Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher - Book Review (No spoilers)

Summary-

"You can’t stop the future.

You can’t rewind the past.
The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah’s pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever."

My review-

4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thirteen Reasons Why is the story of how Hannah Baker's life slowly falls apart, day by day, person by person. In a way, it's about how she lets it fall apart. It's narrated by her through thirteen audiotapes, passed around to everyone who made a difference in her life.

I read the whole book in one evening, which is nice considering how the entire action happens in one night too. Not Hannah's story- that takes place over a couple of years- but Clay listening to the audiotapes as he follows her map around town. Like him, her story kept me hooked too, and I was waiting for his name to come, and to see what part he'd played in her life.

It's a slightly haunting story, and not because it's gross or gory or creepy. It reminds us of how little things we do can have a big impact on someone's life. This book focuses on the snowball effect, with small events piling on top of each other, and rolling into a huge ball of destruction. Self-destruction, in Hannah's case. Everything affects different people differently. Hannah says she had contemplated taking her life many times, after each little event. And after people piled on it, knowingly or unknowingly, she finally did.

I'd expected this book to be darker and more philosophical, but it was actually put quite simply. The writing was very plain, and that put me off in the beginning, but later I realised that it made the book very easy and addicting to read.

At first, the lines of Clay's POV interspersed with the tapes were annoying, as I wanted a continuous narration of her story. Later, I liked that they were mixed in with the tapes, as he provided us background information for some of the events, and helped in connecting the dots. His random thoughts as he listened to Hannah's story also made it feel very real.

It was sad to see how Hannah let everything affect her so deeply. I, and the other characters, sometimes thought the thirteen reasons were not enough for taking her own life. Everyone does stupid things in high school, and if she had only kept away from the people she knew would hurt her, and gotten help, she could've turned her life around. In the end, she admits that she let a few of the reasons happen since she had given in already.

I felt the book could have focused a little bit more on the other options she had, like not taking her life. Instead, it glamourized certain aspects of a suicidal person, like how she pushed Clay away despite the mutual liking, the audiotapes mysteriously showing up on people's doorsteps, and giving her bike away to Tony because she thought she could trust him with it. The plot was interesting, though, and I found myself excited to find out what the next reason was going to be.

The thirteen were all interconnected somehow- the snowball effect again- and all of them linked together was what made her give up in the end. I enjoyed the story, and the simple writing style made it a quick read. 

The Kiss of Deception : The Remnant Chronicles #1 by Mary E. Pearson - Book Review

Summary

"In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighbouring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.

On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love."

My review

1.5 stars

Honestly, the love triangle warning should have been enough to keep me away. But I thought maybe it would be funny? I'm not sure what I had expected, but this was not it. I dislike love triangles- or whatever they're called- like those in Twilight, where the protagonist doesn't like one of the men, but I thought maybe this one would be better. It seems Infernal Devices has set my expectations too high.

This book had absolutely no plot. I know all authors make up stuff as they write, to some extent, but at least their books have a basic storyline, so things make sense. In this one, the author just did as she felt, without bothering about the repercussions, or seemingly knowing what she was going to do next. Random events happened, they had random consequences, and the story just went back to being nothing. I don't get how all those scenes were joined together and called a "book" because it certainly didn't feel like one.

Note: My review has a lot of spoilers. If you haven't read this book yet and plan to someday (though I would advise against it) I suggest you stop reading here.

I had expected the story to be something exciting, with Lia running away amidst her wedding preparations and finding herself in a tavern with two strangers and unlocking secrets and whatnot. Instead, she casually rides away with her maid, tells everyone of her identity, chops some onions, makes out with the most obvious guy, and then rides around again. I mean it when I say there is no story at all. Nothing happens in Berdie's tavern, and even more nothing happens after Kaden kidnaps her. When he finally tells her they're leaving the vagabond's camp to ride around again, she is so surprised she might as well have said 'Oh, you're here about the plot? I completely forgot my book was supposed to have a story lol.'

All the romance was just Lia falling in love with the tall, blue-eyed guy. The only time she flirted with Kaden, the second guy, was when she wanted to make Rafe jealous. The other leg of the love triangle stood only on Lia's Stockholm syndrome and some unnecessary kissing.

Lia

"I was a piece of cheese"

Out of context, but I couldn't have put it better myself.

Lia's personality is a collection of all the annoying, whiny, selfish female YA protagonists ever. She has no brains, no sense of responsibility, and all she can ever do is blame others for the effects of her own actions.

She runs away from her wedding, sparking attacks because of the broken alliance. People die. Who does she blame? The soldiers. She attacks some guy with her hands and her fingers bleed or something. Whose fault is it? That guy's. She leads two people on and they have this enmity thing going on because they both like her. It was partially their fault in this case, for having feelings for someone like her, but she couldn't make up her mind and wanted both so she hoped they would sort things out by themselves.

If I was supposed to be sympathetic to her plight, her character has been written all wrong. She is supposed to be a princess, yet doesn't know that innocents die in wars. When Kaden gives her this very obvious information, she wonders if he is deceiving her and telling her untruths to placate her. Somebody tells her the King's cabinet has other pressing matters to deal with, she asks, "Other trouble besides me?"

She runs away from the palace, and then complains about how "We aren’t all leading the regal life." Her "facility for languages" was just how she thinks it is hopeless, then "the letters seemed to move of their own accord right before my eyes, rearranging themselves into a pattern I could recognize. I blinked. It seemed obvious now." Wow, how convenient. I am hoping this is explained as her power or something later, so I won't complain about it too much.

And when she is lusting after the two hAnDsOmE lAdS, she claims "But there was more to how I felt than simple attraction."

Lia had her own share of not-like-the-others ness. She surprised people by telling them that she "had favoured swordplay over stitchery, backroom card games over music lessons." Kaden says "She wasn’t the delicate fleshy royal of their imaginations." which doesn't make sense because 1. She is a delicate fleshy royal and 2. That's reason enough.

She thinks she's doing a very great deed by returning to the palace, but there is so much wrong with that sentiment. If she really cared about her people or the innocents who she didn't know died in war, she would've married the "old stuffy, puffy prince" when she had the chance. Also, she only decided to return as and when it suited her, to stroke her own ego and pretend like she was saving the world.

Kaden

From the very beginning, Kaden's ✨uniqueness✨ was made crystal clear with sentences like "It was apparent very quickly, though, that Kaden was different." and "It was that same different I saw in Kaden when he first walked into the tavern." Somehow, he did not even have blue eyes? I did not know attractive men without blue eyes could exist; thank you so much Mary E Pearson for enlightening me with this information.

Even the way he and Lia kissed was so unique-

No, but seriously, I have never read such absolute trash in a book before. The two of them are randomly standing around when "a horse that had been grazing nearby suddenly charged at another horse." By some masterful play of fate, Kaden manages to pull her aside and they land on the ground with him on top of her? Sure, that is such a normal thing to happen when someone pulls another person out of the way of charging horses. And their position is such perfection that- "his elbows straddling my sides, his chest brushing mine, his face inches away." 

Yeah and then they kiss and whatever.

I really can't believe the author needed horses to make them kiss; I would've believed it more if he'd been the one to randomly charge at her, since he's so unique and all.

Such dumbness.

Stupid book.

Rafe

All this uniqueness on Kaden's part, however, only facilitated Rafe's cliche-ness. He not only had blue eyes and black hair, but he was also a very tall, very handsome prince with a loyal following and an ugly sidekick and excellent horse-riding and trail-tracking skills.

And of course, he was chef's-kiss attractive. His name alone made people swoon in their place. "I tried not to stare, but with his sleeves rolled up and his tan forearms flexing under the weight, I couldn’t look away." Me neither, Lia, me neither. Who had thought a single man could have so many nice qualities, and be so handsome at the same time? How did Rafe possibly manage it all? "Especially his unnerving blue eyes. They were fierce, like a warrior’s." Sure, I'm turning into a mush for his handsome, handsome man with blindingly blue eyes how do I express my adoration in words-

I HATE HIM SO MUCH

Enough sarcasm because I need to rant about some stuff. The author never made it clear whether the two of them were friends or enemies. They were obviously competing for Lia's love or whatever but they did everything together? They stayed in a loft and chatted away all night. Not to mention how "they both went off in search of the smoked venison that teased through the air" together or how "They both left to go back to the inn to bathe and change, promising to return soon."

And worst of all was "When their wrestling brought their faces within inches of each other, I saw their lips moving." Are their mouths twitching to kiss each other because 1. That is what it sounds like. and 2. That is what it is.

I mean, somebody make them a couple, right? Why do they need Lia when they have each other? That fight brought out the worst in both of them, which was surprising considering how I thought I couldn't possibly hate Rafe more. But this- "This time the spray flew higher, spattering Rafe’s chest. He rubbed the drops of mud in with his sweat." And then at the end, Lia has the audacity to say "I hoped that would be the end of the dirty games." I mean Lia, you- you started- you are the dirty game.

"I stumbled into his chest, tripping over rubble."

Please stop stumbling iNtO people's chests.

Just stop.

Please.

This might be getting too long and we both might have important things to do but I really need to mention how, at one point, the author started getting really creative with her names. What should we call the Morrighese book containing Holy Texts? The Morrighan Book of Holy Text. What should we name the place where Queen Venda lived? Venda. How do we incorporate Rafe into a royal name? His name is Rafferty.

The only time this book made me laugh was when Kaden said "Get down from your donkeys." because my sense of humour is broken from reading books like this and I will laugh at the most random sentences.

In conclusion, you might not want to read this book.