thatgirlwiththeteapot's review against another edition
3.0
I love Francesca's writing, but this is the first book I've read by her that didn't have a concise ending. Unlike "Love In The Time Of Global Warming", this book leaves the story ending with an unfinished feeling, like it need to be thirty pages longer to tie up a few more loose ends.
florrr12's review against another edition
4.0
Absolutely adored, i was afraid this book wouldn't meet the standards i gave it or add up to how much i enjoyed the first book but boy was i wrong!! highly recommend but do read the first book before this one.
pokewhat's review against another edition
4.0
Island of Excess Love maintains the charm and magical world of the first book, but is not as good. The ending particularly feels rushed and not closure-y enough.
library_love's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
ewil6681's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
wrenlee's review against another edition
2.0
Welcome to Book City
Date: November 21, 2014
Spoilers Ahead
Headline
The Island of Excess Love
Francesca Lia Block
Pen has lost her parents. She’s lost her eye. But she has fought Kronen; she has won back her fragile friends and her beloved brother. Now Pen, Hex, Ash, Ez, and Venice are living in the pink house by the sea, getting by on hard work, companionship, and dreams. Until the day a foreboding ship appears in the harbor across from their home. As soon as the ship arrives, they all start having strange visions of destruction and violence. Trance-like, they head for the ship and their new battles begin.
This companion to Love in the Time of Global Warming follows Pen as she searches for love among the ruins, this time using Virgil’s epic Aeneid as her guide. A powerful and stunning book filled with Francesca Lia Block’s beautiful language and inspiring characters.
City Calendar:
This is what happened during the week.
Ship arrives at the house. Merk arrives with it. Pen, Ash, Ez, Hex, and Ven go on the ship. They, except Ven, see their worst nightmare. They flee. Bull the Giant Pen blinded comes. All of them go on the ship. They set sail. The ship crashes. Pen and Hex see dead versions of themselves and bury them. They are found by three harpies who take them to a king who claims Pen's his queen. They meet with their friends. Hex goes to sleep early and disappears. The king and Pen hang out with their friends. Hex leaves a note after Pen and the king see his magical orchids. The king takes Pen to bed. The king is burned to death by the harpies. The harpies attack Pen and her friends as they flee. They find Hex. They flee on a boat. They arrive at an island. Pen finds a young girl who takes them to the queen of the shades. Pen meets her friends. The dead king bargains for their freedom. They escape with Hex following them even though Pen thought he wouldn't. Pen tells a story, bridging the gap between her and Hex. The two start to make up. The group go home.
And that's what happened this week.
Personal Ads:
Penelope.
Storyteller. Brave. Lover to Hex. Cheater. Sees future and past. Loves her friends and family. Cares for people. Will do what she needs to to protect her family.
Opinions:
This book has magic. The magic is captivating. It is exciting. You don't always get magic like this. It does have problems, though. Some of it seems to be ignored. The magic all of the people who survived gained is one. I wish the elemental magic was more touched upon.
I also like the developing Pen. She develops. She is braver. She cares more. This book shows that. I like that. She was a bit dull earlier in the series.
I don't like the romance and the sex. I didn't like the romance to begin with. It just seems rushed and confusing. The chemistry is there, but I don't see the basis. And the sex? That's too much. They're everywhere. With Hex. With Dylan the king. There are too many. Could this book be a bit more censored?
I also don't like the rushed plot. The plot could be slower. More evenly paced. I feel like drama is thrown at you constantly. Sometimes it's okay. Sometimes it's not. It's the latter in this book's case.
Weather:
Cloudy with a 50% chance of rain
2.5/5
Date: November 21, 2014
Spoilers Ahead
Headline
The Island of Excess Love
Francesca Lia Block
Pen has lost her parents. She’s lost her eye. But she has fought Kronen; she has won back her fragile friends and her beloved brother. Now Pen, Hex, Ash, Ez, and Venice are living in the pink house by the sea, getting by on hard work, companionship, and dreams. Until the day a foreboding ship appears in the harbor across from their home. As soon as the ship arrives, they all start having strange visions of destruction and violence. Trance-like, they head for the ship and their new battles begin.
This companion to Love in the Time of Global Warming follows Pen as she searches for love among the ruins, this time using Virgil’s epic Aeneid as her guide. A powerful and stunning book filled with Francesca Lia Block’s beautiful language and inspiring characters.
City Calendar:
This is what happened during the week.
Ship arrives at the house. Merk arrives with it. Pen, Ash, Ez, Hex, and Ven go on the ship. They, except Ven, see their worst nightmare. They flee. Bull the Giant Pen blinded comes. All of them go on the ship. They set sail. The ship crashes. Pen and Hex see dead versions of themselves and bury them. They are found by three harpies who take them to a king who claims Pen's his queen. They meet with their friends. Hex goes to sleep early and disappears. The king and Pen hang out with their friends. Hex leaves a note after Pen and the king see his magical orchids. The king takes Pen to bed. The king is burned to death by the harpies. The harpies attack Pen and her friends as they flee. They find Hex. They flee on a boat. They arrive at an island. Pen finds a young girl who takes them to the queen of the shades. Pen meets her friends. The dead king bargains for their freedom. They escape with Hex following them even though Pen thought he wouldn't. Pen tells a story, bridging the gap between her and Hex. The two start to make up. The group go home.
And that's what happened this week.
Personal Ads:
Penelope.
Storyteller. Brave. Lover to Hex. Cheater. Sees future and past. Loves her friends and family. Cares for people. Will do what she needs to to protect her family.
Opinions:
This book has magic. The magic is captivating. It is exciting. You don't always get magic like this. It does have problems, though. Some of it seems to be ignored. The magic all of the people who survived gained is one. I wish the elemental magic was more touched upon.
I also like the developing Pen. She develops. She is braver. She cares more. This book shows that. I like that. She was a bit dull earlier in the series.
I don't like the romance and the sex. I didn't like the romance to begin with. It just seems rushed and confusing. The chemistry is there, but I don't see the basis. And the sex? That's too much. They're everywhere. With Hex. With Dylan the king. There are too many. Could this book be a bit more censored?
I also don't like the rushed plot. The plot could be slower. More evenly paced. I feel like drama is thrown at you constantly. Sometimes it's okay. Sometimes it's not. It's the latter in this book's case.
Weather:
Cloudy with a 50% chance of rain
2.5/5
plumeriade's review against another edition
1.0
i couldn't give this 1 star because i really, really love how FLB writes. it's good regardless of how much i hate the actual story, lmao.
edit: i slept on it and this homophobic, transphobic, rape-apologist mess is a 1 star.
i can't get over what the message of this sequel is. i'm furious honestly. wtf, FLB?!
edit: i slept on it and this homophobic, transphobic, rape-apologist mess is a 1 star.
i can't get over what the message of this sequel is. i'm furious honestly.
Spoiler
basically, Pen is raped (she is literally magic-enchanted and drunk, and a man has sex with her--and i can't remember if she specifically identifies as anything in the first book but RIGHT BEFORE this happens she says she's never desired a [cis] man before, and her mind protests that she's betraying Hex but this man verbally gets inside her head and tells her they're meant to be together, she's REALLY CLEARLY being magically manipulated). but it's not treated like that-- first of all the sex is implicitly described as being better than what she had with Hex. and it's treated as a dumb mistake she made that hurts her boyfriend and she apologizes so much for it and it essentially breaks them up and i'm just so mad. OH AND did i mention she gets pregnant from that and there's no question about whether or not she keeps the baby? not even a split second "hm this guy manipulated me and now i'm pregnant and this child is going to come into a world where giants eat people, maybe i should consider not having it"?drmuenke's review against another edition
2.0
I struggle to review this book. As a stand-alone I would have liked it much more, but as the second book in a duology, it didn’t work for me. The first book follows Homer’s Odyssey and this mirrors Virgil’s Aeneid. Shifting the characters roles from the Odyssey to the Aeneid didn’t fit. It left me wishing they would have been separate books with separate characters.
dreamofbookspines's review against another edition
5.0
CW: transphobia (type: misgendering).
Up front disclosure: I like this book less than Love in the Time of Global Warming. This is primarily because of the transphobic...thing? that happens. So at one point, Pen is thinking of sleeping with another guy, while she identifies Hex (a trans guy) as her lover. So she's already slept with a guy (Hex). There's a line about "she'd never slept with a guy before" when thinking about sleeping with the other guy. DING DING DING INCORRECT. Would've been fine if Block had written "she'd never slept with a cis* guy before". This bugged me. Not enough to ruin the entire book but your mileage may vary.
In some ways, this book is more depressing than Love in the Time of Global Warming. Poor Pen spends way more of this book in pain. Not unnecessarily - it fits the story - it's just a lot heavier than the first book. Still really good though, minus language issue mentioned above.
* Cis means "not trans". So if you were born with a vagina and you identify as a woman/girl, you're cis.
Up front disclosure: I like this book less than Love in the Time of Global Warming. This is primarily because of the transphobic...thing? that happens. So at one point, Pen is thinking of sleeping with another guy, while she identifies Hex (a trans guy) as her lover. So she's already slept with a guy (Hex). There's a line about "she'd never slept with a guy before" when thinking about sleeping with the other guy. DING DING DING INCORRECT. Would've been fine if Block had written "she'd never slept with a cis* guy before". This bugged me. Not enough to ruin the entire book but your mileage may vary.
In some ways, this book is more depressing than Love in the Time of Global Warming. Poor Pen spends way more of this book in pain. Not unnecessarily - it fits the story - it's just a lot heavier than the first book. Still really good though, minus language issue mentioned above.
* Cis means "not trans". So if you were born with a vagina and you identify as a woman/girl, you're cis.
thehmkane's review against another edition
5.0
It's gonna take me a long time to recover from this book, I think. I need a sequel, like, immediately. I care so much about these characters, I love the mythology references, and reading this book and its predecessor is like a dream. I highly recommend this to fans of post-apocalyptic and fantasy, but really to anyone looking for an excellent, quick read. Pen is an outstanding heroine, in part because she is fallible; she's not up on a pedestal for us to worship and adore, but more like we would be in her shoes.
This book hits a lot of diversity points, too. The main character has a disability, and pretty much everyone is queer and/or not white, canonically.
This book hits a lot of diversity points, too. The main character has a disability, and pretty much everyone is queer and/or not white, canonically.