. . . which are not many.
I’ve honestly been wanting to read one of Malinda Lo’s books for years now, but never got around to it. After having finally done so, now I’m not sure if I’ll be reading more . . . maybe the queer Cinderella retelling (Ash, I think?).
This was well-written and I liked it, and the premise is well-thought out and a bunch of other complimentary things . . . but this was just a good read for me, not great. I chalked it up originally to just not being the book for me at that time, and I think I was right in a manner of speaking. But I think “that time” is a more general “because I’m older”. I think this book would have been more impactful when I was younger. But also, I really have not been drawn to books that aren’t genre-heavy over the last year. I crave a mystery or some magic or something weird, and this was pretty normal and kind of sedate.
The insight into queer history was great, with the male impersonators and 1950s McCarthy-era paranoia. In fact, as many in our book club discussion said, the parts that interested me the most about this involved the adults and their lives as immigrants and people impacted by China’s Cultural Revolution, among other things. The NASA aunt is barely in the book and she was so cool!
There is a follow-up to this book being published next year, but I don’t think I’ll be checking it out. Never say never, though.