Book Blog #390: Manacled by SenLinYu

 

Title: Manacled

Author: SenLinYu

# of Pages: 945 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Harry Potter is dead. In the aftermath of the war, in order to strengthen the might of the magical world, Voldemort enacts a repopulation effort. Hermione Granger has an Order secret, lost but hidden in her mind, so she is sent as an enslaved surrogate to the High Reeve, to be bred and monitored until her mind can be cracked.

Review: This is the OG fanfic that SenLinYu later reworked and published as Alchemised late last year. Since I already read, loved, and reviewed Alchemised, I won't repeat those thoughts here since the overall plot is the same and instead do some compare/contrast. 

There's more sex scenes. I was surprised on how non-smutty Alchemised was based on my general impression of fanfics, but in the OG fanfic, there's a lot more (not too graphic) sex scenes, more aligned with what I initially expected.

Draco is sweeter than Kaine. There were moments where I was "kicking my feet and screaming" over Draco x Hermione moments vs Kaine x Helena moments. This might be related to my previous scenes; more sex is a result of having more loving moments between the two main characters. 

Manacled isn't as dark as Alchemised. I was impressed to learn that the world building SenLinYu did in Alchemised is actually gorier than the Harry Potter components incorporated in Manacled. This is most noticeable when comparing the "evil" side's fight strategies and torture methods.

Alchemised is still the best iteration of the story. Both would benefit from more editing (fluff in the beginning that could be slimmed down). In retrospect, you can tell the SenLinYu selected key moments from this fanfic and tried to fit them into the new world they built, but these moments flow more organically in the original fanfic.

- A key example of this is how Harry x Ron x Hermione is already a known tight knit trio, so moments referencing their friendship as a key plot point makes sense in Manacled but feels weaker in Alchemised when they're Luc x Soren x Helena. 

It was fun to be able to experience this story again with the original Harry Potter premise. I would recommend most people to just read Alchemised and to only consider reading Manacled in additon if you loved Alchemised and wanted to read some "deleted" (edited out) scenes.

Book Blog #389: Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 

Title: Midnight Library

Author: Matt Haig

# of Pages: 288 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Fantasy

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: Between life and death there is a library. When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change. The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?

Review: The Midnight Library's plot feels like something I've read/watched before. 

I kept thinking that there must have been an early 2000s feel-good movie that had a similar plot, but then I realized there's a ton of media out there that involves reflecting on your life choices (one being The Five People You Meet in Heaven). 

The point being: the premise of this book is hardly original, but I was hoping that Matt Haig would add some new to the concept. Unfortunately, I was disappointed; the ending and message for this type of "reflective" story is fairly predictable. 

Nora, the protagonist, felt like a mouth piece for the author to spout some Thoreau quotes and ramble some inspiration philosophy. The reader is supposed to be learning and growing with Nora, but then suddenly Nora is lecturing someone on something she barely just realized/learned! Her character growth didn't feel organic. 

That being said, some of the imagery was quite beautiful; it would probably be a better movie than a book. I was actually surprised it wasn't already a movie, but apparently it was just announced this month that it's being adapted into a movie. I suppose we are all on the same page after all. 

This was a 2 star to maybeeee low 3 star for me. It didn't make me feel anything (except scared in the middle, but this is likely because of my overactive imagination making some scenes more dramatic than they actually are, especially considering horror is NOT one of the book's genres), and I didn't gain anything from read this book.

It's not a BAD book, but I spent most of my time not enjoying reading it. Wouldn't recommend this book in a hurry unless the premise already sounds like it's up your alley.

Book Blog #388: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

 

Title: Everything is Tuberculosis

Author: John Green

# of Pages: 189 (hardback)

Genre: Non-fiction, History

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it. In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, preventable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year. In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

Review: 

"It reminded me that when we know about suffering, when we are proximal to it, we are capable of extraordinary generosity. We can do and be so much for each other — but only when we see one another in our full humanity, not as statistics or problems, but as people who deserve to be alive in the world"

Yes, I read this book because it's by John Green. I didn't know much about the history nor the current prevalence/treatment efficacy of tuberculosis before reading this book, nor did I have a particular interest. 

I was honestly prepared for a book similar to the only other nonfiction book I've read of John Green's: This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl, in which Green highlights the muse of TFIOS who was (non-coincidentally) part of nerdfighteria (John and Hank's vlogbrothers fanclub). Since highlighting this particular teen's story was directly related to her already being a fan of John Green, it didn't surprise me that John also (dare I say narcissistically) included at least one mention of his books and highlighted a TB patient who was in fact a huge fan TFIOS.

That being said, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Henry, the tuberculosis patient who's story is interweaved with the history of tuberculosis, was not focused on for a similar reason but rather for the joy and positivity he brought others in the face of having drug-resistant TB. Our non-fiction "protagonist" (if there is to be one for this book) is an important case in the country Sierra Leone's progress in treating TB. 

John Green's voice is so clear in this book as he skips around between highlighting how our understanding on what causes TB has evolved, how it can be treated, why it's still a problem today, and stories of TB patients throughout history. It felt like I was reading a long-format vlogbrothers video; John Green did a great job at making the material digestible and interesting.

Readers actually can relate with John Green's perspective, who writes with the understanding that hearing statistics alone can make it difficult to truly understand why TB is still a modern day problem. He approaches the problem by showing multiple reasons why people in richer countries SHOULD care about this: compassion for other human beings (if everyone had access to good health care, no one should die of TB), fear an evolution of an untreatable TB (countries without adequate treatment and preventative methods perpetuate the spread of drug resistant forms of TB that can eventually lead to a GLOBAL issue), etc.

A relatively short read; I would recommend reading this book if you're a fan of John Green's writing style, even if you aren't particularly interested in learning more about TB.

Book Blog #387: Alchemised by SenLinYu

 

Title: Alchemised

Author: SenLinYu

# of Pages: 1030 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed. In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive. According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit? To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

Review: This was a very solid read IF you're reading it from the perspective that it originated a Harry Potter universe Draco x Hermione fanfic. 

As a stand alone book, the character development is actually quite weak. I haven't read the original fanfic Manacled (although I'm tempted to read it just so I can compare), but presumably SenLinYu relied on the character/relationship building from the original Harry Potter series that is now missing in this new world she created. 

The story also READS like a fanfic, and not just because of the romance (in fact, although the romance is a prominent part, there were less romantic/smut sections than I would expect from a fanfic). The characters were overly expressive and descriptions of their expressions were repetitive (e.g. characters often have their face contoured in rage, which read as an over dramatized and unrealistic).

But from the perspective of a fanfic, the story is quite good and insanely addictive. Since I care about Harry Potter characters like Hermione, Draco, Harry, Ron, etc, I was invested in their continued story through this book (it's pretty obvious to tell who is who even with their names/descriptions slight changed). 

Despite being over 1k pages, I flew through this book (Part 3 I read in one sitting!). Part 1 was repetitive and slower to get through mostly because the world building isn't clearer until later in the book (so up to you if reading 200+ pages before really getting immersed in the world. 

Solidly a 4 star read, but I would only recommend it if you're familiar with the Harry Potter characters.

Book Blog #386: The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

 

Title: The Couple Next Door

Author: Shari Lapen

# of Pages: 308 (paperback)

Genre: Adult, Mystery, Thriller

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Your neighbour told you that she didn't want your six-month-old daughter at the dinner party. Nothing personal, she just couldn't stand her crying. Your husband said it would be fine. After all, you only live next door. You'll have the baby monitor and you'll take it in turns to go back every half hour. Your daughter was sleeping when you checked on her last. But now, as you race up the stairs in your deathly quiet house, your worst fears are realized. She's gone. You've never had to call the police before. But now they're in your home, and who knows what they'll find there.

Review: This is a classic whodunnit mystery that's fast paced and easy to read. Perfect for some light reading that is actually best enjoyed if you turn your brain off.

The Couple Next Door is told in third person omniscient perspective, drifting primarily between the parents Anne and Marco and Detective Rasbach. This works well for the book aside from the weakness where the reader will obviously know more information than the other characters. Usually this is frustrating, but Detective Rasbach is great at his job, and I found that he (and thus the author) was always one step ahead of me. 

The ending was sloppier than I liked. Lapena tried to incorporate too much for the grand finale that made unrealistic, and a particular character's backstory felt too underdeveloped. 

Part of why this story is so easy to read is Lapena chooses to tell the reader all the possible theories rather than showing them implicitly through observations. This story could have been richer and grittier if Lapena showed rather than told, but it was still an entertaining read nonetheless. 

This book definitely leaned more toward the mystery aspect than thriller. There was only one aspect of the book that was ominous but isn't the focus of the plot. 

This was a solid read that I could not put down, but Lapen isn't doing anything groundbreaking here. It's in the low-mid 4 star range (low 4 for execution, mid 4 for enjoyment and readability). I would recommend it if you're a fan of mystery!

Book Blog #385: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible by Rabih Alameddine

 

Title: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible

Author: Rabih Alameddine

# of Pages: 323 (hardback)

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: In a tiny Beirut apartment, sixty-three-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. A beloved high school philosophy teacher and “the neighborhood homosexual,” Raja relishes books, meditative walks, order, and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son’s desire for privacy as a personal affront. She demands to know every detail of Raja’s work life and love life, boundaries be damned. When Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, the timing couldn’t be better. It arrives on the heels of a series of personal and national disasters that have left Raja longing for peace and quiet away from his mother and the heartache of Lebanon. But what at first seems a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to forget.

Review: I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected.

What did I expect? Not much; I received this book as a gift. A story about a Lebanese man and his mother didn't seem particularly interesting to me. The protagonist, Raja, tells a hodge-podge first person narrative of his life, and for most of the story it wasn't clear on what this book was even supposed to be about.

However, Raja's narrative voice is amusing; he acts so flippant as literal war and horrible things happens to him and those around him. I found chapter 3 (the middle section) and the ending the most addicting to read. The family dysfunction and Raja's quirks suddenly became endearing, and by the end the reader is filled with a sense of understanding on how Raja and his mother each express their love for each other. 

Although Raja's unorganized rambling slowed down the pacing of the story, I enjoyed the story enough for that to nearly be cancelled out (net neutral read). I wouldn't recommend it in a hurry, but if this already sounds like something you would be interested in, then you should give it a try. 

Book Blog #384: Normal People by Sally Rooney

 

Title: Normal People

Author: Sally Rooney

# of Pages: 274 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: Connell Waldron is one of the most popular boys in his small-town high school--he is a star of the football team and an excellent student, and he is never wanting for attention from girls. The one thing he doesn't have is money. Marianne Sheridan, a classmate of Connell's, has the opposite problem. Marianne is plain-looking, odd, and stubborn, and while her family is quite well off, she has no friends to speak of. There is, however, a deep and undeniable connection between the two teenagers, one that develops into a secret relationship. Everything changes when both Connell and Marianne are accepted to Trinity College. Suddenly Marianne is well liked and elegant, holding court with her intellectual friends, while Connell hangs at the sidelines, not quite as fluent in the language of the elite. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle each other, falling in and out of romance but never straying far from where they started. And as Marianne experiments with an increasingly dangerous string of boyfriends, Connell must decide how far he is willing to go to save his oldest friend.

Review: I read this book because I heard it was recommend for fans of Heated Rivalry, but they're not actually similar at all. 

I was expecting a fluffy, happy, romantic story full of yearning and characters that I cared and rooted for. Instead, I felt like an outsider looking into a slice of life story about an on and off again relationship between the two main characters: Connell and Marianne. 

Although there was some underlying messaging about loneliness, living authentically vs conforming to expectations, there wasn't enough character building to get the reader invested in the characters. Their lives and relationships are complicated and messy, but instead of relating to them, I felt alienated and frustrated with the characters, especially when their problems could be chalked up to poor communication.

Overall this was a drag to read, and I wouldn't recommend reading this book if you're looking for a true romance story.