March 2023 wrap up

Hello, lovely people! March was a weird month, but I got stuff done. I opened up one of my abandoned WIPs and started writing again, read a ton of books, and I watched, among other things, two book adaptations I have a couple of salty uncharitable unpopular opinions about. Let’s dive in!

What I read

The Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hobb

You can read my review here. The Rain Wild Chronicles is a story about dragons unable to fly journeying upriver with their keepers to find a lost city.

Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb

…And I reached The Fitz and the Fool trilogy finally. This book has a huge ‘all vibes no plot’ feel to it, and there’s this thin facade of peace over most of the book that just feels so wrong. The Fool is not in this book and yet he’s literally everywhere and his absence tangibly haunts the story. Fitz is clearly depressed and hiding deep hurts that he isn’t allowing anyone to see, and he makes me want to scream just talk to your wife and daughters dude! Because I don’t think even Fitz realizes just how much the Fool leaving him affected him.

I LOVE Bee. And Molly. Molly and Bee together (adorableness!) Bee and Per’s friendship. Bee and Wolf Father. Bee secretly reading Fitz’s letters and diaries. Fitz knowing that…and letting it happen anyway. It’s a small detail but it’s such a Fitz thing to do. Bee’s chapters were a delight to read.

DID THAT ENDING HAVE TO HAPPEN THAT WAY??? My rating: ★★★★✩ (4.5 stars)

Fool’s Quest by Robin Hobb

There is a list of things that I did not like about this book, like the lack of urgency and the fact that it took more than half the book for the characters to figure out one very important thing. It also could have been at least a hundred pages shorter. Also some inconsistencies (SPOILERS, but like how many times did Amber and Spark use the skill pillars and how did they not get stuck?? Also, wasn’t it established that animals do not like the skill road why was a bear there). What I liked in this book:

• Any time Fitz and the Fool are on page together. Fitz healing the Fool and taking care of him. It’s pretty clear that their relationship is damaged and their trust is all but gone, but there’s still so much love and it just hurts okay.
• ELLIANIA my unpredictable queen. Whenever she did something I was cheering for her.
• “You’ve breathed my breath for me, sheltered me inside your own body. So, yes, Fitz, in every way that matters, I’ve been with you. We’ve shared the stuff of our beings.“
• Whenever Lant tries to talk about Shun and Fitz is like oh sweet eda somebody get me out of here
• The two genderfluid/non-binary characters slowly becoming staunch allies and all their gender-hopping cross-dressing pronoun-jumping shenanigans.

Did I purposely minimize Bee’s chapters in my mind because they were painful to read? Probably. My rating: ★★★★✩ (3.5 stars, rounded up)

Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb

*insert ugly crying GIF* all the descriptions of torture and injuries and assault aside, the most upsetting thing about this book is Fitz and the Fool being so out of sync with each other. Bee’s character arc, her fear of being abandoned and her fearing the person she’s become and eventually embracing it…it just makes me sad. This book is like a big clusterfuck of miscommunication and I can’t even be mad about it because this is literally how these characters function.

One of my favourite moments on the funnier side of things is when Fitz, Amber and the kids meet the Paragon, it’s like the RotE version of the spiderman meme. That, and “who is Lady Thyme?” “Your father.” 16-book long inside jokes.

And then there is the ending, which while I wished it was kinder for everyone involved, was DEVASTATING and inevitable and so, so beautiful. Anyways I’ll repeat: love story of all time. Now every time I see the word Beloved I’ll probably die a little inside. My rating: ★★★★✩ (4 stars)

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Apart from Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories I haven’t really read any horror so I had no idea what to expect when I started this book. The Haunting of Hill House is…creepy and atmospheric more than scary, and it’s such a good story with an ending that shook me.

I am obsessed with all the quotes in this book. Take the opening line, for instance: “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.” Sublime. My rating: ★★★★✩ (4 stars)

Cinderella is Dead by Kaylnn Bayron

I dearly wanted to love this book but unfortunately I did not. The thing is everything that happens in this book feel shallow. The first half of the book is objectively better than the last half, but even in the first half I was mad at Sophia because that girl has absolutely no self-preservation skills. Then we get introduced to Luke, who I liked, but then he effectively disappears for much of the story.

The sapphic romance between Sophia and Constance felt instalovey, the villain was one-dimensional and the world building was just bland. I’m adding a star because this book raised important points about fighting against sexism and homophobia (internalized and not), but they could have been a list with bullet points slapped in your face. Absolutely no nuance at all. My rating: ★★✩✩✩ (2.5 stars)

Assassin’s Fate nearly sent me into a reading slump and I couldn’t pick up any new book for DAYS. So I reread stuff, like the Grisha Trilogy (I maintain that these books don’t deserve the hate they get) and Priory of the Orange Tree (much the same feelings as I had when I read it for the first time.)

What I watched

My Name: This is a very bloody and intense revenge kdrama, and I loved it. The plot was predictable and the ending was rushed and incomplete, but I just loved the main character, Yoon Ji Woo/Oh Hye Jin. Her only drive is finding her father’s murderer and killing them, which makes her blind to the bigger picture in a very realistic way.

I also love how she wears her heart on her sleeve and is allowed to be angry. To be brutal and unforgiving and murderous. Plus, Han So Hee looks really good wearing that black jacket with blood on her face ❤

I told myself I would watch more old romantic comedies and I watched Clueless and But I’m a Cheerleader (liked them both!)

Shadow and Bone Season 2: the writing of this season was quite atrocious (you can tell the writers weren’t sure if they’ll get another season, Netflix’s favourite hobby being cancelling shows, so they tried to cram as many storylines as they could into this one) but like, it was fun if you just closed your mind and went with it. The best parts of the season were Wylan and Jesper, Alina, Mal, Genya, Baghra and surprisingly, Nikolai (the acting was wonky in the early episodes, though). I lived for all the Alina & Mal moments, I am a sucker for their kind of romance.

I didn’t like how they completely erased Inej’s character outside of her relationship with Kaz, and Matthias wasn’t even there. And because all the Crows scenes were rushed, you don’t get the same emotional payoff that you do in the book. (That, and I just can’t stand Kaz being edgy I’m sorry.) I already hated the Darkling but they hadn’t even tried to make him a compelling villain this season. He was just cringe worthy.

Lastly I watched Daisy Jones and the Six, which is the other book adaptation I have OPINIONS about. It started great and I was in love with the first three episodes, and I liked it right until the last three episodes, which made me so angry. There was a reason I loved the book, cheating unlikable characters and all (I usually hate the cheating trope in books) and that…wasn’t there in this show. I nearly threw something at my screen when Billy said something along the lines of ‘I feel the same way…but she’s my wife and I can’t leave her‘. Anyways. I loved Teddy and Simone and Bernie, Warren, Karen, Graham and Eddie.

I found out that the interviews were being recorded 20 years later and not 40 years later like in the book, and I don’t want to start about how Camila was done a huge disservice because of it. The way she was almost a plot device in the later episodes, an obstacle to be removed so that Daisy and Billy the ‘soulmates’ could have their happily ever after. Just going by the events of the show, I think she should have divorced Billy when she could. Both the book and the show had essentially the same ending but in the book it felt sad and bittersweet, while in the show I just wanted to punch those two people in the face.

*calms down*

Life update

Nothing big happened in March yet I can’t help feeling like I accomplished something. I started exercising and stretching each day (the workout routine is the same thing I was taught when I was doing drama ten years ago mixed with a little yoga, but shh).

After it lay dormant for months, I started working on my WIP as well, and now I’m close to 9k words.

In other happenings, a thief came to my garden and thankfully no further, but two of my neighbours’ homes were broken into. I don’t even want to think of what could have happened if we didn’t have the dog. The dog (I never call him by his name, it’s always dog, boy, baby or son or something like that lol) makes us feel safe and I think that’s worth everything he chews and destroys.

Hope you all have a great month ahead!

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