mayastef's reviews
175 reviews

I think the plot points that were emphasized in this book were not the ones I wanted to read. A lot of the story felt unnecessarily prolonged. It's fine for an author to tell a story that they want to tell but that doesn't mean the reader has to enjoy it. There were about 10-15 chapters of this book that were like YES and the other 100 or so were more like yeah okay (i know this is not my best description of a book but its hard to articulate my gripes without spoiling things). Overall I did not love Zafira’s character arc in this book, over the whole series her general arc is solid. For 70% of this book, I was not enjoying Zafira’s story which sucks as I really had a great time with her in book one. I am a character reader over a plot reader so I really think a lot more about all of our main characters' personalities and tendencies could be explored. 

Look… i love a bitch with a backstory. I also love a man who will get on his knees for said bitch with a backstory. Overall I had a great time reading this book, and at its core, I think there is a very moving story about overcoming trauma and the innate human (I know they're fae, but bear with me here) need for friendship and meaningful connections. I have some nitpicking about some of the plot points even though I think this was a 5-star read. I will not get into it too much to avoid spoiling but what I will say is that there's the classic SJM behavior of cramming a ton of action into the last 100 or so pages and I don't think all of that action was necessary and got resolved as well as it could have. The action all comes together to make sense so I understand why it was written that way but the pacing felt off for me personally. 

Oh my god how to I even begin to articulate what happened in this book. At its core it's about finding love, belonging, identity, purpose, and many other profound things but the path to finding those things is absolutely brutal. Somehow stories about hell-bent violinists and donut makers from space converge on the story of a young trans girl just trying to exist and all of those stories mesh together and create a beautiful book. At times it can be challenging to read about the vastly different stories of so many characters all at once and maybe once you finish the book there's a few things that you wish got wrapped up with a bit more detail. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book but definitely check the trigger warnings and subject matter before jumping in. 

Everyone says this is this series's 'cute fluffy holiday episode' but I think that's an unfair characterization of this book. These poor characters are recovering from war and immense personal loss, and the dawn of a new era in their universe, they are struggling and GRIEVING!! Yes, its the holidays and they give each other cute gifts and play in the snow <3 but they also all definitely have an alcohol problem and poor coping mechanisms. Fun book! Very predictable but I think I find most of this series predictable because I have read the author's other works and I know how she writes.

If you do not like reading songs in books this book is NOT for you. Suzanne Collins is a master of weaving interesting symbolism into her stories. It gives very 'a high schooler could dissect this for a class and not want to gouge their eyes out'.  I, in general, like to root for my narrator/main character, so it was an interesting internal battle going back and forth between ‘this is just a super traumatized  17 year old and i feel bad for him’ and ‘okay but this is president snow and i read the trilogy i know what he becomes'.  Overall this book gives a really cool background and foundation to the main trilogy and attacks similar societal issues but from a slightly different lens. It's interesting to see the ways that the capitol changes from this book to the trilogy and some of the core values that stay the same and ultimately drive the series. 

Overall totally read this if you want more info on the hunger games universe. 

I listened to this as an audiobook, so I think there are some small connecting factors that I maybe missed so I'm just assuming any plot choppiness I experienced was due to my own zoning out, not poor writing.  Overall I had a great time reading this book, it shared a bunch of elements with other books I've enjoyed and blended them all together and spat out a funky and spunky cast of characters in a fun fresh unique setting. 

Overall fun rep I guess but also wish the ace experience was more part of the plot, I guess they did do some talking about/ breezing over ace experiences but for a book called Aces Wild: a Heist I honestly think it was lacking in the aces, the wild, and the heist. Do not get me wrong all the characters are ace and its a super cute title but idk I think I maybe just wanted more focus on the asexual vibes for a book specifically about asexuals. It sounds like i dislike it but i just have really high standards for queer rep, being wild, and heists bc those are 3 major things I look for in all books i read. I still gave it 4 stars ! i had a good time reading! But im not gonna be running and shouting from the rooftops that everyone should read it. 

I was in a major reading slump; every fantasy book just felt the same nothing was interesting until I finally cracked open this book. I loved The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi it checked all the boxes of what I love in a book while still being unique. The story had the right amount of nail-biting action without dipping too far into the stress zone and making it not a good outlet for stress relief (I use reading to chill out, not to be anxious, I produce the anxiety on my own time). I loved the narration/ POV where the story was being told via Amina telling it to a scribe, and their dialogue interjects every once in a while, or theres a short chapter of notes from the scribe that gives the reader more context into the world. Also Amina loves to drop a well placed f-bomb which usually takes me away from the story but not in this case. 
I have no idea how to articulate all of my feelings about this book. Just know that I loved it, and if you're looking for a fantasy adventure without enduring an insane amount of world-building, this book is a great fit. 

Let's be real; I will eat up anything Emily Henry writes. Happy Place really hit somewhere deep in my soul. It was refreshing for me to read a romance about characters with an established history because I think that adds such a deeper level to the heartbreak/warm fuzzy feelings. I also LOVE stories about friendship, and I loved reading about friends whose deep ties to each other reminded me of my own friends and made me miss them dearly. This book filled me with warmth cast me out into Siberia knocked me down picked me back up again spat in my face only to wipe it off and sweet-talk me before laying me to rest.