A few years ago I read an entire book before realizing I had already read it. I looked back at my Goodreads read list and realized I had no memory of about half of the books on there. So I built a new habit – (almost) every time I finish a book, I word-vomit my thoughts and emotions into a note on my phone. Sometimes they’re brief, sometimes they’re long-longwinded, sometimes they just ramble…and now I’m putting them here. Please enjoy the madness.
SPOILERS AHEAD…
This book started weird and got weirder and weirder. First, I will say, I did like the book. The magic of it felt nice. And I think the messages it meant to get across were nice too. I even like the way it ended kind of without ending (I told you, spoilers). Loved the main character. Overall, it was a fun book to read and there was a point where the plot thickened and I felt like I couldn’t really put it down because I wanted to see what was going to happen.
But…I feel like it was intentionally confusing, bouncing between stories, which is sometimes warranted because then when the pieces finally fall into place, it feels like a light coming on in a dim room. I don’t feel like I got that with this. The whole time you’re kind of like who is what and where and what’s real and after finishing it, I felt like I didn’t have answers….but I also felt like I should. I think rereading would reveal some stuff I missed. And that could also be more on me than on the book itself.
I enjoyed Night Circus just a little bit more than this one but the same elements that made that book beautiful are still here. There’s almost a child-like whimsy to the magic of this world (I think the author said they are both set in the same universe). The stuff that happens is on the level of “I had the weirdest dream last night…” stories.