A. Vinegar

Inspired Worldbuilding

Revisado: 04-20-25

The only author and worldbuilding that I've enjoyed and respected as much as this is Terry Pratchett's discworld.

To quote Escher: "my work is a game, a very serious game," and Yoon Ha Lee's game, what is it about? Winning and losing, simulation, rules, a way to spend time with others? Yes. And also, behavior modification: "the rules constrain some behaviors and reward others. Meaningless cards, tokens, and symbols become invested with value and significance in the world of the game.

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the characters seem like middle schoolers, which makes the sex scenes feel... wrong

Revisado: 03-31-25

Well... I enjoyed all of the ridiculous gutter talk. And Ballsack and the full cast of side characters (especially Landon's parents) are great. The narration is a little dry, but there's a good range of voices and I especially appreciated the narrator choice of voice for Landon's mom, who sounds like a chain smoker in her 50s - eg "Roz" from monsters inc.

I feel like this book could have been cute and fun as a YA novel with middle school aged heros and antiheros, campy dialogue, a pg13 romance, and a bit more of the novel written from other characters' perspective.

Instead tho, it's more like reading a romance with the mc's at the maturity and cognitive level of middle schoolers playing hero whenever they aren't going on play dates or having sex.

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That's... not how consent works

Revisado: 01-07-25

The first sex scene basically reads like magic and pain incentivized rape to me, and that being the starting point badly soured my experience of the narrative.

*partial spoiler*

The social vs. physical power imbalances in the relationship is intentional kink. However, something about the first sex scene went beyond that IMO. And the MC's low seld-estem puts things on especially shakey grounds.

The sudden-onset "compulsion" as the MC puts it, to have it sex with whoever happens to be in the room, doesn't translate to implied-consent. Not even/especially not because it's such a wonderful shock to the MC in that moment that someone/anyone might be willing...

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excellent world and character building

Revisado: 01-02-25

everything develops simultaneously - the setting the characters - and it never slows down. excellent!

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Shifrs into Religious Commentary mode and never shifts back

Revisado: 12-25-24

The second book in this series is very much about finding faith.

At first, it felt like it was just a religiously enriched setting. However, where the first book progresses the story steadily, the second book shifts into the cadence of 'an ethics textbook with some story progression in the gaps.'

And well... even if it's a thoughtful ethics textbook, it's unfortunate that book 2 of this series has been completely subsumed by said textbook.

All in all I think it takes a certain kind of author to go for the 'bait and switch' like this. Doesn't make me want to read their ethics textbook.

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Book 2 has a LOT of religious commentary

Revisado: 12-23-24

I would give this first book on its own a 5, even if it's a bit heavy handed at times. The first book is an attack on corporate consumerism, and the heavy handedness was only occasional and didn't reallt bother me. The second book is very much about finding faith. And the hand got heavier, and reading became a slog.

At first, it felt like it was just a religiously enriched setting. However, where the first book progresses the story steadily, the second book shifts into the cadence of 'an ethics textbook with some story progression in the gaps.' And well... even if it's a thoughtful ethics textbook, it's unfortunate that book 2 of this series has been completely subsumed by said textbook.

All in all I think it takes a certain kind of author to go for the 'bait and switch' like this. Doesn't make me want to read their ethics textbook.

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Interesting side characters but the mc is a Mary Sue

Revisado: 11-29-24

I read through the whole book, hoping the mc would shake the Mary Sue varnish off at some point... but it only got worse and worse.

The advanced cultivators are richer characters, so it's oddly unfortunate that the mc never develops any depth.

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great underdog story

Revisado: 11-06-24

Both the story and mc are thoughtfully optimistic, to a degree that sometimes feels a bit rose tinted, but also realistic enough to feel genuine. And a humble mc is a necessary foil for the arrogance of the story's crew and humanity in general.

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Excellent start, frustratingly flat follow-through

Revisado: 09-16-24

All of the nuance, and thoughtfulness about how people act and react to each other is thrown out the window in the second half of the book. And the presentation of magic is a huge letdown -- all spectacle and forced metaphor and no depth.

I wish I put down the book when she entered the labyrinth-- the regression from a four-star read to a two-star read was jarring.

The first half of the book teases at the supernatural elements and sets up a potent, gritty psychological landscape. Then, it turns on a dime when the supernatural elements kick in and the main character becomes the author's pawn, and is jerked through a series of encounters so fast that nothing really happens.

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reminded me of watching fight club in the best possible ways

Revisado: 07-25-24

the story is all over the place, but the pacing and timing somehow still manages to be perfect each pass

also, it's rare to find a book with such an enjoyably unreliable narrator (unreliable narrator in the sense of story's perspective -- the reading narrator was reliably amazing)

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