MeowMeow
Wow... the marketing/PR team for this book all need raises and promotions because they TRICKED THE SHIT out of so many people (myself included, of course) with what this story was going to be... The person who wrote the book description is a master of deception. I would take off a glove and give that person a slap with it to signal my desire for a duel, but I also want to hire the person for being good enough to deceive the crap out of those of us who wanted a historical-fantasy-magical-realism kind of story but instead got this fucking drivel.
So good. I was not at all surprised when I heard the news that it was optioned for film, hopefully we'll be able to see it come to life on screen.
Immediately got the next installment, a novel (Into the Drowning Deep).
Lovely slice-of-life science fiction. This is something I've always been wanting to read.
This book disappointed, sorry to say. I liked the Goblin Market well enough, but the book skipped the interesting bits of the story and we just have a one-paragraph summary of all the stuff that happened. That was such a bummer, because nothing ever really seems to happen in this book ... since it all happens off-screen and we don't get to do or see any of the quests or the year Lundy spent paying back debts.
I liked the Archivist, but I wasn't too keen on any of the others. Not even Lundy. It'd been so long since I'd read Every Heart a Doorway that I'd completely forgotten who she was so I didn't come into this book disliking her from the start, but she didn't really manage to grow on me.
To be honest, I don't even get why Raphael falls in love with Elena because she hasn't done anything by that point except pique his interest just because she doesn't immediately fall on her knees and does everything he says. I mean, come on, dude – if you go around killing/torturing anyone who disagrees with you, no shit you'll be surrounded by ‘yes men' all the time (except for the oh-so-special Seven, of course) so you kind of put yourself into the situation of everyone around you now being boring. I guess I just don't see how she's so special (besides smelling vampires) that an immortal, who has experienced so many interesting people through the centuries, would somehow find her compelling. Not that Raphael himself is a prize, mind you. He's the typical alphahole that is too prevalent in Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance / Romances.
Loved the story. Really enjoyed learning about the two cultures; though I wish we'd gotten more ... well, political scenes and less running around in danger. I enjoy witty repartee and seeing characters use their keen observational (and conversational) skills to get ahead of their enemies.
Horrible writing and characters, amateurish plots, infuriating bickering. Cannot believe this author is popular. This is crap-tier, basically on par with various shitty LitRPG novels I've read.
Hello Cliches, my old friend... I've come to talk to you again.
Girl finds out she has magic, a prince tells her she's special, and it turns out she's the first one in 150 years to have her kind of magic. Of course. Plus, she has a lifelong magical bond with said prince, and every guy falling in love with her too...
A trope-filled book would still be a fun read if the writing worked. But this particular novel needed a couple more rounds of edits, because the writing is pretty amateurish and reads like a first draft. Stilted dialogue, a plot that's just a boring mess, cliche after cliche ... ugh.
I love Maud but the person who always steals the show for me is little Helen. I want more books with Helen in them :)
Gorgeous and poignant. When I got to the end, I was in tears but I also felt happy – and hopeful. The main characters are brave and strong, with lovely personalities and the kind of friendship that everyone wants to have. Such a beautiful book.
Intricate plot that weaves multiple plot threads together, lovely prose, great characters who are worth rooting for.
This was a frustrating read due to a stupid main character who has trouble controlling her mouth and her temper. She's also a judgmental little hypocrite, too – constantly whining about how people judge her and call her a coward just because of her father, and then she goes and does the EXACT SAME THING to pretty much EVERYONE she meets.
Classic fantasy adventure with a group. The story isn't complete, however – kind of left hanging right in the middle of things. Basically one book was chopped in two... so if that sort of thing pisses you off, you'll be mighty annoyed.
I've fallen in love with the writing style of T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon).
- Disjointed worldbuilding (let's throw everything and the kitchen sink in there, why not? ugh...)
- One-dimensional characters, and Gary-Stu levels of “the main character is so important and special and awesome”
- Some things are overexplained while others aren't explained enough
- Tons of things happen and there's lots of action, but I found myself completely bored
- Not up to the hype (certain people on the Fantasy subreddit have been constantly singing the book's praises).
First contemporary romance in a very long while where all the characters – besides antagonists, of course – were lovely and likeable. Quite heartwarming, and deals with some complex issues in a sensitive way that felt right to me (I've experienced similar things as the main character and reading this book was a trip down memory lane that made me feel uneasy but it also made me feel seen). The story had the right balance of sweetness, light, and seriousness, all wrapped up in a calm, warm hug. I will be checking out Beth O'Leary's other books.
An exceptional spy novel. I could have done without the romance, but other than that, the book was riveting.
Started with a strong, interesting hook but then devolved into such tediousness that left me so bored, I skipped hundreds of pages to the end to find out the identity of the villains – which I'd guessed at within the first couple of chapters. Wow. Thank goodness I didn't waste more of my time on this novel.
2.5 stars. This is a literary novel trying to be a thriller. There was tension/dread while reading only because the opening scene contained murdered kids. There were no surprises, no twists and turns, no significant revelations or anything. With that said, it was an okay novel. The writing style was lofty and somewhat lyrical, but what let the entire story down was the detached omniscient narrator that never came to a satisfying end/conclusion. I liked it, just barely.
I was all set for this to be a deliciously wicked 5-star read with some wickedly clever characters, but just a few chapters in and I was already disappointed. The characters were not clever but contrived and cliche and just so boringly common ... and the worst part is that they believe they are the smartest people in the room. You know who's simultaneously the smartest and so-naive-as-to-get-tricked people in the room are? Us readers, who figured out exactly who was behind the assassination plot as soon as those characters were introduced – and who got this book in the first place thinking we were going to get something so much better. I cry for us all.
This book makes it possible to quiet down my perfectionist tendencies and all the toxic things that part of me tells me. I re-read it in order to remind myself of so many nuggets of wisdom that Acuff gives – and it's a bonus that he's also quite witty. This is the only self-help book that I have re-read and repurchased as a physical paperback, to study further.
Got about 65% of the way through the book and just couldn't freaking take it any more. The sheer STUPIDITY of the main character (and his wife) really grates, and the fact that the book is simply reaction after reaction to circumstances makes for tedious reading. The whining, the idiocy – oh good freaking lord, the IDIOCY – became too much.
Holy crap this book. I had high expectations from everyone's lofty reviews. WRONG WRONG WRONG. I am so angry that I wasted time on this horrible drivel.
Suffer and suffer and suffer some more, for suffering's sake. Oh, and whine, and whine, and whine while you suffer.
Come on. I get it, “kill all your darlings” and “make your protagonist suffer the worst thing you can think of, and make him go through even worse” is always being told to authors, which is why a lot of books (but especially those in the fantasy genre) are so fucking cliched and infuriating to read. This book was the same. And it's exhausting and tiresome to just have people shitting on and hating the main character and having him suffer just to suffer. How miserable to read. I didn't necessarily mind the slowness nor the training scenes; but it was like Hobb didn't know where to go with the story and just threw in all sorts of plot threads before thinking, oh yeah let's torture the character some more.
According to Hobb's own system of reviewing (“books I like get 2 stars! why is everyone mad about that?!”), this book should get negative two stars from me.
