zombiezami's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
When I was reading the first few chapters of this book, I thought I would like it a lot. The setup and worldbuilding were compeling.
However, by the end, I felt it was too tropey, too focused on romance, and relied too much on deus ex machina
However, by the end, I felt it was too tropey, too focused on romance, and relied too much on deus ex machina
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Blood, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Cursing, and Child death
Moderate: War, Torture, Racism, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content
zoepagereader's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Racism, Blood, Body horror, and Classism
blackcatkai's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
CW: racism, genocide, colonization, mental illness, alcoholism, death, violence
decent beginning, meh middle, slow ending. essentially, it was a fun time through the first half of the book, then a time travel aspect was added at some point that took me right out of it. this is wholly a me-not-you situation for the story. i do not like time travel the majority of the time and the paradoxes that often come with it just ruin things for me. if some light time travel might be your thing but also you dont want a whole book to revolve around it, then you may enjoy this more than i did.
decent beginning, meh middle, slow ending. essentially, it was a fun time through the first half of the book, then a time travel aspect was added at some point that took me right out of it. this is wholly a me-not-you situation for the story. i do not like time travel the majority of the time and the paradoxes that often come with it just ruin things for me. if some light time travel might be your thing but also you dont want a whole book to revolve around it, then you may enjoy this more than i did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Genocide, Colonisation, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death, Alcoholism, and Violence
vaniavela's review
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Genocide
jess29's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
lena_loves_reading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Rating this is hard... This book had so much potential but a lot of opportunities were missed and the ending was too wholesome and unrealistic in comparison to the rest of the book. This SciFi takes place after the Ilori alien invasion. The world was so sad and depressing, as humans are kept imprisoned while the Ilori were working on making them into mindless puppets and were already succeeding. We love some hopelessness. The pace was very slow at the beginning with lots of telling and no showing. In my opinion, the alien invasion should've been told in flashbacks.
However, I loved the characters and the rep! The mc is a biracial, demisexual biromantic teen with anxiety. AND A BOOK NERD (+ a rebel librarian)!! I got all of the YA references!! At one point she was thinking of Wylan and Jesper which immediately made me like this book so much more!
And Alien Boy was the cutest! There were so many music and book quotes in this book, which I loved. The romance was adorable!
I liked the thoughts about classism, discrimination and injustice before and after the invasion ("the aliens are threatening all of us but humans weren't that great either").
However, I loved the characters and the rep! The mc is a biracial, demisexual biromantic teen with anxiety. AND A BOOK NERD (+ a rebel librarian)!! I got all of the YA references!! At one point she was thinking of Wylan and Jesper which immediately made me like this book so much more!
And Alien Boy was the cutest! There were so many music and book quotes in this book, which I loved. The romance was adorable!
I liked the thoughts about classism, discrimination and injustice before and after the invasion ("the aliens are threatening all of us but humans weren't that great either").
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Death and Genocide
noellelovesbooks's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
[First posted to my blog]
Content Warnings: racism, alcoholism, violence, captivity, anxiety, confinement, murder, hanging, and graphic injury.
I feel like it’s becoming a trend but…here is another book I bought, almost a year ago, and finally read…and it was AMAZING!
I’ll be honest, when I first started reading this I was a little worried I wasn’t going to get into it. Luckily, I always like to read at least 25% of a book before I decide whether or not to DNF. Slow start, or at least that’s how I felt, but it really started picking up around 18% [I want to say] and took me on a journey. Reading through this book became heavy at times and I needed to take breaks here and there, for my mental health, to listen to cheerful music or watch something comedic.
Janelle, or Ellie, a black, demi-ace, plus-size teen was easy for me to relate to as was her love of books and music. Media forms, like books and music, have always had a way of changing how I feel, no matter how upset/angry/sad I am a good book or a killer playlist can have me smiling, and laughing, in no time. Personally, I don’t even want to imagine a world lacking music and books that allow us to escape reality, and sometimes help us work through our own reality.
Throughout the book, there are tons of pop culture references which I loved! From classic quotes to song titles to books mentions some just giving us breadcrumbs to guess what they are…I loved it all. I bought a physical copy of this book before I ended my BoTM subscription [I really have too many physical books on my tbr to be on any subscriptions *insert nervous laughter here*] that I plan to go through and highlight all the different references. I love the idea of piecing together a playlist with all the songs they mention throughout the story. I decided to read my Kindle version [yes I’m guilty of being multiple formats before reading] mostly so I could highlight and add my favorite quotes to Goodreads easily.
This story, although overall sad [what with the alien takeover and banning of music/art/books/etc], was filled with a silver lining whether you think of all the pop culture references or the deep connection Ellie and M0Rr1S make over them. I can definitely see myself re-reading this book. I’m also very excited to get my hands on a copy of “The Kindred” as, although I couldn’t find anything online saying so, I think there may be a connection between the two books.
Content Warnings: racism, alcoholism, violence, captivity, anxiety, confinement, murder, hanging, and graphic injury.
I feel like it’s becoming a trend but…here is another book I bought, almost a year ago, and finally read…and it was AMAZING!
I’ll be honest, when I first started reading this I was a little worried I wasn’t going to get into it. Luckily, I always like to read at least 25% of a book before I decide whether or not to DNF. Slow start, or at least that’s how I felt, but it really started picking up around 18% [I want to say] and took me on a journey. Reading through this book became heavy at times and I needed to take breaks here and there, for my mental health, to listen to cheerful music or watch something comedic.
Janelle, or Ellie, a black, demi-ace, plus-size teen was easy for me to relate to as was her love of books and music. Media forms, like books and music, have always had a way of changing how I feel, no matter how upset/angry/sad I am a good book or a killer playlist can have me smiling, and laughing, in no time. Personally, I don’t even want to imagine a world lacking music and books that allow us to escape reality, and sometimes help us work through our own reality.
Throughout the book, there are tons of pop culture references which I loved! From classic quotes to song titles to books mentions some just giving us breadcrumbs to guess what they are…I loved it all. I bought a physical copy of this book before I ended my BoTM subscription [I really have too many physical books on my tbr to be on any subscriptions *insert nervous laughter here*] that I plan to go through and highlight all the different references. I love the idea of piecing together a playlist with all the songs they mention throughout the story. I decided to read my Kindle version [yes I’m guilty of being multiple formats before reading] mostly so I could highlight and add my favorite quotes to Goodreads easily.
This story, although overall sad [what with the alien takeover and banning of music/art/books/etc], was filled with a silver lining whether you think of all the pop culture references or the deep connection Ellie and M0Rr1S make over them. I can definitely see myself re-reading this book. I’m also very excited to get my hands on a copy of “The Kindred” as, although I couldn’t find anything online saying so, I think there may be a connection between the two books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Alcoholism
jazdono's review
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
In part 1 of this book, I was really skeptical that I would finish it. The beginning dragged on, and the world building took quite some time. On top of that, it seemed that the author did not subscribe to “show, don’t tell.” Every bit of symbolism and representation was spelled out in a way that seemed like the author just didn’t trust her audience to get it.
However, once I hit Part 2 and the plot picked up, I found myself continuously wanting to keep reading. This was the first time I’d seen this type of representation in books for a lot of the identities that were in it, and I fell in love with the story for that. It was still predictable and there was a lot of telling instead of showing, but the plot and the characters were so heart warming and hopeful that I didn’t really mind.
I did choose this book after doing an online search for “LGBTQ Black stories”, because I have really been searching for diversity as the norm. This book did pretty good normalizing diverse characters without making the diversity the entire story. There were lots of current events and popular media referenced, from police brutality to Love, Simon, giving the book a grounded feeling to accompany its “head in the clouds” premise.
I would recommend this book especially to any middle schooler and high schooler out there who feels a bit lost—like they don’t fit in or like they don’t have a role to play in the world. I wish my younger self had had this book. If you’re older than that, I’d say this book is still worth giving a chance, but expect there to be parts that seem predictable or cringey. Those parts didn’t stop me from enjoying the book and its good moments, though.
However, once I hit Part 2 and the plot picked up, I found myself continuously wanting to keep reading. This was the first time I’d seen this type of representation in books for a lot of the identities that were in it, and I fell in love with the story for that. It was still predictable and there was a lot of telling instead of showing, but the plot and the characters were so heart warming and hopeful that I didn’t really mind.
I did choose this book after doing an online search for “LGBTQ Black stories”, because I have really been searching for diversity as the norm. This book did pretty good normalizing diverse characters without making the diversity the entire story. There were lots of current events and popular media referenced, from police brutality to Love, Simon, giving the book a grounded feeling to accompany its “head in the clouds” premise.
I would recommend this book especially to any middle schooler and high schooler out there who feels a bit lost—like they don’t fit in or like they don’t have a role to play in the world. I wish my younger self had had this book. If you’re older than that, I’d say this book is still worth giving a chance, but expect there to be parts that seem predictable or cringey. Those parts didn’t stop me from enjoying the book and its good moments, though.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Police brutality, Racism, and Murder
brief (non-graphix) mentions of sex, one f-bombreading_between_the_trees's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
For me, this was right book, right time. I needed an escape, and a fast-paced space alien invasion with spot-on social commentary and my favorite trope: fictional music so good you with it were real, was perfect.
I loved the pacing and the characters had some serious flaws that were balanced out by redeeming actions and dire circumstances. That made for an intriguing development of the central relationship. There was ace rep within the relationship too!
The best part of the book though was the secret library! It exactly what would happen if a bookworm went through an alien invasion, and I loved that! It was also such a creative way to have an intertextual conversation with other great books, namely The Hate U Give.
I definitely recommend this one, especially if you're looking for something fast-paced to pull you out of a reading slump.
I loved the pacing and the characters had some serious flaws that were balanced out by redeeming actions and dire circumstances. That made for an intriguing development of the central relationship. There was ace rep within the relationship too!
The best part of the book though was the secret library! It exactly what would happen if a bookworm went through an alien invasion, and I loved that! It was also such a creative way to have an intertextual conversation with other great books, namely The Hate U Give.
I definitely recommend this one, especially if you're looking for something fast-paced to pull you out of a reading slump.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Racism, Murder, Confinement, Violence, and Vomit
dylanlouise's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
The dystopian nature of this book was well-explored and cool. So the romance was only okay for me. I liked the themes of the power of art/music and the casual nonbinary representation, I feel like this could be a duology, to be honest.
Spoiler
Having said that, I was looking forward to having a black ace MC and her falling for a robot/alien fell short for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Dementia