onthesamepage's reviews
1010 reviews

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. There's something familiar about all of them, which makes sense as they mostly seem to be retellings of known tales, but Bardugo turned them into something fresh and exciting. I devoured them, which isn't always the case when it comes to short stories, and I would have happily read a few more.

If you like your fairy tales on the darker side, definitely give this a try. I don't think you need to read anything in the Grishaverse to appreciate these—I've read the Six of Crows duology but only know Shadow & Bone from the adaptation, but I consider this an entirely separate thing. 

Tropes:

slow burn

Steam level: none

I was expecting something more similar to Winter's Orbit, but while this is a companion novel in the same universe, they are very different. Ocean's Echo focuses a lot more on the scifi aspects of the plot rather than the romance. And it makes sense for this book—because our main characters are an architect (someone who can control minds) and a reader (someone who can read minds), consent is a tricky issue, and a quick start to the romance would have felt jarring. I'm glad that didn't happen, but this is very much a slow burn with not a lot of payoff, and I wouldn't have minded a bit more romance than what I actually got.

I didn't notice how slow the romance was progressing until about halfway through, because I was very invested in both the plot and the characters. I loved both Tennal and Surit, but Surit was my favourite. His strong sense of responsibility, his ethics and belief system, and the way he was aware of how much chaos Tennal was bringing to his structured life, but didn't do anything about it because he secretly loved it, is a combination I love. His morals and principles are the reason he and Tennal are able to develop a relationship based on trust, when it would be so easy for him to take complete control of Tennal, just because his commander tells him to. There's a constant sense of high stakes in the relationship, and I was just waiting for something to tip them over the edge of the cliff they were tiptoeing on.

The plot is based around political intrigue, coups, and the remnants that were introduced in Winter's Orbit, with an extra side of "maybe the army actually sucks", which I always appreciate. There are parts at the end that still made sense, but felt a bit flimsy and hard to compute, whereas everything else was well-structured. One thing I'm still confused about is why the author chose to make readers more feared in this world than architects. Not that reading minds isn't freaky, but mind control feels so much worse to me.

Really cute extra epilogue, and I appreciated getting to see a bit more romance between Tennal and Surit, but I kind of wanted it to be longer. It almost felt like Tennal had a lot more to say than what he actually said, making this feel a bit like unfinished.

What an impressive, deftly-woven story. There's so much to love here. Petra is a fantastic main character. I loved the balance between the storytelling parts, and the parts that had to do with her dealing with a world that is very different from what she was expecting. The focus on identity and family (found and otherwise) was so beautiful. I also really enjoyed the exploration of a new planet, and the way Petra engages with finding new species. 

There are a couple of moments that are heartbreaking—this is not an easy read because Petra is in a very tense situation, and that anxiety really bleeds through. The way the Collective mirrors white supremacy is eerie as well, and I can only hope that children/young teens who read this book take the lesson that the ends don't justify the means to heart, and that extremism is never the answer.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

There's nothing wrong with the book, I just don't feel very invested in the story or the characters. Even for YA, this series feels quite young. The empyreals are interesting, but other than that not much is hooking me, and I'm honestly not looking forward to when Talon and Darling meet again—the moments they spend thinking about each other are enough indication of the drama levels I can expect, in my opinion.

I've actually been thinking really hard about why this didn't work for me, because on paper, it has things I love, but let me try to break this down.

Expectations
This one is probably on me, but I think I wasn't expecting the vibes to be as off the rails as they were. I've read at least 3 books by Alexis Hall now, and from the three I've enjoyed his serious book more than the ones that lean towards romcom. I went into this expecting something more on the serious side, but that's not what this is. Now that I know what this series is like, I am hopeful that I might enjoy the sequel more.

Pacing
The book is too long, and the story beats are kind of repetitive. There are 3 cycles of Bonny and Valentine chasing Bella, finding her, something happens, she runs off, they chase her again, and I was tired of it by the second cycle. I wish there had been more elements to the story, because that would definitely have improved my experience.

Romance
This is what kept me going, even though I should probably have DNF'd the book. The romance was really cute once it got going. I liked both Bonny and Valentine and their dynamic, although I will say I have a beef to pick with Bonny, but more about that later. Valentine spent the entire book working through his own preconceived notions of identity and sexuality, and I really appreciated the way the author handled this. There were poignant moments where he felt alone, uncertain, and insecure, and it was refreshing to see a duke act this way.

Humor
Unfortunately, the humor was a big miss for me, and I think it's mostly because I genuinely hated Arabella. I did have sympathy for her situation—there's one paragraph where Bonny points out to Valentine that he is a large man, with a temper, who has on one occasion destroyed furniture, and that it shouldn't be shocking to him that this might be scary to a woman, even if he had no intention of ever harming her. This is absolutely valid. But it doesn't excuse the way Arabella acts the entire book, and the way everyone goes along with her at Valentine's expense. Her theatrics were exhausting, and every time she was on page I just got extremely annoyed.

And the thing is, the way the story unfolds is very reminiscent of a crack fic. I've loved those before, and I can definitely get behind a ridiculous premise or execution. But the difference is, with a crack fic, I'm already invested in the characters. I already like them enough that regardless of how they act, it won't change how I feel about them. With original fiction, crack premises are a much harder sell for me, because as is the case with Arabella, I genuinely hate her guts based on her behavior. And while I liked Bonny and Valentine, I don't think I loved them enough to make it enjoyable.

McKillip's writing always sucks me in so completely. She has such beautiful turns of phrase—not just in the sentences on their own, but also how some paragraphs follow the same rhythm, or how she uses repetition to emphasize something. Sometimes I find myself distracted from the actual story she's telling because I'm too busy admiring the way she tells it.

Despite how short this book is, McKillip still managed to weave a complete story. It follows the standard narrative beats of a quest plotline, with a cnite (the intentional misspellings of words we know takes some getting used to, I'll admit) going on a quest to save a Damsen in distress, but McKillip quickly subverts it. There are no battles, no beasts to be slain, just different characters he encounters on his journey. The conclusion is what I've come to expect from McKillip, and all in all this did not disappoint.

I think it's safe to say that I'm completely hooked.

I had no idea that this second volume would have a trope I love (

deaging

), but I was squealing with excitement when I got to that part. It's a pretty thick book, and yet I found myself flying through it. I love the characters and the development we got in this installment, with both Mo Ran and Chu Wanning coming to realize things about themselves and their past behavior. I also really loved the side characters—Xue Meng continues to grow on me, and the moments where Chu Wanning acts more as a shizun towards his students made me melt. 

There are so many moments that stood out to me, and I made sure to highlight them all so I can revisit them later. The past timeline continues to fascinate me—I'm still so curious about how Mo Ran and Chu Wanning got to the point where cuddling was happening, but I'm guessing it'll be a while still before I get the answer to that question. I'm not complaining, though.

We do get more glimpses into why Mo Ran is the way he is in this volume (I spent a couple of chapters fuming at his shizun for past injustices). They both still suffer from lack of communication, and there are times when I just want to lock them up somewhere and not let them out again, but for some reason it doesn't bother me the way I would expect it to. There's just something about the romance that has me by the throat, and I can't wait to read more.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is exactly what it says on the tin—a xianxia YA romantasy (ignore the comparison to Dark Heir, that's not what you're getting here). I thought this was well-executed in general. The pacing was really good, with drama at the right moments to keep it all flowing nicely. A lot happens in the last 25%, and it did feel a bit rushed, but not enough to be bothersome.

I've seen some reviews call the relationship between Xian and Zhen insta-love, and while I agree that they very quickly developed feelings for each other, it read more like insta-lust to me, personally. I really liked the beats of the romance. It's sweet and fun, lies and betrayal notwithstanding.

The side characters are also a highlight. The relationship between Qing and Zhen, and Xian and Feng, kind of mirror each other, in that both are found family at its core. The budding romance between Qing and Feng was really cute, too.

I'm not familiar with the original myth, so I have no idea how big of a departure this retelling is, but it gave me exactly what I was expecting, and I had a lot of fun reading it. 

I don't know what it is about Emily Wilde. Just like the first book, this sequel drew me in so easily. I read it in two sittings because I just wanted to spend more time with these characters rather than do something else.

Everything that was so good about Encyclopaedia of Faeries is expanded on here. Emily and Wendell's relationship is more of a focus—their banter is cute, there are aww-worthy moments, but also times where Emily struggles with what a future for them might look like. Wendell, of course, doesn't really help with any of that, either, but the way he cares about Emily is heartwarmingly adorable. 

We get introduced to a couple of new characters as well, which means more time watching Emily learn how to interact with people. There are plenty of nasty faeries with nasty surprises, once again making for a very compelling story, and I can't wait to see what Emily and Wendell will get up to next.