Ha'ani

Because the whole situation of prehistoric big cats, some of which talk and keep livestock like humans, fighting against each other until one of them tames “the Red Tongue” kept me interested throughout, I consider this a good book. I liked Ratha, and I appreciate the author's efforts to keep her realistic and flawed. The book's world and story was strong enough to keep me reading.

However, I think the way the plot ‘flows' is the book's weakness. The whole story was predictable, and each time I reached a major plot point, I knew whatever happened happened because, well, because plot. I don't know about y'all, but when I read a book, I don't want to feel the plot like that. Things should just happen naturally. For example, Ratha realizes that her cubs are ‘witless' and becomes so angry that she attempts to murder one cub, then purposefully injures her mate. In that moment, I knew the author placed that moment there for no reason other than to drive Ratha back to the Named. It was too obvious. She was also daydreaming way too much about raising her cubs to be like the Named—more daydreaming than is usually allowed for a book character—earlier in that chapter. So, I knew her cubs would turn out to be ‘witless' already. Much of the book was like this: extremely predictable. Many moments in the book made me think, oh, this is happening so that this can happen later on, rather than, oh, this is happening because this happened earlier.

But other than that, I still think that this was a good book, and I admire the author's creativity with this one. I think it deserves 3.8 stars.

It was a good book. I finished it in 4 days, so it was definitely interesting. It was insightful, inspirational, hopeful, and very introspective. I like how it showed the viewpoints of many people, many lives, but through the same eyes. I think that Nathan was a very underused character, and the ending was disappointing. Very vague and disappointing. A basically manipulates the body he is in to give Rhiannon a new boyfriend, since A can never be there for her. And then he runs away. I think the author meant for it to be a vague ending, but I find it pretty unsatisfying. I also think that A was a terrible name for the author to choose for the main character. If this book was written in, like, Japanese or something, A as a name would be acceptable. But in English, a is such a common word, it is one letter–it's barely a sound. It's an article, it's a GRAMMAR thing. Having a character named A makes following certain conversations unnecessarily hard.

Still, I think the book was worth reading. I think I'll give it 3.5 stars.

One of the best books I've read so far! Finished it in three days.

I loved how it really gave off the feeling of a Chinese or Korean legend without ever straying deep into cliches or the stereotypical stuff. It drew inspiration from Asian mythology without relying on it too much and not being afraid to use its own extremely creative twists.

I really liked the dragon dude, and Shiori was equally likeable. I'm a bit disappointed that she didn't use her magic more during the story, althought the beginning shows that her magic probably would have made her too OP. That Takken (Tekkan?) guy was likeable at first, but the more I read, the more unrealistic he seemed to me.

Overall, pretty amazing book. The whole crane curse thing with the stepmother was a captivating, creative conflict.

Great, but not amazing. I think the Thunderhead was better, and Scythe is waaaay better. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't read 87% of it on my phone's narrow, annoyingy glarey and eye-fatiguing screen. Glad I have an e-reader now.
Still a good read. Buuuut what happened to those elegies Faraday told Rowan to make for his victims? That plot thread was just left there, hanging. Okay, technically that's a cliffhanger from Thunderhead, not The Toll, but still, come on. I wanted to read those elegies! I wanted to seeing how Rowan would handle them!
I guess the lesson of this book is that humanity can't be perfect. Therefore, to embrace our humanity means to embrace death and imperfection. That message still has two ways of being interpreted, though...

Pretty good. I initially read it because at a writer's camp, a girl recommended it to me. I asked her why she liked it so much and she just shrugged and said, I don't know, I just do. But now, I understand. I read it, and I like it. Why? Honestly, no particular reason. It is just well-made.

The book holds a themes of redemption and identity as Chase Ambrose struggles to find his place in school after falling off a roof and getting amnesia. He then figures out that he used to be a horrible bully and spends the rest of the book making amends with the people he used to torment.

One interesting thing about this book is the wide range of narrators. As many as 7 characters take turns narrating, but it is always in 1st person. Similar to Tui T. Sutherland's Darkstalker, each chapter declares the P.O.V. before it starts. So, that was unique and fresh.

Overall, I enjoyed it.

Moral: It's never too late to turn your life around.

This book surprised me! I finished it in three days.

I loved the characters of Scythe Faraday and Scythe Curie, but especially Faraday. I love how unpredictable he is sometimes, and every one of his moments is very memorable.

I don't think I will forget the scene where a naughty kid is so triumphant when he sneaks a kiss on Faraday's ring (which grants him immunity for a year), and then is immediately horrified when Scythe tells him, "Congratulations, you get immunity for a year. And when that time is up, I'll be showing up at your house." That's not the complete phrasing, but something like that. Or those scenes where Faraday commands Citra and Rowan to do something, and they refuse, and then he reveals it was actually a test. It got kind of old the second time, but they are still memorable scenes. Or when one chapter ends with Faraday saying hopefully, "Maybe things will change." Maybe things will get better. And then...The next chapter starts, and Scythe Faraday is declared dead.He was sort of unpredictable (or at least intended to be unpredictable), and I liked it a lot. Now, the romance was so forced and silly in the beginning, and questionable in the middle, but at the end it was satisfying.

At first, the book made me think about death. Regardless of our differences, all humans–us–we have the same destination, and that is the grave. The book made me think about that. It led me to decide that our short lifespans are actually blessings, because they make us think. They motivate us, and they make us more greatful about our existence. They make us seek truth and purpose, and they can lead us to the real truth and real purpose. In a world of immortality, all of these things are lost.

But then, as the book goes on, it kind of makes you numb to death. Of course, the main characters protest mass killings, but there are still a lot of violent deaths described very casually. I guess, in the context and entire plot of the book (and considering its length), this dilution of emotion is an unavoidable effect. I still think that the book is great.

One of the most wonderful, hearbreaking books I have ever read.

I have never read a book that so perfectly reflects both the animal and human sides of nature. The animals–well, act very realistically animal. Nothing in this book would feel out of place in a documentary (except that it is a lot more exciting than a documentary could ever be). And yet the author reveals the humanity in the animals with two emotions: love and fear.

Well, love and fear, to some, are very primal, very animal emotions. But I think that in this book, these emotions make the animals more human.

Of course, the animals also communicate and think rationally like humans, but I think that the author still does a really good job of showing the spirit of the animal world: the dangers and joys of the wild, the struggle to retain freedom and survive in a world dominated by humans.

But really, at its core, I don't think this is a story about foxes. It is a story about the nature of the world, which is a cycle of life and death, love and gried. We die, and the world goes on for some. The world changes and changes in ways we will never see, and generations that will never meet live and die. It is just a book about nature, which never changes, and the ways in which nature responds to nature, which also never changes.

Beautiful book. Unlike Into the Wild, this book relies on the protagonist's emotion and relationships. Like Rusty in the main books, we watch Stormkit grow into Crookedkit, Crookedpaw, Crookedjaw, and finally Crookedstar in the span of 40 (I think) chapters. And it's way more effective than the main books!

The concept of love and loss is repeated throughout the book and contains a valuable lesson on the cost of love. It's one of those books where, in the beginning you're like, “Did that person just state the theme? Is that really the theme? How is THAT the theme?” and then you get to the end and you're crying, “OHHH, THAT was the theme! I didn't see that coming!”

This book made me cry for, like, two hours after I finished it at 3:00am in the morning.

It was an interesting book, but it was also kind of boring. I love the author's idea, and the gimmick of Kit becoming different animals is cool. The way the author describes being different animals was really cool, and the whole ‘jumping' business affects Kit's behavior and identity as a human on an interesting way. Like, it's a good book.

But, also, it was kinda hard to get through. The first three chapters got me interested, but after that I couldn't really sense momentum or progression in the story. It took me a while to even figure out what the book was about. By that, I mean I couldn't tell where it was going. This made the middle feel like filler, or that little was actually happening.

And then, maybe it's just the writing style, but a lot of story elements felt very vague. I like it when author's don't over explain everything, but this time I wish some things were clarified. Maybe it was just that I wasn't fully invested, but it took me a while to catch onto the fact that the Come Home and Uncanny Shift chapters we're jumping back and forth through time. Also, even after reading the book, I have no idea what Kit's mom had to do with the plot. Was she a symbol or something? Was she supposed to reveal something about Kit? Honestly, I think she was filler.

And then, Tomoko. When Tomoko started showing up in later chapters, I was confused. I didn't realize she was important. I still don't entirely understand why she was important. I guess she's the final link between Kit and phenomenautism. Or something like that. I dunno.

Overall, good book with a great ending and beginning, but a droopy middle that you might suffer through.

The first thing I thought when I finished this book: What the tingling Teva did I just read?

I was interested in the cloning part. The Sci-fi mystery part. Why does Teva duplicate every year? And it was interesting seeing the strangeness of living in a house filled with your older selves, and sharing memories with those selves, and...it was interesting!

But the author doesn't let the book be about that interesting stuff. Instead, she turns it into a generic high school drama with the sci-fi stuff in the background.

Why? I don't care about the creepy Ollie guy, or Tommo who wants Teva to rub baby oil on his chest. I don't care! They aren't interesting characters, they don't raise the stakes for what should be the main plot.

I do care about conflicts directly related to Teva's “condition”, like when she worries about showing too much of her weirdly-marked clone skin during a fashion show. But that's it.

The climax was kinda dumb.

Teva dies, and a new Teva comes out and yells at her lab dad (who completely appears out of nowhere. Well, I guess it was hinted at earlier, but come on...) to tell him YOU DID THIS! And everyone backs her up and they make a big scene out of it...And the clones all go to school and get normal lives...But there is no solution. Our protagonist just died for no reason. And will Teva keep cloning until she dies? Or is every old Teva gonna die, like 16, when the new Teva emerges? Nobody knows!

This book would have been good on Wattpad, but as a published book it's a bit disappointing.

I remember reading one part where a boy mentioned, “You must know my family, they have been here since the town's founding”, and then another part where he is giving Fiona directions, like “so you turn onto Swan Road...you know where that is, right?” as if she's supposed to have every road memorized. And then I thought, This reminds me so much of where I live, the town of Red Wing. And then, I remembered, Jacqueline West lives here–she must have based the book's setting on it!


And that was so cool. Seeing an author take some of my least-favorite aspects of my hometown and use it to enhance the atmosphere of a fictional town.

The rest of the book was good. I was expecting Fiona and Arden to end up in the same roles as Hazel and Pearl, and one of them would end up doing something horrible to the other, but instead we got a happy sugar-coated ending. I'm not complaining, but the other route would have been more interesting.

A charming book about the horror of being kidnapped, nearly getting brainwashed, having your down feathers plucked, almost getting blood-sucked by vampire bats, etc. And then escaping.

I liked this book. Started reading it last night, finished it this afternoon. I had tried, years ago in middle school, to read this book, but I just couldn't get through it. It had seemed boring and too dark, or something like that.

But now, as a junior in high school, this book was great. I can now see the creativity and purpose in this book. And I liked the characters and the originality of the whole book.

PROS:
- the chapters are short and straight to the point. The author does not waste her time with detailed descriptions unless they mean something to the characters.
- The book is fairly realistic. Like, comparing this to other fantasy books about non-human beings (Wings of Fire, Warriors, etc.), children do not randomly know or think about details they logically shouldn't know about (they think like what they are–children), the owls don't shrug (I don't know how warrior cats shrug without sitting back on their butts to painfully lift their paws off the ground with their shoulders), and the language the owls use is unique and makes sense (except for one time when Twilight's fighting some owls and sings about “punching”).
- The stakes. I really, really badly wanted them to escape. Which I guess is actually due to the characters: The characters were likeable. I guess a large part of that being that they are innocent children who I don't want to see blood-sucked or feather-plucked.
- The story and the world are very original. I'm sure the kidnapped-orphans-try-to-save-the-world plot has been done before, but the way in which the book deals with this plot is very original.

CONS:
- Some might see the language and style of the dialogue as distracting, as the owls do not speak “modern English”, but a more classy-sounding English mixed in with owl slang.
- People who like detailed, clever descriptions of setting may not like the book, as it describes only the necessary (it is not as bad as warriors, though!)
- Some characters and ideas seem a bit...basic. Like, Kludd. Kludd, in this book, is an evil big brother who complains a lot, and Mrs. Plithiver senses something very un-owlish about him. He's kind of evil for no reason other than to be evil, it seems. And because he's “mean”, he is un-owlish. This observation disappointed me because it gave off a belief of, “He is evil; therefore, he is not ‘human'”. Villains have depth and feelings, too. That's what makes them interesting. Also, the theme of believing is not really expanded upon to have deeper meaning; it's more like a repeated concept. That also may just be the author's way of portraying how children think about the world, however–if I believe it, it is real.

Ah, I love this book.

After reading the final and worst book of the series, Flames of Hope, I hoped (haha, pun) that re-reading this one would ease my disappointment and distress. Were the books always this bad? Am I just now realizing it because I'm older?

And The Lost Continent did ease my distress! This book is actually way more awesome that I remember. Okay, 11-year-old Me liked this book—a lot—but present 16-year-old Me loves it. I didn't remember the energy of this book. This book has a spirit—a spirit of adventure, creativity, emotion, and suspense. And Blue is an extremely well-thought-out character. Even if his tendencies annoyed me, I could see where he was coming from.

And the whole story, pacing, worldbuilding, characters—are so good! Characters I had come to hate in later books, such as Luna, Sundew, and Swordtail, are actually really likeable in this one! And the pacing is...magnificent! Both times I read it, I finished this book in under two days. The pacing was fast enough to keep things moving, but it never skimmed over important, fun, epic things, nor did it ever seem rushed. And the whole thing just felt so cinematic! So many memorable, epic, cinematic scenes! I'm in love with this book, and it's creativity is contagious—all of a sudden, I want to write my butt off! If I had to pick one Wings of Fire book to adapt into a film, I would choose this one.

It is clear from the utter magnificence of this book that Sutherland had much bigger plans for the conclusion to this arc. I can tell she had fun writing this book, and she was genuinely thrilled to be writing a new arc on a new continent with new threats and characters and cultures and epicness-potential. Unfortunately, Flames of Hope sucked, but it could have been so much more if it had been written with the same energy as this book. Rereading this book made me sad for the arc's poor conclusion—it started out so strong and with lots of promise. I hope Tui considers doing a rewrite of books 13, 14, and 15 sometime in the future, when she has recovered from what I perceive to be ‘writer's burnout'. This masterpiece deserves a better ending

I don't remember a lot of this book, as I read it quite a while ago. But, I do remember being super invested in Twigbranch and Violetshine's challenged relationship, and also being terrified and sad for Needletail. Alderheart is still one of my favorite characters to this day. And Darktail was a great villain, I think. I remember being scared of him and thinking that he was super epic.

But other than that, don't remember much.

I just could not finish this book. Can tell the authors were bored, but still took their time, which means they must have gotten boreder as the story progressed. The prologue was literally some cat in the sky looking down at another cat and saying, “Oh, yes, You will be very special.” And that was it. It was like, three pages. Why have a prologue in the first place?