Sandra
I might not have been the intended audience for this book.
Water Moon was an okay read. The idea behind the book is what sparked my interest. However, it fell short.
The writing style and themes were a lovely idea but fell flat. This book was all over the place. The characters were one dimensional with an unnecessary romance. We go on this journey only for it to be anticlimactic in the end. It jumps around (not entirely bad).
I would say that this is a decent story for a teen to read.
Overall rating: 4.5
I first would like to say that I received an ARC copy for an honest review. The second thing I would like to put out in the open is that I did go into Katabasis, right after finishing reading The Divine Comedy by Dante.
Now, let us begin
Quick synopsis of the book:Katabasis by R. F. Kuang is a modern story of a hero's descent to Hell. One night there was a horrible magical accident at Cambridge that caused the violent death of Professor Jacob Grimes. Which caused two students to embark on a journey to Katabasis. We follow the two heroes, Alice Law (Main Character) and Peter Murdoch (Second Main Character/Side Character), on the journey to bring Professor Grimes back.
Characters:
There are many characters throughout this book that we are introduced to. Some of these characters get a background story of why they are in hell, which could go on for a few pages. While other characters are...well... just there.
Alice Lawis the FMC that we follow through the journey of Katabasis. She is one of the students of Professor Grimes and is rather naive, timid, and does pretty much anything to get in the good graces of someone. Alice craves attention and validation from others. Throughout the story we see her grow and develop. We see her understand that every action has a positive or negative reaction. We experience her emotions about the events that have happened. This is all information I can provide without spoiling the book. But... in my opinion, she is well-written.
Peter Murdochis the MMC that travels along side Alice. He is both a primary and secondary character. Peter also knows Professor Grimes. Mr. Murdoch is... I would say, on the mysterious side but kind, loving, and loyal. He is smart and logical, whereas Alice is smart but does tend to act more on impulse/emotions. There is a point in Katabasis that made me cry but that is only because I enjoyed his company. Now, I can't say what because it might ruin it for you all. In my opinion, I believe that Peter's character was better written than Alice's character.
Professor Grimes is... well... a jerk. This is as nice as I can get for Grimes.
Now, there are other characters but I don't want to spoil the book for you all.
Overall, I enjoyed how the characters were written, how I got to experience their emotions, and how most of them developed throughout the story.
For those that request/require book trigger warnings. Here is the list I made while reading Katabasis:
Depictions of Death
Depictions of mutilation
Depictions of violence
Blood
Mentions of Suicide/thoughts of suicide
Snorthing Chalk
Plot & Pacing:
Personally, the plot was enjoyable and straightforward. It is a journey into the underworld, going through the 8 courts to accomplish a mission that the characters had set out on. It is that simple.
Now, there is this slight “romance” (if one wants to call it that) subplot that kinda occurs but it's no more than the typical elementary school kid saying “Oh, hey. I like you wanna date”. So, if you are going into this book for romance you might be disappointed. However, there was a point in the book where there was a flashback and Mr. Grimes was getting... handsy with a character named Charlotte and then Alice.
There are constant moments of character flashbacks. So, if that is something you don't like in books then this book might not be for you.
As for the pacing... it is up and down, slow then fast. The pacing is very much like a river. Parts of the story were calm and slow, while other parts moved rapidly.
Writing style:
This area has been difficult for me to articulate appropriately. There are times when the writing style is mature but then met with rudimentary/juvenile areas. At the beginning of the book, we have this philosophical monologue about the word Heap. Which... I found it highly annoying and maybe my usage of rudimentary is not correct. But... my thought during that time was “This is immature and basic”. However, we are then met with the adult-like mature writing style. And this pattern is throughout all of Katabasis. Once again it's like the river metaphor I gave during the plot & pacing section.
I also found the constant reiteration of Chalk, chalk magic, and everything else that had to do with the mentioning of CHALK utterly annoying.
I get it and I understood it within the first few chapters that talked about it.
But... with all that said I enjoyed the book even with its flaws.
In my opinion, one does not need to read a whole bunch of Classic books to understand Katabasis. However... I do think it might make the experience a little more enjoyable. And what I would recommend, is that y'all read The Divine Comedy before Katabasis. It will provide one with a general understanding of what R.F. Kuang is referencing throughout Katabasis.
I wanted to love this but it just didn't work out. I did almost DNF it at 80% because it just wasn't what I thought it would be.
To each their own.
I'm utterly disappointed. I wanted that high-stakes and strong female lead but instead I got another love triangle, troped out book.
I miss fantasy when it was just fantasy and had little to no romance.
The writing is not my style. And... this was 500 pages too many.
It gets no stars because it's that bad. Like... beautiful trees died for this book.
But...What Is this hot mess of a book??
Do people actually enjoy this??? because if so I never want to hear negative criticism of the romantic genre again. Between the unnecessary use of the r-slur to how horrible this is overall. This is the worst book I've read in my lifetime.
What to know what a self-absorbed person is like... then read this
2.5 ⭐️
The plot idea is intriguing (hateful ghost story) and I enjoyed how all the characters are grey, unlikeable and just shitty people. However, it was utterly boring even though it is well written. This tends to be my overall issue with the books from the 19th century. They tend to drone on and never reach the point. The ending feels unfinished.
I... don't even want to write a review for this because it could have been so good
The idea is what made me pick this book up from the library. The execution of that idea was... meh/lacking.
I'm going to go cry in the corner now.
It’s a fast read. However, I need more plot, character development, tension and atmosphere like good creepy horror books have. It’s not creepy, just short and boring when you get to the halfway mark of the book. It started off strong but fizzled out.
…
The sentence structure is horrible.
The world building isn’t fleshed out.
The character development is worse than it was in Fourth wing.
The pacing was all over the place.
Iron fLame has no value and no depth.
I’m only reading this series to understand why it’s so popular with the masses. So far and two books in I have yet to see the reason.
Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me to receive an ARC of this wonderful story.
This fantasy adventure book is a wonderful story to get young readers interested and invested in this genre. Once you finish the Seekers you feel rewarded. The world-building is impeccable. Most times when it comes to young adult fantasy something is always missing but in the Seekers. It does not do that. The fight scenes kept me immersed in the story and made me want more. Plus there is magic!!!! Troy Knowlton, thank you for writing the Seekers and pulling me out of a reading slump. This is a story that a lot of Young-adult fantasy readers will love.
The pace in the book had little to no consistency. There were parts in the book that are fast-paced and then long periods where the scenes just went on and on. Then suddenly pick up. The plot was okay but felt generic. The lack of character growth throughout the book was dishearting for me. It took me forever to finish this book because it was just not my cup of tea.
Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.
Hmm, not sure how to articulate my thoughts.
I am not even sure If I think this is three stars or lower.
For me, this did not work. I also do not know if I would recommend this book or not. It seemed lackluster. I only enjoyed one story out of the book and it was Shooting Stars (One Bed). For the rest of them, I wanted them to end faster due to several different aspects. Most of the stories (for me) are bland.
I.... I Just... Do not know what else to say...
I honestly do not know. I don't know if it is because I have grown as a reader, if I am bored with these type of books or something.
To me, it felt like something was missing. Not bad, i guess it was just not my cup of tea.
I have never finished this book. I have attempted to read this book so many times since it was turned into a movie. I always end at the last few chapters due to me being personally bored. I never understood the hype around the book or the movie, but that is just my opinion. Take it with a grain of salt. If you like the book or want to read it. Then do so. Do not let my opinion stop you from reading this book or any book.
Not bad but after being in the military. I see where the present day military's took some ideas and methods from.
*Edit 2024:
I guess not having a star rating on a book means that others send aggressive DMs.
So my overall rating is 1.5/2 stars.
Initial review from 2023:
Let me first start with this:
1) I will not leave a star rating mark on Goodreads. But... If I were to give this book a rating it would be a low rating, but since it is a debut novel/indie published. The highest and lowest rating I will give is 3 stars.
2) I was recommended this book by a mutual friend in the book community because she saw it on TikTok and wanted my thoughts about it. Now, I do have to say that I have a thing about reading TikTok books because 90% of the time they are over-promoted and horrible in some way, shape, or form. Then there is that 10% chance that a TikTok book is a hidden gem.
However, with this book, This was not one of those hidden gems, but... It was not the worst TikTok book I have picked up.
3) If one is easily offended by negative reviews or low ratings then ignore this review. This is not for those people.
Let us finally begin the review.
The Vivian Priestess by Katrina Calandra
Worldbuilding:
sigh
When it comes to books with 350–400 pages, I do expect the said book to have a good amount of quality world-building. In my opinion, the world-building for The Vivian Priestess is lacking immensely. We have three worlds. Three... Yet, all the information we have about these three worlds is surface-level
I do understand that this is a debut book, and a second book is on its way. But... the lack of world-building almost made me DNF this book before 20%.
The pacing of the book/characters:
This is 100% a slow burn. It was so slow that it took me months to finish this book. However, when it came to the pacing of the characters and the relationships between them, it was rushed. This was confusing and almost gave me whiplash.
I also hate to say this, but every character was... forgettable. For me, I need my characters to have depth. And these characters didn't have much of that.
I could not connect to any of the characters on an emotional level. At times, I even found myself skimming an area of pointless monologue or speaking out loud for Ferren to shut up. However, the overall interactions between characters were okay.
As for growth and development, it was almost nonexistent, but I also did not expect this book to have it because, well... TikTok “romance” books. That is why I mentioned something about TikTok books earlier.
Writing:
I don't like criticizing this area because... Well. I stink in the grammar, spelling, and sentence structure areas. However, the writing reminded me of a rough draft before you send it to an editor. However, this is not the worst writing I have seen. The worst writing I have seen comes from a traditionally published book.
Smut:
sigh
Stuff starts to happen sometime around the 62%–70% mark for like 6–10 pages. It was very vanilla and boring. However, this could be a personal issue because I come from a place that reads dark romance.
There is an audience for this book, but I am not that audience.
... I read this for the book of the month for the book club and I actually disliked this book.
It was extremely boring. Like... I it was so boring that I was falling asleep during the reading sprints.
I love this book.
The illustrations are stunning.
The story and message are beautiful but in certain parts, it does feel rushed/forgotten. I wish there was more to this story.
Overall, it is a great story for young children and reminds them to keep trying even if they have failed. Failure is a part of the process of learning.
I was finally able to get around to reading the ARC that I was provided with.
Overview:
We encounter an 18-year-old girl named Dylan that wakes up in an apartment that is unrecognizable to her. She is greeted by other people. However, she has no idea who they are. Dylan can get her hands on a phone to call home. This is when she learns that she has been missing for a few days. On top of that, Dylan has no recollection. Eventually, she is diagnosed with DID.
Throughout the book. She learns more about herself, how to stand up to her abuser, and how to work together with her system.
Be mindful when you read this. This is marketed towards YA but it is on the border between adults and YA. There is some material within this book that is not suitable for everyone. Pieces of Me contains mature content that relates to the following:
Sexual Assult
Self-harm
Substance abuse
Trauma/Mental health
This is the first book by Kate McLaughlin that I have read and I can say that it was enjoyable. Since I am no expert on DID I can not tell you if Dylan's experience is true or not. However, Kate McLaughlin researched this topic (I appreciate seeing all the material she looked at to create this story). She did a great job with how she handed DID within this story. It did not feel rushed, stereotypical, or demonized. However, I do wish there was more about the disorder within the book.
I have recommended this book with caution to several of my friends who have Dissociative identity disorder to see their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and perspectives. This is a fascinating book that is worth reading.
This is a fantastic graphic novel for middle-grade readers. The illustrations are large, clean, and easy to read. This graphic novel has a storyline that can. I will let my kid read this when he is older.
Why is this book as adorable as it is? It is a picture book that has verses that follow the boy around who has lost his teddy bear. The little boy is trying to find that lost bear in the middle of the night. During his quest to find this bear he meets new and unexpected companions. Monsters have been found but they are not those scary monsters that are under the bed. They are monsters that want to help find the teddy bear and understand that no one will have a comfortable sleeping without their teddy bear. So, they help look as well.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of Where Is my Bear?