Ash

DNF @ 15%Look, I was really into this for the first couple of chapters, but then the POV shifted to the library-dwelling characters, and it was so confusing. The shift lost my interest completely due to a lack of explanation as to what the heck was going on. The library setting itself in interesting, but it's all too [b:Piranesi 50202953 Piranesi Susanna Clarke https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1609095173l/50202953.SY75.jpg 73586702]-esque for my taste.

DNF @ 15%I quite enjoyed Polk's other Regency-inspired fantasy story, [b:Witchmark 36187110 Witchmark (The Kingston Cycle, #1) C.L. Polk https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1505338133l/36187110.SY75.jpg 57809962], but Midnight Bargain feels like it was written by a different person. I understand that Witchmark is marketed as adult SFF, while this one is YA, but I still found the writing here too juvenile compared to the author's other works. For example, right from the beginning of chapter 1 we are bombarded with a bunch of exclamation marks... and to what effect?The doorbell jingled as Beatrice crossed into the book-keeper's domain. Harriman's! O dust and ink and leather binding, O map-scrolls and star-prints and poetry chapbooks–and the grimoire, somewhere within!Who writes like this? And worse, who thinks like this?? Beatrice sounds like an overly excitable tween, which is not supposed to be her personality since she is a young woman on the cusp of marriage. The faux-Regency language is exaggerated, and anyone who has read an actual Regency novel knows this. This I find is a pitfall of many faux-Regency novels, but that might be more of a personal preference thing.The fact that the story jumps right into the romance is also a bit jarring as it feels like there's no set up for the magic system, nor any time for the reader to discover who the characters are. From the first few pages I could already guess the whole plot, which is obviously not a very exciting read. Beatrice's meeting with the siblings is so contrived, it's hard to suspend disbelief. This random guy declares that a nobody (Beatrice) and his aristocratic sister should be friends because they want the same book... yeah, ok, and the sister, who is a witch and logically can sense Beatrice the same way Beatrice senses her, decides to play the ignorance game because....???Like I said at the start of this ‘review,' I like Polk's adult books, but this YA one just doesn't hit the same way. There are some fantastic YA fantasy books out there, but this one doesn't make my list.

DNF @10%

Such a pretty cover... such little appeal on the page. I wanted to love this, but I couldn't get past the first 50-odd pages. The fact that this book is 500+ pages long is kind of worrying. I don't see how there can be that much material to cover. The MC was very unlikeable to me, and the whole thing read like a bad bodyguard trope fanfic. This one is not for me!

DNF @10%

I had been wanting to read this for such a long time that when I finally got a hold of it at my library, I was disappointed with it. It wasn't what I had expected going in, which is too bad because I know that a lot of people really love this book (and series). I'm not much one for grunge fantasy, so maybe that's why it didn't appeal to me. Maybe I'll give it another shot at some point, but it's unlikely.

Dropped at 30%. I love Verne, but this ain't it bro.

I tried reading this book twice. The first time, I made it to 30%, lost interest, and didn't go back to it. The second time, I read up to 20%, lost interest, and here we are. As much as I loved the TV series, I don't gel with the book at all. I love historical fiction, fantasy, fairy tales, etc., but the writing here is what slows me down. There are too many very long passages that say and add nothing to the plot, and it takes way too long for the action to build up.

I'm really sad that I can't bring myself to read this book in it's entirety, but c'est la vie.

I want to love this book. It has everything that I typically like to read: an adventure, fantastical creatures, a historical setting, and yet, I'm on my second try of trying to read it, but I just can't. I lose interest despite the pretty artwork and themes I usually enjoy.

DNF at 20%, for good this time. I don't think I'll try to read it a 3rd time.

This is such a strange book. Petronius must have been high AF when he wrote it... DNF.

One gloomy prince, one stuffy royal advisor, one dependable bodyguard, and one goofy best friend go on a road trip... where have I seen this before?



Ah, yes! That's where! Honestly, I'm completely ok with pretending this novel is a m/m fanfiction of FFXV.

(This review will be finished later once I get through the book. I'm currently sitting at 30%).

UPDATE: I did not, in fact, “get through the book” and I am still “sitting at 30%.” It's safe to say that I won't be finishing this one. I liked the idea behind it, but in the end it lost my interest when it entered a weird slump a third of the way in. DNFed!

DNF 11%

I can't get behind the style of this one. I know it's YA and thus ‘younger,' but it sounds as though it were written by a 12 year old. The narrator, who is also the MC, is absolutely insufferable in his immaturity. I couldn't sympathize with him at all.

It's a no for me, sorry.

DNF at 14%

Wow, I didn't even make it to my usual 30% DNF rate. I picked it up because 1) the cover is gorgeous and 2) Neil Gaiman recommended?? But honestly, I don't see why Gaiman raved about it. The pacing is all over the place, the magic system isn't explained all that well, heck the competition isn't even explained.

There are too many characters/POVs, and I really dislike the names in the book. I take offence that great literary magicians like Merlin and Prospero are associated to this book. Did the author run out of ideas in terms of naming her characters? Or was it deliberately done to attract high fantasy readers and rope them into this urban setting? Either way, I think it was a terrible choice, and I'm surprised no other reviewer has mentioned this.



Also, a lot of reviewers mention the writing/language as being spectacular and I really don't see it. The author reuses the same vocabulary over and over again to create an eerie/unsettling atmosphere, but it gets redundant very fast. Furthermore, the writing really isn't that fabulous. The amount of fragmentary sentences and run-ons is staggering, and while I can appreciate that it might be part of the author's style, it is not what I would qualify as “spectacular.”

Unfortunately, the pretty cover is the only good thing about this novel, but it's not enough to keep it on my shelf.

I had such high hopes... This was supposed to be a time travelling/high seas adventure, but it ended up being about a whiny, annoying, obnoxious girl with no feelings whatsoever for people other than herself. I'm used to insta-romances in YA but this was beyond ridiculous. The only redeeming quality this book has is having a Black man as the leading character.

This was just too much nope for me. If you want to read a fun, YA time travel narrative, don't waste your time on Passenger and read A Thousand Pieces of You instead.

DNF 28%

Find this review and others on my blog here: Victorian Sensibilities

Summary

After the showdown between Maven, Cal and Mare, the latter two are on the run from the new Silver King and on a mission to find other Newbloods to help overthrow the government. Without knowing who she can truly trust, Mare finds herself shifting allegiances and allies to ensure her win against Maven, once her friend but now a crazed king.

Review



I tried. I tried really hard, but I just couldn't keep going with this book. I made it to the half-way mark before it slowly drifted out of my mind and got replaced with way more interesting books from other authors. As much as I loved the first book, I absolutely hated the second one.

Mare is the most obnoxious, self-righteous, self-obsessed, self-absorbed little twat I have EVER encountered. She was already pretty obnoxious in the first book, but she really let herself go and showed her true colours in the second one. She suddenly became this selfish monster who doesn't think twice about killing and using innocents as collateral. Her ongoing martyring attitude was so off-putting, I could only roll my eyes at every other sentence. On top of her horrible attitude, she continuously pines after Cal yet blames him for everything (which in his defense, he hasn't done anything to deserve her constant moody backlash). She has such beautiful empty and weightless declarations like this:

“No matter how much I might want to feel him, I cannot. I must keep my eyes ahead, and away from the fire of a fallen prince. I must freeze my heart to the one person who insists on setting it ablaze.”
Get. The. Violins. Out.

What a bleeding heart she is. I'm touched (NOT). Then she says things that prove how much of a tortured character she is:

“But I can't shake the feeling that, while they stand with me, there's no one beside me. Even with an army at my back, I am still alone.”
Poor sweetie, I wish I could do something to help -wait- no I don't.

I could keep going and keep complaining about Mare and her stupidity (and my deep hatred of her), but I've got better things to do, like reading good books.