joinreallife's reviews
1379 reviews

This was such a delightful read. I received an e-arc and realized almost immediately there must've been something I missed - lo and behold, I had completely not read the first in the series. So zoomed through that one and jumped right into this one. Fans of fantasy, adventure, and mythology will totally love this. It is especially perfect for fans of things like Percy Jackson and the Rick Riordan Presents series, exploring mythologies around the world. Maya is a strong-willed, brave, and powerful main character, and I love her friendship with Eli and Frankie. I personally also feel a very strong anti-war theme - perhaps because I'm anti-war myself - and found that a compelling addition and exploration.

Thanks to HMH and Netgalley for the advance copy.

Jeez. I need time to recover.

This is a pretty standard historical romance for its pub date. For that reason, I think most readers, especially romance readers who would be picking this up, will likely forgive it that dated feeling. There are several on-page attempted rapes (of the heroine, but not by the hero), there's some lot fatphobia, and there's some of the typical jealous, can't-control-his-urges hero here. There is overt and continued deception, and I know some readers won't be able to forgive that or find it believable. I've really been enjoying taking a break from 18-year-old virgin heroines, but again, that was de rigeur. Still, we see more agency from our heroine than I think was typical of historical romances written in the late 90s, so that was exciting to see. Overall, I think it would be a good read still, with the understanding and awareness about how quickly sensibilities change, especially in romance - that dated feeling is expected and in fact a really good sign about how far we've come. That was, until the end. While I think it's a sign of its time - both when it was written and the time period its set in - I don't appreciate the equation of mental illness with evil and murderousness.

A solid adventure and a lot of fun.

I had a really good time with this one. It's definitely as advertised, for fans of Pacific Rim (of which I consider myself one). It also had me reminiscing about the things I loved about The Hunger Games and Divergent, about young people in a world they didn't design but must inherit, trying to fight for themselves and the future the best way they know how. They are not perfect, they make stupid choices, they're arrogant and shitty sometimes. And also they're teenagers, so none of that is really surprising or unexpected. I always love a good found family vibe, which was strong here, but also gets at the big area that didn't feel as strong for me which was feeling like those other characters were really fully fleshed people. Then again, it's going to be a series, so there's lots of room for development there. I think Gearbreakers has a lot to say about neverending wars and generational trauma and having no good choices in an environment of brutality and mercilessness, which is unfortunately perpetually resonant. Looking forward to seeing what we get form Mikuta in the future.

Derry lives in a house in the woods with her eight siblings, and their seemingly adoptive father/teacher Frank. Frank took them in when each of their parents didn't want them because they couldn't handle the magic that was being exhibited. Or did they? He's often cruel and always restrictive, but he keeps them safe from the outside world, a world he's told them would kill them without remorse if it knew they existed. When one of Derry's sisters goes missing, she's certain into the mysterious forest, and then another, and then a third, it breaks open the life they thought they had in a way that will change their future forever.

This was a propulsive, disturbing, challenging, and ultimately hopeful book. It contained so many of my favourite things: found family, lots of queer representation (there are two confirmed ace characters, both a trans character and a trans nb character, and several of the other sisters are suggested to be under the queer umbrella, including at least one bi character); a fat main character, revenge upon an evil man. There is definitely more violence and gore than I was expecting, but it worked well with the tone of the rest of the book, was realistic, and represented real stakes, even in a world with magic. Derry was an exquisitely flawed character, making poor decisions but also invested in the safety of her family. My one big qualm is that I wish we'd gotten a little bit more meat of the other siblings' character development. At one point, the siblings are watching The Little Mermaid, and I couldn't help thinking that the siblings in this book felt a bit like Ariel's sisters, in that we don't learn a whole lot about them. I do think by the end I had a better picture of most of them, and perhaps that is fodder for future books from Hollowell, but that was my main gripe. My biggest recommendation is to look into content warnings before picking it up, so you can be prepared for some of that content. Overall, an exquisitely paced and engaging book, and a spectacular debut.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

Content warnings for emotional and physical abuse, death/gore, violence, forced confinement, mentions of anxiety/depression.

I have always loved John Green's writing. I listened to the first episodes of The Anthropocene Reviewed podcast when they were first being released. I remember viscerally listening to his speech at NerdCon Stories in October of 2016, a convention where I first became aware of my-now perennial favourites Mikki Kendall and Nalo Hopkinson, where I heard Patrick Rothfuss talk about why he didn't allow pressure from fans to write faster get to him anymore. While I love Green's fiction work, I've long been especially drawn to his nonfiction writing, which started with Vlogbrothers videos that I've now been watching for over a decade, but was solidified by that speech at NerdCon. His vulnerability and earnestness, his disappointment and hope, his observation of our limitations and also the miracle of the human condition, have always resonated with me, and perhaps none more so than this one. So I give The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet five stars.

This was a well-researched, empathetic, and personal look at autism from a journalist who is himself autistic. Also a third-generation Mexican American, Garcia gave a fantastic primer on the different intersections of identity that come into play with autism, looking at race, gender, sexuality, and more. He talked candidly and with honesty about his own past missteps, even as someone who has autism, offering a model for growth and increased understanding. This growth is even more important to consider as we think about how (relatively) quickly nomenclature and verbiage around disabilities in general and autism in particular change. He interviewed a diverse group of autistic people, all with a range of different support needs, which a lesser journalist/writer (or even more egregiously, someone not in the community themselves) would have found it easy to not do. My one qualm is one that I'm not even sure is one with the book itself, or my mood, but there were some moments where I felt like the writing could have been tightened up a bit.

It was especially poignant to read this as disability rights are in the news in a big way, with one of the most famous pop stars in the world fighting to regain control of her own life after over a decade of having decisions made for her by people who financially benefit from those decisions. I'm so frustrated and angered that this is the current situation, but I'm hopeful that we are moving towards disability justice with books like Garcia's and other texts like Alice Wong's edited Disability Visibility. I would highly recommend for anyone interested in learning more about autism from autistic folks directly.

Thanks to HMH and Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.