#rust and ruin reads
The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh
Helen Rutter
May 17, 2022
Read this for a kids book club I have to host and it turned out to be an enjoyable enough read. Not sure I would choose it on my own but I think it’ll help the kids who do need a book like this.
I feel like some things could be handled differently or better. I didn’t think the resolve with the bully was good. In fact, it felt a bit pat and abrupt considering how mean he was and how much anxiety he caused. There could have been more done there to actually approach the matter rather than simply say “Being nice and friendly will save the day.” Because it doesn’t always and kids need to know that too.
Tristan Strong Punches A Hole In the Sky
Kwame Mbalia
April 2022
I feel like I wanted to like this more than I ended up liking it. Which is not a knock on the book, but more of a general observation of my headspace while trying to read along while also listening to the audiobook.
Having read (and loved) the Aru Shah series and the original Percy Jackson books, I was really excited to move onto the next series within the Rick Riordan Presents banner. But while I appreciated the folklore that went into the world and character building as well as some of the plot developments in the story, I found myself a bit frustrated with how inaccessible the “mythological” element of the book felt at times, especially coming into this with much less prior knowledge beyond an awareness of Anansi and some of the stories around him.
While I do not always advocate for people to have to explain certain cultural elements within a story, I do think some consideration should be given to the fact that this particular series has to do with preserving and celebrating older stories and folktales. Especially when the book doesn’t really relay the original stories alongside how Mbalia is approaching them like PJO or the Aru Shah books did. Instead, I wound up looking things up as I read, and I had to try and avoid spoilers from the wiki.
That’s okay though. It was still an enjoyable read and it was good encountering a character dealing with their anger and grief. I think more kids need to read stuff like this and I look forward to the next book.
Queen of the Tiles
Hanna Alkaf
June 12, 2022
A good book. The central mystery unfolds well and the writing is very solid. I am a bit let down by one aspect of it, but I think it’s just a constraint of the genre. I did like how it unpacked grief and that it was set in Kuala Lampur and incorporated a non binary character. It’s a quick enough read and fans of wordplay will enjoy it. But it just reminded me of the episode of Psych set at a spelling bee and I couldn’t think of much else beyond that. Also all the mentions of Malay food made me hungry.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins Reid
June 8, 2022
This was a blisteringly fast and exceedingly fun read. While Reid isn’t necessarily the best writer — I found Monique’s interspersing storyline to be much weaker than Evelyn’s overall story — damn does she know how to tell a riveting tale. And it’s easy to see why this book is so popular.
Reid has written it like a Hollywood tell-all and memoir — which it technically is — and that conceit unfolds in a brisk and entertaining manner as Evelyn recounts aspects of her life to her biographer, Monique. The capturing of that old Hollywood feel and the way certain characters feel like throwbacks to old Hollywood stars or even Leyendecker artwork is *chef finger kiss*.
A totally fun and great vacation read. I was totally rooting for Evelyn and Celia throughout the book. And while I know their story is tinged with regrets, I think the way it unfolded it was perfect and accurate to them. I only wish Lauren Bacall could have read the audiobook. I’m curious to see who they’ll cast as Evelyn.
One Last Stop
Casey McQuiston
June 5, 2022
I adored Red, White, and Royal Blue so I was extra excited to read One Last Stop. However, for many reasons I was only able to do so recently but that turned out to be a perfect thing because I got to read this book while actually riding the subway — I was even on the Q at one point!
McQuiston has only grown as an author and I think what they managed here was really well done. It was a romance and a mystery and a delicious slow burn… all while being as queer as hell. It makes me so excited for all of McQuiston’s future books.
I especially love how they incorporated queer history into the novel and the many little ways in which real queer community and our larger shared history helped shape some of the more subtle and smaller parts of this story. McQuiston is a dynamite with words and this book deserves to be on all the lists it is on. It’s a hug and playful punch to the upper arm all at once. It’s a piece of magic that exists in its own right.
The Murder Game
Carrie Doyle
Did Not Finish
Life is too short to continue reading this book which was a mental slog from the moment I started it. Doyle didn’t seem to understand how to write teens or even male characters and all the adults were being way too frank with the lead to the point where it seemed like maybe she was more interested in the divorce drama between the principal character and his ex wife than what the teenage protagonist was getting up to.
I’m not sure how this ended up on my list. But I think the cover is neat. So there’s that at least. And the mental freedom I felt when I finally stopped torturing myself. My god. The way this book drained me.
The Marvellers
Dhonielle Clayton
June 2, 2022
I’m a big fan of magic schools, so I was extra excited to get my hands on what I hope will be the first in a nice long series. Because this world was fun as hell and the main characters were engaging, fun and memorable, even the teachers. I also really enjoyed the magic system set up there in and Clayton’s intentional choice to be inclusive.
That said, I wish — and I never thought I would say this — that the attempts at making this world more open for all were handled a bit more smoothly because it really felt like nationalities were getting ticked off a list at one point. Like, go ahead and stress the international nature of this school, I loved that aspect of it, but find a way to do so more organically (or rather elegantly). My other minor gripe, and I recognise that this is me specific, but Clayton name checks a whole bunch of YA and middle grade authors as professors at the school. And while this was fun at first, it proved a bit distracting and kept taking me out the more I kept reading. I will say, however, that these are still minor quibbles.
Given the theme and subject matter of this series, I know it’s going to get compared to Harry Potter and you know what? It does scratch that itch but it also gives you something new to dive into and fall in love with. I actually prefer The Marvellers and what it’s trying to say about who can do magic and even what that can look like because Clayton really has created a world with such intention. I trust that she won’t look back and try and rewrite any history regarding the series. The one point I will concede to R*wling is that she made introducing a magical world, school, and magical system seem effortless, and maybe that is her only true skill as a writer. Because Clayton does falter a bit in that regard as I felt like I encountered a few too many new words that were not introduced as smoothly as I would like. But that didn’t matter too much by the end because the book is so fantastically engaging.
In fact, the central mystery is gripping and unfolds at an excellent pace once we get past the set up and it even crescendos in an exciting manner towards the end. I literally did not want to sleep because I wanted to know what happened next. Clayton has created a winsome trio of main characters who I really cannot wait to get back to. The book is fun, fast and easy to read, which I cannot say is true for all books within this genre, so I really want to laud this book because it came on the tail end of another terribly drudging read that I ended up just quitting out of exhaustion.
Anyway,The Marvellers is one of the most engaging and fun books I’ve read in a short while and I cannot stress how many more people should read it.
Ms. Marvel: No Normal (Vol. 1)
G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona
May 23, 2022
Possibly my favourite comic character introduction of all time. For many, many reasons, Kamala Khan will always have a place in my heart, as she has from the moment I first met her in 2014, breathlessly reading that first issue on the train.
There is so much to love in this first volume. Wilson has done a spectacular job of imbuing Kamala with humour and heart and making her relatable in way that is so nuanced and specific it crosses age, ethnicity, etc. (Having said that, as an Indian person myself, seeing a family like Kamala’s warmed my heart so much. I’m stunned at how much Wilson gets right, though I’m sure Sana Amanat’s editorial feedback proved crucial.)
Of course, the place where this comic truly comes to life is in panel after panel of gorgeously rendered art by Adrian Alphona. It’s lush and inviting, a perfect entry point for new readers, while serving Kamala’s story perfectly. It’s bright and stretches and contracts. It’s beautiful to behold altogether. I love the ways in which her teenage mannerisms are captured because it really does speak to the gawky awkwardness of that age and the unique physicality of her powers.
Launching a new character is hard enough. But to do so to universal acclaim, and achieving the kind of staying power that Ms. Marvel has earned is incredible. Re-reading this proved how well that first arc works and the way it sets up Kamala’s world and wider journey. There is so much to love about this first volume. What Wilson, Alphona, and the rest of the creative team have done is nothing short of marvellous.
