1Q84 Andra boken

His arm doesn’t feel like a chain around Whisper’s waist; it’s a shield.

Oh wow, this book! It took me a bit to get into the writing style (third person past tense isn't my favorite), but once I adjusted to it, I was absolutely hooked throughout. It's been a while since I read such awesome hurt/comfort outside of fanfiction. Whisper and Julien absolutely melted my heart, and there were so many little moments that made me feel like this book was written for me. I loved the way they were growing closer through the secrets, Whisper's inner turmoil, Julien's kindness, the D/s overtones in the bedroom, everything. I kind of want to forget this book and read it again, to get all the feels afresh.

I also greatly enjoyed the supporting cast—so many colorful personalities and great people. A lot of the characters didn't get a lot of screen time, and still they left a very distinct impression. I'd love to read a book with almost any single one of them as a more prominent presence. I also really liked the worldbuilding. It's a combination of "a lot packed into it" and "broad strokes"; there are all those politics, assassin orders, different types of magic, dragons, magical drugs, cats with superpowers, and each of these cool details just makes me want to dig deeper into it. 

The setting is also completely queernorm: no one assumes that a marriage necessarily involves a man and a woman, there's a lovely casual mention of a character being trans, etc. I remember not so long ago fantasy queer romances (especially the ones with royalty) used to have all the homophobia-induced drama, but nowadays, I keep seeing these wonderful queernorm worlds where the characters are free to have and sort out problems that don't have anything to do with their orientation.  I'm absolutely digging all these beautiful fantasy worlds.

Back to the book: the one reason I'm not giving it a full five-star mark is that one twist at the end, the one with the betrayal. I feel like it simplified the conflict and the solutions to it. There might have been ways to get to the happy ending without that, too—though admittedly I would probably fall off the edge of my sit if the author went with some alternate route. :D But, yeah. Not really a fan of that specific character turning out to be a manipulator. Very much a fan of absolutely everything else in this book, though!

It would be nice to have someone who wasn't a responsibility.

This was a pretty sweet, wish fulfillment type of story with Cinderella vibes. The kind where everything works out in the end, or even before the end, most of the problems exist in characters' heads and can be overcome with some thinking, soul-searching, and conversation, and the biggest external obstacle the characters have to overcome is a locked door and a discharged phone. Also, it has the best, sweetest, most terrible cat. I spent a couple of pleasant evenings with the book, and it did lift my spirits, so yay for that. 

It's hard to ignore the flaws, though. The book manages to be simultaneously too shallow and too big on what the characters are feeling/thinking. When I say shallow, I mean stuff like... well, Leo has identified as straight his whole life, but then he falls for a guy and he barely gives it a second thought. And the clearly was the sort of person who has a lot of brief flings, enjoys both flirting and sex, but never gets attached, and now suddenly he wants a commited monogamous relationship, and again, he's just like, "Oh, well, this is my goal now, I'm gonna pursue it." He just discards all the things he knew about himself and his romantic/sexual preferences, instead of reconciling his new wishes and desires with what he's been into his whole life.

And there's basically no discussion of the class difference, or how Eddie's going to get integrated into the royal society and diplomatic circles, etc, beyond Eddie sometimes thinking he should have looked up royal protocols and never actually doing it, and Leo mentioning that he likes how Eddie is so genuine and so real and doesn't know how to behave at the royal ball. There's a brief subplot with a nosy reporter, but no discussion of how Eddie and his family are going to adjust to being in a public's eye. It's all, "Oh, cool, we're moving to the royal palace! Yay! This will surely entail nothing but comfort and joy!"

I guess it kind of works for a total wish fulfillment fantasy, which this book is, but I'd still prefer it if there was some attention given to these big questions. The lack of that attention made the book feel somewhat... YA-ish? I found it hard to believe Leo was 30. 

And when I say it's "too big on what the characters are feeling," I mean the overwhelming quantity of inner monologues. I've lost the plot thread more than one time, because a scene would begin, someone would say something, and then the POV character would retreat into their own head, think about stuff for paragraphs and paragraphs on end, go off tangent, think about five different things, have three different feelings... And then the initial dialogue would continue, but like, wait, what are they discussing? Who's saying what? Where are we? :D

Despite all that, it was sweet and somehow comforting and there were many moments that made me smile. It's not the kind of book I'll want to re-read or rec to others, but I don't regret reading it at all. I enjoyed Leo's revelations about responsibility being good actually and Eddie's journey from extreme shyness and low self-esteem to confidence. And while I still have no idea why the characters fell for each other in the first place, once they were together, their pairing worked great—they clearly brought out the best in each other, and that's what I love to see in romance: people in love lifting each other up and helping each other become the best versions of themselves.

 

“You don’t believe unchecked magic is dangerous?”
“I believe it’s the most beautiful thing in all the world.”

The first book in this series was enjoyable. The second left me feeling kinda lukewarm. But this third one? Wow! It hit me right in the feels.

Unlike the previous installment in this series, Winter’s Dawn took full advantage of the magic that makes this setting so special. I loved the distinction between the two approaches to the magical arts, and how they worked together, and I just wish I could stay longer with Thomas and Winter and see what happens next. I guess it’s going to involve Winter doing a lot of bad things for good reasons, and Thomas being all fascinated and documenting every move.

Speaking of the main characters—they were both so compelling! Despite the fact that most of the story takes place in a single prison cell (okay, two prison cells, with a tunnel connecting them), there’s just so much packed here. I could talk about Thomas’s arc for a long time, but I think that would spoil a huge part of the story, so I’ll just say that it was wonderfully done, especially the part where he was realizing what exactly he had created before the story even begun. As for Winter, unfortunately, we never get a direct glimpse into their head. But that didn’t stop me from feeling like I got them pretty well by the time the book ended, and they’re the kind of well-intentioned extremist that I can’t help but love.
Also: can I have more M/NB romance in my life, please? I hadn’t realized how much I needed it until I read this book.