I lied. I was, in fact, not read to be broken. I gave myself a headache from how much I cried. 10/10, though, I recommend this book to everyone.
HonesI lied. I was, in fact, not read to be broken. I gave myself a headache from how much I cried. 10/10, though, I recommend this book to everyone.
Honestly, I don't even know how to describe this book and my feelings on it. I'm not saying it's neceserally a book where it's best to go in without knowing anything, I just don't know where to begin talking about it. I followed the author for a while on TikTok prior to her releasing IFILWH, and my admiration for her is what made me pick up this book. Of course the plot sounded amazing too and I got attatched to the characters even before reading the book due to her videos, but there are many books like that that I want to read and never get to. All these factors made me order it immediately as it went on sale. Hear me out. It was the best decision ever.
"Funny how memory works, isn't it? You remember what is strange more than what is normal. The normal days blend together, but the in between moments stand out."
I fell in love with hope is a story where everyone can find a piece on themselves. The plot follows our group of friends as they battle time and death themselves: Sam, the narrator, Neo, a bad temptered writer bound to a wheelchair, Sony, a girl with a single lung but as wild as fire, Coeur, a gentle giant with a failing heart and Hikari, a girl brighter than the sun.
While I know this book isn't perfect by any means, it is to me. I was able to find myself between the pages of this book, in Neo and Sam, and even Couer at times. Seeing their struggles and what became their day to day life was heartbreaking, but the emotions, everything was so raw and real and the author didn't shy away from the realities of what the characters were going through. Side note, if you follow Lancali on any social media, you probably know this already, but this book is based on her real-life experiences with chronic illness and grief.
"Time, Disease, and Deathare rueful mechanics that way. They enjoy crafting nooses out of fear, and they love playing games. Shadows their dresses, they curve over your shoulder with eerie fingers coaxing you into the dark, taking your body, your mind, and anything they please with it. Time, Disease, and Death are the greatest thieves of the world."
Neo was my favourite character and the character I resonated with the most. Throughout the book, I found myself wanting to protect him. I loved him so much, and just seeing everything that was going on in his life broke me. He deserved so much better, and he will be a character that I will never forget.
I want a friend like Sony, and I honestly want to be more like her. She was this ray of sunshine in all of this. She managed to persevere through everything and was as strong as ever. I'm nothing like her if I'm being completely honest. She is strong and friendly and loud and so kind, and I just know she gave the warmest hugs.
Coeur and his love for music <3 I saw myself in him on that front. I can't really live without music either, and it's such a great way to clear your head. There is so much I want to say about him, yet so little actually comes into coherent thoughts.
Me and Sam are much more alike than I want to admit, but that's a topic for another time. I loved Sam as a narrator. I loved his interactions with everyone, although I think I would have liked to see a bit more of him actually dealing with his emotions instead of just seeing the others. I feel like we got so much more depth when it comes to the other characters, and Sam was slightly forgotten as he was the narrator.
Hikari was the character I couldn't really connect with. I really liked her character in the first half of the book, but as the plot really took a turn and we started nearing the end, I started to have more and more mixed feelings on her character. I think the biggest put off for me was her character dealing with what happened at the very end. It just didn't feel like a natural reaction after everything she's been through. I know I'm being really vague, but I'm trying to make these reviews as spoiler free as possible.
I've never encountered a writing style like this before, but I loved it. It's different, and I was here for it. I actually believe that the writing helped me get even more sucked into the story. I'll be honest, I have a really short attention span, so the uniqueness really helped me. It kept me intrigued the whole time, and it didn't really allow me to get bored or distracted if that makes sense. The story was really beautifully written, and it made me want to improve my own writing too.
Anyway, IFILWH is an amazing story with a great cast of character that deserves a chance. Please look up the trigger warnings before picking up the book, though! Lancali showed her talent and hard work as a writer with this novel, and I'm sure that her books will just get better and better in the future. I'm definitely planning on giving her future works a try.
also, thank you for reading my chaotic review. it's been a while.
"Our ending doesn't belong to us."
______________________________________
i don't think i've been this excited for a book in a long time i'm ready to be broken ...more
i am genuinely stressed not chuuya's first appearance in like 40 chapters being like this, i'm actually in pain anyway, the game between dazai and fyoi am genuinely stressed not chuuya's first appearance in like 40 chapters being like this, i'm actually in pain anyway, the game between dazai and fyodor is gonna be interesting and most likely painful
also, can we talk about how beautiful the cover of this volume is??...more
This one was for sure my favourite. What the fuck just happened? I'm honestly mindblown. Things are slowly starting to tie together as I'm getting neaThis one was for sure my favourite. What the fuck just happened? I'm honestly mindblown. Things are slowly starting to tie together as I'm getting nearer and nearer to finishing this manga and I'm not ready for the end. I'm not ready to be done. I don't want to part with these characters, but my need for answers is too great. As much as I don't want it to be over, I need to know how it will all end and tie together....more
“If nothing lasted and the world did not exist, all that meant was that reality was not fixed. The illusion she lived in was fluid and mutable, and“If nothing lasted and the world did not exist, all that meant was that reality was not fixed. The illusion she lived in was fluid and mutable, and could be easily altered by someone willing to rewrite the script of reality.”
If you have not read this series, you do not know true pain. It's been over two weeks since I finished this and I'm honestly still not okay. This book destroyed me and the thing is, in some ways, The Poppy War was sadder than The Dragon Republic for the most part, but the more we get nearer the end, the more painful this book starts to be. If you think The Poppy War was soul crushing, prepare for this. * evil laughter turns into crying *
Trigger warnings: sexual assault, emotional abuse, physical abuse, violence, gore, torture, addiction, drug use, animal cruelty, child death, racism, war, genocide, death, mutilation, rape, self-harm. *Please keep in mind before reading this that it deals with a lot of heavy topics and you can see that from the pretty long list of trigger warnings. I'm pretty sure there are some TWs that I forgot to mention so if you want to read this, I would recommend looking them up on the internet, maybe find something more in depth, and just see for yourself if you are comfortable with those topics.
The Dragon Republic picks up a few months after the end of previous book and now Rin is on the run. Haunted by the decisions that she made during The Third Poppy War and addicted to opium, Rin only lives for one thing now. Revenge on the Empress who betrayed her and her people and the Dragon Warlord can offer her that. Forced to ally with him so they could unseat the Empress, Rin throws herself into the mission using the power the vengeful god Pheonix has given her, making the only thing she knows how. War.
Reading the sypnopsis, it doesn't sound like something extremely painful could happen. Wrong. This is pretty much as painful, if not more painful than you would expect if you read the first book.
I loved the plot so much. There were times when it felt a bit all over the place and aimless, but from start to finish, I was engaged and just wanted to know what suffering this characters that I love will go through. Aside all this, I loved the plot of this even more than the first one's. I didn't think that was even possible, yet here we are. We follow Rin along her journey as she's struggling with so many things, grief and addiction being two of them.
War is a topic present in the whole series. This whole series just revolves around war and here we see yet another side of war. Where in the first book, we had two nations at war, now we are witnessing a civil war between the Empress and one of the Warlords. Once again, Kuang wants to show us and evidentiate how war is never good. No matter what side of the war you are on, there's no good side. War is war. Not good, but not entirely bad either. History always seems to show us that there is a good side, but no. In order to win a war, there are so many atrocious and terrible things happening, either side doing whatever they can to simply win.
This book makes you ask a lot of question. Like what is evil? Is anything actually evil? All perspectives are different. For example if this story was told from Kitay's POV instead of Rin's we would have already had a different perspective on evil. What Rin sees as evil, Kitay may not and vice versa of course. Nothing can be either good or bad as nothing is black or white. I love how Kuang makes us think about things like this when read her novels as they don't just apply to fiction, but to reality too.
“People will seek to use you or destroy you. If you want to live, you must pick a side. So do not shirk from war, child. Do not flinch from suffering. When you hear screaming, run toward it.”
I love almost all these characters with my whole heart. R.F. Kuang has a way of creating characters so splendidly. We have no good characters. Everyone, and I mean it when I saw everyone, is morally gray. Rin herself is an anti-hero. And I can't really say you can consider really anyone evil, not even some of the people Rin and her friends are fighting against. They all have just so many layers to their characters, even if we don't always want to see them.
Rin
My morally gray anti-hero. Even though at times I was just so aggravated by some of the decisions that she made, I couldn't help but love her and root for her. It's just so sad to think about the place that she started when she was 14 at the beginning of the series and where she is not by the end of The Dragon Republic. I'm not even sure how old she is by this point, maybe around 20, and she's already been through way to much. She's been manipulated and used on more than one occassion and yet she keeps going. making way to many enemies along the way Her journey and path gets more and more heartbreaking and I'm honestly scared for her. I just want everything to be alright for everyone by the end, but I already know that won't happen.
Kitay
He is one of my favourite characters for sure. Although not my favourite (and I can't even say who my favourite character is without any spoilers). The friendship that Kitay and Rin have is beautiful. There are times when they argue of course, but they both care about eachother so much. Kitay is the person Rin loves the most in the world and she would do anything to protect him. War changed him a lot. He is so different from the boy that we meet in the first 100 pages on the first book. He went through his fair share of tough stuff putting it midly and I just wanna hug him. He doesn't deserve this. None of the characters do. On another note, there's something that happened to him in this book and I'm so concerned for him because of that. I loved that scene, but I'm also terrified about what it could mean for him.
The Cike
I love them, okay? I do. My favourite out of them is probably Ramsa. Although I love Baji and Suni a lot too. They bring some comic relief through the story even if it's not a lot or enough for that matter.
Ramsa is the youngest of them all, and you know what's the sad thing? He cannot be older than 16 years old and he is a soldier. He is fighting a war instead of having a childhood. Rin was young too when this book started but she wasn't fighting wars as this age and Ramsa has been a soldier since he was much younger.
Baji and Suni brought some funny moments a book which overall pretty morbid when you think about it and in some of those scenes I was just laughing out loud so much if you know, you know. I loved them.
I had mixed feelings on Chaghan since the moment he was introduced. I can't say I like him, but I started to understand him more now and somewhat care for him. I'm not even sure what I feel about him, but I know one thing. I do not want him to suffer more than he already did.
“This was not a world of men. It was a world of gods, a time of great powers. It was the era of divinity walking in man, of wind and water and fire. And in warfare, she who held the power asymmetry was the inevitable victor.”
That ending honestly broke me. I knew things will most likely go bad since there was no way something happy could actually happen in the end. BUT I did not expect for it to hurt that much. And the thing is, something happy was happening, but nooo then we had to go in that direction and just destroy all the hope in me.
I loved this book so much, even more than TPW and I just need to know how this series will end my gut tells me it would not be a happy ending If TDR was this bad I'm honestly terrified of The Burning God so many things are about to go down and I would appreciate it if you prayed for my soul.
“Fire and water looked so lovely together. It was a pity they destroyed each other by nature.”
Spoilery section!! Please skip this section as I'm going to spoil the ending and so many other things!!
!!Warning this will most likely be very chaotic!!
HOW DARE YOU NEZHA?! HOW DARE YOU?! I still love him tho I may have a very unhealthy obsession with him
“Between us, we have the fire and the water. I'm quite sure that together, we can take on the wind.”
I was so happy seeing that my theory with Nezha being alive was true! But that happiness didn't last * sad laughter * Nezha betrayed Rin. He loves her, but he betrayed her. *screams* My heart is broken Rin loves Nezha. Nezha loves Rin. But everything goes to shit.
With him there was no neutrality, no in between. She loved him or she hated him, but she didn’t know how to do both.
I- * starts sobbing *
It was painfully obvious that things would not work out for them in the end. First with Rin controling fire and Nezha controling water. That's obviously some foreshadowing that R.F. Kuang planted for us through out the book and I'm not okay thinking about it. And also thinking back there are so many clues about Nezha's betrayal. The author tried to warn us from the beginning. Just read this if you wanna know what I'm talking about as this shows it better that I could ever explain it: https://sobstoriesandshitposts.tumblr...
“She liked listening to Nezha talk. He was so hopeful, so optimistic, and so stupid.”
I don't think I needed my heart anyway.
Kitay and Rin are bounded together now. That scene was so beautiul because of how mcuh they both love eachother and how they just truly saw one another, but I'm very very scared and concerned about this. If one of the dies there are very high chances the other will too and I DO NO WANT THAT I DO NOT WANT EITHER OF THE DYING NO they deserve to live not to die THEY HAVE TO LIVE also I want a best friend like Kitay
the cike my babies they are dead NEZHA YOU GOT THEM FREAKING KILLED I HATE YOU and that's a lie
it terrifies me thinking that Ramsa was barely 16 maybe and he sacrified himself for Rin. He died and he was still a teenager. He fought wars, when everyone aroudn him could technically be considered adults, and he was younger than 16
I have no idea what to think of Su Daji now. I wanted to believe she is evil for betraying Rin, but is she really? I have no idea what to think about her, now that I saw a bit of her backstory and struggles. I don't think she is dead and I'm really curious about the role she may play in TBG. There are just so many possibilities and once again I'm terrified.
!!END OF SPOILERS!!
I'm not ready for The Burning God. At all. Wish me luck. ...more
"Fight because you don't know how to die quietly. Win because you don't know how to lose. This king's ruled long enough—it's time to tear his castle d"Fight because you don't know how to die quietly. Win because you don't know how to lose. This king's ruled long enough—it's time to tear his castle down."
I finished it. I finished this series... and it was so so good. I'm so happy I decided to pick it up since now it's most likely one of my favourite series ever. (can you tell how much i loved this series by how long my reviews are?) I'm so sad it's over! This is one of the biggest book hangovers that I have ever experienced. It's been a few fays since I finished this book, and I haven't really been able to read anything else. The only thing I wanna do is look for fanart for this series online. And that's kinda what I did this past few days. I'm not mad, I love seeing those fanarts. They are just so beautiful!
TW: abuse, sexual abuse/rape, violence, substance use, alcoholism, suicide (for more in-depth trigger warnings, I would recommend visiting this link: https://cabeswaterlovesthem.tumblr.co...)
Reading this series was a big step out of my comfort zone. It just didn't seem like something that I would enjoy. Contemporary and sports. It's really not my style. But I ended up loving this series so much. I read it in less than a week. This author spent years writing it and it took me less than a week to finish it... think a bit about that ...more
“But that is how a tragedy like ours or King Lear breaks your heart—by making you believe that the ending might still be happy, until the very last“But that is how a tragedy like ours or King Lear breaks your heart—by making you believe that the ending might still be happy, until the very last minute.”
I am heartbroken. As a lot of Shakespeare's works this too is a tragedy. I haven't felt this many emotions while reading a book in a very long time. Everything that the characters felt, I felt too. I laughed with them and I suffered with them. Their story will be one that will forever stay in my heart and I will never forget what I've gone through along with them.
me after finishing the book: [image] this was actually one of the few books that has managed to make me cry
This is a book where it's best you don't much about the plot. It's better not to know much and be surprised by everything, but to give a very vague sypnopsis.. Oliver Marks has served 10 years in jail for supposedly murdering one of his friends in college and as he gets out of there he is approched by the man who put him there. Detective Colbourne, now retiring, is seeking the truth about the events that happened 10 years ago. As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends all fit the same role on and off stage, but when one of them is found dead, they must face their hardest acting challenge yet. They must convince everyone they are all innocent.
“Secrets carry weight, like lead.”
If I were to describe this book in a few words, the only way I can think to describe it is Vicious by V.E. Schwab meets Shakespeare. I never really cared about Shakespeare, but this did not make this book any less enjoyable. This book is my favourite dark academia book along with Ninth House.
This is the perfect dark academia books. It has all the vibes and the atmosphere is just on point. This was exactly what I was looking for [image]
All through out the story we are just trying to piece together what happened and what went wrong and I just love the way the story is told. At first I was a bit put off by the fact that the author kept writing the dialogue sometimes like it was a theatre play and sometimes like it was a normal novel, but as I got more into it, I started to love the way they decided to add this into her story. It just made the writing style more unique and like nothing I've read before and it just shows how tied this book is to theater and acting and Shakespeare.
Somehow this book made me really interested in Shakespeare??? [image] Trust me I'm not sure how it happened either. I have some basic knowledge of Romeo and Juliet and I studied Macbeth a bit in school, last year, and while it was interesting and challenging certain topics from that time, I can't say I was intrigued enough to continue it on my own at home. But this novel, simply made me curious about why they loved Shakespeare so much. What made his plays so great in their eyes?? I WANNA KNOW Who knows if it will ever happen, but maybe I will read Macbeth and his other plays someday. The world is full of mystery and surprises.
“You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough.”
The murder mystery was amazing, I just wanted to know what happened and I was on the edge of my seat for so long needing to know if my assumptions were right or not. I did guess what happened to a certain degree and who murderer was. I'm not sure if it's that obvious, I just kept looking for clues or came up with the only reasonable explanation I could come up with and turns out I was right. I also guessed it pretty early on. I'm not sure I passed the first 100 pages when I started having this theory. I kept thinking if why would be Oliver in prison if he did not kill anyone? Who was the actual murder? And slowly the answers were put into place.
There were so many great elements to this book. From this dark atmosphere all through out, to the plot and the murder, but the highlight of it all were the characters. THEY MAKE THE STORY GREAT!! They bring all the emotions. They are the ones making us cry, because in the end, they were still barely adults, they were still figuring out what they want to be, but one thing led to another and without wanting they got caught in a web of lies and darkness.
“Actors are by nature volatile—alchemic creatures composed of incendiary elements, emotion and ego and envy. Heat them up, stir them together, and sometimes you get gold. Sometimes disaster.”
[image]
Oliver Marks
“For someone who loved words as much as I did, it was amazing how often they failed me.”
Out of all his friends, he is considered the most "boring". As he says it in the book he doesn't excel at anything, as the others do, but he isn't bad either, in plays he is always there to complete the others and help them with the things they are not as good at. Let me say one thing, he did not deserve anything that happened to him. Was he completely innocent? Not really, but probably not in the way someone who has not read this book, or just started it, is thinking. there's so many layers to his character, but overall he is probably the nicest person ever. He just wants to be there for his friends and support them. He saw his friends as they were, flaws and all, and still loved them. They were his family.
James Farrow
James is Oliver's best friend, considered "The Hero". He excels at everything. School, theatre, everything you could think of. He is really what you would call a main character. Out of all the characters, he was definitely my favourite. I'm not sure exactly why, but I just loved him a lot. There's something about this type of characters that I always love to see in books. Possibly because I see myself a bit in them. We may never know, to be honest. As Oliver, James deserved so much better. I will probably never forgive M.L. Rio for this and if I ever have the pleasure of reading another one of her books, I will definetely not trust her. James went through so much and he deserves the world. He deserves happines and love- I shall not go down this rabbit hole or I will make myself cry again JUSTICE FOR OLIVER AND JAMES
Fillipa Kosta
She is said to be "invisible", with people always forgetting that she was there, but the thing is, she is just protecting her friends, her family, from the shadows. As Oliver, she supports them, it's just not something that is as emphasised, because she is not that obvious. I wish we got more of her, but this is what really fit with her role. To some she may be forgettable, but I loved her, she was for sure my favourite out of the girls, and I'm happy that Oliver has a friend like her there for him.
Alexander Vaas
I loved every second we could get of him. he gave me Denki Kaminari vibes and I was here for it, I love his kind of characters He deserved better too, in some way. There was this one scene revolving around him that just broke me. Most of the time he was this comedic relief through out the novel, but of course there is something more than it meets the eye. We knew so little about him and maybe some will not feel that attached to him, but I was very attached to him and all the characters and I just wanted him to be alright in the end. To face his pain, instead of making jokes and going down the path he though would ease sufferring.
Meredith Dardenne
In the beginning I had kinda mixed feelings on her. I didn't really know if I liked her and understood her or if I wanted to strangle her. But, by the end, I realised she was sufferring just as much as everybody else, maybe even more because of what she's gone through. All her time at school, she's been told she fits this kind of stereotype, the The Femme Fatale, and she's come to believe it and live this way, feeling like she cannot leave this part of herself behind.
Wren Sterling
I honestly don't have much to say about her. She was just there, she didn't leave exactly and impression on me. I liked seeing her character with everybody and how she was affected by everything that had happened, her involvement into it all, but most of the times I just forgot she was actually present during a scene. Nothing ever really focused on her and it's logical that I can't say much about her.
Richard Sterling
I hated him so much. He is characterised as "the tyrant" and HE IS THAT TYPE OF CHARACTER THAT YOU JUST WANT TO PUNCH EVEN THOUGH HE IS NOT REAL apologise right now for everything you have done. You did not deserve to have these people as your friends for years and they did not deserve to have to deal with you!! Only if he didn't take a liking to acting and didn't come to this school.
“Per aspera ad astra. I’d heard a variety of translations, but the one I liked best was Through the thorns, to the stars.”
I loved these characters a lot except Richard, as they are an amazing cast of characters. MOST OF THEM DESERVED BETTER AND I WILL DIE ON THIS CLIFF THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD THEIR HAPPINESS
I loved a lot how the found family troupe played out, although it did get to a point when it really wasn't healthy for any of them and they just needed to communicate better to one another and take a break from this relationship that was going on between them.
“One thing I'm sure Colborne will never understand is that I need language to live, like food—lexemes and morphemes and morsels of meaning nourish me with the knowledge that, yes, there is a word for this. Someone else has felt it before.”
I found it so cool and interesting how they were quoting Shakespeare when talking to eachother. It just showed their passion for his plays and theater in general, and the only thing I could think about whenver they starting quoting from different plays, was how me and some of my friends quote song lyrics or book quotes. When you love something so much, it becomes a part of your life, a part of you and Oliver has found his people who talk the same language as him.
I was so happy about the fact that the author decided to add some LGBTQ+ characters and the way she added. And this is about preference, some people may like it, some people may not like it, but I really loved how she did not actually label any of the characters. Sexuality is so fluid and sometimes it just feels like being trapped in a box with all of these labels. So many queer books that I've read feel the need to label everybody, but it's alright to not have any label and just be yourself and love whoever you want.
“How tremendous the agony of unmade decisions.”
The romance in here was really a tragedy, but honestly it cannot even be considered a romance. Everything was so complicated and it just broke my heart to see the way it unfolded. Here I'm talking about specific couple and just everything about their relationship broke me. Just seeing them have even the smallest of fights made me wanna cry. It was so beautiful seeing the way their feelings for one another manifested, they were always there, that's for sure, but it's one thing that they always had feelings for eachother and a whole other thing that they've realised it this late. That they were in love with eachother. Their love for eachother led them on such a horrid path in the end. They deserved better. They deserved to be happy. Together. Even just saying this feels like a huge spoiler, but anyone could probably tell pretty early on who I'm talking about.
“It’s not the whole truth. The whole truth is, I’m in love with him still.”
The author left a lot to the interpretation of the reader. It's not like she left us with an open ended ending. She didn't. But still somehow she managed to leave so many for us to interpret, and honestly that's what reading is about. I feel like this common hate most of us have of analysing older texts and poems in English class, has made us forget how fun it can be to interpret what the author meant to tell us or what a certain passage is saying to us. It doesn't always have to be dull, it can be enjoyable when it's with something we love.
This is for sure one of the best books I've read this year and that I've read this year. It even made it to my god-tier books. I loved every second of it, I was so immersed in the story, in the lives of these characters. This story will always live in my heart and I shall be damned if I ever forget it.
“The future is wide and wild and full of promise, but it is precarious, too. Seize on every opportunity that comes your way and cling to it, lest it be washed back out to sea.”...more
“But these words people threw around - humans, monsters, heroes, villains - to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themse“But these words people threw around - humans, monsters, heroes, villains - to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”
Can I give this book 10 out of 5? Hell, I'd give this book a million out of five if I could! Thank you V. E. Schwab for blessing us with this book! Even though it's one of the first books I read this year, I know for sure it will be on my favourite books of 2020 list.
Going into this book, I didn't really knew much about it, only that it followed two boys who were college roommates and ten years later one of them comes out of prison and also that there were people with superpowers. I loved the storyline and how we moved between the past and the present (or something like that). We have so many great characters I didn't even knew we would get (Sydney, Mitch...) and it made this book so much better. Even though it's not a really long book we got so much from it which was ExtraOrdinary (see what i did there? I'm gonna leave now, bye. Jk.)
I just gotta say it. Victor reminded me of an older and blonde Kaz Brekker. Victor was such an interesting character, I loved finding out about his past, what happened between him and Eli and how he got his powers.
Eli was the character that I am pretty sure everyone kinda hated while reading the book. He reminded me a lot of Thanos (from Infinity War) and there are much I can say without spoilers.
Sydney is that young, innocent character every book needs. Through the book we see such a development in her character, how she changed during the book, and there are many other aspects to the her character that I loved but it would take to much time to write about her here. (can you tell she's my favourite?)
I could stay here and talk (actually, write) about this book all day and night and gosh about how much I love it it was so so good.
I need to say this again. THANK. YOU. V. E. SCHWAB. FOR. THIS. AMAZING. BOOK....more
I feel so happy! This book gave me so many happy feels! I can't. Just thinking about it and I feel happy. I"Hello. I hope somebody is listening."
I feel so happy! This book gave me so many happy feels! I can't. Just thinking about it and I feel happy. I know for sure that I am going to re-read this book over and over in the future. I've only read Heartstopper from Alice Oseman before this book, but I already know that she will be a favourite author of mine once I finish reading all her books. Wait, no, scratch that, she already is a favourite author of mine.
This will probably be a bit of a chaotic review as I find it hard sometimes to put into words why I love a story so much, but please enjoy!
"On the first of November, I turned eighteen. I expected to feel different but of course, I didn't. I don't think age has much to do with adulthood."
Radio Silence follows Aled and Frances and they basically make a podcast together, but it's so much more than that. You may think it's a romance since Aled is a boy and Frances is a girl but it's really not. They don't fall in love. It's a story about friendship, about what it's like being a teenager and not knowing what you want from life, about mental health and sexuality.
"Art reflects life," said Carys. "Or... maybe it's the other way round."
Oh my god, this book has so much LBTG rep in it. We have a demisexual character, a bisexual character, a gay character and more and I was just here for all of it! The ace spectrum is something I find so rarely in books so I was very excited and happy when we got demi rep in here. I started screaming in excitement.
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"Aled... he's always been weird. He doesn't care what people think. He doesn't even, like, register the social norms... he's just caught upin his own little world."
I loved the characters. Aled had to be my favourite, since I feel like I have a similar personality with him and I really connect with him. I saw myself in so many of the situations that he was in. Also let's not forget that he dyes his hair a lot. I love seeing characters who love dying they hair as I do. this coming from someone who had more haircolors than they could count
"Hair is the window to the soul."
I have never ever found a character in a book that is so much like me at the time. Since then I found so many others, but Aled will always have a special place in my heart due to him being from my all time favourite book. Yes, I said it. Radio Silence is my favourite book of all time. I loved Frances and Daniel too and I related with Frances too, but not nearly as much as Aled. She is way more outspoken while he is just this quiet person, although if he trusts someone or is close to that person he could talk your ear off.
“Sometimes I think if nobody spoke to me, I'd never speak again.”
This was one of the many quotes from Aled that just spoke to me. He is such a complex character and I will eternally be grateful to Alice Oseman for creating his character
"And I’m platonically in love with you.” “That was literally the boy-girl version of ‘no homo’, but I appreciate the sentiment."
“I think everyone’s a bit bored with boy-girl romances anyway,” he said. “I think the world’s had enough of those, to be honest.”
I loved seeing how their relationships developed. It was good to see that we didn't end up having a romance between Aled and Frances just because he is a boy and she is girl. It felt so refreshing and different! I also loved that in this book not all the characters needed to be in a relationship or have a love interest by the end of the book! Most YA contamporaries feel the need to remain in these bondaries, while this novel just does its own thing.
"I've come to the conclusion that it's impossible to survive alone in Universe City."
The podcast part of the book with Universe City is probably one of the best thing in this book. First of all I just love multi-media in books. It's always such a breath fresh of air and I just love how it makes the book feel even more unique. For Aled Universe City was something deeply personal and I loved the fact that ultimately he used it as a whole methaphor for his life. The podcast is something so cleverly crafted that also tries to bring out the problems in the world, specifically with the educational system.
"I'd like it if someone were to rescue me soon. Oh, I'd like that very much. I'd like that. I'd like that very much indeed
The humours was so good. Most of the book I was cry laughing and there were times when I was reading next to my father and trying so hard not to laugh out loud. Unlike so many other authors who write contemporaries with a focus on teenagers, Alice Oseman understands how to write them realistic and not make them seem forced or it being obvious they were written by an adult. Setting aside the fact that she is an excellent writer and amazing storyteller, she understands teengers so well because she started writting at a very young age, publishing her first book when she was 18 I think and now she is still in her 20s!
“Everyone's different inside their head.”
I loved this book so much. As I said this has quickly become my favourite book of all time. I always found it hard to actually choose a favourite book, but immediately after I read it, I realised this was it. I found that book for me. After reading this book and having such string feelings for it, I cannot wait to read Alice Oseman's other books!
"I wonder- if nobody is listening to my voice, am I making any sound at all?"
Bonus! Short book playlist haha! Songs that reminded me of this book while reading:
4 am - girl in red American Pie - Don Mclean For This You Were Born - Unsecret Lucky - Aurora Take on the World - You Me at Six save me from the monsters in my head - Welshly Arms Runaway - Aurora Riptide - Vance Joy Train Wreck - James Arthur Renegades - X Ambassadors smoke signals - Pheobe Bridgers bad idea! - girl in red Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men
“There is no better distraction in this world than losing oneself in books for awhile.”
I WANT THE NEXT BOOK
thChain of Gold: ☆☆☆☆☆ Chain of Iron: ☆☆☆☆☆
“There is no better distraction in this world than losing oneself in books for awhile.”
I WANT THE NEXT BOOK
this kids have such a complicated love life, and i didn't really expected some of those, let's say complications...
I just want these teens to be happy.
cassie, you really are a devil playing with our hearts...
but this has to be my favourite shadowhunters' book so far.
First read: March 9th 2020 - March 11th 2020 Second read: July 30th 2020 - August 2nd 2020 Third read: January 26th 2021 - February 6th 2021 *Buddy read with: May and Lorelei Forth read: February 21st 2021 - February 27th 2021 *Buddy read with: Mashie and Krizzie Fifth read: February 18th 2023 - February 22nd 2023 *Buddy read with minty ...more
This is one of my all time favorite books. When it comes to all Cassie Clare's books this one is tied “No one is ever the villain of their own story.”
This is one of my all time favorite books. When it comes to all Cassie Clare's books this one is tied for my favorite with Chain Of Gold. I love the characters!
The plot is amazing. I live for books which deal with mysteries, with murders that need to be solved. I remember, the first time I read this, being so surprised by who the murderer turned out to be. Now reading it for the 3rd time, I've seen some foreshadowing Cassie put in this book, there were some lines that were indicating who was the murderer and they went over my head the 1st and 2nd time reading this book.
I forgot how much I love this characters. Emma, Jules, Cristina, Ty, Livvy, Dru, Tavvy, Mark and Kit. This book has one of my favourite casts of characters. They are so great! Ty has to be my favorite.
I'm so happy I decided to re-read this book and I'll continue to re-read the other two books for sure this summer.
First read: Nov 8th 2018 - Nov 11th 2018 Second read: May 31st 2019 - Jul 4th 2019 Third read: Jul 16th 2020 - Jul 19th 2020...more
Lucy Tonks
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