elisa

February

This month I read: 11 e-books from the Toronto Public Library.

Some spoilers! Don't say I didn't warn you.

Before we begin:

Dishonorable Mention: Nine Dash Line by Emily Saso

Synopsis: Jess, a US Naval agent, and Zi Shan, exiled for re-education by the Chinese Communist Party, meet on Mischief Reef, a coral atoll in the middle of the South China Sea. Set in the 1980s, Mischief Reef is an artificial island being built to help restore sovereignty over ocean territory (demarcated by the nine dash line) that China believes it is entitled to.
My thoughts: I quit reading this book 43% of the way through; that should be more than enough to overcome any slow starts. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it. I didn't feel as though the story was really going anywhere. Although the book hinges on the interactions between the two main characters, they hadn't even met yet, and most of the story so far was flashbacks.
You may enjoy this if: you are aware of the upcoming world's largest military parade but are not so excited that you've already booked your tickets.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

Synopsis: This book by Sulari Gentill, an author, is about Leo, an aspiring author, who is pen pals with Hannah, an author, who is sending him book chapters about Winnifred, an author, who is writing a book directly inspired by the actions of her friends, including Cain, an author. Are we sensing a theme here?
Actual plot synopsis: After hearing a scream from a woman library, 4 strangers become fast friends, and somehow involve themselves in trying to solve her murder. Separately, the author and her pen-pal exchange correspondence.
My thoughts: The format of this book was wild, so I feel like I have to review each level separately.
Written by Sulari, about Hannah/Leo: This storyline was by far my favourite. It was a really interesting POV, where you got all of the letters that Leo wrote to Hannah, plus other incoming correspondence, but the only outgoing correspondence was her book chapters. Because Leo is also a writer, we also got his commentary about the book chapter that we just read, and it's a real window into his psyche.
Written by Hannah, about Winnifred/Cain: This part was okay. I still don't understand the opening proposition of this storyline, which is if you and three strangers were sitting in the reading room of the Boston Public Library, and you all heard a very loud scream come from somewhere inside the building, you would immediately become very good friends. This must be such a common sentiment in-universe, since the scream was specifically planned in order to engineer this exact situation. The four characters constantly go out for dinner, have sleep overs, and generally get very wrapped up in each others lives even though they have only just met. Some even start dating. And then, of course they have to solve the murder that brought them together. Why? None of you have ANY qualifications, and you're just making the mess even bigger. And then of course, as they try to solve the murder, they end up accusing each other of murder. Again, you've only known these people for a few weeks. Chill out. The actual murder was full of a lot of twists and turns, and was pretty okay.
Written by Winnifred, inspired by her friends: This didn't really get developed very much, but I think it's pretty weird that Winnifred was essentially chronicling the weird stuff that's happening in her real, actual life. I would hate that. She also doesn't know how it's going to end, because the end hasn't happened yet. Kind of lazy.

Rating: 4/5 murders that you really didn't need to involve yourselves in

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Synopsis: Nora, a recently-divorced mom of two, usually writes scripts for cheesy Hallmark movies. In a very uncharacteristic move, she wrote a depressing, cerebral screenplay that was loosely based on her divorce that was optioned by Hollywood (it's giving Marriage Story). The film crew are now at her house so that they can film on location, including movie star Leo, who is playing the screen version of her ex-husband. A budding romance develops.
My thoughts: This book teaches you that having a bad husband is worse than having no husband, so kick your ex to the curb! Nora thrives being single, and I love that for her. However, the romance between Nora and Leo is pretty sweet, although the pacing is faster than you'd usually see in a typical romance. The third-act conflict is a bit dumb, but not yelling-at-the-page dumb, so I'll accept it.

Rating: 3/5 romcoms where the big city guy/gal comes back to their small town sweetheart to come together for a charming community function

Any Sign of Life by Rae Carson

Synopsis: Paige Miller wasn't feeling great, but surely it's nothing that a good nap and maybe some IV fluids can't fix. But when she wakes up a week later, her whole world has changed. Her family is dead, the power won't work, and the only human interaction she can find is a recording of the Ohio Emergency Broadcasting System. Apparently, that virus was a lot worse than she realized. Even with Emmeline, her neighbor's beloved shelti dog, by her side, will Paige have what it takes to survive after the end of the world?
My thoughts: I always find it a bit spooky when books are set 10+ years after the current COVID-19 pandemic (and you can tell that this went to print in early 2020 because they only refer to it as the “coronavirus”, yikes). The book mostly deals with Paige's day-to-day life and how she survives, but it's definitely not a “survival” book (it mostly takes place in suburban Ohio). I'm not sure that I really vibed with the pacing of this book either. It also had some awkward conversations about race that definitely feel like they were written by a white person, and they were a bit inconsistent.

Rating: 2/5 drivers licenses taken from people who died from the virus as a way to honour their memories

How to Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams

Synopsis: Three years after leaving an abusive relationship, Naya is determined to have some causal flings, but immediately falls for her very first fling, Jake. But what will happen when their personal and professional lives collide? And will Naya survive the re-appearance of her abusive ex?
My thoughts: Readers will know that I staunchly believe that babies are plucked from the cabbage patch fully-formed. So you can imagine my shock and horror when Naya went well beyond the flirting phase, instead of just crashing and burning there (as the title would suggest). Tbh it was a little excessive. However, Jake is one of the best romantic leads ever: exceedingly respectful of boundaries, kind, generous, and he tells the absolute worst corny jokes. In short, the perfect man. And I'm very proud of Naya for her character growth (certified girlboss).

Rating: 4/5 cheesy jokes that are so silly they become charming and sensual

Fire and Thorns Trilogy by Rae Carson

Series Overview: The titles and covers for this series are extremely YA/fantasy core, and it's normally not my thing. (Don't let that put you off though, since the titles don't really have anything to do with the content). But (!!) the protagonist's name is Elisa (readers will know that's MY name) so I had to try it. And I'm glad that I did, since I definitely enjoyed them. Overall I found that the first act was usually pretty slow and a bit of a slog, but once you get to the action it got a lot better. The fantasy world is extremely religious, so you may find it a bit heavy handed if you are a wretched atheist worse than myself. It also didn't do a great job of explaining and defining the non-human creatures, because I thought they were just all humans for a long time.

Book 1: The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Synopsis: Lucero-Elisa is a princess of Orovalle, and on her 16th birthday is married off to King Alejandro of Joya D'Arena to become his Queen-regent. She is also a bearer of a Godstone: a precious gem that grows from her navel that gives her a direct connection to God. Bearers are only marked once every hundred years, and destined to complete a great service for God. They are also said to have great power, meaning that everyone wants Elisa as a pawn (and even a desert won't stop them). Oh, and there's also a war brewing. Will Elisa be able to save her kingdom and herself?
My thoughts: This book has a great depiction of Elisa's relationship with food. She starts out borderline obese due to a binge eating disorder: food is obviously a coping mechanism. She loses a lot of weight while on a hike through the desert; part of it is the reduced rations, but a lot of it is due to increased exercise. Her transformation makers her much stronger and more fulfilled, not just skinny or beautiful. Love that for her. Hate the vibe between her and Alejandro; he has a 9-year-old son by his dead first wife, so he's definitely way older than her, and while they don't consummate their relationship, the implication is that they will eventually (even though the age gap won't change). And the pining from both sides gives me the icks. I wish that Elisa had been aged up to 19 or something, but I guess she's supposed to truly be a teenaged girl.

Rating: 3/5 child brides that are better at war than their grown-ass husbands

Book 2: The Crown of Embers

Synopsis: After the events of Book 1, Queen Elisa now has to manage a kingdom on the brink of crisis, (ostensibly by finding a man who will marry her and become King) while avoiding the ever-increasing attempts on her life. She devises a scheme to sneak out the palace and travel to a mysterious island that no one has ever found, in order to harness the true power of her Godstone and save her people from other power-hungry would-be rulers.
My thoughts: This book was very compelling, and I got so sucked into reading it that I had to ask for an extension on an assignment. I really ship Elisa and Hector! Yes, she orders him around, but he admires her courage and strategic skill. And yes, it's his job to save her life at all costs, but she admires his leadership, tactics, and martial arts. So I think the power imbalances even out.

Rating: 4/5 honey-coconut scones that are known to be the Queen's favourite and are therefore a good target for a poisoner

Book 3: The Bitter Kingdom

Synopsis: After the events of Book 2, control of Joya d'Arena has now been seized by other members of the governing Quorum, and Elisa will have to fight a civil war if she wants to take back her country. However, this will require a lot of new friends and allies, starting with a king-consort that will rule beside her (not instead of her). There's one man who's perfect for the job, but he recently sacrificed his life for hers, and has since been captured. Elisa travels across the known world to rescue her lover, broker alliances, defeat her enemies, and take back the throne.
My thoughts: This book is definitely jam-packed with action, and it definitely has a stronger beginning than the first two books. I would die for Hector, still. We love a man who loves his girl. There are a lot of strong women in this book, and they certainly hold their own. I really liked how the author handled the true purpose of Elisa's Godstone, which helped to propel the female-forward narrative: almost everything she did was a result of her own hard work and power, not just because she got lucky that God blessed her.

Rating: 4/5 divine tasks that God commanded you to do that only could have been accomplished through the power of friendship

Overall thoughts on the trilogy: I really enjoyed reading this series. Elisa and Hector were fabulous characters, with a non-toxic relationship that I can ship without worry. There is a sequel that takes place in universe, but it focuses on the story of Red Sparkle Stone, and tbh I wasn't that enamored with her. She has grown from a young child into a teenager, but the premise didn't grab me so I didn't end up reading it.

Overall rating: 4/5 thic girlbosses with their strong, endlessly devoted malewifes

After She Wrote Him by Sulari Gentill

Synopsis: This is some more insane meta-fiction from Sulari. This time, there are only two writers. Madeleine d'Leon is a crime writer, and her next story is about a man accused of killing his editor. Edward McGinnity is a literary writer, and his next story is about a woman trapped in a marriage. But it turns out that Madeleine and Edward are actually writing about each other. What is real? What is in the author's imagination? When they write, are they creating the other's story?
My thoughts: The beginning was kind of a slow start, but once you get into it you really do get sucked in. The author weaves the perspectives of each protagonist together pretty seamlessly, and it's hard to tell who is writing and who is living (which is the point). The ending in particular was devastating, how could Sulari just end the book there and go right to the reader's guide. It low key sent me into a depressive episode.

Rating: 3/5 chunky bracelets that surely must have been the source of the weird marks on your neck from you sleeping on them funny, surely it couldn't have been hickeys from the weird dream you had about the guy you're writing about

The Constellation Trilogy by Claudia Gray

Series Overview: This is a sci-fi series set hundreds of years in the future. Earth is too full and too polluted, and it can no longer support all of its population. Humanity has needed to expand outwards into the Loop in order to find new permanent homes. The Loop is a series of wormhole gates that connect the 5 habitable planets: Earth, Stronghold (an industrial planet that mines tons of metals and ores, very brutalist), Cray (a volcanic world that houses the best of Earth's scientists in the cave network below the surface, it's a great place but you have to be a super-smart researcher to get there), Kismet (a small oceanic paradise that is a tourist destination for the wealthy), and Genesis. Genesis is an Earth-like socialist planet that is very spiritual (there are many different faiths represented), and has only adopted the minimum technology that is necessary (so no over production or pollution). Genesis has split away from Earth and refuses to be colonized, so there's been a huge war (the Liberty war) going on for decades, where Genesis battles Earth for its independence.
Burton Mansfield, a genius Earth inventor, has also created mechs: beings that are made from human flesh, but have robot brains and no souls. There are 25 different designations of mech, each designed to perform a different set of duties (and nothing outside of those duties). They include Queens and Charlies (fighters), Nans and Uncles (caregivers), Tares (medical help), Oboes (musical performance), and more. Since Genesis is so anti-technology and anti-Earth, mechs are hated and forbidden to live on the planet.

Book 1: Defy the Stars

Synopsis: Noemi Vidal is a 17-year old solider of Genesis, and she's prepared to sacrifice her life in a suicide mission if it would by them more time in the battle against Earth. But when her best friend Esther is injured in action, Noemi is forced to board an abandon enemy ship to get her medical attention. No person has been on the Damocles since it was abandoned 30 years ago. But mech Model One A, better known as Abel, was trapped on board. Abel is Burton Mansfield's greatest creation, a mech with the knowledge, intelligence, and skill of all other mechs put together. Will Noemi and Abel be able to overcome their differences to save Genesis?

Book 2: Defy the Worlds

Synopsis: After successfully stopping the Masada Run, a desperate Genesis suicide mission, things seem like they are back to normal. Noemi is back on Genesis (although her fellow soldiers hate her for prioritizing a mech over their whole planet), and Abel doing freelance work around the galaxy (but he still has to watch his back). But Earth's next attack is a brutal one: delivering an engineered virus called Cobweb to Genesis, where they don't have the medical care nor the physiological immunity to survive. Noemi is the only Genesis citizen to have ever contracted Cobweb and survive, so she is called on to deliver a message to Earth: if Genesis remains incapacitated, they will have to surrender. While trying to figure out any other plan, Noemi is captured: not by Earth, but by Burton Mansfield, who is so desperate to have Abel that he's started taking hostages. Will Abel sacrifice himself to save Noemi? Will she even let him?

Book 3: Defy the Fates

Synopsis: Noemi has been fatally injured, and even Abel, the smartest mech in the galaxy, won't be able to save her life. But what if he could give her a new one? All of this is taking place during the ongoing Liberty war: tensions are getting higher, lines are being drawn and crossed, and in a rare moment of power, Genesis might finally be able to defeat Earth once and for all. But at what cost?

My thoughts on the whole series: I really struggled to come up with separate synopses for these books, partly because I binge-read them all within a week, and partly because there was so much happening in each book. Noemi and Abel stay very busy: as soon as one is captured, the other is determined to sacrifice their own life to save them, and vice versa. Noemi and Abel each rescue the other at least 10 times over the whole series, from various consortiums, alliances, enemies, and governments (and both parties are equally rescuing the other; I don't want to hear any Noemi slander about her being a damsel in distress, because that was never true.) Even when one person was captured, they often tried to rescue themselves so as not to have the other person make a sacrifice. This idea of constant sacrifice might seem a bit heavy-handed (would you sacrifice your freedom or your planet for a hottie you met three weeks ago?), but I easily accepted it. Abel's Directive One mandates that he protect his commander at all costs, and he also is programmed not to fear mortality. Noemi has been trained as a child soldier in a faith-oriented society that values sacrifice, and at the beginning of book 1 was preparing for a suicide mission.
Usually I'd be wary of two teenagers that fell in so deeply in love during a 3-week period, but Abel and Noemi are cute together. It also makes sense in-universe: Abel is a mech (and is still very robotic despite his developing soul), and Noemi initially becomes his new commander, but once he starts falling for her, he becomes hyper-focused on her health and well-being. For her part, Noemi is a teenaged solider determined to save her compatriots, even thought she's a complete outsider on Genesis. After Esther's death, Abel is practically the only other person in the galaxy that she can relate to. At the start of the first book, Noemi is 17, and Abel has existed as a mech for about 35 years, but I don't think it's a toxic age gap (readers will know that I hate any age gaps; the ideal relationship would have two people born on the same day of the same year). Although Abel is technically older, he always acts with Noemi's best interests in mind. He always respects her boundaries, and reiterates many times that he would be happy to love her even if she never loved him back, or if they never saw each other again: to him, the most important thing is always her happiness and well-being. I don't want to claim that Noemi is more mature because she's a battle-hardened soldier, but she never abuses Abel when she has command over him, and deeply values his life, to the point of considering him human (a subversive and ridiculed act in-universe).
A major theme throughout the series is mechs and humanity. Even though they are humanoid and have flesh, mechs are generally considered to be disposable, soulless automatons. Most of them cannot improvise when confronted with situations they have not been programmed for, and they don't have feelings. Genesis in particular despise mechs (too much tech and not enough God). Yes, Abel is much smarter and more perceptive than other mechs, but does he really have a soul? During his thirty years of isolation, he did manage to stay sane, but he also formed a lot of new neural pathways, and begins to process the world differently. Noemi was the first person to truly treat him like a person, and inspired Abel to feel love. Abel was programmed to have a Directive One, which is initially to protect his commander (First Burton Mansfield, later Noemi) from harm at all costs. However, he is able to override his embedded programming in order to perform actions (even morally grey actions) that prioritize his wants and needs, instead of his commander's (but don't worry, he would never betray Noemi). In the final showdown, Abel defeats his creator because he, a mech, has developed a soul, in comparison to Mansfield, a natural-born human who has become so cruel and selfish that he has essentially lost any soul he might've once had. Mansfield is never able to accept that idea that a mech could ever have a soul, even while designing a new line of mechs (read: slaves) that will give live birth to future generations of mechs instead of just being grown in vats. But Abel immediately sees the risks, and ends up destroying the whole program; he can't stop those Inheritor mechs from ever being created, but he hopes that ethics and mechs-rights will develop enough in the meantime to protect them. For her part, Noemi is very open-minded and accepting. She initially distrusts Abel primarily because he's allied with Earth, and thus her natural enemy. However, she quickly grows to respect him, and considers him to be far more than just a mech. At the beginning of book 1, she pleads for Esther to accept artificial organs that would save her life, but is unable to convince her to contradict her religious beliefs. In book 3, the situation is paralleled when Noemi becomes critically injured, and Abel wants to save her life through artificial means. In this case, he succeeds, and Noemi becomes the first half-human half-mech being in the galaxy. Despite a difficult physical adjustment, she is grateful to have a new chance at life, and even feels better as a mech-hybrid than she ever did as a human (implying that this was her destiny). I appreciated that Noemi never blames Abel for turning into an “unnatural abomination”, even when her own planet rejects her for that reason. Although they have some difficulties communicating, she never thinks that Abel is less than human.

Overall Rating: 4/5 lines from the movie Casablanca, which I have memorized using my eidetic memory watched hundreds of times in my mind

And finally:

The Bonus Bracelet of the Month:

This bracelet pattern is #141613 and has 24 strings, so it's definitely one of my largest ever. There weren't any natural triangles in the pattern so I just established my own in order to do the triangle ends, which was pretty bold of me. The ends don't even look that unnatural, so I'd say it was a success. The twisted tie ends also bring a lot of sophistication, especially for the bottom, where all of the ratty ends have been coaxed into one twist. The little elastics really helped, meaning that I didn't need to leave enough length to tie into a know. (Fun fact, the elastics are actually from my stockpile of braces supplies from when I had braces in middle school. Don't tell me that hoarding doesn't pay off). Finally, this is one of the few bracelets that I didn't just do a straight gradient; the colours are in the same family, but it's not just from darkest to lightest, or blue-est to green-est. I'm pretty please with how it turned out!

i am, your most faithful blogger, elisa