carefulfearanddeaddevotion's reviews
155 reviews

What a reprehensible little family. Noemi Toboada <3 i luv u <3 I wish you'd never met them.

Very interesting concept, surprisingly thoughtfully feminist and intersectional. Underneath the

mind-controlling, life-extending, consciousness-transferring mushrooms

is a story about the use and abuse of female, non-white, and poor bodies at the hands of a colonial power and men who never hear or internalize the word "no." Is it ground-breaking or particularly deep? No. But I was glad that

the people who mattered (Catalina and Noemi) made it out alive and triumphant and that Agnes was freed. I also appreciated that, at the end of the day, Catalina and Noemi saved themselves/each other, instead of being saved by a man.

Also, learned a new word: lugubrious = adj. looking or sounding sad and dismal. It played in my head on a loop for three days after I read it. Very fun word to say, one might even say too fun to mean "sad".

Weakest part of the book for me was the romance between Francis and Noemi

, wish they just ended as friends. Though I guess the novel itself tells us that we never know what the future has in store for them, so they may very well breakup

.

 cried several times while reading this book, not because it’s particularly sad, but because the prose is so beautiful it moved me to tears. i think the only thing that i’ve read that’s more romantic than this book is pablo neruda’s poetry. 

 Excellently written and researched, loved the footnotes, but, and I hate to say it, I docked points for petty reasons.

As soon as Ramy and Robin met, I was like “don’t be a coward and make them gay”. Instead, she fucking killed Ramy (well, I guess she killed them both). I almost DNFd because of this. And like, ok, she did throw in that line on the last page about Robin falling in love. And like, ok, it was obvious (to me) that they were more than platonic besties the whole time. And like, ok, there was no explicit romance, het or otherwise, in the book. But still, if you’re not gonna let them kiss, at least don’t kill them 🥲. like yes, whatever, romantic tragedy, my love dies I go on a grief fueled rampage whatever whatever. Letty Price, you incel ass, you better not let me catch you in these streets.

Was really disappointed that, given the parallels between Griffin’s cohort and Robin’s, she chose to take Letty in the same direction as Evie. I think it would have been more subversive if Letty DIDNT betray them literally two pages after we found out Evie did the same.

Ok, maybe this is childish (I did say I docked points for petty reasons!), but DAMN, did she have to kill everyyyyyone what the fuck. I feel like she lost her thesis at times? It was difficult to understand the point she was trying to make. IS violent rebellion the only solution or no? IS martyrdom as a way to get the (white) man to take you seriously valid/fair or no? Maybe I just lack reading comprehension skills, but if most of your characters are dead by the last chapter of your book, their sacrifice painted as the only path to success, but you are ambiguous about the outcome AND the character you leave alive was the most levelheaded and logical, what am I supposed to believe about the necessity of violence?

I've only heard of 3 Filomena's in my life: my grandma, a lady at church, and now the character in this book. (edit: my apologies to Philomena Cunk). If my parents followed common naming conventions, I would have also been Filomena.

Didn't really mesh with the writing style at first, but it def grew on me. Didn't really love Alma, she just felt very hollow, but I did like the other characters - her dad, Bienvenida, Filo. Because Alma was more of a vessel to tell these other stories (or at least, that's how I interpreted it), I didn't really mind this much. 

Veryy obsessed with how all their stories connect. It could have come off as gimmicky, but it didn't. Having said that, the book just felt very incomplete? I guess maybe I was just expecting everything to be neatly tied up, but that never happened.

THE DESCRIPTION OF PERLA MURDERING TESORO'S MISTRESS AND SON???? Holy shit. Literally said WTF outloud on the train. And then said it again when she stabbed them a couple more times "for good measure". Like are we serious??? I'll say it again, HOLY SHIT. Liiiiiterally nuts.

I found the development of the relationship between Helen (sidenote: Elena is a MUCH cuter name than Helen, and I hate that she was referred to as Helen, even though Elena is her real name) and Paul to be very sweet. I liked the relationships overall (Paul and his daughter, who I do not think is ever named despite being the titular historian; Paul and Rossi; Helen/Paul and Bora; Helen and her aunt; Helen/Paul and Stoichev; Rossi and

Helen's mother

)

I appreciated that the one question I had -- if Dracula doesn't want to be found, who/what is giving these people the books that set them on the chase? -- was answered.

I overall liked it, however, it dragged a little throughout, but the ending felt rushed.

 I spent the first 70% of the book thinking that a spell must have been cast on me. Despite a lack of plot and murky characters, I was loving the book, and unsure why. The reason, much like with The Wolf and the Woodsman, is Reid’s writing. It’s just so gorgeous and captivating and exactly what I like. Having said that, I recognize that her writing (and her stories as a whole) are a love it or hate it situation. I’m a big fan of fairytales and dreamy, meandering plots. Not everyone is, and if you aren’t, you’re going to hate this book.

The back 30% has the bulk of the plot, and decisively pushed the book to a maybe 4 to a definite 4.5. 

As an Assassin's Creed aficionado, I object to Matthew being a templar. The objections don't stop there.

I loathe to pull this card, but this book feels SO insidiously misogynistic. Yes, he calls her brave and strong and "ma lionne" and she bristles at having to do what he says, but the whole "Matthew's the patriarch and you MUST do what he says without question or complaint" thing got old real quick. Diana is a witch

--the strongest, most talented, most ability-having witch in generations, and maybe possibly ever(?), at that--

, yet cowers behind Matthew (both willingly and not) at every chance. I was annoyed by her whining about having magic, and I was REALLY annoyed about her not using it at the beginning. At least, the book explained (somewhat satisfactorily) why this was. Still, a consistent theme of witch stories is how matriarchal/communal covens tend to be. So, while we see Diana relenting to the patriarchal de Clermont family, I wish that being around the Bishops had made Matthew less (can't think of an eloquent way to say this) "I'm the only one in charge."

The whole romance was so uncomfortable and cringe. You've known each other 40 days (by the last page of the book!)! Like, ok, I can look slightly past this because it's ~~fated~~ or whatever but it doesn't really change the fact that the whole "my husband" "my mate" shit made my organs turn inside out (negative). The outsized possessiveness and borderline controlling behavior from Matthew was soo deeply uncomfortable. Mild spoiler, but the scene towards the beginning where he held her against him to keep from leaving so they could "talk about it" (or whatever) made my skin itch. Matthew and Diana are in their mid/late 30s but act like 15 year olds! I do not believe that they're accomplished scholars, they're so childish and melodramatic. (Matthew is actually 1500 years old, but this just helps my case). 

Also! The "warmbloods" (again, ew) in this book eat meat! They ALSO kill to survive! So, especially since he only (mostly?) feeds on animals, I was not really understanding the whole "you understand he has to kill to survive" plotpoint. Yea, like, no shit, you just had a platterfull of bacon for breakfast this morning, you think they synthesized that shit from thin air?? 🙄

I couldn't understand why I didn't like the writing. On paper (hehe), I should have liked how descriptive it was. But, as my friend, and follow goodreads user (hi Olivia), pointed out, yes, the writing is descriptive but in a very tell-not-show way and the sentence structure doesn't vary much.

I think the concept of the book was cool, but I didn't much like the characters, or the writing, or the execution. A man approached me while I was reading this book on the train to tell me that he loved it and that it ruined all other books for him. After slogging through all 718 pages of A Discovery of Witches, I can safely say this must have been the only book he's read in his life.

 Adored the writing, will read any book Ava Reid writes from now on.

While I loved the folklore elements, some parts (mostly, if not only, the parts involving Evike’s magic) confused me. And despite liking the characters, I didn’t love them enough to make up for the gaps in logic (or at least, my own understanding).

Really lovely story though, very fairytale-esque 

If there is one thing I haate it's a dumb main character and Maya is SO fucking stupid and rash

, in all of her lives

.  She did not have one single thought for herself, and made every decision on impulse and based on something someone she absolutely shouldn't trust (HELLO??? Mother Dhina hates you and has been nothing but evil to you your whole life whyyy would you choose to heed her "keep some secrets for yourself" advice, ESPECIALLY in regards to a weird ass door you found in a palace that you've been warned is basically out to get you???)

(HELLO?????? "i need you to lead me" ???? how did it take her so long to connect the fucking dots? (and only after the dots were already connected for her, mind you. so really, she never connected shit) you were just the victim of an attempted murder by a shadow woman that said these exact words to you, why would you believe anything that comes out of the mouth of the person who just said this to you and is clearly trying to manipulate you??). She really must have not loved Amar if she believed Nritti over him in TWO lifetimes.

Anyway, pretty writing (though OVERLY flowery at times) so 3 stars.

 This book has been on my TBR for a decade, and sadly, it disappointed.

The only thing that saved this book from being a 1 star read is the writing. The scenes are well-paced, the conversations natural, the descriptions--both of location and feeling--are extremely vivid. Unlike The Goldfinch, I was able to finish this book. Like The Goldfinch, I found the characters bland and insufferable. I really just could not empathize or even sympathize with any of them. When Bunny was alive, he was bigoted and not very likeable. Once he died, I did feel bad for him, but only because I am not a psychopath and I think murdering a friend because they found out you murdered someone else is bad, actually.

I did find myself actively enjoying the book after

Julian finds out that Henry (and the whole friend group, really) killed Bunny

. Richard is finally able to see how he built up Julian and the whole group to be these perfect, aspirational people, when really they're not perfect, not at all. I could feel his panic, and his disgust, and this is when he started to feel more real, and therefore more enjoyable.

Not really that important overall, but was I actually meant to believe that he's in love with Camilla?? I'd sooner believe that he's in love with Cloke. He definitely had much more believable chemistry with all the boys in the group (or even Judy) than he did with Camilla. Just like Meredith and Oliver(?) in If We Were Villains I don't buy it, I really don't. Stop with the forced heterosexuality, stop shoving that shit down my throat. /lh

ALSO we find out that, actually, Bunny was right and Camilla and Charles ARE fucking. ewewewewewewwwwww.