Review: GALLANT by Victoria Schwab

Rating: 4/5 stars

Olivia Prior is an orphaned girl living at the Merilance School for Independent Girls, passing her time by observing the ghouls only she can see, and reading and rereading her mother’s journal—the only piece of her that remains. She’s a bit of a rebel, always getting in trouble and dreaming about running away, until one day she gets a letter from a relative she didn’t know existed, and suddenly she’s whisked away to a new home and a new family that isn’t quite what it seems. 

Olivia is not hard of hearing but she uses sign language because she cannot speak. I always love when characters in books or tv shows use sign language, as I have a soft spot in my heart for it. However, we never found out why Olivia couldn’t talk. I was expecting the reasoning to be something like a curse, somehow related to her family or to Gallant, but it is never explained, which was a little disappointing. 

Olivia ends up at an estate called Gallant, where ghouls wander the halls and she is forbidden to step foot outside at night. Then there is also a place that is basically the upsidedown and reminded me of the alternate world in Coraline, and I wish we got to see more of that place and learn about how it came to be and how the gate to it formed. I also wish we got to know more of the history of the Priors and how their family is tied to Gallant in the way that it is. A lot of the background details weren’t really explained, sadly. 

I really loved the whole book right up to the last fifteen or so percent, in which the ending fell a bit flat for me. It felt like there was no resolution, no sense of what’s to come after. The story itself could have been longer as well. Gallant isn’t a very long book, and while part of me enjoyed that about it, part of me also wished for more depth to the characters and more depth to the world Olivia lives in, particularly surrounding the house of Gallant. None of the characters besides Olivia are very fleshed out either. 

I don’t know what it is about V. E. Schwab’s books—I’ve read almost every single novel by her, and while I really like most of them, I have yet to really love one of them. I’ve rated her books between 2 and 4 stars, but never 5 stars. I thought at the beginning of Gallant, like I thought at the beginning of Addie LaRue or the Shades of Magic trilogy, that this would be a 5-star read for me. But there’s always something that just gets in the way and keeps me from rating it a full 5/5. I don’t know what it is. I consider Victoria one of my favorite authors, even though I’ve weirdly never loved one of her books. I just love her writing style and I love her as a person and consider that good enough, I guess. Her books, though, always feel like they’re missing something. Her ideas for stories are always amazing and combine her special mix of being a little dark, a little fantastical, and a little spooky, and I love that vibe. But every book of hers I’ve read always feels like it’s missing a crucial element—a piece of the puzzle left out and the rest of the novel formed around the missing space—but I can never pinpoint exactly what that is. I hate to feel that way, but I always do. 

I will continue to buy and read every book Victoria writes even though I keep feeling this way. I can count on her to have a consistent style and atmosphere in all her books, and I really like that. Even though the ending of Gallant wasn’t as conclusive as I wanted it to be, I still really enjoyed this book and would consider it one of my favorite Schwab books. One thing I especially enjoyed about this book and even LOVED about this book is the black and white watercolor illustrations present throughout the novel. There are a handful of them that reappear at different points in the story, and each time the image is given new meaning based on what is happening at that point in the book, and I loved that. The drawings really added a nice touch to the novel. 

Review: IF WE WERE VILLAINS by M. L. Rio

 

Rating: 4/5 stars

I'm always meaning to read more mystery titles, so what better time than during spooky season? If We Were Villains was chosen as the monthly pick for the book club with my friends. It's not something I would have picked up on my own, but I'm glad I read it nonetheless. 

This book follows a group of seven thespian friends in their final year at a prestigious art school. By the time of graduation, one of them will end up in prison for ten years, and it is through his POV that this story is told. We don't know what happens to cause this outcome, or even what the crime is, at the beginning of the story, which creates an air of unease and tension throughout the entire novel. 

This story is heavily centered around Shakespearean plays. The only plays that are performed at Dellecher Classical Conservatory are those written by Shakespeare. The friends quote random Shakespeare lines to each other like people in my generation quote lines from Disney movies, or like I quote lines from Spongebob--as if it's a second language. The novel itself is set up like a play, too, having acts and scenes rather than parts and chapters. There are also times during dialogue where the format looks like that found in plays. I thought these visual effects were a nice touch to the overall ambiance of the story. 

I am not a thespian myself, and I have only ever read two Shakespeare plays, so a lot of the references went over my head, but that didn't detract from my attachment to the characters or my enjoyment of the story. I am proof that you can not be involved in theatre but still enjoy a story taking place in one. Thespians, however, would likely connect to the story on a much more personal level than common folk would and subsequently enjoy the story more as well. (I know someone who majored in Shakespearean literature and I'm already planning on gifting her this book because I think it's the absolute perfect gift.) 

M. L. Rio did a great job formulating her characters. With seven main characters, I was worried that I would get them mixed up, but right from the beginning, she separates them out and tells us the personality of each, and that really helped me distinguish them as I read. Oliver was a great protagonist and I enjoyed reading the story from his perspective, EXCEPT . . . 

. . . I wasn't super pleased with some of his decisions at the end. I won't get into spoilers, but I found the ending to be a bit disappointing, an anticlimactic conclusion to an otherwise great story. I did not understand why Oliver made the decision he made, you know, THE decision. He tells another, "You know why," and I'm just sitting here thinking, but I don't know why, so please lay it out for me, the reader! I guess I just expected more from the story than there was, and I expected there to be some final twist or something, but no. About thirty pages from the end, everything is laid bare, and that's how it is. The very, very end was left ambiguous, but it's also kind of obvious to me what happens next. I don't love ambiguous endings, but this one wasn't as infuriating as some I've read. 

I am surprised with how much I found myself enjoying this story. Despite the lackluster ending, I would still recommend this book, and it is one that I do see myself returning to in the future. The writing, the characters, and the setting are all excellently written. I do hope M. L. Rio writes more books in the future as I would love to read more works by her. 

"You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough."

I've realized that I love the dark academia setting, and I want to read more books like If We Were Villains now. There's just something comforting about immersing yourself in a book set in a university where you have your special hangout spots and your private dorm rooms and characters with the constant desire to learn permeating the pages. I loved being in university and I love learning, and I often wish I could go back because that setting and time in my life were unlike any other. So I know for sure I'll be seeking out more dark academia books in the future to sate this newly realized hole in my life. I've seen this book compared to Donna Tartt's The Secret History, which I already own and have been excited to read for years, but I might have to move that up on my TBR. 

Review: CYTONIC by Brandon Sanderson

 

Rating: 4.75/5 stars

“I’m not exactly a “there are nuances to this situation” type of girl. I’m more of an “if it’s still moving, you didn’t use enough ammunition” type of girl.” YESSS! Spensa shows us her bravado and fearless personality right from the beginning. 

Cytonic was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021, and I was beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to read an early copy from Edelweiss. This review will contain spoilers for the previous two books, Skyward and Starsight, because it is really hard to talk about anything in this story without spoiling the previous two books.  

At the end of Starsight, Spensa jumps through into the nowhere, the place where FTL communication takes place, which is where almost the entirety of Cytonic takes place. I think it’s really neat that each book has a different setting and story structure: in book one, it was your classic school setting with Spensa training to become better at her skill of flying; in book two, the setting was on a space station where we got introduced to lots of alien races and there were lots of politics involved; and now in book three, Spensa spends the whole book on a high-stakes adventure in the nowhere. I can’t wait to see how book four will change it up again. 

We’re introduced to a new character right at the beginning named Chet Starfinder, interdimensional galactic explorer. He’s funny and the perfect companion for Spensa to spend the book with on an adventure across the nowhere, and I really enjoyed getting to know him. 

One issue I did have about this book was that it kind of felt like it deviated from the original plot. Spensa’s goal is still to take down the Superiority, but in this book she’s on her own side quest while all her friends are back at home working toward the goal. Not that the book was filler, because we do learn some pertinent information and some events do occur that are crucial to the main storyline, but I almost feel like this book looses sight of the overarching goal at times. And it’s very possible I’m wrong and I just missed some details or the effects of the nowhere made it feel that way, because I have a hard time believing Sanderson would write a book that didn’t ultimately work toward his overall series goal. 

This book made me think that the connection to Defending Elysium is even bigger than I had previously thought, and when I realized this, I immediately went to go reread Defending Elysium in the middle of reading this book. And wow, I had not remembered any of that story whatsoever, and once I finished it, I noticed so many more connections in Cytonic! I would definitely recommend reading Defending Elysium before Cytonic if you want to catch the maximum number of Easter eggs and references possible. 

Cytonic was so funny, full of classic Sanderson humor. When Doomslug says, “Poop!” in that one scene . . . I might have laughed way too hard. 

This series has such great characters, and we get introduced to a lot of new ones in this book, even more cool new alien races. My favorite character is still M-Bot though, and I loved seeing his evolution! I love how in each book he’s focused on something new: in Skyward it is finding mushrooms, in Starsight it is him forming emotions, and in Cytonic it is him learning how to tell jokes and insults and making Spensa rate them for him. Spensa still has her bravado, but she has also matured a lot over the course of the series. She is much more level-headed now than at the beginning of Skyward. 

I love that Spensa is faced with having to see someone in a different light and learn to accept them for who they really are rather than who she originally thought they were. This event has happened in all three books so far (Jorgen in Skyward, Krell/Varvax in Starsight, and Chet in Cytonic) and has really helped Spensa to grow and mature. 

I appreciate how diverse this series is. Sanderson really makes an effort to be all-inclusive, specifically with the alien races. Spensa notices too: “Even the wildest of Gran-Gran’s stories couldn’t compete with the universe’s biodiversity.” 

Parts of this story, especially some scenes toward the end, were almost over my head. I had to reread a few passages to fully grasp what was going on technology-wise and space-time-wise, and I still don’t know if I fully understand everything. Science fiction has never been my strong suit because sometimes I’m too dumb to comprehend what’s going on, but I want to like it and get better at understanding it, and this series is a good introduction to sci-fi, in my opinion, with each installment adding a few more sci-fi elements than the previous one. 

Starsight is still my favorite of the series so far, followed by Skyward and then Cytonic, which wasn’t bad by any means, but I just like the other two installments more. This book has pirates, exciting adventures through “space,” starship battles, a companion that gave me Indiana Jones vibes, a humorous mushroom-obsessed AI, and a girl full of bravado and courage who will fight until the end for the right thing. I absolutely recommend this series to anyone looking for a sci-fi with a strong female lead that takes the story in new directions with each new book. 

“All people must accept that we have the potential to do terrible things. It is part of seeing our place in the universe, our heritage, and our natures. But in that acceptance we gain strength, for potential can be refused. Any hero who could have been a monster is more heroic for the choices he or she made to walk another road.” 

**SPOILER NOTES:**
(So I don’t forget the important reveals when I start book four.)

When Spensa gets to the nowhere, she finds in her pocket a bunch of silver glowing sand and her father’s pilot pin that she had left back on Detritus. It turns out this is Doomslug, whose form has shifted in the nowhere into an inanimate object. 

Cytonics were made when “the nowhere leaked into our dimension [the somewhere], and it changed people living near the breach.”

End of ch. 11: “The initial records of the delvers occur after the First Human War began. That was when the Phone Company—a human organization—gave a hyperdrive to the people of Earth. Humans then spread throughout the galaxy. War began, and near its end the first delvers appeared. Before that time there were no reports of delvers, or even the eyes.”

End of ch. 24: “Find the memories of the man who will come … find the memories … of the man named Jason Write.”

Mid-ch. 25: Jason Write was “the human who initiated first contact with the greater Galaxy after accidentally discovering he was Cytonic. He … kicked off the expansion of humankind into the galaxy, and indirectly caused the First Human War of conquest.”

Chet Starfinder turned out to be a delver, the one Spensa separated from the group in Starsight (? I don’t remember this happening), and he took on the appearance of the original pilot of M-Bot’s ship, named Spears. This entity was originally Jason Write’s AI. After Jason died, the entity felt sadness and thus deleted all his memories and personalities and copied himself thousands of times, thus creating all the delvers and explaining why all the delvers think exactly alike without being a hive mind. 

“Delvers are a kind of AI. Human bodies and consciousness are built off the DNA of early creatures on their planets, delvers are [essentially] created from the code of AIs.” This makes all AIs delvers, including M-Bot. AIs are “brought to consciousness and emotion by exposure to the nowhere.” 

At the very end, M-Bot flew off alone to distract the delvers, who disintigrated his ship, thus allowing Spensa, Doomslug, and Hesho (the Kitsen pilot) to escape through the lightburst back into the somewhere. They ended up at DDF headquarters on Detritus, which was orbiting another planet now. Chet stayed behind. Spensa found Jorgen, who told her that her eyes were glowing white (like the delvers) when she first showed up. She had promised M-Bot that she would return for him. Even though his ship is destroyed, AI consciousness can exist outside of a housing in the nowhere, so theoretically his mind is still alive in there. 

Review: DEFENDING ELYSIUM by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I originally read this short story right after right after reading Skyward when it was released almost three years ago. I remembered nothing about the story other than the ominous “Phone Company,” but I do remember thinking that the story was boring and antiquated. I rated it 2/5 stars then. 

Fast forward to late 2021, and I’m in the middle of reading Cytonic. I noticed a particular reference was made and immediately I thought to myself, “That was an important reveal, and an important connection to Defending Elysium, but I can’t remember why.” So amidst my reading of Cytonic, I decided to reread Defending Elysium; I didn’t want to miss any details.

I was so surprised by this story! I truly had forgotten 99% of what happened because I found myself surprised at the reveals and questioning what would happen next. And it was engaging! I’m not sure why I ever called this book “boring and antiquated” when there’s actually a really neat sci-fi story being told here and it takes place in the year 2211. 

Defending Elysium is the origin story of humans discovering faster-than-light technology and their first contact with alien life forces and what happens because of that. 

Besides the faster-than-light technology, there were other references to the Skyward series present throughout the story. And not just Skyward—there were references to things that did not come up until Starsight or even Cytonic! I thought that was especially cool, how Brandon is connecting the events in a story he wrote twenty years ago to the novels he’s publishing today in new and surprising ways for each book in the series. 

Would I recommend Defending Elysium? Yes, I would. Would I recommend reading it before or after the Skyward series? I don’t know. I didn’t enjoy it during my original read but I enjoyed it a lot more upon reread, especially when I was able to understand the cross-references and make connections. I think if I had to choose, I would suggest reading this story after Starsight at least, but it really can be read at any point, and even as a standalone outside of the Skyward series. I’m so glad I took the time to reread this. 

“Technological development has boundaries, but . . . a sentient mind is limitless.” 

Review: THE COMPLETE PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi

 

Rating: 5/5 stars

I don't read a lot of nonfiction, but I've had my eye on this book for a while, probably because of the approachable graphic novel format. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint! 

I honestly didn't really know what this book was about before I started it, and I have to admit that I prematurely judged it and thought I wouldn't enjoy it because it's 1. nonfiction, 2. historical, and 3. black and white without any color. But let this be a lesson learned not to judge books before you read them because I was completely mesmerized by this memoir and surprised by how much I ended up loving it. 

Marjane tells her story of growing up in Iran in the 1970s and 1980s when the Islamic Revolution started and how that completely changed her life. I did not know anything at all about Iran or the Islamic Revolution prior to reading this book, so I actually learned quite a bit. And all the information was presented in a way that someone as ignorant as me about the topic was able to understand what was going on. 

Her story was compelling and oh so interesting! I read this entire book in one sitting, and I truly could not pull myself away from the pages to get ready for bed; I absolutely had to finish the book first. I was surprised at how humorous her story was, as well. She lived a good life but also suffered a lot of hardships, including witnessing war and death firsthand. But she still brought humor into her story at every turn, and I even laughed out loud a few times. 

I love seeing the innocence and naivety of a child learning the world. The story starts when she is nine years old and goes through her whole adolescence until she is twenty-two, I believe. She grew up in Iran, then she moved to Vienna, Austria for four years and experienced a vastly different life there before moving back to Iran for college. I have to ashamedly admit that I didn't realize Iran was not a third-world country. I guess modern media and such have skewed our perceptions of different countries around the world, but I found myself surprised that Marjane's family owned a Cadillac, had a live-in maid, and that she went to the record store to buy Iron Maiden tapes. Granted, she came from a more well-off family, but I didn't realize that that kind of life existed in the Middle East. 

Marjane's story is remarkable. Persepolis reads like fiction at times because of how absurd some of the situations are that she witnessed and lived through. There were times when she felt like she was nothing and was depressed and suicidal, and I, as an outsider, was astonished by how strong and brave and courageous she was and by how much life she had lived and the kinds of experiences she had to bear. And then to see her feel like she had done nothing with her life--I was truly floored because I felt like she had lived such an amazing life already. 

Persepolis should be required reading. Not only is it engaging and fun, but it's also educational and provides an important perspective to life at a time and in a place that I think is often misunderstood. I've been very interested lately in reading stories, both fiction and nonfiction, set in the Middle East (is there a different term for this general area of the world, or is this the proper term?), and this book just made me want to read more. I'll definitely be returning to Marjane's story in the future, and hopefully by then I will have become more educated about this time and place and the events occurring within. 

Review: A SPINDLE SPLINTERED by Alix E. Harrow

 

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

A Spindle Splintered is a modern, feminist retelling of Sleeping Beauty combined with Into the Spider-Verse but for different versions of sleeping beauties. I loved it. 

I've loved Alix Harrow's previous books so I knew I would love this one too. Her writing style is so beautiful. Reading this novella with my eyes made me want to go back and reread her other books with my eyes since I've only listened to their audiobooks. There's something about visually reading her writing that makes it captivating in a whole new way. I will read anything she releases. 

I did not know the story of Sleeping Beauty before reading this novella (the shame, I know), so I actually had to ask my husband to tell it to me so I could compare it to what was going on in this story. I legitimately didn't even know that she pricks her finger on a spindle and that's how she falls into an accursed sleep. (I haven't seen the Disney movie.) I'd recommend familiarizing yourself with the Sleeping Beauty story beforehand since this retelling is based on it and subverts a lot of normal fairytale tropes. 

In this story, it is Zinnia's twenty-first birthday, and she has a rare disease and essentially has a year left to live since no one else with the disease has made it past twenty-two. I won't say how, but Zinnia ends up getting transported into a medieval version of a Sleeping Beauty tale and teams up with her counterpart sleeping beauty to try to save them both before their "curses" take over. 

I absolutely loved the illustrations and the fact that they were on nearly every page of the story. Even though they didn't always match the story, they added an ethereal and fairytale-like quality to the book. They were all done by Arthur Rackham, who is a classic children's book illustrator. I thought this was particularly neat, especially since our protagonist, Zinnia, mentions his work at one point. 

A Spindle Splintered is funny, fast-paced, engaging, and surprising. I loved the ending, too. I'd definitely recommend it in general, but I think any fairytale fans out there will particularly enjoy it.