Alya > Recent Status Updates

JUJITSU KAISEN MANGA?? Just mentioned in passing?? Why???? This book has already aged like a crème brûlée oh my god

Catriz has just shown up and I’m actually groaning in frustration. We really just brought him back to say one ominous line when he’s barely mentioned the whole book? And I’m sorry but Vico Ortiz’s voice for him genuinely made me laugh out loud, this book is so unserious I’m actually dissociating :/

The book has moments of being good when we focus on Rio and Julian's relationship — the older brother is truly THE ONLY saving grace in this story. I like how he is very clearly a tired 24 year old and cares deeply for his brother, but is putting up a front of strength for this traumatised group of 16 year olds. Just wish it had been written better.

Yeah, Lita’s characterisation is pissing me off. She’s just a caricature of a person and has zero actual writing behind her. It feels like AI wrote her character if I’m being honest.

Okay, small nitpick, but Julian was terrified of dogs in the previous book, and he’s described as friendly and smiling towards stray dogs in this chapter. The inconsistencies keep adding up 🙄

Julian acts like someone who’s been forcibly married into another community and is ETERNALLY grateful to Yadriel for doing the bare minimum courtesy in any situation. What happened to his actual personality, his short temper and commitment to his friends? Would the same character really be fine with keeping his whole life secret from them? And they barely factor into the story either – why even have them here?

Maybe it’s just the narration by Avi Roque, but I cannot stand Lita as a character. She is such a caricature of a grandmother and has genuinely no depth or interiority outside cooking food for the main characters.

Ángel has just entered the chat, they’re fine as a character and I’m glad that we’re not getting a love triangle, but I’m also annoyed that everything is so surface level. Also – is it just me or is this story borrowing VERY heavily from the movie ‘Encanto’? Up to and including the way ‘Lita’ is described and the house being ‘alive’?

Julian’s friends feel very interchangeable in this book, as though the author chose character traits at random for each scene. Also, the lack of conflict between them and Yadriel (brujx in general) is why this book falls so flat right now. They’ve fully accepted him into their group, so now the only thing that could drive the plot is some scary spiritual threat that I doubt will carry any suspense.

Whatever I think about this book, I absolutely love Vico Ortiz as an audiobook narrator. They add so much depth to some of these sections that I can tell weren’t there in just the text alone.

Don’t want to be a total killjoy but why tf is Jules even with Yadriel, Yads is a completely self absorbed jackass and doesn’t EVER think about something other than his own ego aghhhh

Since when does Yadriel care about making his dad proud? I’m confused, I remember him wanting to just be accepted as a Brujo, I feel like they’ve substituted Enrique for Catriz over here. Also – wasn’t Purrcasso (the cat) female in the prev book? ALSO – where is Yadriel’s brother???

Holyyyy shit this is hilarious and devastating

THIS BOOK SLAPS SO HARD

Romeo and Juliet AND Old Man Yaoi??? This book keeps superseding expectations and I absolutely love it :DDD

The Romeo and Juliet side plot is sending me 😂😂😂 Mary, Raj and Wilfred are in the wrong storyyyyy

Insanely good so far!

AGHHH Nobody speaks like this! The author has clearly never spoken to another human being because why is everybody speaking in Tumblr-esque AU run-on sentences? Three Seagrass is the worst offender here but Twelve Azalea and Marit come in pretty close right behind her. Any character that doesn’t irritate me does so by virtue of not appearing on page enough for them to matter. What an incredibly boring book.

This book has disappointed me with how lacklustre it is. Unless the most insane mind bending plot unfolds in the last few pages, I’m giving this two stars. Nothing happens in this book except for Mahit having conversations with people and feeling bad for herself. Ugh.

Mahit’s self pity is so. incredibly. irritating. There are almost zero critical thoughts about the empire in her head, the author treats it like some clique or sorority that Mahit doesn’t have access to and is jealous / bitter about. Three Seagrass is still here doing absolutely nothing. God, I can’t wait for this book to end.

AHHHHH. Twelve Azalea has the most insufferable dialogue in this book. The author seemed to want to make him quirky and nervous but ends up making him sound like he’s having a panic attack every other page.

Wow! I really hope Three Seagrass, our closest friend and love interest, whom we know nothing about (and is incredibly loyal to the empire) doesn’t betray us soon! That would be so sad! It would be so heartbreaking! Who would ever see it coming? Give me a fucking break.

The more I read this book, the more I wish I was reading ‘The Traitor Bart Cormorant’ again. This is just a boring version of that book, in space, and more of a trudge.

FFS. I don’t know why I’m getting so ragebaited by this book. The use of italics is far too liberal and distracting. The writing style used for Mahit’s narration feels like beginner’s fanfiction. Feelings are described through repetition which gets old very fast. The shifts of tone are not handled well, and the structure: ‘something’ said x, ‘is happening’ is used so often that it pisses me off.

Mahit is the most irritating character in this book. The author seems convinced that Mahit is incredibly badass, and writes her as though she KNOWS it herself. The number of silly one liners Mahit drops is ridiculous. ‘Hydroponics. I’ll remember that.’ Are we serious? This is just the meme: This is how I win. *loses* This book had better get very good very fast. So far: boring.

Story is interesting enough, but if I have to hear Mahit whine one more time about how she ACHES for friendship I’m going to scream. It’s genuinely every couple of pages. We get it, Mahit, you’re lonely. Can you stop self pitying enough for us to care about the narrative?

Also, Twelve Azalea and Three Seagraas call each other the SAME nickname a thousand times. This book buys very heavily into its own hype.

Listening to the sections where Waldo tries to reach out to her mom is heartbreaking. The love is there but it doesn’t mean anything :(

AGHHHH ‘You seem like such a good dad’ is killing me. Waldo baby please leave him.

The tension keeps building up and I’m feeling the dread of what’s going to happen when Mr. Corgi cuts off Waldo… something rlly bad is going to happen…