book with great plot and terrible characters, but it’s really difficult to feel much of anything at all if both the plot and characters feel lacking.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review ★...more
**spoiler alert** 1☆: genuinely wtf was the point of this book. none of these new characters are relevant, showing newts side of the story didn’t real**spoiler alert** 1☆: genuinely wtf was the point of this book. none of these new characters are relevant, showing newts side of the story didn’t really contribute anything, the audiobook narrator couldn’t keep his accent consistent for the life of him, the plot was extremely mid, need I go on? the only scene I even wanted to hear from newts pov was his death but the author got rid of that in favor of some random wckd lady confirming info we already knew from fever code?? the only thing this novella did, if anything, was reinforce that newt was definitely into thomas which fans were already convinced was the case for years
tldr: feels like a pointless cash grab since the author is facing some allegations and no other series of his has done as well as this one. if you were ever a fan of newt or this series you’re better off just rereading the og stuff or heading to ao3....more
3.5☆: the artstyle is gorgeous (it is genshin impact after all) but even as someone who’s played the game the first few chapters are kind of confusing3.5☆: the artstyle is gorgeous (it is genshin impact after all) but even as someone who’s played the game the first few chapters are kind of confusing. I think the whole collei arc was really cool and I wish they fleshed out venessas origin story like that as well instead of just making it 2 short episodes.
(this review is as of chapter 13 because the others haven’t been translated into english yet)...more
this book was SO hyped I went in expecting a lot, especially since the premise was so intriguing, but it r2☆: “h2o: just add water” but make it horror
this book was SO hyped I went in expecting a lot, especially since the premise was so intriguing, but it really fell short for me. I’m finding it hard to understand what exactly people enjoyed about this because to me the book didn’t kick off until the last 20% and I had to resist the urge to dnf it beforehand at every turn...more
4.25☆: it isn’t perfect but it’s definitely my favorite crack fic I’ve ever read. although, I wish there was a less open ended conclusion. I almost lo4.25☆: it isn’t perfect but it’s definitely my favorite crack fic I’ve ever read. although, I wish there was a less open ended conclusion. I almost love it more than harry loves pseudo prophetic scars and tax deductibles....more