Alexia > Recent Status Updates

ok cursing even when tasting good food in a laid back setting????????
then raihn immediately shoots in some innuendo...... just as i was starting to enjoy their chemistry....

someone needs to give me a version without all the meaningless fucks cause it's getting good but the shoehorned cursing keeps taking me out of it

ok so raihn is centuries old.... and talks like oraya does. and oraya talks like a gen z-er. seriously they sound like teens trying to be edgy and it's only a step above the cursed dialogue of fourth wing

NOOOOO WHAT IS THIS FORCED INNUENDO STAAAAHPPPPP

and why is oraya so prickly and continuously antagonistic towards raihn lmao. not trusting him makes perfect sense but im not entirely sure being a rude prick is in her best interests when its abundantly clear he could end her easily with no apparent reason stopping him from doing so. she def feels like a prickly rose more than an experienced-hardened survivor

ok that's 10000 too many 'fuck's and 'fucking's threw in for the sake of it. i'd argue that the author's otherwise fair prose -- particularly during the atmospheric exposition -- makes it all the worse with how it sticks out like a very sore thumb. these people talk like cringey teenagers who spend too much time on the internet

'worth shit' -ALL the shits are used as slang and goddddd

wow this book started slow and just.. burst into chemistry

"Clark Kent" is mentioned... 4 separate times in the span of 6 pages? three of them variants of "a clark kent lookalike jerk"... idk it feels excessive. it feels like this book needs to repeat/loop everything at least 3 times to make a single point.

also... this is basically Hating Game but bad. even down to the Clark Kent and the emphasis on the BIG love interest

The pace is still at a crawl. Here's to hoping it will pick up soon!

curiously, i'm becoming less interested in the book as it grows into the war itself. it reads like it's lifted straight from the 2nd sino-japanese war, just with technology wired way back so the magic actually has a place here. and here the lack of characterization really kicks in: with no loyalty to either nikara or the characters, there's no urgency to know what happens next: all this has already happened.

and the map... it IS lifted straight from world geography, just simplified for the story's sake. even the shapes are the same (you can see one is mirrored... doesn't make it any better.) with this degree of resemblance down to even geographical traits idk the point of not just setting it in a straight-up parallel universe with alternate history. again, feels sneaky.

um okay so there is another fictional country that can be matched with its historical counterpart... the ethnical characteristics and regional motifs are unsurprisingly tit for tat.

even the belief systems completely reflect their real country counterpart, bruh. some parts of the world-building feel straight-up derivative, 'this fictional country is like this because this is how they were in world history.' also are we basically using the real world map?

i am liking it so far, but i also take issue with the 'world-building' outside of the magic/lore. it isn't just 'inspired' by history, you can find very direct counterparts for these 'fictional' countries. i'd have much preferred less specific parallels, or just straight-up use the actual names. this feels sneaky, borrowing settings: taking what you like while not needing to be mindful of what really went down.

i'm absolutely not on board with the 'antagonist all along' narrative that the book is pushing now...

none of these characters are well-rounded. there's nothing more to their character set-up. they either fit into some mold or serve to advance the plot.

ok... what's this sudden antagonism here, what's going on

and the antagonistic character in question even talks completely differently like he feels the need to insert an expletive in every single sentence he utters

this is incredibly un-nuanced and i do not like it at all

and i can't get past the way adam/ professors talk in this book

they talk like teenagers. like they're high school students or something. they also behave like high schoolers

i wish the author had just made adam a fellow grad

what's this with established professors being so young and uniformly physically attractive

cause it's cute and all but i can't help but feel that there is a little TOO much emphasis on their prettiness and fitness cause these are def not qualities i like to associate with profs

quite pleasant so far! really enjoy this take on mulan, as well as the choice to feature a protagonist whose craft is tailoring instead of fighting/politics etc.

Addicted to YA is hosting a chat with Victoria Schwab on 7/19!

is this happening
is this true

cogs in mind whirs and dies

"Inej raised a brow and slowly wiped the blood of kings on her trousers."
I just love her.

Now I really, really want to see Kaz and his haircut.

Kaz Brekker should get over Jordie's dead body feel right now. This friggin' instant.
Inej I heart you

"Invest"
stop using that word you little skiv

Aaaannd we finally get Mr. Brekker's chapter.

YES
KAZ U R A GNIUS

Kaz Brekker needs to stop pretending like he doesn't care for his crew. First Inej, now Jesper. You little .

Jesper's dad
Saints, no. WHY?? i hate it when stuff like this happens aaaahh!! old friends and relatives and family ugh no thank you!

Kaz Brekker is currently pissing me off by pretending to care about the money more than he does Inej. You are fooling no one and not even yourself you little skiv. Investment my arse.

His voice was calm, almost hypnotic. It had the coarse rasp of an over-rosined bow.
Over-rosined bow. What a beautiful way to put it.

I wish more authors could write like this and not just spew countless ridiculous, nonsensical metaphors and/or similies on every single page.