Sasha

26/09/2023

I feared finishing this for the longest time because I thought it was quite the depressing read but actually it was a lot more. 

The book alluded to depression and many serious topics like drugs and it was very frank and real in the way only a fantasy book could be when it talks about things in the real world in its own image. 

The most worth while aspect of this book was following Arren on his journey. It was not that he grew ultimately wise as he was confronted with each of his weaknesses but rather the admittance that though his journey is great he is also but a man. I couldn't have loved it more. 

While I wouldn't recommend someone to read this during a depressive episode like I was in, I would certainly say this is an enjoyable read for those wanting something relatable. 

Final rating: 5/5

8/10/2023 


This was a very short and arbitrary book. Infact it was so short that it suffered extremely from not having any natural progression of events. 

Every went like this
Apprentice protagonist meets kind and sweet teacher → crazy lady barges in and steals his heart →protagonist learns about his whole life while getting the heart back and confesses→ fight, gets heart back→ done

To me it read like an outline with sparse details. Things were happening because the author said so, not because it was a natural progression of the story. 

I couldn't immerse myself in it despite the interest in the magic system. 

Final Rating: 1 Star

5/12/22:

This was not exactly a cheerful book but not exactly a despairing one either. It is simply an exploration of the choices and circumstances of the characters mentioned. Ursula LeGuin for me is an author who's very good at portraying the themes she wants to explore in her books. In contrast to the previous book where Ged is the protagonist, the reader follows a different character here. We view the world through their lens and see them experiences changes and also coming to terms with those changes. 
Its a bit hard to precisely place this book in terms of plot and mood. Some might it's terribly bland and some might say the opposite. I rather just enjoyed it for what it was. 

I guess for now I can only say I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

final rating: 4/5

I tried my best to read this book and enjoy it but it was a huge effort. A HUGE EFFORT.I never felt as frustrated reading about characters as the ones in this book. The MC is constantly irritated and frustrated. It's not bad that she complains. It's what she does despite having those complaints. The love interest is a pathetic gruff man always on about how powerful he is and how he has to kill the MC only to get his sickly ass repeatedly saved by the MC. And the MC of all things is pinning after a guy who is not only the worse ever man to be interested in (cause hello death threats) the guy has no redeeming factor to him. He trusts an insane ex lover to help him only to find out that she betrayed him. If that isn't rage inducing for you then honestly good for you. Enjoy what you enjoy. I on the other hand did not enjoy the menacing headache and unnecessary rage this book made me go through. None of it was worth it. I hate these characters so much. I rather read about the insane diabolical ex lover as she skewers through her latest victim. Or maybe not as I'm pretty sure she'll be made into some plastic rage inducing character as well. Oh and this shiz continues in 2 more books. A trilogy when everything could fit in just one book. Nah uh. Buh bye. 

Final rating: -1

It was okay. Came for the magic school and cool studies part the book but focused more on the daily life aspect that going into a details about the experience which I wasn't really looking for. The ending was nice but really too late and lots of flaws. 

Like, they take the test of loyalty. So why had Alex Munõz betrayed them? What was his reason for the hate??? Totally skipped over the record breaking assessments too in order to get to the actual young boy saving the day scene which thoroughly disappointed me. 

Plus the prose needs a lot of editing. Good editing. There's is so much blatant confusion over what is being described or referred to in a scene and took me our of the story repeatedly. Describing swans flying in the sky for example, 
“he breathed in deep and watched a flight of black swans streak across a sky the color of marigolds.”
Is the color marigold or the birds???? But the bird were described as black??? Which is which!!!!!?????

And that's just one example.

What I did like was the part where the school and the faculty weren't miserable gits who were unnecessarily mean, especially since these students were children. The school is actually exciting as promised and while there is bullying there is also community. 


I think it just could have done better with pacing and figuring where it wants to go. Either really dark or lighter in tone. Would have done the book and story much better.