This book started off strong - I was immediately intrigued by the opening and interested in the array of characters and their stories. Mid-way through, however, I noticed my interest flagging. I think if I had read this book faster I might have enjoyed it more, given the strong opening scene. ( )

diverse teen fiction/fantasy-adventure (3 of main characters have darker skin and belong to a fictitious minority lineage)

I'm on page 64 now but have a feeling I'll abandon this. The chapters are relatively short but seem to get bogged down with too much detail (background on characters and world-building). It may be that I'm just not in the right mood for this at this time; otherwise it looks like another great book from an acclaimed author. ( )

This is the story of brave teens taking on an egregious amount of corruption.
It does not have your typical ending, in my opinion, and I liked how all the loose ends were tied up. And the characters were all fantastic.
The ending was sad. Depressing. But uplifting.
There will be no sequel.
Beautiful descriptions of everything. ( )

I really enjoyed this. There's a diverse blend of characters dealing with everything from dead parents to panic attacks to physical abuse, as well as a wonderfully twisty story and interesting world building. Plus, FRIENDS! I love stories about friends navigating adventures together, and this group were particularly endearing. I love that Alys was fat, and early in the story thinks about her THIGHS CHAFING while she's running because chub rub is real and I cannot remember reading about it in a fantasy story EVER. I love the tentative slow blossom romance (and I HATED a late book scene that stole some bits of that romance it was SO EVIL). I love Cassa being kind of annoying to her friends but also feeling ALL THE THINGS and not really knowing how to process that. And related, I really enjoyed the contrasts between Vesper and Cassa's ways of approaching their problems. Basically, while the plot didn't necessarily wow me at every turn, this book gave me lots of feels and they were Good. ( )

I'm sorry, who gave this book permission to mess with my emotions like that??? I thought this would be light and fun and heisty and a nice, not emotionally painful read to help my emotions recover from History Is All You Left Me. Instead I got a book that made me CRY. I mean okay, the first 400 pages or so were exactly what I expected (with a bit of creepiness and an overwhelming love for the characters thrown in), but then THAT ENDING. BROKE MY HEART.

RTC. ( )