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Since I like mythology and am into how different beliefs intersect in a narrative, I heard about this book. I didn't get a chance to read it but i'm consuming some of it vicariously through this video (thnx dude). TBH, from watching this review, I ask. Did you ever feel like the "labors" or challenges by the gods was a necessary conduit to move the plot? What I mean is, in stories where the main protagonist is situated with multiple challenges, it tends to develop the character from where they originate into who they need to be by the end of the story (from my exp, that's what I see). Did you feel like this was done effectively? I haven't studied stories as in depth as you, so if you think i'm off base in my assertion, what do you think? The most recent "mythology adjacent" media I'm consuming is this manga called Records of Ragnarok. The gyst is that its a "combat tournament" for the right of god or mortal existence. A demigod posits mortals (earth) greatest warriors throughout history to fight against a specific god (a mix of nordic, greek, religious, etc). Its a battle shounen, so its main means to convey story is through combat. However, it tends to show flashback and characterization for newly introduces characters. I only bring it up cause it seems to have a similar format as this book (conversely with gods being the challenge themselves rather than completing a challenge the god makes for you). Also, it seems the book is more focused on Lyra (a singular character), rather than the introduction of multiple characters. I think i find the focus on 1 character from this book to be enticing because you can have nuanced and long tern development (unlike in RoR, where new character are introduced and discarded as soon as they loose their combat relevancy).

100th view. Target audience is everybody, and anybody bored of tropes, genre, reading the same things rehashed over and over etc. Well it's a memoir/autobiography. But the story is kind of crazier than any made up story ever. Preposterous, fantastical story. Absurd, but all true. Hopefully it doesn't destroy Literature or anything. Gonna take like 5 years to write and be long. Would you want to read it if you knew about it?

Hey, cousin!!! Came across your content looking for journaling! Oh, the irony, lol!!!!

Great summary of this book. I look forward to listening to the audiobooks. Thanks 😊

I just finished it last night. It's interesting how the same book can elicit different reactions in different readers because I had the opposite reaction to the labors themselves and the super short chapters. I found the individual labors to be interesting. The labors were a way to flesh out the characters of the gods without having to outright say, 'This god is harsh but just'...etc, and I found it to be an interesting way to expound on their character without having to go into exposition to do it. Aphrodite's labor and her reaction to the aftermath comes to mind. On the other hand, the super short chapters broke the immersion for me because I kept thinking to myself, "Why is this a new chapter? It doesn't need to be a separate chapter." I, literally, put the book down a couple of times because it annoyed me so much. I'm not advocating fir 50 or 100 pages chapters, but I need enough pages to get immersed, and 2-5 pages isn't doing it for me. The story itself was entertaining, and I look forward to the next book. I just hope she makes the chapters a little longer.

Thank you for your gift of the spreadsheet! I am on my way. 1016 today. We shall See. Good luck to you with your YA novel!

I'm doing a 50,000 word challenge this month, too. My preptober was actually me trying to switch the 50,000 word challenge to a month earlier but that hasn't worked all that well, so I'm continuing into November. And because October didn't work out, I'm making some changes (tweaks, improvements) to my process to make November more likely to be successful 🤞🏾 I love your tracking file. I will see if I can access it so I can give ut a try. Thank you so much for sharing this. P S. Darn, I'm having storage issues with Google drive, so I couldn't access it. I'll see if I can clear that up somehow.

Interesting name I got to check it out

this book was literally painful to read for me because it was so sad and so intense 😭

Since this video recording is dated, do you still find yourself in a reading slump atm? I think i heard about this book sometime ago but i already had a full palette of books. I think i still want to try this out.

In fairness, you're not wrong. I've always favoured telekinesis personally.

This is an interesting topic. I tend to find times when reading that there are details added to the setting that take away from the main theme (and character action) that's currently happening. I think when done smartly it adds with what's happening (thematically) like in The Great Gatsby (for example). Thanks for the discussion.

I recommend Once A Monster by Robert It's a retelling about the Minotaur

Can’t wait to read your book ❤

Did you ever get the acknowledgements ? I’m listening to this in 2024 and that section would definitely explain most of your feelings. 😊

And I was, like, finally, a book where the star football player isn't a quarterback! That, even though I read a few books where the star football player didn't completely suck academically before...

Very well said and much needed conversation! Thank you for using your platform for good ❤ Free Palestine, Congo, Sudan, and all oppressed people across the globe

Thank you for talking about this! A lot of booktubers refused to talk about P.alestine on their channel earlier this year because they 'only' talk about books, but then they release reading vlogs about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and keep talking about how sad it is that these fictional kids are dying and keep talking about the politics in the book.

Thank you for making this video!

You have freedom to be honest and speak that matters💛

Free palestine!

This is one of the best notebook videos I have ever watched. Great job!

I finished this last night. I don’t think I would want to know the day I die i feel like I would get too in my head. But it did make me feel a lot and made me want to do more with my life

This was a fun video

YOU ARE MY CHILD. Cinema Studies in a Journalism building, gym = smoothies, the dorm horrors, bars bars bars bars bars, and sports? What are those? Where? I went to Indiana/Bloomington, and I can tell you this video is UNIVERSAL.

YES! I love Abbie Emmons and I got 100 dos and the best Christmas ever in December! I reread them both this past week, and I love the way you went about critiquing it! You did a great job, and I’m def subscribing!

I think the only major difference between the worldbuilding between the two books was specifically the timing, when Persephone in a touch of darkness goes to hades’ office the first time after discovering her mark, she “interrupted him before he was going to bed” which it was like afternoon for her, so I assumed he was on a different “time zone” bc of his inhabiting the underworld

I read a touch of darkness first and i still had the same reactions! I will say I felt more connected to Persephone bc i read her book first, but the experience was exactly the same for me

I honestly didn't hate the adaptation of ALTA. It wasn't the same as the animation and the writing could have been way better and hope it improves with the next two seasons. But overall I think changing some of the show made it fresh and not exactly the same. I think the overall storyline could have been written better, I think the acting could have been better but the overall picture was ALTA. (To clarify I have been a fan of ALTA since the beginning)

Often there are side characters who are more interesting for me than the main characters are. I'm glad you mentioned that this happens to others too. Every character is the protagonist of his or her own story, obviously, but every character can also be the protagonist for a reader, even if the author hadn't planned it that way. So, I think it's important that your side characters don't disappear without notice. This can leave some readers very disappointed.

I think it's important to keep in mind that people first and foremost live their lives and don't think that much about the political system they live in. Unless you or your parents experienced dramatic changes, the politcal system in your country is "absolutely normal". You live in a western democracy, your readers probably too, but if your story does not take place in such a society, you can't watch things through the eyes of a person from today's USA or France or Germany.

Your analysis was very detailed and helped me decide to both listen & read this intriguing book.

Nice job on the insight review.

Honestly this book sounds really bad 😭

I like this explanation some infamous people have caused people to assume They are bad, but this video is really supportive is remembering to split reality from fiction they have to be their own selves, but also flaws. when I did some variants of my avatar I used different things I like but also aspects I might not have used or that I would fully stick with the previous one like more of a part of me is on them instead of all of it.

Thank you, I hope to grab this book sometime soon!

Hey its a great experience I won camp Nanowrimo as a newbie last year 2023🎉

"Interesting...interesting...interesting...I don't want to say interesting again." 😆Well, I'm very INTERESTED in reading this book after hearing your review. Thank you!

Love the idea. I make these to put in snowglobe at the end of year all the books I read in that year. My suggestion is to use double sided foam tape. No cutting huge foam board or deal with glue

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I had the same reaction!!! Love this video ❤

I too felt like the beginning was a little too slow, but once I got into it, I was IN! And I was very aware how much Jessica George is in this book. Even the little things like her naming Maddie's character Jess, the dad's first name is George, her best friend's real last name is Wright, etc. It is very much Jessica's story which isn't bad, but I can feel it.

Wait... what? Tessa is home-schooled like Abbie Emmons? I have a copy of The Otherworld, and the main character Orca Monroe is homeschooled (presumably by her father) and has never left her lighthouse home-island, referring it to "our world" and the mainland as "the other world". I feel like a lot of authors share a lot of aspects and characteristics with their own main characters, especially if the author comes from an immigrant family and wants to share an immigrant story. That kind of story is usually based on the author's life and personal experiences, and is often very autobiographical. A lot of Overseas Vietnamese authors seem to have grown up during or after the Vietnam war, and they found themselves in a western nation by birth or early immigration; and the stories they write strongly reflect that fact. I feel like writing from personal experience is so much easier because you can go off your memories and emotions, whereas writing from someone else's POV can be much harder to get all the nuances correct. You have to do a lot more research because you are not that person. And if that other person doesn't express himself/herself in English, then you, the author, has to do the translation work as well.

This girl looks biracial/multiracial cuz in some poses, she looks black and in other poses, she looks white. She just looks like a big mix.

I found this novel deeply relatable and ALSO wanted to quit reading it multiple times. My engagement ended after a 5+ year relationship and I did not respond to it well at the time. I did my share of self-destructive behavior. Three years out from that breakup, this book triggered a flurry of toxic emotions. As someone who loves to laugh and joke as a defense mechanism, I found myself chuckling along with the humor but also revisiting a dark period of my life. Very mixed on this one.

Will be reading this for fall season 🍁

I don’t understand the hype surrounding this book. It’s awful😢 I wasted an entire month trying to get through this, I finally decided to DNF. It was extremely uninteresting, and boring. Extremely boring This book was terrible

Great review thank you!

I'm so excited for my year in Iowa.

Thank you so much. I was looking at this book and nobody gave a good review of it but you did amazing. Thank you, now i have something to go off of if i want to buy it.😁