Thought Train to Pusan

There is a fine line between cute and cringe, but then again, we all participate in cringe in our own ways, in many different flavors. I say this, because as I was reading The Extraordinaries , there were things to love, but also a lot that felt very put-on and almost too much ™. But as someone who is also a little much herself, well, who am I to judge? At the end of the day, what we have here is a cute little story that tries to put a little humanity and reality into the world of superheroes, and the people who see them and idolize them. It does come across almost like a self-insert, superhero fanfic of some kind (and in fact the protagonist engages in fanfic writing themselves, which might be a little clue there), so depending on how you feel about that kind of thing your mileage may vary. I’m sitting at a middle-to-positive. The Extraordinaries takes place in a universe where certain people are born with special abilities, and thereby called Extraordinaries. In Nova City, two such ...

I will be honest: I am not into series right now. I genuinely didn’t know that this was going to be the opener of more than one novel (I just snagged it from the “available now” section of my library app after reading a short synopsis), so when the ending was approaching I just had a feeling I knew where it was going to lead: leaving things with that particular YA dystopian ending to lead you into act II. And while this book certainly kept my interest and developed its own lore amongst its contemporaries, I found the back half to be far less-engaging than the first. We Set the Dark on Fire follows Dani, a girl who is about to graduate from the Medio School for Girls, where distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles: to be the ever logical, unemotional wife who runs the household (called a primera), or to be the emotional, caring child bearer to her husband (known as a segunda). High-class men in Media purchase the hand in marriage of two women for the family (one prime...

“Welcome to dinner, and again, congratulations on being selected. Now you must do the selecting.” I hadn’t actually heard of this novel before, but saw it was a new offering on my library app, along with a comparison to One of Us Is Lying , a book that I reasonably enjoyed, coupled with a juicy-sounding concept. And given that I recently binged the Netflix Series, Elite , you might say I enjoy soapy teen dramas involving murder, secrets, the whole shebang from time to time. Yet, despite a really intriguing premise that could result in a range of focuses for the characters, I ultimately didn’t love this one, and felt myself heading towards what I suspected was a disappointing conclusion throughout the back-half of the story. This novel really wants to have some teeth to it, and while it presents a lot of serious topics (murder, drug use, bullying, suicide, abusive families, etc), the need for a surprise twist, along with a collection of characters that behave repetitively as little-m...

This was my first choice for reading out of the options of June’s The Future is Queer #CannonBookClub, though to be honest all of the 4 possible books for the book club sounded right up my alley! A group of so-called disasters having to come together to save themselves and the universe? A found family that comes together through their shared factor of being outcasts in one way or another? I love to see it. The Disasters opens with a group of 4 young people (largely centered on the POV of one boy named Nax) as they are being kicked out of an elite space academy called Ellis Station for various reasons. This space station trains people to take on important roles on newly established colony planets in space, as Earth grows increasingly populated. However, despite what should be a one-way trip back to earth for all of these academy rejects, the group witnesses a terrorist attack on the space station, and barely escape. Now they are on the run from authorities as the small crew is turne...

Would you believe that I actually first heard about this YA book from an advertisement during the trailers section of a DVD I took out from the library? Actually, I’m pretty sure I saw it on more than one! How serendipitous to then receive it as a gift. Ultimately, while there were things I really liked about this book, there were also things that I didn’t. Overall, I liked it, but didn’t love it. Being that it is the first of a series, the question is then will I continue with the rest? And well, I’m just not sure (for one thing my to-read list is just far too long!). Children of Blood and Bone brings us the the world of Orïsha, with many elements inspired by West African mythology and the Yoruba culture and language. While this country was once home to a group of people who could practice magic (called maji), the tyrannical King Saran found a way to eliminate magic from the land due to fear of the power of the maji, and slaughtered all adult practitioners of magic as well. Zélie,...

This YA novel is a familiar sort of adventure, but in a new a refreshing setting. It hits all the right beats and turns in the story in an efficient and effective manner. I don’t know about anyone else, but I knew what I was getting into when I picked this one up, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it also means the experience of the read itself falls squarely in the middle-of-the-road for me. Labyrinth Lost follows the story of teenage Alejandra (Alex), the middle-sister in a family of brujas in Brooklyn. She is about to have her Deathday celebration and come into her powers, but Alex isn’t sure she wants that: she feels that all magic has brought to her family is misery and pain. In attempting to rid herself of her magic, however, she miscalculates what exactly the damage will be, causing her family to vanish into the realm of Los Lagos, where she will have to journey to save the souls of her family, alongside some mysterious and charming young brujo...

After my friend got me a copy of Carry On for my birthday, I read it immediately, and naturally I loved it. It had all my favourite tropes: magic, vampires, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, and-they-were-roommates, spoofing on the concept of a chosen-one, etc etc. I loved the characters and how it didn’t take itself too seriously, while still having a strong heart and emotions within it. This follow-up novel took hold of me with my love for these characters once again, but story-wise it certainly takes a dip: it’s need for something to happen just didn’t quite work for me. But more on that later: Wayward Son picks up with Simon, Baz, and Penny after fighting against the Mage. Simon is still without magic, yet now with some dragon wings and a tail, dealing with a depression that has come on after losing a sense of purpose: he is no longer the “chosen one”, so now what? Under the guide of checking up on Agatha now in America, Penny suggests the gang go on a road t...