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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I have not read this author before and knew not what to expect. Awesome! This was funny and sad and beautiful and true. I loved the completely fleshed out characters and fantastic friendships. I really enjoyed how Ness separated the adventure story from the story of those just living there. So good, I want more.
This is a great read for anyone that reads a lot of YA/urban fantasy. It's told from the perspective of the other people that are around when vampires invade or portals need to be closed all by the chosen one.
The characters were teenagers but had some real depth. The narrator was witty and authentic.
Just a great read really and a really cool premise.
The characters were teenagers but had some real depth. The narrator was witty and authentic.
Just a great read really and a really cool premise.
I liked this book about the kids who aren't the superheroes or "the Chosen Ones" with unusual names and iconoclastic hatred for high school rituals like prom and yet are affected by the fantastical melodramatic shenanigans going on just off-screen in a "Chosen One" narrative. But in the end, the book did shift into a Chosen One narrative, which I didn't understand. I thought the whole point of the narrative was that non-Chosen Ones have their own very real and very absorbing human dramas to work out. Maybe the author was saying that Chosen Ones don't have to have unusual names and iconoclastic hatred for high school rituals like prom in order to be Chosen? That seems a lot less interesting. And yet I enjoyed the coming-of-age story embedded within the book and the satire of the hyperbolic Chosen Ones narrative that starts each chapter.
the premise of this story is incredible: it's not about the kids that are experiencing things--it's about the kids in the background. the execution of this idea was pretty okay, even though i found myself comparing it to ness' masterpiece [b:More Than This|21969786|More Than This|Patrick Ness|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398164413s/21969786.jpg|22008332].
the huge problem i had with the book was the portrayal of mental illness. anorexia seems to be "solved" by the implementation of a strict diet. the suffering girl just accepts the fact that she must eat. anyone who has struggled with an eating disorder knows it's not that easy. it's a battle. food is scary. you don't go from starving yourself to the point of heart failure to simply eating what you're told to eat.
and ocd is not so simple, either. the hand-washing portrayal is accurate, more so than any other part. but in one instance, the character (Mikey) just up and said he didn't think he could stop. and then he does. when his friend Jared becomes all-powerful, with the ability to heal all wounds and sicknesses, Mikey refuses. says he wants to figure it out on his own. that's unrealistic. there is resistance to medication, sure. because it might mess with your true self. but magic would heal you so that you were your true self, just without the debilitating mental illnesses. i don't know anyone with anxiety or depression who would deny this magical treatment.
mental illness is not a plot device.
the huge problem i had with the book was the portrayal of mental illness. anorexia seems to be "solved" by the implementation of a strict diet. the suffering girl just accepts the fact that she must eat. anyone who has struggled with an eating disorder knows it's not that easy. it's a battle. food is scary. you don't go from starving yourself to the point of heart failure to simply eating what you're told to eat.
and ocd is not so simple, either. the hand-washing portrayal is accurate, more so than any other part. but in one instance, the character (Mikey) just up and said he didn't think he could stop. and then he does. when his friend Jared becomes all-powerful, with the ability to heal all wounds and sicknesses, Mikey refuses. says he wants to figure it out on his own. that's unrealistic. there is resistance to medication, sure. because it might mess with your true self. but magic would heal you so that you were your true self, just without the debilitating mental illnesses. i don't know anyone with anxiety or depression who would deny this magical treatment.
mental illness is not a plot device.
Parts were really confusing and made me wonder if I'd missed three precious books in a series. Other parts were really touching and nice.
Interesting read. Fun chapter titles
some minor strong language, talk of sex, violence, alcoholism (parent)
Spoiler
some minor strong language, talk of sex, violence, alcoholism (parent)
---> adegan paling menggelikan (kurasa banyak cewek2 yang bakal suka adegan ini) =
CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH, in which Satchel, mourning her friends but pressing on feistily, keeps researching her amulet with the card catalogue; the mysterious boy appears in her bedroom one night and his first words are, “I’m sorry”; he tells her he is the Prince in the Court of the Immortals; his mother, the Empress, wants to take over this world, sensing great food here to feed their immortality; they seek to open more fissures, find more permanent Vessels in which to live, but the Prince has fallen in love with Satchel from afar and can’t stand idly by while her world is enslaved; “I’ve come to help,” he says; they kiss.
---> quote terbaik = Jared, “Not everyone has to be the Chosen One. Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world. Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing the things that are great for them, having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly. All the while knowing that the world makes no sense but trying to find a way to be happy anyway.”
---> itu cerita side story yang tentang indie kids apaan sih? Menggelikan sekali. Cerita bunga yang baru mekar dikerubuti tawon lol. Satu cewek berganti 4 cowok, 1 cowok mati muncul 1 cowok lain sampai 4 cowok. Ketemu - ciuman, ketemu - ciuman, dst lfmao. Apua-apuaan ini?!?
---> untung main storynya lumayan bagus, tapi sekali lagi masalahnya ada diromance (ini selalu jadi masalahku). Masih bisa diterima walaupun sedikit membuat kening mengernyit juga :)
CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH, in which Satchel, mourning her friends but pressing on feistily, keeps researching her amulet with the card catalogue; the mysterious boy appears in her bedroom one night and his first words are, “I’m sorry”; he tells her he is the Prince in the Court of the Immortals; his mother, the Empress, wants to take over this world, sensing great food here to feed their immortality; they seek to open more fissures, find more permanent Vessels in which to live, but the Prince has fallen in love with Satchel from afar and can’t stand idly by while her world is enslaved; “I’ve come to help,” he says; they kiss.
---> quote terbaik = Jared, “Not everyone has to be the Chosen One. Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world. Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing the things that are great for them, having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly. All the while knowing that the world makes no sense but trying to find a way to be happy anyway.”
---> itu cerita side story yang tentang indie kids apaan sih? Menggelikan sekali. Cerita bunga yang baru mekar dikerubuti tawon lol. Satu cewek berganti 4 cowok, 1 cowok mati muncul 1 cowok lain sampai 4 cowok. Ketemu - ciuman, ketemu - ciuman, dst lfmao. Apua-apuaan ini?!?
---> untung main storynya lumayan bagus, tapi sekali lagi masalahnya ada diromance (ini selalu jadi masalahku). Masih bisa diterima walaupun sedikit membuat kening mengernyit juga :)
i can see why i dnf'd this in 2015... but i powered through this time and somehow finished
Don’t let the 3 stars deceive you because I absolutely worship the ground Patrick Ness walks on. It’s just, compared to his other books, this one didn’t grab me in a chokehold quite like the others. I wish it was a little longer and we got to spend more time with some characters, mainly Jared. But, I did still really like it. Every time Mike describes his feelings of despair, loneliness and fear, I genuinely would start to cry because those thoughts have been echoing in my head for months. I don’t think I could’ve picked a better time to read this. I needed this message, I needed this hope and perspective. Not to mention the mocking of the indie kid “chosen one” trope was quite funny. Oh Mr. Ness, how you always come to the rescue :)
This book was great! I enjoyed the story and the ending, but none of the characters really resonated with me. They all were very quirky and I was rooting for the them the whole time but the writing style just did not make them seem as amazing as they could be. As well, the format of chapters was interesting, but the ending was just a little too simple and cheesy for my taste. Otherwise, I whipped through this book