Personal rating: 4 stars Goodreads rating at time of review: 3.99 stars Content rating: PG-13 Trigger warnings: Abusive parents, stalker, manipulation Seventeen-year-old fangirl Rosemary Collins lives for VIGIL & ANTE Studios movies. From action-packed superhero fights to sweet character moments, she’s here for it all. But in a real-life crossover no one saw coming, the fandom’s heartthrob supervillain, Ironfall, isn’t as fictional as the film studio wants her to believe. Beyond the glamorous red carpet lies the government’s most guarded secret: the movies are real. Armed with a devilish grin and a wit as sharp as his knives, Ironfall needs her help, and refusing means he’ll kill her parents. Her only other option involves spying on him for the government’s secret superhero division. Suspended between fact and what she thought was fiction, Rosemary must join her heroes and create an impenetrable web of lies—or guarantee her parents’ safety as she watches the world burn at its adored villain’s hand. (goodreads.com) As someone who was reading and writing fanfics around 2012 - 2018 (aka the heyday of Avengers fanfiction in my personal opinion), I have read many, many stories with this premise before. And let’s be real, I gobbled them up every time I came across them regardless of how well they were written or how annoying the main character was. Marvel movies come to life? Sign me up for that adventure (at least in the sense of reading about it, I’d prefer the MCU to stay in its own universe, thank you). All of that being said, I know that the writing of this book could have used some polishing. I know that there were parts of it that were cringey and unrealistic and maybe a touch too try-hard. I am not claiming this to be a great piece of literature… however I had an absolute blast reading it and therefore I am giving it four stars. You can’t stop me, this is my blog. I did, in fact, breeze through this book in one sitting, shouting at the characters all the way through it and rolling my eyes at the particularly fanfic-y parts (even though you know I loved those too). It was a very easy read to get into with short chapters, simple writing, familiar tropes. If you, like me, have read fanfictions with the same premise before, you know where things are going right from the get go, but you’re excited to get there. Handsome villain stalking the main character? Here for it. Main character has to go through a training montage? Obviously. Secret government organization convinces the main character to spy on the villain that she’s slowly falling for? I would expect nothing less. Plot that starts to fall apart and meander aimlessly after the author has already written the scene that they were originally daydreaming about? Listen… we’ve all been there. Okay, okay, I admit, the plot was maybe structured a bit too much like a fanfiction. And I am going solely off of my own fanfic writing experience on this one, but what I mean is this: as a fangirl in a fandom, sometimes you daydream about a particular scene that you would like to see play out either in the canon content or with your OC or whatever. You can just picture your favorite character dancing or getting coffee or murdering all of your enemies because they dared to lay a finger on you. And, if you are a writer, your instinct may be to write it all down so that you can revisit that daydream whenever you want. The only problem is, if you are a writer, you might also be inclined to justify that one scene with an entire plot because how else would the characters have gotten there? So you write a fic, but after you get to the point in the story that your original scenario occurs, you start to run out of steam and then things start to go down rabbit holes that you dug in the middle of things and maybe even get ever so slightly convoluted until you either wrap things up or leave the fic on hiatus for the next ten years. At least… in my experience that’s what tends to happen. And it kind of feels like that’s what happens in this book as well. After the main character, Rosemary, and the “villain”, Ironfall, start to get closer and the heist plot starts to wrap up, that’s when the evil terrorist group shows up along with the plot twists that were maybe too heavily foreshadowed before. Still, I think everything wrapped up nicely at the end with an epilogue “post-credit scene” to boot. You can tell that the author put a lot of work in to tie all of the various plot threads together and I appreciate that. I think part of the reason I enjoyed We Could be Villains so much is because it brought me back to that fun time in the Avengers fandom. Rosemary describes eagerly waiting to hear news from convention panels and watch trailers. She and her friend talk about theories together and have posters. Ironfall is very “Loki-coded”, but the weird teenage version of Loki that many fics at the time adopted because then they could get away with having their 17 year old OC fall in love with him and claim it wasn’t creepy because of that one tumblr post that did some math and proposed that Loki is only a teenager in human years (iykyk). It’s just all nostalgic to me in a weird way. Were I not so embedded in Avengers fandom culture in my youth (*cough* and maybe also now *cough*), I don’t think I would have enjoyed this book as much as I did. While I think it can stand on its own and that others would enjoy it, I definitely think the plotting needs a bit of help and the characters could use some fine tuning. There was also a random side plot about Rosemary and Ironfall being part of the school production of Beauty and the Beast, which I found funny, but was kind of out of place. (Also, I’m still wondering how Rosemary was allowed to be in the play even though she hardly went to any of her actual classes. Don’t public schools have rules about not being able to participate in extracurriculars if your grades are low?) This review is getting long and rambling. To summarize: would I recommend this book to others? Uh…. undecided. Depends on what your own history with the MCU and fanfiction is. Will I be reading the sequel when it is released? You can bet your buns I will. Thank you for sticking with me to the end of the line, or at least the end of this review. I’d better go to a coffee shop and hope no villains and/or super spies are following me. Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61101765-we-could-be-villains
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Personal Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads rating at time of review: 3.87 Stars Content Rating: PG-13 Earth may be a nightmarish landscape, but that's no reason to stop the music. Post-apocalyptic life ain’t all doom and gloom for Sebastian Yun. The eighteen-year-old lives for broadcasting his music to the end-of-world-weary masses from behind the wheel of his sweeeeet, double-decker ride. But when making a pit stop at a small, dusty town, the self-made radio DJ runs into a shady old nemesis who totally kills his good vibes. This seasoned flimflam woman claims she can send the bloodthirsty creatures that prey on mankind back to hell. When Sebastian’s completely-not-selfish attempts to unmask the phony hit the wrong note, the very real danger is cranked all the way up to 11. Will Sebastian live to share more of his dope tunes, or will it be dead air from here on out? (synopsis from amazon.com) Normally, I am not one for post-apocalyptic books. Occasionally, I’ll watch a movie of this variety, but rarely will I read a book about the end of the world. I came across this one because I follow the author on TikTok and I thought the premise sounded really fun. A DJ driving around the world in a double decker bus, playing music from pre-apocalypse? Sounds like a good time! Plus, this is so short, I figured I wasn’t investing that much time if I didn’t end up liking it. But, I really liked this book! It was a weird, fast-paced little snippet of some end of the world shenanigans. I will say that because it was so short, I felt like I was missing so much information. Of course, I suspect much of this information will be revealed in volumes two and three, but it still would have been nice to have a bit more set up for the character and the world they live in. Also, because of the length of the book, there weren’t really any good stopping places, so it’s really a book that you just need to take an hour or two to sit down and read in one sitting if you can. Enough about how short it was, let’s talk about the actual story. The characters were fun and interesting, but I didn’t feel like I got to know them very well. I look forward to spending more time with Sebastian and Meza in the sequel and even the conwoman, Chancy freakin’ Freeman. The humor was goofy and I liked that there was a running joke throughout about how the town they were staying in was too small to actually be called a town and so Sebastian, despite being in the middle of a crazy situation, keeps trying to figure out a better word to use to refer to the town, such as “village” or “hamlet”. It’s just a silly gag that keeps on going and is resolved at the same time the action is, which was a fun way to wrap things up. As far as the plot goes… there’s not a whole lot to it, but that’s okay. I think the best way I can think to describe this book is that it feels like the pilot episode of a TV show. We’re not sure what is happening really, or who these people are, but it’s fun to watch them fight monsters and listen to music. It’s like watching an episode of some show you randomly find on your preferred streaming service or at the library and you watch it. And maybe you don’t fully vibe with it at first, but it catches your attention, it captures your interest, and you think to yourself “hmm, I want to see where this goes”. Now, I haven’t read the next book in the series, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m going to get sucked in and start to get way too attached to these characters. And I’m excited for that to happen. I loved the music choices for this book as well. Since Sebastian is a DJ, there were several songs mentioned that I thought went well with the scenes and added a layer to the atmosphere created in the book.I especially enjoyed the song at the very end and loved picturing everyone at the end singing along to it. What’s fun about this being set in the distant (or maybe not so distant) future is that any song could be used. It’s not just classic rock, or older songs. Since we don’t know how far in the future this is, it is not limited to the music of yesteryear, the series can mention music that’s coming out this year and it will still be “old music” to the characters. I think there’s also a Spotify code on the first page, but I couldn’t get my phone to scan it, so I’m not sure if that’s actually what it was or not. If anyone else was able to get it to work, let me know! I recommend this book to anyone who likes post-apocalyptic stories with a little flair, or people who enjoy fun music. As I said, I am eager to read the next book in the series and will be ordering it shortly. Well, I’m off to hide from the giant booger monsters of the future. Thanks for reading! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60616050-so-you-survived-the-end-of-the-world Personal Rating: 5 stars Goodreads rating at time of review: 3.9 stars Content Rating: PG-13 (for violence) TW: Violence, racism Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach. If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself -- but first she has to make it there, alive. (goodreads.com) Why is it that books in the Science Fiction genre always either have totally boring covers or completely gorgeous covers? There is no in between and this book falls solidly on the completely gorgeous end of the scale. The colors! The stars! The details! The intense look on Binti’s face! Amazing. Okay, with my swooning over the cover out of the way, let’s get on to talking about the actual book, shall we? This is a Sci-Fi novella (less than 100 pages) about a girl from a future Earth. She lives in a desert that she has never left and she is an amazing mathematician. Out of the Himba people, she is the only one to ever be accepted to a prestigious space college and even though her family does not want her to go, she sneaks away to get on the spaceship that will take her off of Earth and to the school. I generally have trouble getting into “heavy-duty” Sci-Fi/space travel books, but if more of them were in novella format like this book and All Systems Red then I might enjoy more of them. Since shorter novels need to make more use of their words and their plot and can’t spend too long on pages-long descriptions of how things work, they tend to pack more of a punch and they definitely hold my focus better. It also doesn’t hurt to have more female Sci-Fi characters and, of course, more characters of color in Sci-Fi as well. Make it more relatable for more people and more people will enjoy it. Anyway, I’m not here to climb on any sorts of soap boxes today, I’m here to talk about a book. I did not research this book very much before reading it, so I was definitely surprised by some of the things that happened in the plot. It kept me on my toes and kept me worried for the safety of the main character. Sometimes it’s nice to go into a book blind and not have any idea of what conflicts might pop up. Binti was a stellar (pun most definitely intended) character who I enjoyed reading about. I was invested in the outcome of her situation immediately and I can’t wait to read the sequels to learn more about her. I do wish there had been a few more important characters who Binti could interact with, as there was really only one who she connected with much. Perhaps more connections and characters will show up in the sequels. It’s hard to review a book that I enjoyed so much because, while I can think of plenty of positive things to say, without getting into spoilers all of the positive things sound pretty generic. So, I apologize that this is a short review, but I don’t want to ruin this book for you if you intend to read it. Which you should. Especially if you love Science Fiction but you don’t always have the patience to read Science Fiction. Also, if you like exploring African culture in a futuristic setting with aliens and mysterious rocks and excitement. It’s a good time. Thank you for reading this short review, hopefully next time I’ll have more to say. They can’t all be comically sarcastic scathing reviews of terrible pirate books *cough* The Dust of 100 Dogs *cough, hack, wheeze*. Until next time! I’m off to apply for space college and see if it goes better than my bout with real college… Image source: https://goodreads.com/book/show/25819514-binti Personal Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Rating at time of review: 3.73 stars Content Rating: PG-13 Trigger Warnings: Cancer, family deaths The postman’s days are numbered. Estranged from his family, living alone with only his cat Cabbage to keep him company, he was unprepared for the doctor’s diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can tackle his bucket list, the Devil appears to make him an offer: In exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, our narrator will get one extra day of life. And so begins a very bizarre week… With each object that disappears the postman reflects on the life he’s lived, his joys and regrets, and the people he’s loved and lost. (goodreads.com) Now, you’re probably looking at the cover of this book and thinking “Corrie, why in the world would you pick up a book with such a depressing title?!” And when I first saw this title, I was also astounded by the very notion that anyone would even dare to think of removing cats from this world. I mean, can you imagine a world without cats? What would become of the internet?! It is unthinkable! But you have to admit that the synopsis of this book is intriguing. Even so, I mostly picked up this book because the library I work at is doing it for a book club and my coworker asked me if I would participate in the podcast discussion for If Cats Disappeared from the World. I won’t be posting this review until after we’ve done the podcast so that I can link it down below if anyone is interested in listening. But I wanted to write my personal review for it before the discussion so that I can get down all of my own thoughts fresh from reading the book. This is not usually the kind of book I would read. Deals with el diablo? No thank you. I am a Christian and that sort of thing really doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t know if it’s because of how I was raised or just common sense, but I’ve never understood why fictional characters agree to anything the devil offers. I mean, c’mon guys, he’s literally called the ruler of darkness, the evil one, the tempter, the slanderer, destruction, the ruler of the bottomless pit, etc. Does that sound like someone who is going to offer you a deal where you come out on top? Ever? No! In media, whenever characters make a deal with the devil, something bad always happens to them and they generally regret their decision. So it is hard for me to want to read something where characters are making arrangements with Satan because it always leaves me with the feeling of “you brought this on yourself, dude, this could have easily been avoided”. This book was a bit different though. The character of the devil, who the narrator calls Aloha because he’s always wearing Hawaiian tourist shirts, presents the situation to the narrator as something that is “God-approved”. He claims that the humans have made too much junk and that God has given His approval for Aloha to offer this deal with humans where they can gain an extra day of life in exchange for getting rid of one thing across the whole earth. The idea of this situation having God’s stamp of approval is completely ludicrous, but it did make me remember that, hey, I’m reading a fictional novel, that means that the relationship between God, Satan, and humans is going to be fictionalized too. So, once I put that behind me and stopped trying to consider this book with the eyes of a theologian, I was able to get into it a bit better. Now, if you go into this expecting an interesting sci-fi/fantasy exploration of “what things can I get rid of before it seriously starts to affect quality of life for everyone?” that is not what this is. Going into this book, I was under the impression that the narrator would get to choose each thing that disappears from the earth. I assumed the title was his last resort after having gotten rid of nearly everything else in the world. I was expecting the Twilight Zone level of plot. I kept trying to think of things that you could get rid of without hurting too many people or anyone (if you were curious, my mind decided I would start with super specific things that are pretty much useless, like hamburger shaped Christmas tree ornaments or already buried traditionally embalmed corpses or the top button on polo shirts or stickers featuring Nicholas Cage). However, this book isn’t really a sci-fi novel. Instead of the narrator getting to choose what vanishes, the devil gets to decide. And instead random useless items, they are all things that link the narrator to his loved ones and his personal experiences in life. An item disappears in each chapter and in each chapter the narrator explores his memories and emotions regarding that item. For example, the first thing to vanish was the phone. And the book doesn’t get into the nitty gritty of how exactly this works or how the world at large is affected or if other people even realize that phones have vanished (the narrator comes to the conclusion that no one else really remembers the things, but it isn’t really delved into). Instead the story focuses on how the narrator used to use phones to communicate with the girl he was dating several years previous and how his relationship with that girl changed him and shaped him. And that is the way with all of the items that vanish. Objectively, I know this was a really good and thought provoking book. It uses the fantastical to convey real feelings and emotions. It is sad because of the themes regarding death, but joyful because of the life that was lived and the lessons learned along the way. It is peacefully mundane, while also being gripping with wondering what the next loss will reveal about the narrator and the human experience. It’s a lovely work of literary fiction. That being said… I’m really more of a sci-fi girl myself. I could not stop thinking about the havoc that losing these things would wreak upon the rest of the humans on the planet. And I know that was not the point. The point was much deeper than that, but you can’t put a book like this in front of me and expect me not to think about all of the people who no longer have phones and the absolute chaos that would cause. I spent the whole time thinking about how people would no longer be able to communicate with loved ones or make emergency calls. Like, I get the point that the narrator’s cell phone was distracting him from his life and creating a barrier between himself and real people and if there was a “moral of the story” it would be about ignoring the set in stone norm with our focus on structure and organization. But also… people in this day and age need phones. They are very important devices that can save lives. And I don’t think the book was even trying to put out a “boomer” message of “technology bad!”, I think it genuinely had something important to say. However, I could not personally take away as much as I should have from the book because my brain was focused on the repercussions for the entire earth and not the individual. I guess, I’m trying to say that, maybe if you go into this book knowing that you aren’t supposed to read it with the eyes of a sci-fi reader, you should read it with the eyes and heart of a poet, then maybe you will get more out of it than I did. And maybe someday I will try to re-read it in that way. Podcast recording: Click on the green button below to listen to the podcast (Last Tuesday of the Month Book Club). Listening to it myself, a few weeks after recording it, I just want to apologize to my coworker and to anyone else who listens to it for all of the times I used the word “like”. In my defense, I was very nervous. If you do decide to listen to it, I hope you enjoy my senseless rambling and Amy’s very professional and engaging thoughts! Thanks for reading and/or listening! I’m off to give my beloved cat some more cuddles. Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37901571-if-cats-disappeared-from-the-world Personal Rating: 3.5 Stars Gooreads Rating: 4.15 Stars Content Rating: R (for violence and language) In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn't a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied 'droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as "Murderbot." Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth. (goodreads.com) I first heard about this book while I was watching one of Book Roast’s reading wrap up videos and while adult Sci-Fi is not a genre I usually read, the premise and short length of this book appealed to me. And then I happened to see it while I was shelving at the library so I figured it would be fun to at least try it and see if it was anything I’d be interested in. As it turns out, it isn’t really something that I would normally enjoy, but, for some reason, I couldn’t put this novella down. It turned out to be way scarier than I was expecting, though part of the problem might have been that I was reading it at night. I’m also easily scared by space survival stories. Can that be a genre? Is it a genre? You know the kind of story I’m talking about. Like, humans in space—usually explorers or scientists—and then something dire happens that leaves them stranded somewhere or facing a horrifying unknown as well as the fact that they are impossibly far from civilization. You know that kinda story? Does that have a name? I’m calling it space survival. Anyway, I’m not usually a fan of that kind of story because they freak me out too much. I did not like Lost in Space and other similar movies/shows. I prefer space stories with a hint of magic and super unrealistic-ness to them, like The Lunar Chronicles or Star Wars. I don’t like feeling as if the space adventure could actually happen because space, while awesome, is creepy as heck. Moving on! Given my dislike for space survival stories, I did not think that I would like All Systems Red once I realized that it was that sort of story. However, I was proven wrong and, apart from hiding under my blanket and clutching my teddy bear close, I wasn’t even that scared! A popular complaint that I’ve seen about this book is regarding the ending. Now, I’ll try not to say too much, but it does feel like it’s missing something. It sort of jumps from the middle of an action scene where everyone is in danger to the resolution and epilogue without even stopping to take a breath. And I sort of understand why, but it also makes it feel like a few pages have been removed from the book. I’m hoping that some of the missing information will be cleared up in the next books in the series if I choose to read them. As far as characters go, Murderbot and Dr. Mensah were the only ones who you got to know and Dr. Mensah was still not the most fleshed out. But, this series is the Murderbot Diaries and at the beginning of the book Murderbot didn’t particularly care about the human characters, so it makes sense that we would really only get to know about our dear Murderbot. I do hope that in the rest of the series there are other recurring characters who we get to know better. I don’t want Murderbot to be lonely! Another thing that I wish there had been more of was world building. Of course, it’s hard to fit much world building into 144 pages, but I still would have liked to know a bit more about this futuristic world. Is Earth still around? Do people still live there? Do people live on other planets? In space stations? What’s up with the planet that this first book takes place on anyway? I feel like there were some mysteries left unsolved there. At first I was confused about what exactly Murderbot is, but thankfully the book does a good job of revealing that and it doesn’t take too long to grasp. That’s about it for my thoughts on All Systems Red. I enjoyed parts of it, other parts left me with a sense of dread and foreboding, but on the whole I liked it and if I’m ever in the mood to travel back to that corner of space I’ll pick up the sequel. Even though I don’t particularly like Lost in Space, if you did you might also like this book. Or if you want to relate to a socially awkward main character who isn’t sure of who they are, then this book is great for that too. Thanks for reading! If you’ll excuse me, I need to go make sure that my security robot isn’t going to kill me. Toodles! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32758901-all-systems-red Personal Rating: 3.75 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.57 Stars Content Rating: PG-13 TW: possible sexual assault trigger warning (nothing graphic, but dang it there are some creepy dudes in this and several very uncomfortable moments) Phoebe Lane is a lightning rod for monsters. She and her mom are forced to flee flesh-eating plants, radioactive ants, and blobs from outer space. They survive thanks to Phoebe’s dad—an invisible titan, whose giant eyes warn them where the next monster attack will take place. All Phoebe wants is to stop running from motel to motel and start living a monster-free life in New York or Paris. But when her mom mysteriously vanishes, Phoebe is left to fend for herself in small-town Pennybrooke. That's when Phoebe starts to transform… (goodreads.com) When I first picked up this book, part of me was convinced that the whole summary was actually metaphorical in some way or poetic or something. I did not want it to be, but I was sure it was going to end up being a contemporary book that featured a teenage girl who was “quirky” and enjoyed old monster movies and compared the bad things in her life to those monster movies. This was not that. I’m not sure exactly what about the synopsis made me think it would be a contemporary book, but I’m certainly glad it wasn’t. Attack of the 50 Foot Wallflower was a wild ride full of monsters, nasty men, and a fun heroine. Also, a huge man in the sky who was really gross and I’m not really sure what to think of him as a plot device. Basically, this book takes place in a world where all of those old monster movies that everyone references in other movies and TV shows. You know the ones, they’re typically black and white, featuring very outdated special effects and even more outdated treatment of women. Frankenstein, Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, King Kong, The Blob, The Fly, The Monkey’s Paw, Them!, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, etc. In the world of this book all of those movies and more take place around the same couple of decades, mid-twentieth-century. Of course, everything is changed just a smidge, probably because of copyright but typically the references are still clear. Phoebe, the main character, is the daughter of the woman who King Kong captured and brought to the top of the Empire State Building, except in this book it’s Emperor Ook, who climbed the Chrysler Building. I don’t want to explain the whole plot to you, but basically, Phoebe and her mom run from town to town, dodging the monster (or Shiver) attacks. They are warned which towns are about to be attacked by “Daddy”, a giant, all seeing, pervy man in the sky who is Phoebe’s father. Yeah… Anyway, I don’t want to spoil too much. Apart from the fact that nearly every man in this book was a disgusting creep, I really enjoyed this book. I would guess that a large portion of my enjoyment came from the fact that I really like the old monster movies that this book references and also because I like to watch those movies with one of my closest friends (*waves* hi friend!). I think reading the book brings back many good memories of the two of us laughing at cheesy special effects and eating junk food together. Would I have enjoyed this book as much if I didn’t know the references and have good memories attached to them? I don’t know. When looking at other reviews for this book it seemed that people who didn’t get the references didn’t like the book as much. One of the other things that I found fun about this book was the fact that it was presented like a movie. The first few pages were reminiscent of title cards and opening credits. There was also a whole chapter of this book which was a musical montage, which I didn’t realize you could do in a book, but I absolutely loved it! I think the musical montage probably would have fallen flat if I didn’t know the song, but since I did (and most people wilI) I think it was effective. Reading this book was a cinematic experience. A few other things I liked:
Some of the things I didn’t like:
So, while I personally found Attack of the 50 Foot Wallflower to be an excellent read, I can see how some readers wouldn’t like it. If you do want to read it then I suggest a monster movie marathon beforehand. I’ll bring the popcorn! Thanks for reading! I’d best get going now, it would seem there is a giant blob encasing my house. Time to break out the fire extinguisher and get some ice. Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36373447-attack-of-the-50-foot-wallflower Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.37 Stars Content Rating: R (for violence) Book Trigger Warnings: Suicide Thou shalt kill. A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own. (goodreads.com) This is one of those books that everyone kept telling me I should read, and I was intrigued by the cover, but didn’t actually think I’d get around to reading. Do you have books like that? Where it seems like it’s everywhere and everyone recommends it to you but you’re pretty sure you’ll never actually read it? For me, there are certain books like that and I keep saying that I’ll check it out but then I never do because my TBR list is getting to look like one of those comically long scrolls in a movie. But obviously, I did end up reading Scythe and that is because some coworkers (*waves* hi coworkers!) and I have been talking about doing a book club forever and we decided to finally give it a go for January. Some of them had already read it, but the third book in the trilogy just came out so they wanted to reread the first two anyway. So I finally picked it up, and boy let me tell you, I’m glad I did. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately so it feels like it took me forever to finish reading it. Sometimes I can just read for hours and hours on end and devour every book in sight, but lately I’ve had to force myself to sit down and pick up a book. This was the case with Scythe for me, even though whenever I would actually read it I wouldn’t want to put it down. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I’m just rambling. Let’s get a move on with this review. Okay, so, the premise of this is super creepy to me. Like, people can’t die and we have to have assigned killers? That’s messed up my dudes. I get that it would be nice to do away with disease and untimely deaths, but to get rid of all natural death seems like a bad idea. I won’t get into the politics of this or anything because we ain’t got time for that, but it just seems like a dangerous idea. Which is probably why this is dystopian—the genre of bad ideas dressed up like good ones. The premise already makes for a great story and then the plot did a fantastic job of playing it out. I can’t wait to see what cracks there are in the system in the next two books. Because that’s always the way of it, isn’t it? The heroes find all of the problems with the system and then everything goes wack-a-doodle and we get all kinds of wonderful drama and possibly horrible character deaths. All I can say is that I’m excited to see where this will go. Let’s talk characters. We have two main ones, Citra and Rowan. Both teenagers, both apprentice scythes, and both uncertain that they actually want to be in their positions. Personally, I liked Rowan’s character arc better than Citra’s. I feel like he went through more and that he actually changed over the course of the book. He had more to deal with and tougher decisions to make, which lead to him becoming someone very different than he was at the beginning of the book while still maintaining his core as a character. I liked Citra too, but I just felt that she didn’t really change. Stuff happened to her, but she didn’t let it affect her much. And that was fine. It was actually refreshing from other dystopian heroines who completely throw away who they were at the beginning of the book, but I do wish that Citra had been shaped more by her circumstances. Am I contradicting myself? Perhaps. I don’t want to say much about other characters because of possible spoilers so we’ll leave it at that. The plot twists in this book were really enjoyable. The first big twist really caught me by surprise and I both loved and hated it. After that the twists were a little bit more predictable, but still exciting. Something else highly entertaining about this book was the shock factor of being thrown into this world where no one can die. People did absurdly dangerous and deadly things because they could be brought back. It was like they were in a video game where they already completed the objective so you might as well see what kind of crazy things you can do, knowing there is no consequence for anything that would be fatal in real life. Because of this, it’s definitely jarring for the reader to see characters doing insane things like jumping off buildings for the rush. All in all, I enjoyed Scythe. I liked the main characters, I hated the bad guy, and I’m hooked enough that I will have to pick up the next two books shortly. Thanks for reading, I’m off to shelve books and be extremely glad that I work in libraries and not for the Scythedom. Until next time! Image sources: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28954189-scythe?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=4GRygrnHii&rank=1 https://giphy.com/gifs/list-F0QWePzwQRewM Personal Rating: 3.75 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.8 Stars Content Rating: PG-13 Herein lie four quirky stories of unexpected heroes. Jebediah, the Unlikely Hero, and the Three Plagues of the Kingdom is about a coward who must confront a dragon and grapple with an ogre before finding a happy ending. Super Human is a short piece about designer babies created by genetic selection. The Fortune-Maker is a short story about a girl who struggles to find something to believe in. Fink Naggat and the Giant's Toe is about an adventurer of tiny proportions who has adventures of grand proportions. This book is not intended for children or adults, but rather for anyone who would like to hear a story, regardless of age. This book is illustrated by the author. (goodreads.com) First off, I want to say that I love this cover. I know I really need to stop picking books based solely off of their covers, but look at those colors! I love the beautiful colors mixed with the black lines of artwork and then the three boxes with more artwork. Also, that dragon is adorable and I would very much like to hug it. Okay, I’m done freaking out over the cover now. (BUT IT IS SO FREAKING CUTE AND WHIMSICAL.) I picked up this book at one of the libraries I work at while I was shelving. It was right next to a book I was putting away and the spine caught my eye. Skinny books often get looked over on the shelves and I wanted to pull this one a bit farther forward. The colors on the spine and the lack of text made me look at the cover, because you never know what hidden gems you’ll find tucked on the shelves at the library. It looked so cute and like such a quick read that I checked it out. It was definitely a quick read and highly entertaining. Since this is a conglomeration of four short stories, I’ll do like I did for Because You Love to Hate Me and review each story separately, since I like some better than others. Jebediah, the Unlikely Hero, and the Three Plagues of the Kingdom: This is definitely my favorite out of the four stories. It’s basically a fairy tale about a peasant named Jebediah and a princess named Terrina. The plot was clever and funny and the characters were adorable. What I really loved about this story was how everything was described. There wasn’t much dialogue, but it seriously didn’t need it because the narration was hilarious. I don’t know how best to describe how wonderful this story was other than saying that you really ought to just go out and read it. Super Sense: This was the shortest story in the book and it almost felt more like an essay than a story, but it was still good. It made me think about what it would be like to have enhanced senses, like Superman, and how difficult that would actually be. Like, there are some smells I can barely stand now, I can’t imagine having a super nose when confronted with a public restroom. It was a good short piece and it left me wanting more of this character and her struggles. The Fortune Maker: I have to say it, I just didn’t like this one. It made me sad and a teeny bit offended, though I doubt that was the author’s intention. It’s about a woman named Renee who is looking for something more in her life and she’s tried all of the religions and found them wanting, believing them to be about loving your neighbor unless you disagree with your neighbor, which is definitely true of some people and religions and some branches of religions. As someone who was brought up Christian and brought up to “love thy neighbor” no matter what they do or believe (though I will admit to struggling to do this at times), I felt a bit prickly after reading this one. I wanted to talk to Renee: “Let me tell you about Jesus and how He loves you! Please? Come to my church, I want you to meet my friends!” But, you know, she’s in a book so it’s a bit hard to communicate. Still a well written story, but it left me feeling sad. Of course, every story is not written for every person so that’s okay. Fink Nagget and the Giant’s Toe: I thought this story was really fun. It reminded me of when my siblings and I were little and my dad used to tell us stories. He came up with the craziest characters and the silliest scenarios for those characters and the adventures of Fink Nagget were similar. Fink’s house gets crushed by a giant, all except the bathroom, which fits between the giant’s toes. Then Fink goes and lives on the giant’s toe for some time and encounters all sorts of creatures and adventures. It’s totally ridiciously and completely fun to read about. All together, four entertaining and thoughtful stories with some sweet illustrations to go with. It’s such a short read (only about 50 pages) with such fun writing that I can’t help but recommend it to anyone looking for a bit of fun. Mostly because of the story about Jebediah, but the other stories were really well written too and worth the read. It was refreshing to have brand new stories that aren’t a retelling of anything and that have plots I’ve never heard before. Plus, the cover is freaking fantastic. So, if you come across this book or feel like ordering a copy (I checked, it’s on Amazon if you’re interested), I definitely suggest giving it a read. Thanks for reading my review! I’m off to catch a ride on a giant’s toe so I’ll see you later! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26219733-tales-of-whimsy Personal Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.53 Content Rating: Strong PG-13 Leave it to the heroes to save the world--villains just want to rule the world. In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view. These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again! (goodreads.com) As you might have gathered from the synopsis, this is an anthology of short stories by different authors all with a common subject of villainy. Each of the stories also has a bit of commentary at the end of them from some of the most well known BookTubers (YouTubers who primarily talk about books). It was published last year and I remember there being a big buzz about it for a bit. I think everyone was excited because there are so many good authors smooshed into this book and most people had that one author out of the bunch that they were reading this book for. For me it was definitely Marissa Meyer. I probably would not have cared one way or another about this book if she had not written a story for it and I’m sure a lot of people who read it felt similarly. Also… I like watching BookTubers’ channels so that was kind of fun to see some of their thoughts on the stories as well. The hype for this book has died down since last year and usually when I hear people mention it now I only hear negative things about it. Apparently a lot of people really do love to hate this book. I’m not entirely sure why, to be honest. While it wasn’t my favorite book in the whole world, I loved it and thought most of the stories were captivating (and some of them a little disconcerting). So I’m not really sure why people are so mad/upset/annoyed with this book (although some of the other reviews I’ve seen are irritated that the BookTubers are featured because it seems like a marketing ploy, which okay, maybe it is, but whatever), especially since there were thirteen whole stories in it. I mean, how can you not have found one that you liked out of thirteen? Like, you knew that this book was about villains going into it so you can’t be mad that all of the stories are about bad people doing not so nice things because that’s literally all this book is claiming to be. Anyway… I’m not normally a person who likes to read about the bad guys getting away with things and I find villain origin stories sad most of the time since even if it’s tragic we know they just go on to become a bad guy and possibly get beaten by the hero later on. However, I had fun reading these little tales of terribleness and after I got over wanting to scold the characters (yes, I’m that kind of person) I liked watching them paint the town red. Since there are thirteen individual stories, I thought I’d give a brief, spoiler-free review of each of them and just tell you what I, personally, liked and disliked about them. The Blood of the Imuriv by Reneé Ahdieh: This was one of the ones I didn’t enjoy quite as much. It didn’t seem like it had much of a point to it and since it wasn’t a retelling or an origin for a villain we already know, it didn’t interest me as much as the other ones. I did think the world building was interesting and the MC seemed like he had stuff going on that I would like to know more about. I think this one might have been better if it were the first chapter of a book. Jack by Ameriie: Oooooh boy. This one was a wild ride. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I liked this one. It is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk from the perspective of a giant. It wasn’t very exciting for the first part and I was kind of bored for a while, but that end, man, that was a good ending. It almost felt like something that I would have read in my Analytical Lit class that I took in high school. Gwen and Art and Lance by Soman Chaini: I have never really cared for the part of the legend of King Arthur in which Guinevere cheats on Arthur for Lancelot. (I mean, does anyone like it when characters cheat on each other? I hate it when that happens and I lose respect for the characters that are doing the cheating.) This is a modern retelling of that part of the legend told through text communications or instant messaging or something. It was easy enough to read and it flowed well, plus since it was all in text messages my mind decided to add a typing sound to each sentence, which was kind of fun/annoying. But, I still don’t like this part of Arthurian legend. Lance is a jerk. Arthur is a jerk. Gwen is a big jerk. And yet, none of them seemed all that villainous, just like spiteful kids making bad decisions. Shirley & Jim by Susan Dennard: As a fan of the Sherlock television show I was excited for this one because it is about a young Professor Moriarty and a young, female Sherlock. It wasn’t as good as I was expecting, but it wasn’t terrible. I don’t think it did a good job of showing how smart Shirley is, as we are supposed to believe it based off of her remarks since the story is told as an email to Watson. Shirley mentions a few times how much of a know-it-all she is and that she’s really good at chess, but that’s all the information we have about how clever she is, which ends up making her seem very naive in comparison to Jim. Still, it was fun to read about the chess matches between them and I liked it well enough. The Blessing of Little Wants by Sarah Enni: Another one that reminded me of Lit class, except this one is similar to the stories I read in class because I’m not sure I quite understood it. This was another one that wasn’t inspired by a character already in existence so perhaps that was why I couldn’t quite grasp the concept of it. I liked the characters in it and the world it was set in was cool (wish I could have seen more of it), but the twist at the ending… I don’t think I understood it. From what I could gather it was a cool twist, but I think it went over my head. The Sea Witch by Marissa Meyer: Predictably, the story by one of my favorite authors of all time was one of my favorite stories in the book. This was an origin story for the witch in the story of The Little Mermaid. It was definitely dark and gruesome, but it was still fun to read. It was sort of sad, but also satisfying in a way that the original story was not (I don’t want to say how because of spoilers). It did kind of feel like Hans Christian Andersen did most of the leg work on this one and Marissa Meyer just added her own sinister and entertaining touches. Beautiful Venom by Cindy Pon: Ugh, this one made me sad. It was a gripping read and the emotion in it was strong in it, but it was not really a fun read. Retelling the story of Medusa, this story covers some of the stuff in Greek mythology that I, admittedly, would rather forget. Like the fact that Medusa was raped by Poseidon and then turned into a monster after that by Athena as a punishment (which kinda makes me hate Athena). This story looks at that part of the myth in more depth and the fact that Medusa was not at fault for her monsterous form. It was showing us why she was a “villain”. Even though it was not as mischievous or fun as the rest of the villain stories in this anthology, it was one of my favorites because it was so emotional. Death Knell by Victoria Schwab: Another one that would have been at home in the Analytical Lit class and another one that was sad, but a good read. In this one the personification of Death wakes up in spring and climbs out of this mysterious well in order to go escort someone to the afterlife/kill them. There seemed to be strong symbols in this story (the well, a red flower crown, graves, dying grass, a glove) which made it feel like something I was supposed to analyze - in a fun nostalgic way. I didn’t actually take the time to analyze it (apologies to my dear Lit teacher), but it felt like I could have written a short paper/reflection on it. I don’t know why that made me happy with it, but it did. Marigold by Samantha Shannon: Even though this one felt a tad predictable, I really liked it. The story is about a Fae queen who lives in the wooded parts of England during the reign of Queen Victoria. This Fae lady has a tendency to kidnap girls and take them to live in the woods in her magical court, which sounds really creepy. And it sort of is... until you get reading the story more. I liked the setting for the story and the characters were interesting and there really wasn’t much I didn’t enjoy about this read. You, You, It’s All About You by Adam Silvera: In this story (which is written in second person interestingly enough) we meet a teenaged supervillan/crime boss. And she is not very nice. She deals drugs that can make you forget or remember things (which is kindling for a good book, methinks) and also uses one that somehow makes you do whatever she says. I’m not sure how I feel about this story. I think I wanted more of it. I wanted more backstory for the MC and more information on her boyfriend guy. More story all around. And then I might have been happy with it. That, or if the ending of this one was more final. Julian Breaks Every Rule by Andrew Smith: This was a weird one, especially for me since the main character, Julian, lives in Iowa and I live in Iowa. Not many stories take place in Iowa (except, of course, Bridges of Madison County, but I’ve never read that) so when one does come along all of the Iowan readers are on edge. I was a little bit annoyed at this story because Julian, the narrator, makes it seem like Iowa is not a great place at all *scoffs in indignation*, but he did paint a fairly accurate picture of several aspects of my state so… I guess I have to let it go. As a whole, I didn’t really like this story, but it did make me laugh a few times (like the quote “Iowans like to name their schools after prominent politicians who came from Iowa, as if to assert to the rest of the world that Iowa exists” (pg. 278) because it stings how true that is). I did not like Julian or is narrating voice, mostly because he had some weird obsession with foreshadowing and he kept mentioning when things were and weren’t foreshadowing. The plot was kind of bizarre and entertaining though, so I don’t rate it too low. Indigo and Shade by April Genevieve Tucholke: This one was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast from the suitor’s perspective (the suitor is the guy who Gaston is in the Disney version). The narrator/MC of this story is Brahm Valois, the golden boy of a ski resort town in Colorado. I kind of love how he is the narrator, honestly. Normally in first person stories the protagonist doesn’t tell you how awesome they are. They are more likely to talk about parts of themselves that they don’t like and that they think no one else will like either, but our man Brahm loves talking about how he is super handsome and super skilled. I’m sure if he were a real person I would have been annoyed with him, but it was a refreshing change from the characters who look in the mirror and describe to us how beautiful they are and then state that no one could ever love them. Brahm would probably look in the mirror and blow a kiss while proceeding to describe how no one's slick as Brahm, no one’s quick as Brahm, no one’s neck is incredibly thick as Brahm’s neck and how there is no one in town half as manly... I’m not sure that I actually liked the story because it was too fast paced and Indigo was pretty boring, but I thought Brahm was great. Sera by Nicola Yoon: Oof. This one was weird. Interesting, but weird. It kind of felt like when you drive past a two smashed up cars on the side of the road and you feel bad, but you keep staring because you are curious about how bad the damage is and if everyone is still alive. Apparently, this story is supposed to be a “genderbent God of War”, but I’m not sure what that means. Is God of War a book? A movie? Are they just referring to a mythological god who’s in charge of wars? Like Ares, Montu, or Tyr? I dunno. Whatever it is supposed to be, it was about a girl named Sera and her mother and sister. And Sera is a weirdy. A violent weirdy. I didn’t particularly like this story, but I couldn’t stop reading it and sort of wish I could see what happened after the end of it. So those are the stories. The thirteen tales of villainy and my thoughts on them. If any of them sound interesting to you then I would recommend checking out this book from your local library if they have it. Like I said, there are a lot of low ratings for this book, but there are a lot of high ones too so it seems like there is no way to tell if you would actually like it or not. I thought it was fun and I would probably reread some of the stories in it. Thank you for reading this really long review! I hope you were entertained! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to rule the world. Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31450752-because-you-love-to-hate-me Personal Rating: 2.9 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.65 Stars Content Rating: Light PG-13 Natasha Romanoff is one of the world’s most lethal assassins. Trained from a young age in the arts of death and deception, Natasha was given the title of Black Widow by Ivan Somodorov, her brutal teacher at the Red Room, Moscow’s infamous academy for operatives. Ava Orlova is just trying to fit in as an average Brooklyn teenager, but her life has been anything but average.The daughter of a missing Russian quantum physicist, Ava was once subjected to a series of ruthless military experiments—until she was rescued by Black Widow and placed under S.H.I.E.L.D. protection. Ava has always longed to reconnect with her mysterious savior, but Black Widow isn’t really the big sister type. Until now. When children all over Eastern Europe begin to go missing, and rumors of smuggled Red Room tech light up the dark net, Natasha suspects her old teacher has returned—and that Ava Orlova might be the only one who can stop him. To defeat the madman who threatens their future, Natasha and Ava must unravel their pasts. Only then will they discover the truth about the dark-eyed boy with an hourglass tattoo who haunts Ava’s dreams… (goodreads.com) Do I even need to explain why I read this book? It’s Black Widow for goodness sake! Who wouldn’t want to read a book about Black Widow, aka Natasha Romanoff, aka the glue that holds the Avengers together, aka the queen of Marvel, aka the coolest spy I’ve come across since I watched Kim Possible as a kid. I only wish this book had actually been more about Black Widow and less about a teen romance. I really wanted to love this book, just like I wanted to love The She-Hulk Diaries by Marta Acosta. Just like I hope I’ll really like Iron Man: The Gauntlet by Eoin Colfer when I finally get around to checking it out from the library. I’m still holding onto hope for that one because, I mean, it’s by Eoin Colfer, guys, but Black Widow: Forever Red and The She-Hulk Diaries are strikes one and two. Okay, Black Widow wasn’t nearly as bad as She-Hulk, but it wasn’t what I was hoping it would be. Basically, the plot of this book breaks down to: there is a crazy Russian man who trained Natasha Romanoff and he brainwashed a whole bunch of teenagers to infiltrate the governments of the world and he’s gonna cause a lot of problems. There is a girl named Ava who was rescued by Black Widow from the crazy Russian man when she was a child and now Ava is homeless but interested in fencing. There is also a teenage boy named Alex who is surprisingly skilled at fighting and he also likes fencing and he feels like someone is watching him. Ava keeps having dreams about what’s happening in Alex’s life even though she’s never met him. Then Black Widow, Ava, and Alex are all thrown together to try and stop the crazy Russian man. Before each chapter there are also snatches from SHIELD (a spy agency in the Marvel Universe) files that are mostly interviews between Natasha and a Department of Defence agent about a “LODD” or “Line-of-Duty-Death”. Sounds cool, right? And it totally could have been, but something went wrong. Possibly with the characters, but I don’t think the plot was perfect either. There were several pieces of the plot that weren’t as exciting as I felt they should have been and several more that I could tell were very exciting, but so confusing that I wasn’t sure what was going on. But about the characters… We’ve obviously got Black Widow, since the book is named after her. The first time we see her in the book is great. It makes you feel like this is going to be a really epic story about her taking down bad guys and rescuing kids. Then it turns out this book isn’t so much about her as we thought. And then we only get a few odd chapters from her perspective and she gets kind of OOC. And boring. And whiny. And boring. Then there is Ava Orlova, a seventeen year old girl from Russia with red hair and an attitude (sometimes). She isn’t my favorite protagonist in the world, but she wasn’t completely awful. I feel like this book would have been much better if there was no Ava and it was just a story about Natasha doing cool stuff, but I guess they have to throw in a teenager for it to count as YA fiction or something. So if Ava has to be here then I guess we could have had it worse. I did like that, for the most part, she did act like an actual teenager instead of the grown ups that most YA heroines are. Like, she behaved and spoke like real seventeen year olds do, which was kind of refreshing. Like I said, she’s not completely awful. She could use work, but she isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen. And for some peculiar reason we have Alex Manor in this book. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate the guy, I just think he ought to be kicked out of this book and land in some other, non-Marvel book. He’s a fun character with an interesting personality and who also acted like a realistic high school student, but he did not belong in Black Widow: Forever Red. I’m baffled as to why he’s in the book. To be fair, he ends up being the main reason I didn’t give the book a lower rating, but he’s just so out of place! He was a funny character with charm and realistic behavior. But his redemptive qualities aside, the boy was simply irrelevant. I mean, I know why he was put in the book - to be Ava’s love interest - but I don’t know why the slot he filled was a slot that needed to be filled. *shrugs* As for the other characters: I wish there had been more Avengers in it. Like, we only meet Natasha and Tony Stark. Most of the others are mentioned, but we don’t get to meet them. Which I find really weird because that’s pretty much how it was for The She-Hulk Diaries too, even though Tony didn’t make that much of an appearance. Is there some kind of rule that for Marvel novels you aren’t allowed to have more than your subject superhero and Iron Man? Is that a thing? If it is it’s a weird thing. (Will Iron Man: The Gauntlet only have Tony in it? That’s going to be a weird book if that’s the case.) I’m also confused about which “Earth” we’re in for Marvel (since they have many Earths and that’s how they can get away with so many different plotlines in their comics). The Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with the first Iron Man movie and so far going up to Avengers: Infinity War (guys, that movie is going to kill me and break my heart, I’m telling you now) is Earth -199999. I think the main Earth in the comics is Earth - 616 (don’t quote me on that, I try to ignore thinking about the Multiverse because it gives me a headache and therefore am not the person to ask about it). In this book I have no idea what Earth it’s on. I feel like it should be the MCU one, given that’s what most of the readers will have for background, but if that’s the case there are some things that don’t add up. Like the fact that Natasha says she and Tony are half of the Avengers and the other half is just Captain America and Bruce Banner. Um, excuse me? What about Thor and Hawkeye? And though they don't call him an Avenger they even mention Thor as “the blond guy with the hammer” (at least I assume they were talking about Thor - how many other blond hammer guys can there be?). BUT NO HAWKEYE?! This is the Infinity Wars trailer all over again! If this is supposed to be in the MCU where is Natasha’s best friend? Even in the comic books I’m pretty sure they are good friends (again, don’t quote me)! I demand to know why Clint Barton is not even mentioned in this book! Ahem, anyway… Like I was saying, there are some things that don’t add up and just add to my confusion with the book. All together, however, it wasn’t a bad book. There were parts I really enjoyed and the ending was amazing and emotional. I just wish it had been more about Black Widow and less about a teen romance that forms over, like, two days. Am I turning into a grouchy old person? Possibly. But come on! I wanted more of Black Widow kicking patootie and less of Alex thinking about how pretty Ava was. Also, the problem with them behaving like actual teenagers is that whenever they kissed I was like: wait, these are children, NO KISSING, CHILDRENS YOU IS JUST LITTLE BABIES! Even though they aren’t that much younger than I am. Would I recommend this book? I’m not sure. I am honestly not sure. I think you’d enjoy it more if you aren’t a huge Black Widow fan because then you won’t notice the OOC-ness as much. There is a sequel, but I haven’t heard much of anything good about it. However, the ending of this one definitely made me curious, so we’ll see how it goes. Thanks for reading my review! Feel free to leave a comment down below about your thoughts on Black Widow, or superheroes, or if you’re excited for Infinity Wars, or if you actually believe them when they say they are going to make a Black Widow movie in 2020! There is a spy wanting to talk to me so I’d best get going, dasvidaniya! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23358109-black-widow |
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