Amanda Smith > Recent Status Updates

(SPOILER) And that betrayal! ♥️🗡️

(2/2) And THEN (super SPOILERS) Teo outright refuses to do the sacrifice. Also well justified, as at this point we know Teo will go against the status quo to do what he thinks is right. Well written!

(1/2) Lots of good twists! (SPOILERS) Xio isn't in last place, it's Auristela (the love interest's twin sister). Teo wins first place, making him the Sunbearer, which isn't a surprise, as the justification for it is well built. But Auristela being the sacrifice? That means that Teo is going to kill the person who means the most to Aurelio. This could completely destroy their fledgling romance.

(2/2) One of the adults, hell, one of the other teens, should recognize the sabotage, and it drives me nuts that all the characters except the main character are too stupid to notice. I get making the protagonist the main problem solver, but this is TOO OBVIOUS.

(1/2) Teo is the one who notices something is wrong with the contestants? It's pretty fucking obvious—I'm confused why none of the adults have noticed. Then when he raises the alarm, one of the adults throws an obviously contrived temper tantrum to distract everyone. 🤦 This is so unrealistic.

There's some sort of mind corruption happening to the contestants.

I really should finish this book before it's due back at the library.

I really should finish my current books but I'm too psyched for the Project Hail Mary movie.

[SPOILER] Xio just lost the third trial. Oh boy, I hope this isn't going to become an allegory for trans kids dying. 😬

I thought it was a little odd that there are two transmasc characters in this book, both on the same side/team and stuck in the same situation, but I get it now: this is an opportunity for Aiden Thomas to explore how trans people seek each other out for support and understanding.

I'm glad I'm listening to the audiobook. My Spanish is weak, and this way I know how the words are actually pronounced. If I was reading the book, I would probably think of incorrect pronunciations, especially for the names.

competing against professionals heroes who have been training for this type of physical competition at a special academy just for this their whole lives, and one of these kids WILL be killed and sacrificed at the end. I am outraged at their parents. (2/2)

This book is seriously pissing me off - in a good way. The parents of the Jade kids gave their kids NO TRAINING, even though there was a chance they could end up in these trials. Sure, Jades haven't been chosen for the trials in decades, but there was STILL a possibility. Now you've got what are basically two basically two normal teenagers with NO training, not even basic physical conditioning, (1/2)

I would be shocked if the twins DON'T bicker constantly in private. I get the feeling the love interest is holding back A LOT for the sake of being professional. Either that, or he's a complete pushover for his sister.

The love interest is painfully autistic-coded. This wouldn't be a bad thing except the author is leaning into misunderstandings as conflict between the protagonist and love interest. It feels lazy and superficial. There's plenty of conflict already, as someone is going to end up dead at the end of this book! Skip the fake stakes and focus on the real stakes.

(Continued) Which SUCKS because he just got (what's it called, the goblet that chooses Harry Potter for the games at Hogwarts?) goblet-ed into the Hunger Games. The weakest person in the Sunbearer Trials gets sacrificed to Sol, and our protagonist has a high likelihood of being the last runner up.

This fantasy world is a weird combination of superheroes, gods, and academia. The main characters are Meso-American gods and demigods that functionally act as superheroes. There's an academia element, where the young gods and demigods go to school to train, but our protagonist missed that because he was never powerful enough to get into the god academia, and went to public school. (Continued)

Wing fic isn't my thing, but I really liked Cemetery Boys, and this is the next book from Aiden Thomas that was available at the library. I enjoy YA and fantasy with lots of world building, and so far this book is satisfying both those appetites. ACOTAR wasn't my cup of tea, but it reawakened that fantasy appetite that I haven't sated in recent years.

My library loan expired. I'll have to wait 18 weeks before I can finish this stupid book, because it's THAT popular. 🙄

So why do I continue to read? I am a invested. I want to know what happens. I know there will be a HEA, but at the same fucking time Sarah Maas's willingness to break the rules of romance, and throw Tamlin in the trash, means she might be willing to deliver interesting deviations from the normal romance structure. And the world building is interesting, and the friendships are interesting. Better than the romance.

Something else I realized that irritated me: a character's goodness depends entirely on whether they will be an ally or a romantic interest. Tamlin, our original love interest, who Sarah Maas wrote an entire romance book for? Well he's good while he's the love interest, but as soon as the author moves to someone more interesting he suddenly develops bad traits. Eres, one of Lucian's brothers? He was good all along!

One minor character is gay! Hurray!

Ugh, enough of this male/female nonsense. If the fae don't want to call themselves man or woman, because that's what the humans use, then they can call themselves fae.

"The most beautiful female he'd ever seen." 🙄 No, this is stupid.

Just say, "The most beautiful fae he'd ever seen."

I enjoy the world building in these books, and the political intrigue, and the Psyche-esque trials Freyre had to go through to be with Tamlin in the first book (though that turned out to be pointless...) and I even enjoyed the later romance with Rhysand, who is charming and interesting. But these books don't fulfill me the way a really good fantasy series with great world building and ideas does.

I'm not against soulmate romances, or 'true mates', but it does irritate me when a romance starts out that way. "You're my mate, I should be with you!" Blah, that's a shitty way to start a romance.

Yuck, what is up with the bland piano and keyboard tracks on this audiobook?

Yikes, it's hard to like Freyre when she's backstabbing Lucian. Honestly, I'm still kind of unhappy with how she's treating Tamlin, despite the Tamlin-is-bad-now elements introduced last book. IDK, this is starting to wear on me. Tempted to DNF, the only thing holding me back is how long I had to wait for this book at the library.

Alright, let's see if everyone can get a happily ever after. I could really use a HEA right now.