Goal is 40. We’ll see.

After reading this book, I left without any new knowledge. Perhaps except for the warning not to romanticize psychopaths. But for some strange reason, I couldn't finish it because it captivated me so much. Maybe that's what draws people to it so much? The monotony and the portrayal of normal life through the eyes of a normal person. Or rather, the atmosphere of college and the library with the extinguished candles. Or maybe the fact that they (including me) will never have the chance to experience it firsthand. If I had finished it in one day, this review would have been completely different. This certainly won't be the end of my adventure with Donna Tartt, because she has a mature writing style, and I appreciate that. And despite the many pop culture references, which no one will understand all of them, only some, which I've always treated in any work as the author's vision telling us "where haven't I been, what haven't I seen" I truly appreciate them as such small mane topic step outs. At times, I relate strongly with Richard, with how he tries to fit in with the group he's initially intimidated by. At the same time, however, I feel that if he weren't in the story, it wouldn't have had any impact on the events, and that's sad. However, towards the end — and I'm ashamed to say this — I relate more to the final descriptions of Henry and Julian in my current life... I'll have to reread it someday.

Another brilliant book I found myself strangely reluctant to finish. It really challenged my sense of morality. It felt incredibly important to me, reflecting the chaos I’m currently experiencing in my own mind. I needed some of those sentences to finally find the words for how I feel. Even though the subject matter has never directly affected me, I deeply identified with Vanessa and the way her life — and her own choices — shaped her psyche in such a damaging way.

I don’t even know what to say about this. It dragged on so much for me. The plot — about two guys from the city going to the countryside and shiping some random pair of sixteen-year-olds — somehow turned into a plan to murder some Ukrainian commander. And then that ending. Literally the only moment in the whole book where I had to stop and think about what just happened. This was supposed to be a warm-up before Ferdydurke and a philosophy course by Gombrowicz — now I’m genuinely terrified of what’s going on in his head.

The first half was a bit boring for me. I think it's mainly because many character arcs started off a bit stilted, but over the course of the book, we learn how important they are to the plot. Everything in this book has strong cause-and-effect connections, and the solutions to problems surprised me more than once, in a good way. I'll take a bit of credit for this somewhat chaotic beginning. However, the brutality of some scenes—the repetition—positively surprised me. The time travel motif really surprised me. Not just its presence, but its explanation. Besides the characters' theories about how they would work, the book suggests that changing the past won't change the future, which I really liked. I liked the lighthearted romantic threads that appeared, and there were more than enough of them for a book primarily about contemporary fantasy.

A funny and emotional novel about random people brought together by chaos. We meet them as villains, even though they are the victims of a dystopian government. I felt there wasn't enough depth to the Balister and Ambrosius storylines, but they developed them well enough to make it clear who they were and still are to each other. I really like the art style and color scheme, so subdued and therefore easy on the eyes and not too tiring.

I’ve never gotten this obsessed with any book before. I think this rating reflects not so much how good it was, but how much I ended up loving it. Even with the slightly Wattpad-ish enemies-to-lovers subplot (callsign: “Jerkface”), which honestly wasn’t really enemies to lovers at all, this book still deserves way more recognition in YA literature. It’s a little silly at times, but there are also some absolute peak comedy moments. I’ve already gotten all the novellas and short stories (and of course the other volumes too), so I guess I can officially start calling myself a fan.

I still maintain that I’m a fan of this series, but this book didn't quite win me over as much as the first one. I was expecting something a bit different, which isn't to say I didn't enjoy what I found or get hooked on it. It was incredibly eye-opening in terms of empathy. Without getting into major spoilers, I’m a huge fan of Jorgen’s arc in this book—how he started to warm up with Spensa and finally found himself through her. I love them. The weirdest thing for me, though, was that after the epilogue, there were two more normally numbered chapters. Was that an attempt to make us realize that something is seriously wrong at the end, or was it just an oversight? Or maybe it's not that unusual and I’ve just never encountered it before?