ddnreads's reviews
395 reviews

I enjoy this more than the first book 👀 and reading this after Six of Cranes duology is actually very nice. You've got snippets how things ended and when you've read the books, it made more sense.

Plot wise, this book is more fast paced and action packed. Maya is dealing a lot with her becoming a demon. I can feel her struggle. 
And Edan. Poor Edan. I don't like it how Maya didn't trust him:'

The dress was Maya's and only Maya's was able to use it. So, the challenge to created the dresses for Lady Sarnai? Wasted 🤣

Things I don't really understand: Maya's patriotism. She didn't particularly like her emperor, it's not like her country gave her what she wanted (?) She even had to mask herself as a boy to be accepted by the kingdom. Why didn't she focus on dealing with her demon and trust her lover rather than involved in the war.... Yes, the innocence lives, but it doesn't portrayed exactly how it affected her. So, Yap the missing 1 star is for this.

Fiksi sejarah favorit aku!!! Buku ini membahas kesengajaan sosial dalam sistem pendidikan, kolonialisme dan peperangan merebut daerah kekuasaan, filosofi + strategi perang, rasisme, dan penggambaran secara gamblang seberapa parah dan mengerikan kasualitas di lapangan. Anak-anak sekolah militer yang harus dewasa lebih cepat dan terjun langsung ke peperangan antara Kekaisaran Nikan dan Federasi Mugen. Hubungan spiritual orang dengan dewanya. Bagaimana syamanisme bekerja.

Buku ini didedikasikan untuk Iris, survivor kejadian nyata 'the rape of Nankin', yang adegannya pun dimasukkan ke buku ini. Menurutku pribadi, ini buku yang berani, bikin mual dan butuh untuk dibaca karena memang banyak adegan dibuku ini berdasarkan kejadian yang terjadi selama peperangan Shino antara China dan Jepang.

Jangan lupa cek trigger warning ya.

Baca ulang kali ini aku bisa lebih fokus metain tempat2 dan strateginya. Filosofi2 yang diangkat juga lebih 'kena' untuk jadi bahan pikiran.

Dulu nyelesain bahasa Inggrisnya 3 hari doang, taun 2021, dan janji gabakal baca ulang, but look at me now wkwkwkwkwk

Ceritanya tetep seru banget. Terjemahannya enak. Banyak nemuin kosakata baru terutama bahasa Indonesia untuk beberapa term warna, (yes, I'm looking at you Merah lembayung, and merah kirmizi)

Reading it with your mother tongue hits different. The pain is worse.

Did I know how the story end beforehand? Sure.
Am I sad and mad and sad again? Absolutely.

This is funny and hilarious. Your guide to Muslim's nikah 101.
Lots of valuable insight, esp about jodoh or your soulmate. How to accept your destiny and never mind those aunties!!!

First, the cover is amazing.
Second, the story was sooooo unique (affectionate).

It tells the story of Suraya, and the ghost bounded to her by her grandmother witchcraft.
As true to its nature, the ghost (named PINK), created lots of maladies around Suraya in the name of justice and vengeance, which doesn't sit well with what Suraya believes.

It also shows her struggle to fit in, her friendship and what friendship means in the end.

There's a bone chilling twist in the end along with guide to Malaysian ghost 101 (not that they're scary. Scary yes, but not that scary to haunt your nightmares for days).

A very good way to look at how friendship and family dynamic matters💖

Oh I need closure on how Jing will be at the end;'

Turned out, I enjoy this more than TLH 🫣
I love the banter dynamic between Bee and Levi
The nerdiness level is 📈📈📈📈📈📈📈
I found the 'spicy' scene is also better in this book wkwkwkwkwk
If you love academic rivals to friends to lovers, with misunderstanding trope, give this book a go.
Fast paced, easy to read, light and giggle and blushes, serotonin booster 🫶🏽

It started with a very strong intriguing sentence.
However, it goes downward after that. 
I'm not a fan of the female MC portrayed in this story. She's a literal killer with no accountability, can't accept no, and giving super pick me girl vibe 😩 it doesn't look cool to me at all. I cringed so hard when she said "now, I see everyone's wearing purple gown, the colour I wore yesterday." Or "I intentionally taking my time so he doesn't think I'm really eager to meet him." ??????? Idk, for me this kind of girl is not the ones I befriend with 🥹 power hungry girl with daddy issue and unsolved jealousy toward her big sister (like her older sister was not malice or whatsoever, so I don't get what her problem is aside from she demands to be everyone's attention. Sis really thinks the world revolves around her.)
OH NOT TO MENTION HER FIRST KILL!!! She was told so cleverly hidden the body but the resolve and evidence are showing otherwise.

Another inconsistency was she literally murdered her first lover after he was 'done' with her, and in later part, she talked about sexual freedom and consent.... I mean if you consented with your first lover then you should move on and get a life.... 

The said shadow king conquerer 5 kingdoms for no reasons but somehow he rarely goes outside bcs afraid someone might kill him. Conquerors who didn't really go to the battlefield was not very appealing to me.

And we never saw what his power is. What's the function of all those shadows if he can't even catch a bandit? Got trapped in a brothel? Almost got trapped to drink a poison??? And I found lurking around and watching girls' bedroom is creepy

And "the villain" or the bandit in this story was told in Robin Hood way which make them less villain. Probably indeed the king should take care of his conquered realms?????


The lack of accountability for each character in this story is really what turned me down.

Idk maybe they're intended to be anti hero being villains all the way but without the cool stuffs??? Or some justification???

And the plot twist was somehow predictable.

It wasn't for me, but probably if you're looking for a book with:
- Kingdom scheme, laced with political intricts
- page turning
- Slow burn romance
- love balls and dresses and dances

Give this book a go.

Thanks for providing this book💖

I love this 🫶🏽 Pitched as a contemporary middle grade retelling of The Secret Garden, A Bit of Earth nailed it. Diverse characters with found family trope, this book depicts how children deal with grief differently and how adults should be accountable for their action (not in patronising way). How they should be more considerate, care and listen to what these children has to say. Told in both verse and prose combined, this book is so beautifully written.

Maria Latif is not your typical lovely smiley FMC. She's prickly, grumpy, and does her own things with her own way. The story started with Maria being sent to live in Long Islands, NY. Growing up orphan, Maria steelled herself up and totally distrust adults in any way. She doesn't fear of being 'difficult'.

Until she found 'the garden'. Her bit of earth. 

I love her character development best. She was still herself, but we can see how she starts to love her friends, and be loved equally.

I enjoy the friendship dynamic. We all deserve a Mimi, and Ricky in our life. And how could Ricky the youngest of them is the wisest?!! 😭😂

Maria and Colin started off bad. Same grumpy teens, with unloaded feelings and issues that they keep within themselves. They're just so much alike and I like how they reflected and learned from each other.

Rich with cultural trivia, it food described are mouth watering. And I long to hear the music~

The issue was touching. We tended to forget that children or teens are just justified as adults on having feelings and emotions. Opinions. When they're being 'difficult', adults tended to give up on them and never try to understand what's beneath. Girls like Maria and boys like Colin exist, and they deserved to be loved no differently.  Adults are taking huge part on how they understand and accept the grief. The meaning of losing someone's dear. The loneliness and confusion they keep inside.

This is a book about being yourself. A self discovery. I'm far from being the target market of this book, but, as I'm a middle school teacher, I'd love to have my students reading this and know that they matters. They don't have to go through the hard times alone.

As funny and interesting as ever (⁠~⁠‾⁠▿⁠‾⁠)⁠~😂
Fast paced and page turning.
If you're looking for a light romance comedy with crimes in it and unhinged dysfunctional family (affectionate) go for the aunties series🥰 
Nathan is way too forgiving, a walking green flag. If you're into second chance trope, this book is perfect 💜
Love the narrator. She nailed all the Indonesian words and intonation 👌 esp the aunties 🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽

Born and raised in Indonesia, this book is a slap in the face for what I've known in the classroom was never the whole truth of history.
(Sure, I'm not that naive to believe that it's true TRUE, but the EXTENT of what actually happened scared the f out of me.)

Frustrating and sad for it was always the powerless who were killed, raped, and slaughtered. And in the name of what?
Who get the most benefits out of this? For whose purpose do my people had to suffer this much?

It left me utterly devastated.
(bcs in the end my country is still a corruption plague, overpopulated nation with unsolved trauma)

Taking the international approach, this book told a neat chronological order of what's happening around the world during 1960s. It helped me to understand the pattern, the agenda, and in the end the propaganda to eliminate communism.
It talked about what happened in Brazil, Guatemala, Philippines, and Chiles. Since this kind of book is out of my comfort zone, I thought it would be hard for me to digest its content, but IT ACTUALLY MAKES SO MUCH SENSE. How the culture shaped the nation and took part of its violence.
 
This war of ideology took too much out of everything and everyone.

It also revealed the people and organization responsible behind those inhumane acts. Spoiler: it's US

The 'method' revealed made me nauseous. Never once I thought that the city in my country could be the blueprint for wanton slaughters in other parts of the world.

Wishing the reconsolidation could be done in the most justifiable way. 

Disclaimer: I'm very new on this left right discourse, so this book served its novelty brilliantly. Eye opening for me~

The most frightening part: I used to believe those lies. Hating PKI and thinking they deserved to be eliminated. Even after more than 20+ years, the story was ingrained and the horrors and paradigm never really left. 

Idk Im just so glad that I read it. Hearing the others side of the story, not matter how frustrating it turned out in the end. At least for me, now I know better. 

I'm just too dumb for this kind of literature.

Let's see

The best part: it's super page turning.
The worst part: it's super disturbing. (Do not EAT while reading this book. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

I wouldn't say I grasped the whole idea this book's trying to convey. I get the feminism part Ziggy highlighted a lot. Hwv, the way she delivered is not my favourite. As any of her books, she has this uncanny unique way of telling things. I LOVE KPHI, JSP, and Di Tanah Lada. They're bizzare, sometimes dark, and disturbing, but all of them RICH IN HUMOUR WHICH SADLY I CAN'T FIND IT IN THIS BOOK:( So, yeah. Probably this book's not meant for that. (yet, again another new experience reading Ziggy's book).

That moment when you GET WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THE TITLE AND THE ILLUSTRATION ON THE COVER😟 so dark you need 500000watt lamp to light it on

I needed fresh air.

The review section is actually helping me a lot to conclude what this book is about, and the stories within make so much more sense.


It's giving me The Vegetarian vibes.

If you're looking for stories about women, told in mind-bending way, stuffed with dark harsh truth, disturbing reality where humanity lost their mind and the bravery of gory storytelling, you might find it intriguing 👌

Please check the content WARNING. 

Might be shocking if this is the first Ziggy's book that you read 😬