baknata's reviews
110 reviews

This is such an amazing book and rereading it just solidified my love for it. Firstly, the plot structure was so well done. It covers large spans of time in the life of the main character, Tarisai, which allowed the reader to understand her history and relationship to her past without too much exposition. Given that one of the large story elements was history and storytelling, I think it was a vital part of the plot that we got to experience some of the most impactful moments of Tarisai's history through her eyes.  Not to mention, this allowed us to really understand her relationship with her mother. My first instinct when reading this book is to be annoyed with Tarisai because of the way she trusts and idolizes her mother. To me, it seems like anyone would see that she is a bad person, even if some of her motivations were valid. When I was reading this the second time, though, I realized that Tarisai was raised in an environment where she only knew to crave the love of her mother. She didn't have a chance to know what a mother is supposed to be like, so for her, the lady was her greatest desire. It makes it so much more heartbreaking later when she has to learn that the lady was doing unsavory things. I love the quote from the end of the book that says "I am not the sequel of your story". Too often it seems like people only have children so their story can continue, and they don't realize that a child is a whole separate person, not the continuation of them.
I especially loved the use of music as a form of storytelling. I think that cultural element is so beautiful and impactful. The use of drums in regular conversation, as a unique language, was also a fascinating aspect of this book. Listening to the audiobook, I really got the whole impact to the moments where the drum beats greatly impacted the story. I think that this book was always meant to be an audiobook, and it just ties into the oral storytelling that the book has so well. 
I love Tarisai as a character. She is so complex and her development over the story is well earned. She wasn't the perfect protagonist, she made mistakes and bad decisions, but that only strengthened her character.

I loved that in the end, her story was about finding her own purpose, rather than having to hang all her self-worth on her relation to the other people in her life. Even though it did end in a bit of a self-sacrifice moment, which isn't my favorite, it was her own decision, not based on the outside pressures. Not to mention, she came up with this idea to save all the redemptors on her own, which is a testament to her character in and of itself.

The side characters also have such a good part in this story. They each have their own character arch and develop in their own right. I loved the way that each character interacted with and complemented Tarisai. I cannot wait to dive into the next book and follow these characters further. 
Overall, worth a read and a reread, everyone should read this book!

I really enjoyed this story, it made me feel so warm and happy. I really enjoyed the characters and the way they came together. I really liked how their main conflict was something outside their relationship. In so many books the conflict is just a lack of communication in the relationship, and that drives me nuts. I didn't like the way a lot of the conflict hinged on Lola messing with Jason. For me, it wasn't believable that he wouldn't be able to get a restraining order with her harassing him like that, there was definitely enough grounds for it. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book and the way it was written. 

I didn't think I'd like this book after reading the blurb, but I am so glad I ended up reading it. The book was so intricately written and the language itself was so fantastical that the book mirrored the circus itself. Reading this book felt like how I'd imagine walking through the circus would feel, with unexpected twists and turns and beauty all around and joy and wonder as well. For those who have a hard time with jumping around in time, this may be a hard book to get into. For me, the way it jumped through time felt fitting for the story that was being told, not to mention the constancy of the circus gave it a sort of connected feel, no matter which point we were at. The narration style itself was so interesting to read, especially the points with direct language (where it uses "you" as the subject) it isn't something you see often and fit so well with the story. 
I really enjoyed this cast of characters, they were all unique and well thought out. I loved the way each of them felt individual just as their role in the circus was, but still, a coherent cast that related in an understandable way. The romance of this book was so visceral. I wished we had more scenes between Marco and Celia, and at first, I thought it was because their relationship was undeveloped but then I realized they were developed, just separately. What I mean by that is that they basically fell in love with what the other created before they even knew the other, so when they met the connection was already there. What I really wanted was more scenes with them because I loved that pairing so much and I thought they deserved more time together. Each character was written with such care, and it had a tremendous impact on the way the reader is impacted by the story. 
I am one of those people who doesn't really picture things in their heads. When I read, I don't really see the seen so much as I see small flashes of specific details as they appear. This can make books that are overly descriptive tedious to read, since I'm not really getting anything from scenery descriptors. This book uses description less to actually give a picture of what the character may be seeing and more to give the feeling of what they are seeing. As much as the visual description of the circus is very in-depth, the reader feels the essence of the circus less than they may just see it in their head. For me, this really created a sense of wonder and amazement while reading the descriptive language, rather than skipping over it. 
I don't really know the right words to describe just how magical reading this book was for me. I'd say give it a chance, it might surprise you.

I really wanted to like this book since the first one was so good, but I was just waiting for the book to end. I almost DNF'd this book but I was so close to the end I pushed through. I do think the end picked up a bit, but by that point, there was no redeeming the book. To start with the positives of the book, I do think the writing style is beautiful. The way that Tomi Adeyemi tells a story is compelling and multifaceted. She describes characters' experiences so thoroughly, it makes it very easy to get emotionally invested in the story and the scenes. I also think that there are characters who were enjoyable in this novel, for the most part, I liked  Roën's character, as well as Mama Agba, who basically can do no wrong. I think the side characters/minor characters in this book were very strong and some even had better character growth than the main characters. I really wish we had more of Tzain in this one, I think his character was a good voice of reason and it would've been helpful with our main characters acting wild. 
Onto the negatives, my main issue is with the characters in this book. I really loved the way they developed in the first book and the arcs and relationships they had, this one, however, the characters were so annoying. I could excuse some of it since they were all dealing with a lot not to mention the story is an allegory and in real life, people don't always act in a logical or thoughtful way. Unfortunately, when there is that much inconsistency and back and forth in a character it becomes difficult to read. As readers, we expect characters that are relatively consistent or at least act in accordance with their development. In the first book, I didn't really like Inan's point of view at the beginning, but his character development gave me an appreciation for its inclusion. This book did not need Inan's perspective. Besides giving us a complete view of the conflict of the war, his point of view was infuriating to read. He made bad choices and sided with terrible people. It is hard for me to believe that he wouldn't have suspected his mom was totally evil given the way she spoke all the time. He claimed to support the maji, yet he followed his mother who degraded them openly. Even when he learned about all that she had done, he still went so easy on her, allowing her to do more harm. Also, he is so stupid, he sees that they are the ones attacking the Iyika and somehow gets mad at them for killing his soldiers. Like DUH they were protecting themselves what did you expect them to do retreat quietly and wait to be executed? He completely lacked any common sense.
He wasn't the only one who lacked common sense, Amari and Zélie both were acting wild throughout the book. I can understand why Zélie was angry and out for revenge, but every time she had the chance to do something she would back out. If you know you won't be able to actually kill Inan, don't hinge your plan on you murdering him. I honestly feel like Zélie didn't actually do anything in this book, even though I know she did. Amari, she was wild. I understand her desire for peace instead of war but beyond that, she really was making dumb choices. First of all, I hated how she was constantly hearing her father's voice in her head and then taking his advice. It didn't make sense to me with the development she had in the first book. And her turn on Inan when the attack happened was so dumb. Once again, with a little bit of critical thinking, you could ascertain that it was the insane mother who was once again leading an army against their people, not the brother who has consistently not wanted a war. Not to mention, this girl was really out here committing war crimes, like she really said "civilians who? as long as I murder my mother and brother too" and didn't even like double-check they were actually there. And once again the main villain was just a piece of garbage that I was rooting to get murdered the whole time. I thought we were done with that after the first book, and that we would get a little more dynamic of a villain, but I was wrong. 
In terms of plot, I think this one suffered since there wasn't an overarching adventure like the first one. There wasn't a clear end goal for the book, so the action sort of fell flat. Also, the characters continuously were saying things like "we finally are about to end the war" but there was so much of the book left and they said it over and over, so I knew it wasn't going to work out. This really diminished the tension that would normally drive this type of book. 
Finally, I didn't really like the romantic relationships that were in this book, I think they had very poor development. With Zélie, her feelings for Inan don't really make sense to me. Even if she did love him before, I feel like once someone is responsible for your father's death that kinda goes away. I didn't find it realistic that she would still be torn since he showed hardly any signs of being a good person until the very end of the book. Zélie's relationship with Roën felt really rushed and underdeveloped for me. I think their scenes together were very sweet, and I can see myself rooting for their relationship, however it moved so fast for seemingly no reason. The relationship between Amari and Tzain is definitely my favorite, however, this book really didn't give them any kind of development. We hardly get any scenes between them, though the ones we do get are very cute. I wish theirs was the central relationship since it is clear that they are very compatible. I do think that the whole war crime thing should've been a bigger deal.
Overall, I think this book is suffering a severe and chronic case of second-book syndrome and I just hope the third book will give us what we need. With books centering on war, the second is typically not great seeing as it has to drag on a conflict established in the first book and resolved in the last, thus not really having the impact of either, and it is clear that this is what happened here. I do plan on reading the third book upon its release, and of course, my opinion on the series as a whole will be established then, but so far I wouldn't judge anyone for stopping after the first book. 

I now understand why everyone was recommending this book. The character and love story alone was so beautiful and heartwarming. I am not a fan of friends-to-lovers, generally because one of the characters is generally pining for the other and the other doesn't reciprocate the feelings until the first is gone or happy and successful on their own, it is also generally is coupled with backsliding and settling. This book was the most fantastic example of good friends-to-lovers writing. The friendship between Alex and Poppy was wonderful, and the way they became romantically involved was actually earned. 
I loved how the story was told by jumping around in the timeline of the friendship. For me, this kept the story going in a real natural way while keeping the reader excited to learn what happened between them. I enjoyed going through the friendship as a way to give context to their relationship. I also liked the way the "current" timeline developed and the way the flashbacks were placed to coincide with the events occuring in real time. The storytelling of this book took it to the next level, and was unlike what i've read in other romance novels. 
I loved the characters in the book. Learning more and more about them as the story progressed just made me love them more. I think they were written so well and the way they acted and were influenced by their backstories made them feel like real people. I loved the way the interactions were written. The conflict of the story felt very realistic and not forced just to give intruige to the book. It was extremely impactful conflict writing which made the climax that much more emotional. 
Overall, this is one of those romances that anyone could enjoy.

This book was so amazing! The writing style is phenomenal and creates a world that is intricate and interesting to read about. What this author does best is write in a way that really makes you feel the emotions of the characters. This is both the case in the joyful times and the heartbreaking moments, which amplified every part of the book. Warning, this book made me cry when I was listening to it, which wasn't great because I was at work, but the end totally ruined me. 
Writing the story in multiple POVs was an interesting choice. I think it added a lot of depth to the story, especially given it is an allegory to police violence towards black people. We got to see how the issues in the book really affected people from different sides of it. I didn't love having an antagonistic point of view, seeing as I wasn't rooting for him at all and I didn't want to hear his side of the story. However, I understood where his story was going and why it was included, so I wouldn't prefer to have it excluded. I think Inan's character overall was super interesting, and he was most of the cause of my crying. While at the beginning of the book, I found his character annoying, as he developed in the story he became a pinnacle part of my enjoyment of the book. I am kind of over reading books where the main villain is some terrible, vile man, that is most likely some type of royal, and he has very little to no moral compass, not to mention he believes he is doing the right thing the whole time. It's been done to death, and those characters aren't even interesting to read about anyway. Not to mention there is generally a secondary villain who is most likely related to the first, so they have some sort of blood tie, either that or there is a romantic relationship. The secondary character ends up befriending or romancing the protagonist and we think they are on the same side and all is well. Then there is always a scene where the secondary character has a chance to take out the main villain but due to their relational ties, they end up sparing them out of this new goodness in their hearts thinking the main villain is actually a good person deep inside, however, the villain is not and ends up hurting/killing/betraying the secondary villain, or they convince the secondary villain to return to their side, and the secondary villain either dies or double-crosses our protagonist. This has happened in more than one book that I've read and I am sick and tired of it. In reality, most people upon finding out their father is a terrible murderer who has like genocided people for no good reason would not then forgive and forget. Overall, like why was that needed. I did find Inan's character arc interesting, and the betrayal at the end wrecked my soul, but I would have liked it if the king was at least somewhat redeemable. Granted, given the allegorical elements of the story, making him irredeemable makes sense since like the police who kill innocent people are in no way redeemable and shouldn't even be remotely shown to be, but separated from that it isn't my favorite type of villain. 
I did love the magic system and the world-building. I especially loved the timeline of the story. The way that the events of the book were timed in relation to the historical points of the story was unlike many fantasy books I've read. To clarify, generally, fantasy novels will have an impactful historical event that frames the narrative of the story and plays a large part in the quest of the story. In this book, the event in question is the loss of magic. In other books, the event is usually far before the events of the book and can often be a legendary event that many characters can believe to be untrue, additionally most or all of the people alive before the event would be long dead. In this book, the historical event was within the lifetime of most of the characters. I think that this was a super impactful method of storytelling, given the characters had an intense invested interest in the outcome of their quest. Not only that, but our initial villain, the one that caused the event, is the same villain in this story, which adds to his character and our protagonists' fuel to fight against him. Overall, I think this story was very smart and very effective in its storytelling while still being a fun and interesting read. 

These characters really need to go to therapy! They both have trauma they should work through before getting into a relationship and this makes it so difficult to root for them. Simon was okay, but clearly hadn't worked through his brothers death and his grief in a healthy way. By the end of the book though, he had developed well and worked through some of his issues. Emily was one of the most annoying characters to read. The majority of the conflict in the book was due to her assuming the worst of everyone and everything and not communicating her worries with the people around her. And while I understand that behavior was brought on by her traumatizing relationship and was understandable, I don't think a healthy way to deal with those issues is to get in another relationship. Not only that, but she never admits her wrongdoing or tries to get better. The only development is her being more upfront about what she deserves from her partner. She never admits that she put way too much pressure on a relationship that was happening for what, a month at that point? And also she overreacted to the situation instead of communicating her issues in a productive way. Also, she brings up all her issues with how Simon manages the fair but never talks to him about how she feels until the end, and then it isn't even her! If she had at least learned to find value in herself outside of her relationships and communicate her feelings I would've liked this a lot more, but by the end she was forgiven without ever atoning for her behavior. I did like the premise of the book and there were a lot of sweet scenes, I just wish the development of Emily was actually there. 

Talia Hibbert owns my whole heart I loved this whole series so much! This was definitely my favorite of the three and just gave me so much joy I nearly cried near the end but overall it was fantastic!

I don't know why I didn't read this book sooner! It was the best example of a contemporary romance that I've read. My favorite part of this book was how natural the writing was. It didn't feel like the author was trying too hard to make relatable millennial characters, they just felt like real people she was writing about. The way they spoke to each other, and even Alex's internal monologue was a stellar example of good contemporary writing. Instead of feeling like it was forced "hip" dialogue, it was just how young people actually talk to each other. Another shining part of this book was the characters. I loved the in-depth characters throughout the book, especially how well thought out the side and background characters were. Each named character had a history and personality that felt genuine and complex. Every character had their own life and story, even if they played small roles in Alex's story. This created a story that was organic, like it could have happened. In real life, the side characters are the main characters of their own stories, and this is exactly how they were written in this book. Overall, there is so much more I could say about this book, but I think you should go read it for yourself (if you are old enough it is 18+) and experience the greatness.

This was a phenomenal addition to the grisha universe. I really loved exploring the characters we had some familiarity with. I especially appreciated getting a deeper glimpse of Zoya. Not only did we see her past and what brought her to where she was, but we also got to see her experiences during shadow and bone, which expanded those events in an interesting way. Not only that, we got to see more of Nikolai and how he became the man he is. I loved their relationship and the way that they cared for each other. I liked Nina's plotline as well, although it didn't engage me as well as the other. I think this was most likely because she really had to grow past her grief in order to find what she was meant to do. Not only was this hard because I was still feeling the pain from the end of Crooked Kingdom, but also because it slowed the progress of the action. I really liked the development of Nina's character though and the way she grew to accept her own power. I really liked how the story added tidbits and easter eggs from the previous books. I also think the twists were really captivating, which is something Leigh Bardugo does very well. Each one is set up in little ways, so when it happens you feel like you should've seen it coming, but they aren't so obvious so that you do. One of the only issues I had was the use of parallel storylines. Usually, that's something in books that I don't like, it tends to cause pacing issues and takes me out of the story when I'm just getting into it. This book did a good job avoiding these things, however, it ended without bringing these storylines together. It left me kind of confused as to why there were two plot lines included at all. At the end of the book, it seemed like they were being set up to come together more in the following book, but I wished there would have been more of a connection made. Overall, I think this is one of Leigh's best works and I cannot wait to finish this duology.