Read All The Things

This one wasn't QUITE as good as the previous 2, but it was close! The others' greatness stems from their plot pacing. They're extremely gripping and impossible to put down. This one was still paced extremely well, but it eased up a little on the intensity. This one had better ebbs and flows compared to the previous ones, because it actually had ebbs instead of what felt like 20 second breathers before starting the next set of reps. Lol. This one shines for a different reason, though. This one shines because of its unflinching portrayal of trauma. Most series send their characters through horrific, traumatic events and, at most, they cry a bit and then they're fine. Not so with Rachel Caine's writing. These characters have been through hell already, and then they experience true Hell in this book. And it shows. And then, after they're escape, some have to make more impossible choices that will further not only their own trauma, but their friends' traumas as well.

So many aspects of this book were fantastic! The world-building was beautifully done. Everything was easily visualized and the different islands felt distinct without being over-simplified. The characterization was masterfully developed. Each character felt real and all could have been real people. The main plot was also amazing, but I found many of the side-plot things very confusing. I enjoyed the Captain Reed stories, but sometimes it got confusing as to when they were older stories and when they were affecting the main plot. I was also very confused about the two apprentices because there was no reference point (until what feels like a throw-away line at the very end that I completely missed until I started to write this review) telling you when their stories are happening in relation to the main plot. But, ultimately, this was a wonderful book and a great adventure to keep my mind occupied on a couple of flights.

I am exploring this website as a possible alternative to goodreads. Because I don't pay attention or whatever, I didn't realize until last week that amazon owns goodreads. I have steadily relied on goodreads to track the things I've read, my reading goals, and the analytics of what I read.

I'm not sure yet how I feel about this website. I've spent most of my day already working on switching from goodreads to libib.com. I really like libib so far. Switching over has been a bit of a hassle because I want to bring all my current goodreads data over to my new place. I have found libib extremely easy to use and quite streamlined. It is simplistic and I really like that.

This website is... a lot, to be honest. There's so much you can do. I don't really need all this and I probably won't use half of the features. However, I am afraid most of the people I know and follow will prefer this website over libib. And I do rely pretty heavily on my feed for book suggestions. So I'll give it a shot....