.review – Page 10 – The Constellation of Moon

Chinglish Review

Posted on August 13, 2019

Chinglish: An Almost Entirely True Story by Sue Cheung

Jo Kwan is a teenager growing up in 1980s Coventry with her annoying little sister, too-cool older brother, a series of very unlucky pets and utterly bonkers parents. But unlike the other kids at her new school or her posh cousins, Jo lives above her parents’ Chinese takeaway. And things can be tough – whether it’s unruly customers or the snotty popular girls who bully Jo for being different. Even when she does find a BFF who actually likes Jo for herself, she still has to contend with her erratic dad’s behaviour. All Jo dreams of is breaking free and forging a career as an artist.

Told in diary entries and doodles, Jo’s brilliantly funny observations about life, family and char siu make for a searingly honest portrayal of life on the other side of the takeaway counter.

Rating:

I can’t remember exactly how I heard of this book but it had been on my radar for a few months and I had preordered it. For some reason I didn’t clock in that it had doodles in it *facepalm* so that was a wonderful surprise (and explains the competition of doodling yourself). So this copy came from a competition (as said before) during YALC and I kept trying daily to win it because I had to.

The book is very very funny, and extremely honest. I was giggling at the antics of Jo’s family and the doodles also help make this even better (I found them really cute and they felt like the right type of doodles Jo would do, which is an odd comment but sometimes the doodles are too young or too mature and you struggle to believe the “narrator” made them, but in this book it felt very much like they were hers).

I just have to mention that this book requires a couple of trigger warnings (maybe more than a couple but I can’t remember it all). There is child abuse (non sexual) peppered throughout the story, minors smoking, and abuse/violence in general. It surprised me because I wasn’t sure what to expect but I didn’t feel like I needed the warnings (which I usually do want in other books). Maybe because of the way it was narrated that it didn’t feel like a punch in the gut to move the plot, but more as the title says “an almost entirely true story” and when those happen, it is easier in a way to see where it is going. Anyway, in case you needed them, there you go.

Oh, and also, you may become hungry. I kept wanting Chinese food when they talked about some of it (there’s a lot of talk about chicken’s feet, which reminded me of a shildren’s song in Mexico that talks about eating the beak and the tail of the chicken so yeah, not that far off).

I would recommend it as a quick read, with fun doodles, hope and a window into life in a Chinese takeaway in the 80s (not that this is all takeaways!). I thoroughly enjoyed it and didn’t want to put it down!

Book Review, Books

Gods of Jade and Shadow Review

Posted on August 9, 2019

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-García

The Mayan god of death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this dark, one-of-a-kind fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore.

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own.

Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true.

In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.

Rating:

I am going to do my best to not be a blubbering mess while writing this review. I received a review copy from Jo Fletcher books because I begged to be able to read before publication, but I have the Goldsboro edition ordered (hopefully it will arrive soon) and had preordered a finished copy too (nope, I wasn’t dying to read it, I promise).

So why did I want to read this book so much? Because it is a) own voices, b) México, c) Mayan gods. And it is set in the 1920’s, which is just after the Revolution so it is a country beaming with change and opportunities but also aching in some ways.

There are Latinx books showing more and more, but there are very few fantasy books like this one out there (or the ones I know of are in Spanish and for me, expensive to get unless I go to México).

From the very beginning, Casiopeia’s México is in a way my México, a slightly older and more frayed around the edges, but it is very much the one my greatgrandmother lived in (who was alive during the Revolution and told stories about living through it). Where it stops is that in this story, the Mayan gods are more than just words, they take flesh (I mean I have never seen this happen so I will leave this to fantasy but there are stories of different gods becoming human for a while).

It was an utter delight to read this, the way the mythology becomes reality blends with how México is in general, into the beautiful parts of it and also sometimes into the not so pretty ones too. I’ve been to most of the places Casiopeia goes (except her home town) so it was like taking a trip myself and reliving that, but almost at the same time as time travel.

One of the things this book does perfectly is to display Mexican culture in the way the characters interact. Casiopeia is 100% the real deal, and not a make believe of a Mexican. For example, in the quote above, she’s saying a “sorry” that doesn’t exist in English. In Spanish it is “lo siento mucho”, which is literally “I feel this so much” and it is to convey empathy to say “I am sad for you, I hurt with and for you”. Because at the core, we care. Family, friends, caring, food, they are central to who we are. And you can see that through the whole book.

And this book made me cry. I don’t cry much with books, but I was bawling my eyes out near the end, because it had just dug in deep into me.

I think if you are intrigued by Mayan mythology/gods, México and its culture, and fantastical stories, you should definitely read this. All the characters show different aspects of life in such a country and this is a wonderful representation of it.

I literally want everyone to read this book and then re-read it, and then talk about it and go visit México and each place Casiopeia and Kun-Kamé visit.

Book Review, Books

Our Little Inventor Review

Posted on August 5, 2019

Our Little Inventor by Sher Rill Ng

A gorgeous and inspiring picture book about a young girl, Nell, who invents a machine to fix the pollution that is choking the city.

Rating:

I bought this after seeing (I may be wrong but probably not) Stephanie Burgis comment about it. It is a little on the pricey side, but it is good quality so it kinda balances it out.

We start with little Nell who is busy inventing something to help save the city from pollution and she insists she has to go show it to the people there (she lives far form the city).

When she arrives to the city, it isn’t as easy to be considered important. Nell is just a little girl and the adult men have things to discuss (like the pollution). But Nell doesn’t give up and she goes back to the drawing board (inventing) and works hard to help the city.

The artwork/illustrations are gorgeous and full of detail and I like the invention Nell does. And it encourages children to invent and to try to solve real problems.

What I didn’t like was that the ending was kinda left there without much. At the end I felt like there needed to be more, and there is a back pages illustration that hints at it, but story wise it feels a little incomplete.

Still, a cute book witha girl as the heroine and encouraging to invent and create.

Book Review, Books

The Never Tilting World Review

Posted on August 1, 2019

The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco

Frozen meets Mad Max in this epic teen fantasy duology bursting with star-crossed romance, immortal heroines, and elemental magic, perfect for fans of Furyborn.

Generations of twin goddesses have long ruled Aeon. But seventeen years ago, one sister’s betrayal defied an ancient prophecy and split their world in two. The planet ceased to spin, and a Great Abyss now divides two realms: one cloaked in perpetual night, the other scorched by an unrelenting sun.

While one sister rules Aranth—a frozen city surrounded by a storm-wracked sea —her twin inhabits the sand-locked Golden City. Each goddess has raised a daughter, and each keeps her own secrets about her sister’s betrayal.

But when shadowy forces begin to call their daughters, Odessa and Haidee, back to the site of the Breaking, the two young goddesses —along with a powerful healer from Aranth, and a mouthy desert scavenger —set out on separate journeys across treacherous wastelands, desperate to heal their broken world. No matter the sacrifice it demands.

Rating:

This is my first book from Rin but the premise sounded amazing and when Harper360 sent the email for proof requests I couldn’t help myself. (This is a proof provided by Harper for free, though they would prefer if I can review it but that definitely doesn’t shape my views)

I am very glad I chose it. This felt like a fairytale plus meet cute plus crazy epic adventure and mystical touches. In my head this was like a darker grown up sibling of The Spinner of Dreams (like the teenage sibling of it).

We get the story from four viewpoints, which would usually drive me MAD. But because the voices are telling two stories that will merge into one, this was easier (and probably it was due to the voices being distintc enough but not too much to break continuity). At the beginning I was totally team Odessa and Lan over Haidee and Arjun. But as the story progressed I ended up switching who my favourite couple was. (And to be fair I could see myself more in Haidee than I did in Odessa).

The middle of the book is a bit slow and feels like filling to add worldbuilding and a bit of extra intrigue, and the other thing that reduced it’s rating was that the ending isn’t a good ending (and I don’t mean I was expecting a Happy Ever After one, I know it’s a duology(?)). What I mean is that there is a LOT of mysteries they are working on finding and solving once they arrive at the Great Abyss, and most of it doesn’t get an answer and instead you end up with even more questions (plus I couldn’t believe much on Odessa’s reactions on the end, Haidee had a good build up to the what/why, whereas Odessa had no reason/motive or anything to do what she did).

Obviously, this is a proof so the final copy may have this better (also to note, there are grammar errors but I don’t usually mark those as 99% of the time they get picked up before final print). I just wish that the next book was complete because I wanted to read it after I had finished this one.

Book Review

Persepolis Review

Posted on July 28, 2019

Another mini review, because I saw a snippet out of this book and it made me laugh so I chose to buy it (yeah, the reasons that make me buy books are very varied) and because I am still at YALC doing bookish stuff.

Persepolis is a book that is a comic collection. And it is a story in comics. Plus it is an autobiography. I know a lot of things in one single book.

And because it is so many things, most of it was a great interesting read, either because I was learning something about Iran/Persia or because it was funny. But some of those parts also were a bit odd, slice of life that I just didn’t connect or found relevant (but that’s me and this is a biography type of thing so yeah).

It was a quick read as it is made of short comics as mini episodes of her life, so you can stop, get a dirnk or a snack and keep going without loosing much, lots of pause points. And in itself you don’t have to remember a LOT of stuff or anything. You could basically open the book anywhere and as long as it is the start of that comic, you’re totally fine to go. (Yeah you may miss some nuance, but it won’t detract from it). So that’s a good plus for this little book.

The biggest issue I had with this (just for the record, biggest issue is just to say what bugged me most but it doesn’t mean the book is bad just what I noticed most as a con) nis that sometimes it rambles poetically, and it kinda ends too soon. But it was an easy interesting read for me.

Book Review, Books

The Poppy War Review

Posted on July 24, 2019

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

When Rin aced the Keju, the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies, it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard, the most elite military school in Nikan, was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.

Rating:

This is a powerful brutal book and I freaking loved it.

Rin is a war orphan and well, she does her bes tot get a scholarship to a school to avoid getting married off to an old man just so her foster family can kinda get rid of her and “sell” her well (money talks). So she manages that and goes to military school.

The best thing about this book is that it has many of the things I love in general and in books. One of them is the whole “this happens in a school” (which is part of the first part and the second part of the book). There is also a lot of military, fighting and strategy information, which I love very much (we watch documentaries on tanks, on spies, on guns, on military strategy, on yeah… you get the gist I will stop here, the point is that reading her training made me very happy).

And then we have the bonus of weird magic that is powered by a mysterious thing (because spoilers, though I did guess what it was but nevermind) or drugs (while reading this I couldn’t help but feel like I was back in Mexico and also about Carlos Castañeda’s books). Lore is what they call it.

Now this is where I would like to discuss all the spoilers and all that stuff but I really shouldn’t. I have to say, only one of the twists surprised me. This usually means I enjoy the book a little less, but not for this one. It just made it good because it wasn’t the goal that meant it but rather the “how we got there” and it was a glorious brutal journey.

This is also a great example of how side characters aren’t there just for the sake of, and they all exist as individuals. Plus Rin is a little bit of a bad person and you hate her sometimes (you also love her at times) and this doesn’t make you want to throw the book at the wall and give up. My uttermost respects to Miss Kuang for pulling such an amazing story and giving it layer over layer of information. This also includes the historical nuance.

As a bit to know, there is self harm in it (burning), there is obviously a LOT of violence and gore, implied rape and dehumanization, amongst many other vile things (I can’t even remember them all) so this isn’t a fluffy light book. But despite all the hard stuff, it was an amazing read.

Book Review

Blog Tour: The Rage of Dragons

Posted on July 22, 2019

How many dragons can I try to fit around the book, that aren’t more books? Not Enough!

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

Game of Thrones meets Gladiator in this debut epic fantasy about a world caught in an eternal war, and the young man who will become his people’s only hope for survival.

The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for almost two hundred years. Their society has been built around war and only war. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.

Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He’s going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn’t get the chance. Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He’ll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.

Rating:

I don’t remember much about Gladiator, but I do about Game of Thrones. I didn’t like the books, the show was “better”. So I wasn’t too happy with comparing this to Game of Thrones, but it is a better book than Game of Thrones.

Why? The best way to describe this book is it is a man book ready to fight and to become a dragon. The writing is fast paced and you move from action to action, with very little “slow scenes” (and even those feel kinda fast, or at least, well paced, you never feel like you’re falling asleep reading this book).

Tau is an interesting hero. The first few chapters he seemed a bit bland to me and I prefered other characters, but as we we go from a wide focus (where Tau is and his surroundings) to a more specific focus (Tau and his quest for revenge), he becomes better defined.

I have to say, he is a flawed hero and that was interesting to read and sometimes frustrating. There were many times I was like “Why Tau, why?!”

On the not so good side is that this book contains a lot of battle gore. And despite the fact that the society is female centered with women being in power, we still get rape (which didn’t resonate with how important women are, nor how valuable having a Gifted is) and barely any woman. Most of the female characters are there to advance the plot for the man focused view. (A love interest, someone to be raped to show how horrendous the world is, and the prologue which is probably the best female character).

There is also the fact that the worldbuilding dunks you in and it takes a very long time to get used to this world. There are also elements of racism and “class” division. (Why are the hedeni so bad? It is THEIR land you’re trying to conquer, and they have Gifts too, more than the Chosen do).

I’d say this is a man book or one for those wanting a lot of battle action, lots of grunting and training, and not so many dragons (very disappointed because the title is all about Dragons).

Book Review

Teen Titans Raven Review

Posted on July 21, 2019

Teen Titans Raven by Kami Garcia; Illustrated by Gabriel Picolo

When a tragic accident takes the life of 17-year-old Raven Roth’s foster mom–and Raven’s memory–she moves to New Orleans to recover and finish her senior year of high school.

Starting over isn’t easy. Raven remembers everyday stuff like how to solve math equations and make pasta, but she can’t remember her favorite song or who she was before the accident. And when impossible things start happening, Raven begins to think it might even be better not to know who she was before.

But as she grows closer to her new friends, her foster sister, Max, and Tommy Torres, a guy who accepts her for who she is now, Raven has to decide if she’s ready to face what’s buried in the past…and the darkness building inside her.

Rating:

Let me start this by saying that when I heard Picolo was illustrating this book I knew I had to have it. Plus, I grew up watching Teen Titans on Cartoon Network so there was also that.

I’ve been following Picolo since he started his very first 365 doodle challenge (at the time I was in my third or fourth year of daily drawing challenge) on Deviantart (before I left, but I was already almost gone from there). And still follow him on social media. So yes, I really enjoy his art.

Which brings me to my rating. To be honest, the only reason this book gets 4 stars is because of the art. The story is bad.

Wait, what?! Yes, the story is bad. It is weak. This is Raven! And what we get is a poorly written story, something that feels amateur for comics (my personal take is that Kami knows how to write a novel/books, but that doesn’t mean it translates well to graphic novels). It tries SO hard to keep the suspense and make Raven even more mysterious than she is, while making her extra moody and annoyed, that you get annoyed at her and want to throw the book at a wall. (As per above, I didn’t throw it at a wall because the art is my jam).

I mean, if you go see Picolo’s instagram and stuff, there’s TONS of Teen Titans fanart. And those tell a better story than this book (in a single image, the whole “a picture is worth a thousand words” definitely applies here).

In summary, art carries the story which is weak and suffers from pacing, information delivery and “ohh mysterious mystery won’t tell you anything then info dump it on you at the end because I forgot there was all of this you needed to know for it to make sense” issues. I think Raven deserved more. And I want all of the Teen Titans illustrated by Picolo <3

Book Review

Skyward Review

Posted on July 19, 2019

Informal review, because today’s my birthday. And I thought I’d review the earliest birthday gift I received this year, by a lovely twitter peep who granted me a birthday wish.

Skyward was fun to read, and it went by very quickly from a chirpy kinda thing to a more dramatic one. I did enjoy a lot the way humans adapt to the low gravity environment (I mean, there’s a lot of other things that wouldn’t work but not going into the nitty gritty, this is a comic).

There are many creaive ways of “moving” and of staying “grounded” rather than being blow away by a movement that would propel you out of the atmosphere. I guess the best way of describing it is having the same atronaut “space” feel but all here on Earth without the “oxygen tank and protection from stuff” problems real space has.

I enjoyed it a lot and it was a good thing to read on a day I was feeling sad and a bit in too much pain (I don’t talk to much about pain, but that’s a journey too long to say here). So thank you very much! I can’t wait to get the next volume!

As for my birthday baloon day, it’s going to just another day. Work, then I treated myself to an aerial sling class, then a haircut/dye.

What do I want from this next year? I want to strengthen my body slowly, to cope better with the causes of my pain (I can only manage it, not fix it). Do more art, I haven’t done much art this last year as I changed jobs and then planned a wedding (it takes SO much of your time). I also want another critter…

Book Review

You Can’t Hide Review

Posted on July 17, 2019

You Can’t Hide by Sarah Mussi

When Lexi wakes up in the Hudson Medical Center, barely in one piece, she is unable to recall how she got there.

Nobody seems to be able to tell her.

Disturbing memories haunt her daylight hours. Nightmares stalk her sleep.
With huge unanswered questions, like where is her Mom – why doesn’t she visit? What’s happened to her boyfriend Finn – and who is this friend, Crystal, who visits her a lot and of whom she has no recollection? Lexi sets out to discover what’s happened.

But the more she searches for answers, the deeper and darker the mystery gets.

And as she begins to piece the fragments together, she remembers one thing: I MUST HIDE FROM CHARLIE.

But the question is: who is Charlie? And is he still out there?

Rating:

I will start by saying that this book requires trigger warnings: domestic abuse, violence, sexual content, gaslighting and similar. (Also mentions amnesia due to an accident)

This review will include small spoilers (not the two main plot things) so decide to read ahead at your own peril.

This is a tough book. Lexi has woken up int he hospital and starts to try to write down to Finn about what is happening. She’s forgotten why she’s in an accident but one thing she hasn’t forgotten at all is that there is imminent danger and that she may not be safe even in the hospital.

To try to help herself recover those memories, she backtracks to the moment they arrived to the US from the UK after having fled from her abusive father (they being her and her mum). And throughout what Lexi writes of her memories after the exodus (as she titles it) we also get flashback scenes on things that happened when she was younger.

The flashbacks can be a little brutal, and many brought memories to my mind, so do be careful when reading this to be prepared (the book doesn’t throw stuff without building up to it). But it was well done, and as we unravel what is happening and what is true and what isn’t things aren’t as clear as they seem.

One of the things that reduced stars for me from this is that Lexi stalls and does a lot of descriptions. I understand this is because that’s probably what someone with amnesia might do as they are anchors. But it became boring and I would skip a lot of her “in the US” descriptions (you don’t miss much).

Probably the best part is her trying to be a stronger self, one that isn’t bullied and pushed like her mother and like herself when they lived int eh same house as her father. That was interesting as was the build up to how they escape, and the build up to what the danger is.

All in all, if you can and want to read this book, it is very brutal and very honest, and does a good picture of domestic violence (and why it is hard to leave, why you don’t see it until it is too late, etc).