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book review: the illuminae files

“Am I not merciful?”

The Illuminae Files is one of my favourite book series this year (not that I read many). I was slightly hesitant going into it because I don’t read a lot of sci-fi, but seeing the gorgeous covers I decided to give it a try. The books have a very unique format. There would be messages, emails, transcripts of videos, interviews, etc. This makes the story incredibly easy to read and to get into. 

“You have me. Until the last star in the galaxy dies, you have me.”

I was most impressed with the world building and the amount of detail the authors put into it. I enjoyed the pretty diagrams about the spaceships. It is set in the future, where it is the year 2575 and there is an evil mega corporation which has invaded a tiny ice-covered planet named Kerenza. 

“She is catalyst.She is chaos.I can see why he loves her.”

In the first book, we follow our characters Kady Grant and Ezra Mason as they deal with the bad guys and also a deadly virus called Phobos that essentially turns human beings into zombie like, dangerous creatures. Kady has pink hair and is a coding genius while Ezra gets thrown into being a pilot. 

“He presses the triggers. And like roses in his hands, death blooms.”

Oh, and there’s also AIDAN, a crazy and unpredictable AI. I really enjoyed the AIDAN parts in the book because every time I read them there’s this detached, monotone, slightly sinister voice in my head. Lol. For me, the first book sets the stage for the next two. 

“And now, born from the ashes, she’s a warrior in bloodied black.”

In the second book, Gemina, we are brought into a different setting at a jump station where we meet other characters and get their perspective. This one was a little harder to get into at first but about midway through I got hooked and went all the way. There was a lot of action and—no spoilers—but you will get mindblown later in the book.

“Now, children, watch closely. Hold your breath. Listen. And I will show you the components of calamity.” 

The characters we meet in this book are quite possibly my favourite. We have Hanna Donelly, a blonde and beautiful rich girl who is also quite possibly the most kickass female character in the series. She gets entangled with Niklas Malivov, the gangster who sells her drugs. I loved their dynamics, I’m a sucker for playful banter and love interests with completely different backgrounds. 

“It’s not about what I say, right? It’s what I do that matters here.” 

And have I mentioned Ella Malikova? Another hacking genius also known as pauchok, or little spider. She’s young, weighed down by illness, but also extremely witty and so so important to the novel. 

“The traces of worry, sorrow, fear, all of them smoothed over as she slips into the code, the network, the world where she doesn’t need a pair of legs to run."

In Obsidio, the characters from Illuminae and Gemina will come together to go back to their home planet in hopes of rescuing everyone. Again, we get new characters but this time they are not as fleshed out as I would like them to be, given that we don’t have too much time with them as we see the previous characters in action too.

“Every story needs its hero. And its villain. And its monster.”

We meet Asha Grant and Rhys Lindstrom, ex-lovers who meet again, only that Rhys is working for the enemy. My favourite minor character is Sergeant Oshiro (although it did get pretty annoying when she said "Welcome to Kerenza, Cherry" like 20 times throughout the entire book). She follows orders and what is expected of her, but she is not a flat character that is entirely evil. I wished we could have seen more of her character because she is much more interesting then Asha or Rhys to me.

“I was thinking," he murmurs. "There'a billion different versions of you out there, in a trillion different universes. And I still can't get over how lucky I am that, out of all those versions, you're the one that's mine.” 

There were many interesting themes explored like war and humanity. Throughout the three books humanity seems to be the main theme and the authors do a pretty good job at exploring this. 

“The die is cast. But today we will shake the table upon which it lands.”

I had the same experience with obsidio as gemina—a slow start, and then midway through, the pace picks up and things start happening and I finished it all in one setting. This last instalment had me laughing and crying (especially towards the end). When I reached the end, I was almost wistful and sad that I wasn’t going to be seeing more of the characters. 

“Live a life worth dying for.”

Overall this was a compelling read, with young yet capable characters and plenty of wit. It’s tense at moments and heartwarming in the next. I would highly recommend this to everyone.

★★★★✩ 4.0

[shelfcare]

book review: the mara dyer trilogy

"My name is not Mara Dyer, but my lawyer told me I had to choose something. A pseudonym. A nom de plume,”

The book was a very chilling read from start to finish. I especially loved the fact that the start of the first book was repeated in the end of the last book, when Mara recounts her journey by putting it in writing, making it come full circle. I also liked the fact that the book ties the teenagers’ abilities with issues like mental illness. It’s a little reminiscent of how Rick Riordan created a world of demigods for dyslexic children, whose brains were hardwired to read Greek and that’s why letters would appear jumbled.

“The piece semi-circled the board, sailing past A through K, and crept past L. It settled on M”

The book pushes a haunting aesthetic- with ouija boards spelling out Mara’s name, the human experiments, Mara’s killing, (and stabbing out that guy’s eye for the door access? While he was still alive??), almost mind controlling some regular boys to kill themselves, the creepy bathtub scenes in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, the cursed doll that wouldn’t burn in the Evolution of Mara Dyer, and so much more.

“Taste the rainbow, bitch”

Despite the book’s consistent, dark writing, it is also interspersed with bits of humour that made the characters very likeable. And this combined with the book’s theme, makes for a very interesting, engaging read that’s definitely worth picking up.

“You’re like his manic pixie dream girl  (…) Actually, more like his psychotic demon nightmare thing”

I loved the fact that Mara kinda played the demon role with her powers to bring about death and Noah, her love interest, played more of an angel role with his powers over healing (Also Noah as the male protagonist is impossible not to root for. Thank God for the Noah Shaw trilogy).

But well there are no gender stereotypes in this series, the book does fall in other stereotypical YA patterns. The new girl happens to be very attractive, has a British boy fall in love with her at first sight, is willing to be with her even though she is a literal killing machine, and Mara Dyer herself is an overpowered ex machina. It doesn’t get any better than having the power to kill anyone just by thinking of it.

I guess it was for these reasons that the book has received very mixed reviews. I feel like it’s a series you either really love or can’t stand. Personally, I really enjoyed the series because I feel that its exciting premise and writing style far outweighed some of the YA stereotypes I mentioned earlier.

★★★★✩4

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book review: the inexplicable logic of my life

“I have a memory that is almost like a dream”

Having read Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe which I absolutely loved, I was a little apprehensive when I first bought the Inexplicable Logic of My Life. I was worried this book would not live up to its predecessor as I have seen many books do. Luckily, I was not disappointed. 

“Life had its seasons, and the season of letting go would always come, but there was something very beautiful in that, in letting go”

The book follows the story of Salvador “Sal” who has been living a fairly comfortable, uneventful life up till the moment he knew that his grandmother, whom he endearingly calls Mima, is dying. He discovers parts about his character he didn’t know about before and navigates through these issues with his friends, Sam and Fito who are going through troubles of their own.

“I stared at Mima’s handwriting: These are the leaves that my Salavdor gave me one Saturday afternoon when he was five”

Sounds like your typical angst-ridden coming of age novel? Not quite. I’ll admit it’s a little heavy but I would say that it’s nothing like your run-of-the-mill sad story. This book knows just how to tug your heartstrings. I feel, somehow, like the book understands the reader- it knows when the reader least expects a turn. This book also addresses topics like LGBT issues and heritage (Sal's adoptive father is gay and Mexican-American), death, drugs and abuse, making for a very meaningful read. Also, it doesn’t rely on more clichéd descriptions of these issues which is a huge plus. 

“and then she said, “I’ll love you till the day I die, Sally”

The book was a little slow going at the start for me but only after I finished the book did I realise it was because of the importance of establishing the personalities of the characters. The characters were a huge part of what sold it for me- I loved every single one of their personalities and their interactions with each other. I loved the relationship Sal had with his dad because I was so used YA books with rebellious teenagers and terrible parents. It was a breath of fresh air. And I loved how everything played out for both Sam and Fito (no spoilers here). The ending, for Sam and Sal in particular, may not be exactly as I pictured when I first started reading, but it was absolutely perfect and to me, it was the most satisfying, best possible outcome. 

“Whistling in the dark”

This book is peppered with beautiful imagery and quote-worthy lines. It’s very aesthetic, with a pretty cover and chapter titles that remind me of headings on journal entries. It is filled with thought provoking sentiment like the idea that words could only be a concept until you met or felt the thing that was the word and only then does it become real. 

“Words exist only in theory. And then one ordinary day you run into a word that exists only in theory. And you meet it face to face. And then that word becomes someone you know. That word becomes someone you hate. And you take that word with you wherever you go. And you can't pretend it isn't there.” 

This book is also really good for getting you out of a reading slump and it’s definitely worth checking out.

★★★★✩4

[shelfcare]

book review: we are okay

“We were nostalgic for a time that wasn’t yet over.”

This book is one of those slow reads with no absolute plot. The vibe of it was very pronounced. It was dreary, lonely, sad, depressing. I think the author writes quite beautifully, which makes you relate to the protagonist. There are several paragraphs which I feel I must share here, so don’t be annoyed to see large chunks of paragraphs in this review.

“And I think of how time passes so differently for different people.”

The story is about Marin, who is currently in college and what happens when her friend Mabel comes and visits her during winter break. The story also alternates to a different time back when Marin was still in high school and when her grandfather was still alive.

“I look at her. I wish her everything good. A friendly cab driver and short lines through security. A flight with no turbulence and an empty seat next to her. A beautiful Christmas. I wish her more happiness than can fit in a person. I wish her the kind of happiness that spills over.”

I would say that I like reading her past more, with Mabel and her grandfather. Also, when she finds out the secrets her grandfather has been keeping from her. But overall the book was too slow to my liking, especially the first half of it. I dragged through it because it was a little too boring for me, who likes faster paced books. 

“Since we’d met, we had a thing for our names’ symmetry. An M followed by a vowel, then a consonant, then a vowel, then a consonant. We thought it was important. We thought it must have meant something. Like a similar feeling must have passed through our mothers as they named us. Like destiny was at work already. We may have been in different countries, but it was only a matter of time before we would collide into each other.”

P.S The cover is, however, one of the most beautiful I’ve seen all year. And here’s my favourite part in the book.

We were innocent enough to think that our lives were what we thought they were, that if we pieced all of the facts about ourselves together they’d form an image that made sense–that looked like us when we looked in the mirror, that looked like our living rooms and our kitchens and the people who raised us–instead of revealing all the things we didn’t know.

★★★✩✩ 3

[shelfcare]

book review: we all looked up

This book was a birthday gift two years ago and I reread it earlier this year. I liked it better this time round. ‘We all looked up’ has a relatively simple plot–an asteroid named Ardor is about to hit Earth and there’s only a 1/3 chance of survival for humanity. Not the most groundbreaking or original plot, but the author still pulled it off and I genuinely enjoyed the book.

First things first, I gotta say that I love the title of the book for its simplicity and how appropriate it is. You have to look up to see the asteroid, right?  The writing in this was enjoyable, even beautiful at times.

“The best books, they don’t talk about things you never thought about before. They talk about things you’d always thought about, but that you didn’t think anyone else had thought about. You read them, and suddenly you’re a little bit less alone in the world. You’re part of this cosmic community of people who’ve thought about this thing, whatever it happens to be.”

The main characters are these high school kids each branded with a stereotype–the jock, the over-achiever, the slut, the slacker. It’s about how their lives change and their fates become entwined in one another’s.

Characters wise, I like Anita, who had the most character development in my opinion. She was the high strung girl whose parents had high expectations of her to do well in school and have a good, well paying and respectable job. But she actually wants to be a singer and since the the world is ending soon, she breaks free from her father’s control and sets out to do what she wants to do. She makes new friends and even falls in love along the way.

“All the world was a cage.”

Also gotta mention that I love Peter and Eliza together. SPOILER: they were a tragic couple that deserved more. My favourite part of the book was when Andy mentioned that they were all in a karass, that they were somehow all linked together somehow. I love the idea that before Ardor, they didn’t mix at all but because of this asteroid, everything changed.

And I usually hate cliffhangers or open endings, but in this case, it didn’t really matter whether or not the asteroid wiped them all out. There was a sense of fulfilment because they really got to live before Ardor came. And that was the whole point of this book I think. I would recommend this book to everyone, really.

“You didn’t win the game of life by losing the least. That would be one of those—what were they called again?—Pyrrhic victories. Real winning was having the most to lose, even if it meant you might lose it all. Even though it meant you would lose it all, sooner or later.”

★★★★✩ 4.0

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book review: always and forever lara jean

“I don’t know what lies around the bend, but I’m going to believe that the best does.”

The Lara Jean trilogy will forever remain in my heart, like most of Jenny Han’s stories. In this last one, Lara Jean is graduating soon and has a pretty solid relationship with Peter K, having been dating for almost a year now. They plan to get into the same college together, not wanting to be separated, but as fate would have it, Lara Jean doesn’t get in.

“Never say no when you really want to say yes.”

This means that she will have to consider other colleges, which will be far away from Peter and her family. As a girl that fears change, this is all too much for her. Other things are changing as well; Kitty is growing up, Margot has a new boyfriend and doesn’t like their stepmother very much.

“I guess that’s part of growing up, too—saying goodbye to the things you use to love.”

A lot of the book is about mundane everyday things, but that’s what makes it so realistic and close to home. John Ambrose McClaren, who absolutely stole my heart in book 2, makes a cameo in here, and it appears that he has moved on. It was nice to see that he had gotten his own happy ending too. My favourite moments in the book would be when Peter K amazingly remembered the first time he saw Lara Jean because it was so damn sweet and when Lara Jean gave an eulogy in honour of Stormy. Stormy, one of those characters you won’t forget.

“She always picked love; she always picked adventure. To her they were one and the same.”

Lara Jean and Chris’s friendship touched me as well, despite how different they were. And finally, the starting and ending quote really tied the whole story together, and sort of gave a satisfying sense of closure. I strongly recommend this trilogy.

“I’ve had a splendid time,” she concluded happily, “and I feel that it marks an epoch in my life. But the best of it all was the coming home."

★★★★✩ 4.5