Scan barcode
halfcactus's reviews
77 reviews
Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino
4.0
I don't always agree with her, but these are all excellent and well-structured essays that have shaped some of my conversations. It's just nice to read longform pieces about pop culture that aren't about specific shows/books. Worth owning in hard copy (I only borrowed my friend's copy).
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
4.5
Never got to write about my thoughts about it, but I loved this novella, it's so captivating. I like it so much better than the first, but more than that, I think it enhances the first since it just works so well as a series. I hope there's more!
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
3.0
I found this nice but mostly just okay. I'm not sure if the novella length/structure worked for or against the story. The cover's really pretty though.
You Are My Glory by Gu Man
...I didn't read the novel extras, only the 37 main novel chapters, does that count as finishing the book???? Not sure if I want to, but maybe I should.....
Thoughts:
- characters are 30 y/o, and act like it!
- loved the FL, she’s v mature, self-sufficient, and has her life together.
- i loved everything up to the e-sports tournament, but kinda lost interest after—i didn’t really care much about the ML’s POV or the get-together.
- there were great scenes about being an adult and not having your life together enough for emergencies & family situations, it really touched a nerve
- i didn’t think the ML had enough personality for me to care about his character growth. but i liked how he was always so supportive & happy of the FL.
- overall, a cute and short romance
3.5
“……”翟亮忽然想起一个重要问题，“对了，棉花漂不漂亮？”
于途这回沉思了一下，回答他：“大街上随处可见吧。”
...I didn't read the novel extras, only the 37 main novel chapters, does that count as finishing the book???? Not sure if I want to, but maybe I should.....
Thoughts:
- characters are 30 y/o, and act like it!
- loved the FL, she’s v mature, self-sufficient, and has her life together.
- i loved everything up to the e-sports tournament, but kinda lost interest after—i didn’t really care much about the ML’s POV or the get-together.
- there were great scenes about being an adult and not having your life together enough for emergencies & family situations, it really touched a nerve
- i didn’t think the ML had enough personality for me to care about his character growth. but i liked how he was always so supportive & happy of the FL.
- overall, a cute and short romance
“没事，虚惊一场。”于途垂下眼睛，“但是我无法不去想，如果有事呢？我有没有能力给她最好的医疗？”
他自嘲地自问自答，“我没有。我明明可以有，但是我没有。”
一瞬间乔晶晶差点想说，我可以帮你。但是她知道这话绝对不可以说。好了一会，她问：“那你接下来打算去做什么？”
“投行吧。”
不过到底他本科的专业也荒废了很多年，一切都要从头开始。他笑了笑，声音有些沉郁和自嘲，“我从小自负聪明，结果人到三十，一事无成。”
乔晶晶停下脚步，看着他，一时说不出话来。
于途站了一会，说：“走吧，很晚了。”
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
3.0
This is pretty much an adult novel packaged/marketed as YA—I refuse to believe the characters are teenagers, so I age them all up in my head. I found the banter/het romances kind of flat (I firmly believe that the women are too good for the men), not to mention it has both its women be in the exotic prostitutes line of work... :/ I do like some of the characters (Nina and Jasper are particularly interesting to me), I just feel like the writing doesn't get there yet. Maybe in the next book?
On the other hand, the author seems to have a GREAT hand at hurt/comfort tropes, and there are a couple of scenes in the first half of the novel that went straight to my id.
On the other hand, the author seems to have a GREAT hand at hurt/comfort tropes, and there are a couple of scenes in the first half of the novel that went straight to my id.
Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
sad
4.0
"Who wouldn't?" Khiruev said. "The day we stop having second thoughts is the day we've lost."
"Pretty words," Brezan said, "but they won't do a damn thing for the people who die."
This book wrecked me, and I think the multiple POVs really come together and let you see the full landscape of sadness. I struggled a lot with the momentum of the 2nd and 3rd books, but ultimately I love seeing characters through different perspectives, and I loved that they each had different principles and philosophies and behaved accordingly. I'm not sure I understood the plot of this series but I loved the internal consistency. And even though the writing can sometimes feel clinical, the emotional impact really gets through.
I Ship My Adversary x Me by PEPA
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
This is such a cute and feel-good rom-com where nothing bad truly happens. It's only around 50 chapters, and you pick up a lot of net slang from reading it. XD It did hit my embarrassment squick a few times with the protagonist being such an embarrassing disaster (and the love interest turning out to be just as much as a disaster), but it's otherwise a really funny read. I didn't expect to like the Gu Yiliang (love interest) as much as I did, but he turns out to be very sweet and very vulnerable—he and Wei Yanzi (protagonist) start out at different points of their emotional arcs, with Wei Yanzi already having resolved any personal issues he may have, while Gu Yiliang is still in the process of growth and the novel ends when he completes the arc.
The characters have a really good dynamic where they are each other's first male relationship, and their insecurities complement each other's. They go through a lot of power shifts and role reversals in the course of the story, which is nice!
The one thing I don't like about the book is how the cat is just a plot device. It disappears when it's served its function, and it still bothers me. :/
I also highly recommend the radio drama adaptation, which is just as charming and with the added enhancement of an outsider's perspective of the romance. It also has a very... unique way of presenting NSFW scenes haha.
The characters have a really good dynamic where they are each other's first male relationship, and their insecurities complement each other's. They go through a lot of power shifts and role reversals in the course of the story, which is nice!
The one thing I don't like about the book is how the cat is just a plot device. It disappears when it's served its function, and it still bothers me. :/
I also highly recommend the radio drama adaptation, which is just as charming and with the added enhancement of an outsider's perspective of the romance. It also has a very... unique way of presenting NSFW scenes haha.
Guardian by priest
That which we call fate isn't an invisible force that can bind you to a single destination. Rather, it is the moment when you know that there are millions of choices stretching infinitely in front of you, but there's only one path you'll ever take.
I would say that this novel is very much a conceptual and character-driven one. The structure of its writing doesn't really let it fall into either the fantasy or romance genre, as there's a huge tonal shift in the middle that I feel leaves both romance and fantasy unfulfilled. (Which may or may not be the point! But doesn't discount the rocky pacing and the number of details that were lovingly set up then set aside.)
The first half of the novel is an urban fantasy/supernatural procedural, with some hilarious adult romance and team dynamics--this is what I read the novel for! There are huge pacing issues (after the 1st arc, there are 10 chapters of plot not advancing), but I loved this so much! The urban fantasy details are lovely: Zhao Yunlan burning a talisman into a teacup so a cup appears in the Ghost Executioner's hand. A human-sized paperman with a painted-on mouth sliding under Yunlan's windowsill to deliver a message. A miraculous flower blooming from decay, only to be mindlessly crushed under the Ghost Executioner's heel. The skeleton puppet that's trying its best. :(((((( The subplots for the first two arcs are vicious and sad, but off-set by the team shenanigans. (My favorite dynamic is Chu Shuzhi and Zhao Yunlan, because they both work so well together, even though Chu Shuzhi fantasizes a lot about killing Yunlan who, unfortunately, is too well-connected to all three realms to be his prey. XD)
The third arc pivots into the mythological arc, which is heavy on infodumps. It may just be that I'm not very familiar with Chinese mythology, but I found this entire storyline too convoluted. (Also, this was way too difficult for me and my pop-up dictionary to parse, haha. All of it went over my head. I also wasn't able to follow how the 鎮魂令, which Yunlan uses as weapon, was established.) At this point, the modern-day elements fall away, as the focus is on Yunlan and Shen Wei's romantic relationship, as well as their past.
The most interesting part of this novel for me is how it positions Shen Wei's character. Zhao Yunlan is definitely the protagonist: you follow his life and see the different parts of his personality refract against each other. He's a roguish introvert who's very good at both the supernatural, physical, and social parts of his job, and he's very, very good at getting what he wants. But on his days off, he's a disaster hermit who can barely feed himself.
Meanwhile, Shen Wei is the 5,000-year-old Executioner of Souls. You don't get to see the full breadth of his experiences, but you get to see how his arc begins and ends. Shen Wei is written as both love interest and antagonist. He doesn't actively harm Zhao Yunlan, but when he sabotages himself, he sabotages both of them. Born from the ghost clan, he's bound to his instincts of hunger and loathing. Over time, he's managed to "control" his urges, but the selfishness and the loathing (for his own kind, and by extension, himself) go beyond physical restraint. He's "fated" by his inhuman nature. The only way to get a happy ending is for him to lose and, in so doing, free himself from his fate. This was really nice!
(There also appears to be another metaphor about Shen Wei living on someone else's light and warping his darkness around it, and him needing to finally carry his own light.)
That said, I still don't really understand why and how Yunlan loves Shen Wei to give up so much for him?? Maybe it's just his nature to be good and forgiving and selfless. Conceptually it makes sense, and I do love their interactions, but romantically it doesn't really fall into place for me, like I feel like I'm missing a step???
Other notes:
- POV: For most of the novel, it's a very omnisicent POV that hops from head to head at a dizzying pace (you can tell whose POV you're reading from because the character voices are pretty distinct). But once it shifts towards mythological half, it pulls you back and leaves you in Zhao Yunlan's POV as he figures out what he's going on. Shen Wei, whose longings have been so deeply transparent, becomes opaque. (I can't tell if this was a conscious decision of the writer, or if she just settled into it lol.)
- I feel like the novel spends a lot of time talking about the Ghost Executioner's scent and the coldness that comes with his arrival, and then... after he and Yunlan get together, it just stops being a thing?
- Probably my favorite character is Chu Shuzhi because he's so fun??? He's a very powerful cultivator of the undead(?) path who pays close attention to the stock market. He hates his boss but is highly professional about it, except when his love life is involved. :D He has mad respect for the mysteriously powerful Professor Shen and gets so excited to do his best to make a good net for Shen Wei to see. :D He's definitely not a people person, but sometimes he gets lonely and he secretly just wants to gossip. :D
- The pre-relationship stages were so funny because ZYL's POV was all about how he was pervertedly touching Shen Wei with his perverted hands, while Shen Wei's POV was all about his poignant and powerful bursts of yearning that occasionally fall sideways into vore fantasies.
3.5
Still trying to figure out how I feel about this, so this review might not make sense. XD
ch87:
ch87:
所谓命运，其实并不是什么神神叨叨的殊归同途，其实也并没有什么东西在暗地里束缚着你，而是某一时刻，你明知道自己有千万种选择，可上天也可入地，却永远只会选择那一条路。
That which we call fate isn't an invisible force that can bind you to a single destination. Rather, it is the moment when you know that there are millions of choices stretching infinitely in front of you, but there's only one path you'll ever take.
I would say that this novel is very much a conceptual and character-driven one. The structure of its writing doesn't really let it fall into either the fantasy or romance genre, as there's a huge tonal shift in the middle that I feel leaves both romance and fantasy unfulfilled. (Which may or may not be the point! But doesn't discount the rocky pacing and the number of details that were lovingly set up then set aside.)
The first half of the novel is an urban fantasy/supernatural procedural, with some hilarious adult romance and team dynamics--this is what I read the novel for! There are huge pacing issues (after the 1st arc, there are 10 chapters of plot not advancing), but I loved this so much! The urban fantasy details are lovely: Zhao Yunlan burning a talisman into a teacup so a cup appears in the Ghost Executioner's hand. A human-sized paperman with a painted-on mouth sliding under Yunlan's windowsill to deliver a message. A miraculous flower blooming from decay, only to be mindlessly crushed under the Ghost Executioner's heel. The skeleton puppet that's trying its best. :(((((( The subplots for the first two arcs are vicious and sad, but off-set by the team shenanigans. (My favorite dynamic is Chu Shuzhi and Zhao Yunlan, because they both work so well together, even though Chu Shuzhi fantasizes a lot about killing Yunlan who, unfortunately, is too well-connected to all three realms to be his prey. XD)
The third arc pivots into the mythological arc, which is heavy on infodumps. It may just be that I'm not very familiar with Chinese mythology, but I found this entire storyline too convoluted. (Also, this was way too difficult for me and my pop-up dictionary to parse, haha. All of it went over my head. I also wasn't able to follow how the 鎮魂令, which Yunlan uses as weapon, was established.) At this point, the modern-day elements fall away, as the focus is on Yunlan and Shen Wei's romantic relationship, as well as their past.
The most interesting part of this novel for me is how it positions Shen Wei's character. Zhao Yunlan is definitely the protagonist: you follow his life and see the different parts of his personality refract against each other. He's a roguish introvert who's very good at both the supernatural, physical, and social parts of his job, and he's very, very good at getting what he wants. But on his days off, he's a disaster hermit who can barely feed himself.
Meanwhile, Shen Wei is the 5,000-year-old Executioner of Souls. You don't get to see the full breadth of his experiences, but you get to see how his arc begins and ends. Shen Wei is written as both love interest and antagonist. He doesn't actively harm Zhao Yunlan, but when he sabotages himself, he sabotages both of them. Born from the ghost clan, he's bound to his instincts of hunger and loathing. Over time, he's managed to "control" his urges, but the selfishness and the loathing (for his own kind, and by extension, himself) go beyond physical restraint. He's "fated" by his inhuman nature. The only way to get a happy ending is for him to lose and, in so doing, free himself from his fate. This was really nice!
(There also appears to be another metaphor about Shen Wei living on someone else's light and warping his darkness around it, and him needing to finally carry his own light.)
That said, I still don't really understand why and how Yunlan loves Shen Wei to give up so much for him?? Maybe it's just his nature to be good and forgiving and selfless. Conceptually it makes sense, and I do love their interactions, but romantically it doesn't really fall into place for me, like I feel like I'm missing a step???
Other notes:
- POV: For most of the novel, it's a very omnisicent POV that hops from head to head at a dizzying pace (you can tell whose POV you're reading from because the character voices are pretty distinct). But once it shifts towards mythological half, it pulls you back and leaves you in Zhao Yunlan's POV as he figures out what he's going on. Shen Wei, whose longings have been so deeply transparent, becomes opaque. (I can't tell if this was a conscious decision of the writer, or if she just settled into it lol.)
- I feel like the novel spends a lot of time talking about the Ghost Executioner's scent and the coldness that comes with his arrival, and then... after he and Yunlan get together, it just stops being a thing?
- Probably my favorite character is Chu Shuzhi because he's so fun??? He's a very powerful cultivator of the undead(?) path who pays close attention to the stock market. He hates his boss but is highly professional about it, except when his love life is involved. :D He has mad respect for the mysteriously powerful Professor Shen and gets so excited to do his best to make a good net for Shen Wei to see. :D He's definitely not a people person, but sometimes he gets lonely and he secretly just wants to gossip. :D
- The pre-relationship stages were so funny because ZYL's POV was all about how he was pervertedly touching Shen Wei with his perverted hands, while Shen Wei's POV was all about his poignant and powerful bursts of yearning that occasionally fall sideways into vore fantasies.
Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky
sad
4.0
This was a short but very very very difficult read. :( It's a poetry collection that's written with the structure of a stageplay, and it's brilliantly executed but extremely heavy and devastating. As the title suggests, it covers the full spectrum of what deafness means to a people, from unified resistance/rebellion to individualistic selfishness and desensitization. It's very much a story of systemic oppression, how it wears you down and breaks your sense of humanity, how violent silence can be. The opening and ending poems tie you back to the present, reminds you how current these issues still are, no matter where you are.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Violence, and War
Book of My Nights by Li-Young Lee
5.0
Does someone want to know the way to spring?
He’ll remind you
the flower was never meant to survive the fruit’s triumph.