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renatasnacks's reviews
2410 reviews
Anne of Greenville by Mariko Tamaki
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
HMM this was tough tbh, because I have been a fan of Mariko Tamaki's stuff and I'm a big Anne Shirley enthusiast but this just didn't hit for me. I think if it hadn't been billed as having anything to do with Anne of Green Gables this would have been fine but to me it just wasn't getting the core dreaminess of Anne's character? (And like, as my love of the Remixed Classics series--which this is not part of--demonstrates, I'm not some stickler for canon who can't tolerate change. I just can't tolerate THIS change.)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Racism
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Wow. I'd heard this book was great but didn't rush to read it because it sounded like prettyyy sad. But then when it started getting challenged everywhere I was like, OK, let me check it out and whew, it is SO GOOD. And yes, sad, but--not in the way I thought it would be? And ultimately a spark of hopefulness. But a really powerful illumination of this moment in history with such strong characters.
A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix by C.B. Lee
adventurous
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I've never read the original Treasure Island but this was a blast! I've really enjoyed all of the Remixed Classics books so far, they are all such fresh spins on historical fiction.
An Indian Among Los Indígenas: A Native Travel Memoir by Ursula Pike
4.0
I really enjoyed this and found it very relatable as an RPCV myself. It reflected the driftless chaos of my own PC experience--if you're looking for something like Mountains Beyond Mountains, this ain't it, but it is a thoughtful exploration of identity and privilege as related to international service work.
Aces Wild: A Heist by Amanda DeWitt
3.0
This was a ton of fun, and I love the variety of aro/ace spectrum representation here. I think the backstory about them meeting on a Star Wars message board and learning together that there was a word for asexuality and creating their own spinoff Discord is something that will really resonate with teens and I love that. I will say that this is pitched as "Six of Crows in Las Vegas" and like...sorryyyy but this doesn't quite live up to that, both because Six of Crows has such well-developed characters and also because Bardugo's heist is a few notches more elaborate than this one. Here the characters are a little flatter overall and the plot is a little sweatier. But like, it was a fun read and I think a lot of teens will love this and feel seen by it.