Janee

DNF @ 22%. I just cannot be bothered to finish this. It read way too much like YA and I don't like YA. I was all into it being a story about a hardened young women who's a master thief in magical Cairo and that's not what I'm getting. Firstly, we only see Nahri being a thief for about 2 seconds before the plot line takes a sharp left into class struggles between the half bloods and the pure blood djinn in a magic city. Second, I was expecting Nahri to be smarter. She's spent this entire book so far just asking Dara questions that I feel like she should know considering she grew up in Egypt where these legends and monsters are from. The couple of chapters I spend with Ali the Prince were infuriating. He's a teenager by Djinn standards and you can tell. He's a spoiled, clueless boy who clearly has had horse blinders on his entire life because he doesn't seem to understand the depth of oppression that the half bloods are experiencing in his own hometown?! Even though he's secretly working with the half blood rebellion in a limited capacity when we first meet him?! The only character who wasn't getting on my nerves was Dara. And he's a battle hardened djinn with PTSD and a snarky attitude. So because these two idiots (Nahri and Ali) don't know shit about shit, Dara is the only person driving the plot forward by info dumping after being asked a million questions. I'll pass on this series.

DNF@ 20% It's not that bad but it's leaning a bit too close to erotica for my tastes. The amount of times the word “cock” came up in the few chapters I read was enough to let me know that it wasn't for me.

DNF@ 47%. It's just soooo slow. And although I like Enna and she has some decent character motivation (she wants to be a scholar who studies the creatures of the magic forest) she spent the entire book making dumb choices. And keeping secrets from people who could help her get out the mess she's put herself in. At halfway into the book our two main characters only kind of start to like each other and they have made literally zero progress in solving the conflict that is introduced in the very first part of the story. It's just a bit too boring for me so I'll drop this one.

DNF @ 11%. It's not that the book wasn't well written or interesting. It's just that I wanted something more light hearted. The description makes it sound like Eleanor is just a girl who's a little antisocial and she finds friends and learns that life is worth living. I was excepting something feel good like Hallmark movie. This book is not that. Eleanor is pretty unlikable, very odd, and she's got some TRAUMA to overcome. I'm sure it's a wonderful story but...I just wanted to listen to a low stakes audiobook while I'm at work.