Review - It Doesn't Matter Anymore

It Doesn't Matter Anymore
by Natasha Yentrouc
Date: 2024
Publisher: Natasha Yentrouc
Reading level: A
Book type: prose novelette
Pages: 60
Format: e-book
Source: Amazon

I don’t know what year it is. I don’t know where I am. I don't even know my own name. None of that matters anymore. The only things that matter are the three things I know.

I am still alive.

Everyone else is gone.

I can’t die.

When that is your whole world, everything else just doesn’t matter. It doesn't matter anymore.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

My god, that was depressing. I'm sure it was supposed to be, but now I feel like I need to go read something about puppies and rainbows if I don't want to be sad for the next week.

This is a short story about a technologically enhanced human soldier who can't die. The reasons for this are explained, but weak, and I'm pretty sure I noticed a way that these soldiers could die if they really wanted to. That would've negated the morose ending of the book, though.

The main character, a woman who's been on her own for years after a worldwide war wiped out nearly everyone and everything, is highly unlikable. Even though the story is fairly short, it's long enough that I couldn't wait to get out of her head. She doesn't remember much from before she was tinkered with by the scientists, including her name. I suspect it may have been Debbie (as in Debbie Downer).

I was willing to overlook some of my minor quibbles in the beginning because the overall premise was interesting. I thought it might even be a three-star read. Eventually, though, as the character started to grate on me, I noticed more and more problems. Verb tenses switched back and forth. I couldn't tell who was talking half the time due to the way the paragraphs were divided. And the formatting on the e-book was just weird, switching between indented and unindented paragraphs throughout. All those little things pulled me out of the story.

If you're feeling too happy and want to pull yourself down a bit, give this story a try. Otherwise... maybe skip it.

Premise: 3/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 1/5
Pace: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Editing: 1/5
Originality: 3/5
Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall Rating: 2.13 out of 5 ladybugs

Review - The Midnight Library

The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
Date: 2020
Publisher: Canongate Press
Reading level: A
Book type: prose novel
Pages: 304
Format: e-book
Source: Kobo

'Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?'

A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

I can't believe this is a bestseller. I can't believe it won the 2020 Goodreads Award for Best Fiction. Seriously... what am I missing here?

This is a mediocre book with a promising premise but a tremendously unsatisfying execution. The first 80% is unbearably slow, with our bland heroine, Nora, trying out different lives. Hints of something that could've been really interesting (the Hugo storyline) were brought up and then never revisited. The whole story wraps up in an unrealistic, saccharine bow in the last 10%, with an entire chapter slamming the reader over the head with an anti-suicide message. Is this a thinly disguised self-help book? If so, it's not very helpful. Nora's life completely sucks (family dead or estranged, no partner, no friends, no job, dead cat), so her actions at the beginning, unpleasant and misguided though they might be, make sense. The moral of the story is that you shouldn't kill yourself because it's only your perception of your life that's off. Unfortunately, the book contradicts itself by having things that are actually different in Nora's life after her attempt, so it's not just a matter of perception. Her brother is suddenly there for her. Her friend in Australia stops ghosting her. Sorry, but those aren't just a matter of perception, so the story's message ends up undermining itself.

The Hugo storyline is never spoken of again. (It could've been interesting.) And if you were hoping for a happily ever after on the romantic front, you're going to be disappointed. Rather than offering some satisfaction there, the author chooses to spend an entire chapter bludgeoning the reader with the "life is so wonderful" message. I'm sorry, but if you hint at a romantic relationship but never follow through, it's a crappy move. Realistic? Sure. But this is a story about a magical library that lets people relive their regrets and see if the path not taken is actually something to strive for... so I wasn't looking for realism.

Overall, I'm disappointed. The writing is okay (though rather plodding and juvenile at times), and the premise of the Midnight Library itself is really cool. But Haig doesn't do nearly as much with that premise as he could have, leaving us instead with a pedestrian half-story featuring a main character who's difficult to relate to (and therefore care about).

Seriously. I don't get the hype.

Plot: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Pace: 2/5
Writing & Editing: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall Rating: 2.57 out of 5 ladybugs

Review - Curse of the Dragon

Curse of the Dragon
by Richard Fierce
Date: 2023
Publisher: Dragonfire Press
Reading level: YA
Book type: short story
Pages: 15
Format: e-book
Source: BookFunnel

One misstep can change a life. When Mina stumbles upon an abandoned dragon cave, she finds more than she bargained for. This is a prequel short story that leads into the series Marked by the Dragon. It doesn't have spoilers, but rather expands what the main series mentions.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This short story is a unicorn indeed: a self-published work that's technically competent. The author clearly has a good command of grammar and punctuation (or he has an editor who does). Unfortunately, the story itself is rather weak, marred by a few continuity issues and a lot of... well, nothing happening.

The first half is literally a twelve-year-old girl wandering about, trying to be helpful. The second half is where the action starts and ends, but in a 15-page story, that doesn't leave a lot of room for plot development. Basically, this is just a snippet of backstory that explains how the main character in the Marked by the Dragon series got her start.

It's possible that the main books in the series are stronger. But, given that so much time in an already short story is spent on irrelevant wandering, I'm a bit wary. The first full book in the series is free, though, so if you're really into dragons, you might want to check it out. However, I'm not sure if this prequel short story is really necessary.

Plot: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Pace: 2/5
Writing & Editing: 4/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall Rating: 2.71 out of 5 ladybugs

Review - A Spindle Splintered [AUDIO]

A Spindle Splintered
by Alix E. Harrow
Date: 2021
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Reading level: NA
Book type: novella
Length: 3 hours 20 minutes
Format: audio book [unabridged]
Source: library

It's Zinnia Gray's twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it's the last birthday she'll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no one has lived past twenty-one.

Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia's last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

How can you muck up a fairy-tale retelling this badly?

If you enjoy in-your-face feminism, lots of Disney bashing (while also making lots of comparisons to the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty), too many pop-culture references, adults who act like teenagers, deus ex machina climaxes, and a vague plotline that makes little sense, you might enjoy A Spindle Splintered.

If any or all of those things annoy you, A Spindle Splintered is probably not for you.

The whole tone of the book turned me off. I felt like I was being preached at the whole time, like this was just a vehicle for the author's opinions on everything: politics, gender theory, feminism, media, the pharmaceutical industry, etc. And while I realize that fiction can be a reflection of such opinions, this was... not subtle. At all.

I listened to this book, and I think that made things even worse. All the men, especially the older ones, sounded really weird. Pompous and wheezy. And I found the story hard to follow, which is not the best thing to have happen when you're listening because you can't just flip back and re-read the parts that you didn't quite grasp the first time.

Overall, I'm wildly unimpressed.

Plot: 1/5
Characters: 1/5
Pace: 2/5
Performance: 2/5
Originality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 0/5

Overall: 1.33 out of 5

Review - The Seventh Raven [AUDIO]

The Seventh Raven
by David Elliott
Date: 2021
Publisher: HarperCollins and Blackstone Publishing
Reading level: YA
Book type: verse novel
Length: 1 hour 47 minutes
Format: audio book [unabridged]
Source: library

Best-selling author David Elliott examines the timeless themes of balance, transformation, and restoration in this evocative tale about a girl who will stop at nothing to reverse a curse that turned her seven brothers into ravens.

And these are the sons
Of good Jack and good Jane
The eldest is Jack
And the next one is Jack
And the third one’s called Jack
And the fourth’s known as Jack
And the fifth says he’s Jack
And they call the sixth Jack
But the seventh’s not Jack
The seventh is Robyn

And this is his story

When Robyn and his brothers are turned into ravens through the work of an unlucky curse, a sister is their only hope to become human again. Though she’s never met her brothers, April will stop at nothing to restore their humanity. But what about Robyn, who always felt a greater affinity to the air than to the earth-bound lives of his family?

David Elliott’s latest novel in verse explores the unintended consequences of our actions, no matter our intentions, and is filled with powerful messages teased from a Grimms’ fairy tale.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

When you want a cool fairy tale retelling and you get a pile of pretentious poetry.

Yeah. It's like that.

I enjoy verse novels, but I did not click with this one. I think part of the problem is that I detested Robyn, the character with whom we're supposed to relate. See, Robyn likes being a raven... but he's such an unempathetic narcissist that, when the point of breaking the curse comes, he can only think of what he is going to lose, not what nine other people are about to get back, or the fact that his sister had to literally mutilate her body to break the curse. So he goes and sulks for the rest of his life and declares he's an angel (I kid you not; we're supposed to like this weirdo?).

There's a note at the end about how different forms of poetry were used for different characters. In another format, I might've found this interesting. But since I listened to the audiobook, I didn't get to see the words on the page, which made it more difficult to differentiate the types of poems. The effect one gets from listening to this book is one of unevenness and excessive repetition.

The misandrist messaging, the unlikable characters, and the repetition all combined to leave a rather sour taste in my mouth. I love verse novels. I love fairy tale retellings. I should have loved this book.

But I didn't.

Plot: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Pace: 2/5
Performance: 3/5
Originality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 2 out of 5

Review - I'm Glad My Mom Died [AUDIO]

I'm Glad My Mom Died
by Jennette McCurdy
Date: 2022
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Reading level: A
Book type: memoir
Length: 6 hours 26 minutes
Format: audio book [unabridged]
Source: library

A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I heard a lot about this book last year. With a title like that, how could a reader not be intrigued?

This is a rather harrowing memoir of Hollywood, abuse, illness, family dysfunction, and, yes, love. The provocative title seems to have turned a lot of people off. After listening to this audiobook, though, I can understand why it was chosen. Emotions are complicated. Families are complicated. When there is such emotional chaos in a family, it's understandable that there might be a certain amount of relief when the source of much of that chaos is removed from the picture.

Jennette's mom put her through a lot. The woman was not well, physically or mentally. She was a hoarder. She had extremely narcissistic behaviours. She lived vicariously through her daughter, seeming to see Jennette as little more than an extension of herself. The harrowing depictions of abuse (that Jennette didn't even realize was abuse until years later) are hard to listen to. Coming out with the raw details must have been incredibly difficult, and I applaud Jennette for being courageous enough to do so.

This is an important book, especially for people who may have similar relationships with family members. Ignoring the abuse doesn't help. Keeping secrets doesn't help. All those things serve to do is push the problem further into the future... where it will have to be dealt with at some point, especially if you want to have any semblance of a healthy, normal life.

I just want to add that I'm not the biggest fan of audiobooks in general. But, in this case, I would recommend listening to this book rather than reading it. Jennette does a great job with the narration. Her dry humour comes through when it's appropriate, and yet there are other times when you can hear the genuine heartbreak in her voice. This is her story, after all... and it's wonderful to get to hear her tell it to us.

Overall, this is a really strong memoir. I've never seen iCarly, and I didn't even know who Jennette was before this book came on the scene. But I found this to be a fascinating memoir, and I would definitely recommend it to others.

 
Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Performance: 4/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 4 out of 5

Review - Wings in the Wild [AUDIO]

Wings in the Wild
by Margarita Engle
Date: 2023
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Reading level: YA
Book type: verse novel
Length: 1 hour 46 minutes
Format: audio book [unabridged]
Source: library

This gorgeously romantic contemporary novel-in-verse from award-winning author Margarita Engle tells the “inspiring and hopeful” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) love story of two teens fighting for climate action and human rights.

Winged beings are meant to be free. And so are artists, but the Cuban government has criminalized any art that doesn’t meet their approval. Soleida and her parents protest this injustice with their secret sculpture garden of chained birds. Then a hurricane exposes the illegal art, and her parents are arrested.

Soleida escapes to Central America alone, joining the thousands of Cuban refugees stranded in Costa Rica while seeking asylum elsewhere. There she meets Dariel, a Cuban American boy whose enigmatic music enchants birds and animals—and Soleida.

Together they work to protect the environment and bring attention to the imprisoned artists in Cuba. Soon they discover that love isn’t about falling—it’s about soaring together to new heights. But wings can be fragile, and Soleida and Dariel come from different worlds. They are fighting for a better future—and the chance to be together.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I didn't expect to dislike this one as much as I did. I've read a couple of Margarita Engle's other verse novels, both historical fiction set in Cuba, and really enjoyed them. I was curious to see what a verse novel was like in audiobook format. I can't say that I was impressed. Then again, I don't think I would've liked this book anyway, even if I'd read a copy.

Aside from being very hard to follow (which may simply be one of the limitations of the audio format here), the characters are flat, the story fizzles, and the whole thing gets very, very preachy. Dariel's anger over climate change is to the point of being off-putting, and a few times the narrative devolves into statistics and scolding. I almost wondered if this thing had been ghostwritten by Greta Thunberg.

Yes, deforestation is a problem. Yes, artists being persecuted in Cuba is awful. Yes, being a refugee must suck. Those are the things I really wanted to read about. Instead, we got a weak story with contrived relationship complications, a confusing timeline, anti-adult sentiment, and a little too much preaching about how the world is toast if we don't meet yet another arbitrary target for carbon-emission reductions (which will probably be pushed ahead another few years when we reach 2040 and we're not all dead).

If I read any other books by this author in the future, I'll be sticking to her historical fiction... and staying away from the audiobooks.

Plot: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Pace: 2/5
Performance: 3/5
Originality: 3/5
Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 2.17 out of 5