February
Growing up- Higuchi Ichiyō
rating: 3 starsThis semester I took a modern japanese literature class, cause I needed more credits and I've been interested in japanese lit for quite some time. Most of the readings were short stories as we didn't have the time to read novels, so I didn't put them here as full books, but this one is a novellete that I can count as a book. It was interesting reading literature this different from the one I'm used to.
The amazing Maurice and his educated rodents- Terry Pratchett
rating: 3.75 starsIt took some time to get me interested, but when the story picked up later I started to really like it. I don't know if anyone else shares my thoughts but as someone who's read Watership down Darktan's whole character development reminded me so much of Bigwig. In a good way cause I'm a sucker for a good near death experience changing a character. Also damn he really considered just burning the whole barn with people down. That scene was very intense. I loved seeing the rats grow, and start to think about more abstract concepts and philosophical questions. And Maurice sacrifing one of his lives for
ALSO this quote right here: “If you don't turn your life into a story, you just become a part of someone else's story." "And what if your story doesn't work?" "You keep changing it until you find one that does.”
June
Starlight- Erin Hunter
rating: 3.5 starsAlso took a while to get into for some reason, maybe because I read the beginning during the reading block. But . I was glad to see an exciting battle between the clans again, cause it's been a while since we've had one in the Warriors series. I think there weren't any in the previous books of the New prophecy, which makes sense as it was not about epic battles but an external threat to all the cats, but it's nice reading one after so long.
What I did not like however, were the romantic relationships in this book. And god I hated Crowfeather with Leafpool. I don't know if that's an unusual opinion, but I just can't like it. I don't think any of the half-clan romances were written well so far, and this doesn't break the pattern for me. They're relationship is one big cliché I can't stand. We've just GOT to have a forbidden romance so we can have plot. And this time it's forbidden 2x because Leafpool is a medicine cat. The reason I don't like it is because I don't enjoy the whole trope of "oooh he's so mysterious, I wonder if there's something that can heal his broken heart", plus the whole enemies to lovers thing they had going on just added to the "tropeyness". Like of course he is mean to her at the start because he's got a crisis inside of him for loving another cat so soon after Feathertail's death. Okay, not a thing I'm interested in. The way they just had to give them so many enemies to lovers tropes felt very forced to me. And when it comes to Leafpool, I seriously felt more natural chemistry when she was with Mothwing. If you like Crowpool (is that the shipname?) good for you, I'm glad you can enjoy it, but it is not for me.
