This one didn't seem to get as much attention as the GW series did, which is a shame. I really liked this book as a standalone, I thought it was sharp and clever in ways that the others aren't (which is fine, it just suited this story and characters very much), the more realistic world and lesser impact of magic, and the explicit declaration of a nonbinary main character. I also don't recall reading another book that has a main character who suffers from dissociation (if I have that right).

I think one of my favorite things about this book was the characters who were all definitely flawed. Jordan was kind of passive aggressive and bitter, and Emilia was a procrastinator and kind of arrogant. When they had their big fight near the end of the book I thought they were both making great points but also both being pretty petty and annoying. Their friendship was close and strained and very realistic and I really liked it.

The other thing was the creativity of the magic. There wasn't a lot of magic but I liked that the characters in the books Emilia owned talked back to her because she said something that upset them, or that her Jane Eyre book was blank because Jane got angry and left so nothing happened after that. Going into books was cool, but the way she could interact with anything that was written from outside too was super creative.

Anyway I know some others must have read it so I'd love to hear what you think, I think this one deserves more attention than it got.

Oh yeah, I liked this one too. It didn't capture me as much as GW does, but you're right, it's clever. There are a lot of parts that are really, really well done. Like the characters and their development, but that's kind of a given lol.

Their fight was a big one and I ended up siding with Jordan so hard. I get Emilia's hate of analyzing books to death, but how did she banter back and forth with them so much in class, like coming up with their Scarlet Letter thing on the spot, and never think that they might do this for fun? She never wondered why they were able to do that basically as well as she could? I started seeing more signs throughout the book that she's missing this whole aspect of their life but she was so confident that she didn't see it. I loved it when she got called out for thinking she was helping and being a good friend because she paid for food sometimes but otherwise wasn't paying attention.

I DID like their theory about how the villain we saw wasn't actually the same one from the book, like how he had become sentient with his whole past already written and how he was angry at being forced to be a villain. So we never saw THE main Cromwell, we saw the bitter and angry shadow of him. And him being pulled in to fight Alex was the cherry on top, I cheered a little when I figured out what was happening.

I really did like it, I'm not sure if it's a big reread for me, but it was solid, not to mention original. Coming from GW to a contemporary magic mystery was pretty good lol. I didn't figure out the mystery completely before the reveal which made it fun. ALSO, I was afraid we'd miss some reference to David or TDS but nope. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite things.

I really liked this one. My favorite part of it was probably the description of her personal struggles, like her dissociation and anxiety. I know other characters haven't been neurotypical but I think this is the first time it's been stated outright? That she has this thing and she sees a psychiatrist about it and everything. The way it affect her during her everyday life was really well written, I liked it a lot.

I also wasn't expecting a mystery out of this! I'm used to the magic and fantasy and all that stuff but this caught me off guard and I really liked it. I loved Jordan as a character too and their friction with Emilia was so well done too, I saw it coming and the resolution was so good. It really did feel like a short read coming from Ghost Walk though, which isn't a bad thing, I liked a good single book I could get into.

Also I'm assuming there are a lot of literary references and easter eggs in there I wouldn't get because I haven't read as much but I liked the ones I got!

Hannah wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 21, 2020 5:54 pm

Their fight was a big one and I ended up siding with Jordan so hard. I get Emilia's hate of analyzing books to death, but how did she banter back and forth with them so much in class, like coming up with their Scarlet Letter thing on the spot, and never think that they might do this for fun? She never wondered why they were able to do that basically as well as she could? I started seeing more signs throughout the book that she's missing this whole aspect of their life but she was so confident that she didn't see it. I loved it when she got called out for thinking she was helping and being a good friend because she paid for food sometimes but otherwise wasn't paying attention.

Right. That was a big moment for her, and she had good points of her own, but it was nice to see the difference between her own perspective as someone who tries to do well but messes up sometimes and Jordan's perspective that she wouldn't care about them at all if she wasn't constantly reminded of their existence. I think while Jordan understood how to communicate but chose not to because they were emotional, Emilia had a genuine learning moment about what she needed to do to be a better friend. It was really nice to see that get resolved over the course of the rest of the book and how Emilia got to use what she learned to wrap things up.

Hannah wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 21, 2020 5:54 pm

ALSO, I was afraid we'd miss some reference to David or TDS but nope. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite things.

That part made me curious actually. We can probably assume the Sanctum exists in this universe, but does this mean it can be accessed in other ways than falling asleep normally? Is there more than one magic artifact that lets people in? Or, could it be that in this world that's the only way to get in, and we can maybe jump to assuming that the Sanctum's inhabitants are from several different universes?

Isabelle wrote:Also I'm assuming there are a lot of literary references and easter eggs in there I wouldn't get because I haven't read as much but I liked the ones I got!

There were at least a few. There were other kinds of geeky references too. As I recently learned, there was a reason Emilia's smart home assistant was named "Majel," after the wife of the creator of Star Trek who was the voice of the ship computer. I thought that was pretty cute.