amaruuk's reviews
168 reviews

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

4.0

i cannot tell you a single plot point of this book but the vibes were fantastic and the last 20 pages had me biting my fist i AM a jem girlie but i can see why tessa is struggling 

This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

slow-paced

2.5

i wanted so badly to like this book but it just...wasn't what i wanted it to be? the romance didn't feel built enough for me (though i guess the short length of the book is to blame for that) and i found the prose itself borderline incomprehensible— not everything has to be a page-long metaphor! sometimes someone can just walk somewhere. i did love the letters though; they were beautifully written and carried the entire novel for me. very slow start and a very odd ending. could have been worse, but definitely could have been better. not sure it deserves the hype.

Happy Place by Emily Henry

4.0

had me giggling and kicking my feet like emily henry always does…..the FMC is gonna have family related trauma and the love interest is gonna have physical touch love language and i eat it up EVERY TIME!

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

4.0

i could fix jessamine give me 15 minutes and access to google slides

A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi

3.0

again, i kept taking really long breaks while reading this so it’s likely my own fault i didn’t like it as much as star-touched queen. great characters and beautiful storytelling as always, but STQ had a certain magic to it that this book lacks

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

• Strong character development? No

2.75

alright here's the thing. this was kind of really good during some parts but it was very...underwhelming. it is, after all, a YA dystopia written by Suzanne Collins, but it didn't even feel like that for most of the book because it didn't have that voice that i loved so much in THG. this is definitely a prequel— i can't imagine reading this before reading the original trilogy and liking it, because most of my enjoyment of this book came from the fact that i knew exactly where it was pointing to fifty years down the line. certain characters were interesting but not fleshed out enough, some got way too much time in the spotlight for the absolute nobody that they were. why was part 3 that long and why did it have really absolutely 0 consequence to the story? the games part was super cool to read, especially for how it compared to the katniss era games; the peacekeeper plotline was boring and, again, way too long. most importantly: coryo didn't have any character arc and that's exactly what this book promised—the only reason i know he develops ("gets worse") is because here he is a whiny 18-year-old dweeb and in THG he is a psychopath (which, if i may add, we see hints of with the handkerchief and the gun but are not remotely built upon enough). we're supposed to be able to see exactly what caused him to become the Snow we know and hate in the trilogy, but at the end of this book i have exactly the same question i did going in: why is he like that? the ending felt rushed and absolutely did not go as hard as i thought it would. there was so much i thought would happen that i feel robbed by the actual conclusion. will i read it again? no. will i be going to see the movie opening night? absolutely.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

3.75

i think i would rate it higher if i hadn’t read it over such a long period of time so that’s definitely on me. very well written and very good!! felix is such a good character and all the plot twists are delicious 

Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker

3.0

i think i just enjoy middle grade literature less the older i get…i liked Zen’s characterization and the A plot, but the B plot wasn’t nearly as interesting and Arli is infuriating

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

5.0

i literally don’t know what to say…reading this when i was 14 didn’t change me but reading it NOW? i feel insane. “you love me, real or not real?” i’ll kill myself

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

dark emotional

3.0

my professor tried talking to us about how Pet is morally grey but here’s the thing. eye for an eye. i think Pet was right.