Welcome to my weird world!
Back when Turning Red was released, in my opinion a superb, important and groundbreaking animated film, critic Sean O’Connell said he felt he couldn’t relate to the problems the female protagonist was facing, and outrage was sparked over the review, calling it sexist and socially blind. The outrage was warranted. The entertainment industry expects girls... Continue Reading →
The sort of undercover work the protagonist does in A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is enough to make James Bond, Sherlock Holmes and even Hercule Poirot green with embarrassment at how many levels she is above their investigative skills, not the least of which is she's still just a teenager, doing a case that... Continue Reading →
Once in a while, I take a gamble with a book that doesn't really look like my type, and then it ends up a fun, fast-paced surprise. Introducing Aelfraed, Durriken, Lancelot, and Blaxton. I mean, The Four Suitors. In the kingdom of Avaritia, the king and queen and especially their daughter are certainly not the... Continue Reading →
You know, there's a barrier when it comes to learning history from foreign countries, and I think that's evident in Traitor; if we want to properly be educated on it, like a bagel with surprisingly too much garlic, we can be easily taken aback with how many different groups with so many different histories we... Continue Reading →
Whenever I'd read this outside, wasps would swarm me. And no one else. Maybe it was the giant bee on the cover giving wasps the impression I may be a person of interest. Caroleena, or Carol, is a twelve year old girl whose family is not broken, but a bit fractured on the sides, and... Continue Reading →
I don't think I've been this excited to start a new book series since I devoured the first Miss Peregrine book five years ago. In the start of this series due to be at least a quintet, we follow someone named Elloren Gardner who's known as a Gardnerian. Her Uncle Edwin has raised her and... Continue Reading →
You know my favourite part of The Breakfast Club, the movie this book takes obvious inspiration from? The final line: "We discovered each of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal." I think that's a timeless line, because it applies to everybody. No one is one... Continue Reading →
This book convinced me I should one day return to this duology, and see the first one anew, which I gave a rather unfavourable review of. I said it was a jump-scare book that wasn't set up to truly scare, and by the time it actually got to the good stuff, I was more relieved... Continue Reading →
I now look towards Sabaa Tahir’s series if I need inspiring on how to make the characters in my books frightened and truly “scarred”. A Reaper at the Gates is the third installment in the Ember in the Ashes series. And at the end of the last book, Laia of Serra was finally able to... Continue Reading →
As Sabaa Tahir's final book in this spectacular series is out and I'm going to get it for Christmas, I wanted to upload my past reviews of her books leading up to A Sky Beyond The Storm. So, is this another YA dystopia? That's what I thought at first. But I got over it, almost... Continue Reading →
William J. McGinn 