Writing=Fun!

Ok, so I've read some of McKinley's books, and I'll draw comparisons especially with The Hero and the Crown. While I'd not rec either of those two, I'd really recommend Sunshine and Beauty (they are more adult, than YA, especially Sunshine). 

Positive: 

- Robin McKinley writes so well it's a pleasure to read her most descriptive passage. She could describe the setting of a kitchen and I'd read attentively. She has a vivid imagination and the pictures that she creates are gorgeous. She makes magic worlds that would be perfect fairy tale settings. 

- The treatment of the rape was well done, in my opinion. There are no justifications, and even if it tries to explain how her father's mind was corrupted, the fact are that it was horrific and that he is vile and deserves no forgiveness. 

- I love Ash and all the dogs. I think they offer a nice contrast against all the hard stuff that happens to Lissar. It's like the author gives us a breather, saying "PUPPIES! Look at the puppies!" and it's a relief. 

Negative: 

- Beauty seems to have a moral component in this book. Like all the women that like being beautiful, want to be beautiful or flaunt their beauty are vain or "less" than Lissar who doesn't realize she is the most beautiful woman in the world (obviously) and, more importantly, doesn't want to be. I mean the love interest is not typically handsome, which I really liked, but she obvsly has to be. I mean she is the main character AND  a woman. 

- There is one scene in which she doesn't want to let anyone know that she accomplishes something because she didn't want to gloat or didn't do it for credit, but wants to say it because the dogs did a good job and the dogs deserve all the credit and praise in the world. I mean, I know this is to let the readers know how humble she is and makes us like her, but denotes such a low self-steem and it seems to be the norm in heroines these days.It's tiresome. It's very passive. Like, take control, demand things, demand praise, you deserve it. I mean, if the dogs deserve it, you do too and that doesn't make you mean or vain or selfish. You can want things for yourself. I talk a lot with the MC. 

It reminded me of Aerin (the MC in The Hero and the Crown). She reads as the secondary character in her own story: she becomes queen of people who hate her and fear her because the "love interest" is in love with her and deserves it. She even has to sleep a part of herself to love him, because if she's wholly awake or totally herself she could not love him. What? I mean, what?! I swear I was whispering to the book "no, become a Dark Queen instead, rule them with an iron fist and make them see how powerful you are. Make a ring to rule them and in the darkness bind them." That would have been more rewarding. 

- There is a moment that she says that she could not be with her LI (love interest) because she doesn't want to have sex. As an Ace, I take offence. Sex is not a requirement for a romantic relationship and that is a toxic and dangerous idea to put into Young Adults. 

In bullet points because it's more dynamic: 

- Con: It was so long, I'm crying. It's 850 pages and I've read longer books, but it felt long. In the author's biography section, it says that she spent 10 years researching for it and it seems that she wants to make sure you know that. She describes every building, every general setting, she gives every tiny historical detail (or that seemed to me, I don't know anything about history) and I'd have cut most of it. 

- Pro: she sets up mysteries really well. Like really well. Sometimes I got goosebumps, I swear. That's why I kept reading. 

- Con: the pay-off is disappointing. The set up is amazing and keeps you reading, all the mini-pay-offs made me go "that's it?". 

- Pro and Con: The ladies in the story were quite awesome, but there were only two and it had a little bit of the "you're not like other girls" syndrome. 

My overall opinion is these books are awesome. I think they are very well written and developed. I found the world fascinating and I ended up caring for all the characters, even if I wouldn't like Nate in real life. Moreover, they are funny and action-packed, so you won't get bored. 

Things I liked the most: 

- The author describes really well. I could imagine perfectly what he was depicting and it didn't stop the flow of the narrative. I also appreciated that the physical appearance of the characters wasn't made fun of by the narrators. The characters could be fat or skinny, short or tall without affecting the narrative: it was just another thing about the characters, nothing more nothing less. 

- The characterization develops through the trilogy. Nathaniel starts as a pre-teen and the trilogy finishes when he is 17. All the main characters: Nate, Kitty and Bartimaeus change in very coherent and noticeable ways.

- I love that the books are placed in a decadent London, at the end of the magician empire. I like best when the context is important to the story and when the setting affects the story instead of simply providing a scenario. That it was set in such turbulent time just added more realism to the story and made it more interesting. 

Things I liked the less: 

- In the books, there are three story lines, so to speak: from the point of view of Kitty, Nate and Bartimaeus. Kitty's plot are introduced a little bit late, in my opinion, and at the beginning of it, I kept wondering when the narrative would jump to another one. However, Kitty's story is great and very important, but it being brought up so abruptly and cutting the other narratives (that go together -are about the same plot-, while Kitty's is about something else - the resistance -), so at the beginning it was little bit boring.

Things I didn't like:

- Stroud writes power structures very well. You have the magicians on top thinking that the commoners would be lost without them. The commoners at the bottom, some agreeing with the magician in a brain-washed way and others rightfully rebelling and mistrusting. Then, when as a reader you see that he can master these issues well and then you realize that there are no characters of color (except Ptolemy, who is not even alive), how do you feel? Disappointed, let me tell you. I spend some days in London and it seems as if the author isn't writing characters of color in these books on purpose. It felt really weird reading about a completely white London. Like what happened to all the people of color? 

- So it seems that the only thing that matters to have power in this fictional society is to be a magician - and the text is very careful: it always refers to magicians as men or women (so yeah careful with binarism, too) - so there shouldn't be sexism, right? However, the narrative doesn't illustrate that. It has very few women in positions of power or that have done something in the subplots that the books tell us. And yes, the government is conservative and oppressive, but the forms of oppression you're selling me are magicians Vs. commoners. So I'd have appreciated a little bit of a challenge to our status quo. 

In fact, I've read La llibreria ambulant which is the Catalan translation. I think that Catalan suits very well this type of older, quirky books. The translation of the title is not exact ("bookshop" instead of "parnassus"), but I understand the reason: no one has heard about a "parnàs". 

It's true this story reads like a love letter to books and reading, with especial emphasis in bringing books to people that usually can't access to them. I love the setting and I would love to buy the Parnassus and go sell books in the country. 

I really liked the main character and narrator: Helen McGill. They made a very cute couple with Roger Mifflin. Additionally, she is a fat and middle-aged woman which is not usually the lady main character that I find in books. Which is an extrem shame because they have a lot of stories to tell and make as good a character as the other type of ladies.I didn't really like how she thought when she realises she is in love and goes to this very old, very sexist thinking of following her man wherever he goes, of being his and of women only being in love once. It surprised me a little because in the rest of the book, Helen does not fall into these sexist type of notions of what a woman has to be or think. 

I really want to read more literature about asexual characters and relationships, but when I looked for them, I found that some of them catered to allosexual people. I didn't want to read a story about what asexuality is. I know what it is. I wanted to read stories that represented me and The Heart of Aces does it wonderfully. It was really wonderful to read one story after another that you are sure will have at least one asexual character. In addition, I love the title. It's witty <3 

I really liked that in some stories two asexuals met by chance and fell in love. This seems something some people think is impossible to happen. But if a lot of books tell about two people being destined to find each other in a coffee shop or a train station, two asexual can meet and fall in love, full stop. 

The stories are very different from each other and every character is very interesting. I wanted to know more about them after the story ended which I think is what should happen in these types of stories. The authors are from different ages, genders and ethnicities, which is awesome. However, I found that all the stories had white characters, which is definitely not awesome. It's weird because the book seemed to make an effort to be as inclusive as possible. 

On a minor note, there were some typos in my e-book edition, which I didn't mind. 

So I've realized that in my last review (This is not a Test by Courtney Summers) I didn't say much about it because it was really well done and I felt there wasn't much more to say about that. But with this one, I'll try to say what I did like of this very well done and great book. 

So: 

- Diversity. Most of the characters are neuroatypical. Both of the authors are in the autism spectrum which really compelled me to buy this book. When I read about neuroatypical characters I'm always afraid that the author didn't research enough and is spreading misinformation. But the main characters have autism like the authors and I'm sure they researched about the others. Also, there are POC characters and LGBTQA. Apart from lesbians and a bisexual characters, there is an asexual character which is always so great to discover, because it's so rare to find one.

- Physics and linguistics. The main character are interested in these topics and the narrative gives enough information about them to be interesting without being overwhelming. I really like how the characters linked ideas and talked about them, it was very well written.

- Originality: I've seen a lot of criticism about dystopias that are basically about majorities going through what minorities do so now. This is not the case with this book and it really questions how neuroatypical people are seen nowadays.

- The ending was very satisfying. I mean, it's been some time since I feel so happy with an ending (and the final confrontation, too). It just brought all the story together.

I have to say that it felt a little bit long for me. But that could be me: sometimes I want to get to the ending too quickly. 

Some things that I questioned about the story; It seems that the main character, Kea, loses a bit of protagonism from the middle of the story and I don't know why. She's still a great character, though. Her boyfriend is the specialist in computers and that is essential for the plot, so he gets the leader role in their group, which is fine, but she was the one who brought them together and he lacks social skills, so why is he seen as the leader? Also, there are some scenes where she feels useless and inadequate in her relationship and in their group. She is the linguistic and the computer skills are handy most of the time, so she feels she is not helping and that she is a bother. Not all the time, just in one or two scenes, but a lot of lady characters feel the same way (which, of course, are understandable and normal reactions), but I'm a little tired of reading about it in lady characters, especially if it's in relation with their romantic relationships. Related to that, there is the first sex scene that was very unoriginal. It really hurts her but she is so happy. I mean, come on. First times do not have to hurt. And if they do, maybe you should stop and do something else. Sex is not only vaginal penetration. 

However, the parts I didn't like so much are heavily outnumbered by the parts that I really, really liked. It's a great book! 

This book is really well-written. I couldn't put it down which is always nice when it happens and the author ties all the recurrent themes very well. It's just very well-structured and she transmits the main character's emotions clearly. In fact, it remind me of what Emily Dickinson said about poetry that it leaves you hot or cold but that this change in yourself is how she distinguished poetry from other things. This is not a Test affected me physically. I felt nervous and my heart felt heavier, in a good way. 

I'm a little bit tired of zombies, but I was really interested in this perspective - I found it very original - that everyone is trying to survive and this girl just doesn't want to. Because you always see in films and books this desperate need to live at least another day and she just can't. I'd never thought about it and it really intrigued me. It's also something that the author develops satisfactorily. It's not a plot point. Additionally, I've seen some reviews saying that this is not a zombie book. I think it is, very much so. It has zombies and the plot is surrounded by this wanting to survive. I don't know how it could be more about zombies. Also, if it weren't for the zombies, the novel would not happen and Sloane would not be the same. We would have a different part of her behaving in a different way. The zombie situation fits so well in this story because it makes every character more extreme, more desperate, more angry and here Sloane's character thrives.  

I particularly liked Sloane. I think she was very believable and well done. Her POV was very interesting to read. I liked that Harrison was a boy, too, because he cried and talked about his feelings which is something that is, even nowadays, hard to find in a male character. 

I really liked that the "dark" things that you discover about the other characters are something that they have done in the past or that they are always. And with this I mean the "dark" things are not something that they do desperately after days and days of isolation. It something that was already there and it took little for it to come out to play. It's a part of what they are as people, not as people in a zombie apocalypse.

The things that I did not like were the few lady and the non-mentioned POC characters. There are six characters through the novel, only two are women. No character is mentioned to be of color: most of the readers think that the characters are white if the author doesn't say otherwise. While I was reading I thought that these would have been changes easily made. 

I really, really liked the POV. Sometimes I thought that it was too effusive, but at the same time it felt really relatable. It's been a long time since I've read something located in Spain, so it was great to feel like the characters were people that I could meet in the street. They were very Spanish and that doesn't mean that we all behave in the same manner but we have a shared culture that sometimes gets erased by globalization. We behave differently than American and British people, and sometimes I think that even I forget it. And obviously, that's not bad.

I loved the main character, Ana, and her relationship with her family. They have a far from perfect relationship but it's very believable and well done. She is a spoilt grown-up that doesn't want to have children and doesn't shame herself for it. The narration is very funny and gives details when needed but it leaves the impression that the author knows her stuff.