Violet
full review and proper formatting at https://odiumsite.wordpress.com/2017/01/22/windwitch-by-susan-dennard-a-review/
A very disappointing 2
Shockingly, Dennard manages to defy my expectations and make Windwitch worse than Truthwitch. Not because Truthwich was shockingly bad – but because Thruthwitch's best part was how exciting it made future books look. I was prepared to give Windwitch a nice 8/10 but instead Dennard has somehow managed to make the world feel smaller more constrained and failed to give her characters actual personalities.
Truthwitch's ending really left me hopeful. I was looking forward to global war and badass rescues and generally cool things. Maybe some actual character development in Merik and Safi.
Instead we get the most obvious example of middle-book-in-a-trilogy I have ever seen. Most of Truthwitch is almost completely and utterly redundant. It just drags and drags, which is a hard task for a multi-PoV book of only 400 pages. Never have I seen a book in a series more obviously created not to continue to tell a narrative, but to continue a series up to a point at which we can tell and finish a narrative.
What makes all this worse was Truthwitch set up the series to go into a completely different and actual interesting plot arc, but instead Windwitch does its best to slowly dismantle everything and in doing so also makes the previous book feel redundant. And it does this all while making the world and characters feel 2 dimensional, claustrophobic and small – even more so than Truthwitch did. Windwitch suffers from a distinct lack of identity, and does its best to destroy any identity the previous instalment conferred upon the series.
To makes matters even worse, this lack of narrative identity appears to lead to a lack of character identity. New characters to the series in book 2 don't feel like real people- more like puppets who act however the fuck Dennard felt like they should act when she woke up that morning. There is a lack of consistency and personality in many of the characters. Characters from Truthwitch feel less like actual complex living humans and more like artificial intelligence with an inconsistent personality. This excludes Aeduan and Iseult who went from middling support characters to the sole good arc in Truthwitch. Them, combined with me reading this whilst travelling from Paris to Melbourne in the course of 20-something hours, are perhaps the only reason I finished this book. They felt like the only real people in this universe and also had very compelling character development and interactions. There has also yet to be much in the way of character development outside the aforementioned duo.
Dennard's writing feels like she is trying to be more prosaic and intellectual then her writing skills allow her to be. She can't write like Patrick Rothfuss – and that's okay, because despite his somewhat simple writing style, Brandon Sanderson is my favourite writer. Please, Susan, your action scenes are somewhat indecipherable, and the supposedly profound parts are anything but. The writing isn't terrible, but it and this whole book seem to be hitting above its weight.
Also, removing Merik and Safi from their friends has made both their characters even more unbearable. Safi is just annoying as fuck and thinks she is special for some reasons. Iseult's low self-esteem was a little over the top but it's preferable to Safi. Merik is a puddle of self-loathing, poor choices all standing upon the moral high ground. I don't know whether I'll read book 3, but regardless it can't be any worse than Windwitch, can it?
Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy
If I had a wishlist for the perfect YA book, this book would meet all the criteria.
I'm going to structure this review in a series of dot praises for the book. Because nothing is bad about it. This is mandatory reading for anyone that likes YA, fantasy or has eyeballs.
-For once I can't find a character, group or nation that has a one-dimensional portrayal. Except Van Eck, but I don't hate him, just pity him for his deluded self-righteousness; and d̶e̶m̶o̶u̶s̶d̶s̶d̶b̶j̶d̶ White Blade but its nice to see the arrogant teenager who thinks they're hot shit because they're better than every one else at everything (seriously though, Celaena Sardothein is humble compared to d̶e̶m̶o̶u̶s̶d̶s̶d̶b̶j̶d̶ White Blade).
- Meaningful relationships that aren't either
a) Driven by lust and not love
b) Instantaneous and superfluous
- People overcoming their internal problems, with excellent character development driven by each protagonists internal problems/choices: Kaz's fear of personal attachment and overcoming/accepting the need to change all the things caused by the impact of his backstory; Wylan's fear of inferiority; Jesper's gambling addiction; Inej's problems with her past choices, fear of being in the wrong morally and fear of captivity; and Matthias' prejudice and fear of being a traitor.
- Diversity. Not forceful or driving an agenda, just simply there and good.
- The interplay. Heist books always bring have the best dialogue.
- Telling a meaningful story where the stakes aren't saving the world. I'm always ready to read a book that focuses on the personal stories of people who aren't picked by destiny to for greatness. A story where the final outcome doesn't benefit everyone, or save anyone, except the protagonists. This is why Dragon Age 2 is my favorite Dragon Age game, despite its shortfalls in everything that isn't its story-line. Its a hard thing to do; to be entertaining without raising the stakes.
- I can't really say anything more without descending in barely legible drivel and happiness for the greatness that is this duology.
More to come when I inevitably think of another great thing about this book.
A very uncertain 3.5 stars. I need to review this book to get some thoughts down on paper so to speak.
Firstly, I think the ambitious topic, feelings, themes and philosophical ideas this book attempts to explore are handled very well.
Secondly, it took me several months to finish this book (with many books read in between the start and end date). This is unheard of for me, especially for a book which I can say I liked, at the very least. I will finish a book in 3-7 days, no more, unless I don't like it, in which case I will try to revisit it, but will probably not finish the book. I finished the last 40% off in one sitting this afternoon, but it took me many many attempts to get up to that point.
I was promised thoughtful brilliance, but instead was given a plodding plot that didn't know what it was, or what it wanted. And I stand by that statement, at the conclusion of my reading, even if I am better of for the reading of the book, even if something was imparted to me. My reaction to the book is still a big “hmm..okay”; because the book throws the ideas it explores in your face, then tries its best to arrange the puzzle in the course of 648 pages, leaves you with a general impression of what the puzzle depicts, and leaves in rages after it seemingly has used up all the pieces available. And I suppose that message, of confusion and something more, cryptic as it is, is the final message this book tries to leave. But are 648 pages really need to tell that? A 150 pages novella could achieve what this book has achieved.
Back to the quantifiable things I guess. Ness has a enthralling writing style that keeps you wanting more, even if you never get it. Tomasz and Regine are wonderful, and the book is clever and frustrating in all the best ways. The plot is layered beautifully, never complex for the sake of complexity, and always delivering something in the side plots ideas it explores. I never reached the same existential acceptance that others achieved over the course of this book. And that is okay.
So, if this review has confused you, go read the book. Its great, even if you don't really know why.
WARNING: WALL OF TEXT, because FEELINGS.
Throne of Glass continues to prove itself to be the most devise series in YA, in my opinion. It is not the differences in opinion that cause this, but the amount of vitriol surrounding about series, and the petty bitterness and sometimes nonsensical criticism and praise. To all you Chaol (ugh) people out there, please don't rate this 1 star because “OMG HOW CAN CHAOL NOT BE IN THIS BOOK WTF!” I had deep problems with how Maas dealt with Chaol in QoS, but there is over 100 pages of only Chaol and Nesryn, so you can all gush over that with praise. TO be fair, the style, and my perceived intended audience has shifted greatly in each book, so that may be the root of this anger from some.
A continued return to form by Sarah J Maas after disappointing me in A Court of Thorns and Roses and Queen of Shadows. The things that annoyed me in QoS are severely toned down, though the sex is toned up, although I must say I enjoyed the Manon and Dorian. Maas finally breaks free of the shackles of writing fluffy early-YA fantasy (whilst somehow handling topics such as rape and slavery, which created an odd contradiction), and if the wish fulfillment that is Aelin and Rowan's relationship the cost of that, so be it.
A schism has be caused by Maas' writing maturing into something that can have multiple POVs and plot lines and make it work. This book strays into adult fantasy at times, and I think it's really good. The fans of the light fluffy nothingness that was most of Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight with its pre-teen romances and attempts to deal with adult themes whilst appealing to 12 year old girls is gone, replaced by a more maturity, for the most part. Oh, no, here comes my Aelin and Rowan discussion.
Forewarning: I ship Aelin and Rowan, but that 5 star rating comes at the cost of forgetting those sex scenes. I accepted them in ACOMAF with a heavy heart because the series never pretended to be anything more than a soft core erotica book first (with a far more sexually focused and animalistic fae race) and a surprisingly decent fantasy book second. But, please, please leave these scenes to the fanfic writers, Mass. You think you're good at them, but you really aren't, and they ADD ABSOLUETLY NOTHING to the plot. I am a huge fan of off scene sex scenes, especially when everything else is so bloody good. I could accept them if they weren't averagely written wish fulfillment that is of barely better quality than fanfiction. I do accept Dorian and Manon's scene because was that an insight into the both of them, or what.
Also of huge annoyance, as always is the fae, “fight me” mentality and the whole thing with sex and relationships that turns a centuries old immortal warrior into a horny teenager, with an alpha-male complex. But it has been written into the series since the first appearance of the fae, so I'll ignore it and still give a 5 stars because....
EVRYTHING ELSE IS SO GODDAMNED GOOD. Finally Aelin is someone who I think I'd like love; she has dropped the mask of arrogance that she wore as Celaena, except for when it's needed; she has lost every part of her mentality I disliked in QoS: the superiority, the complete confidence. These traits made a fun, exciting and badass assassin with no responsibilities, but Aelin now has the weight of the world on her shoulders, and also needs to grow up, because it is still very annoying. Darrow was much needed.
And as I said, Maas' writing has matured. The plots lines have just the right amount of complexity, and are smart and clever. Maas has made me care about this wide array of characters and the drama and plots twists are beautiful and terribly EVIL.
edit: chapter 38 is a great example of shitty metaphors for sex and sex-related things. if you are interested in writing shit soft-core erotica, chapter 38 is essentially your dictionary!
Pure unadulterated fun. Graceling is very much a light YA read- I'd recommend it to readers as young as 10. It can be very surface level at times; there is minimal depth to the book- the big villain dies easily and isn't even fleshed out. The so called “feminist agenda” isn't as prevalent as some would have you think, and it is purely pushed through the views of Katsa- never through events or people which is something I'm grateful for.
Don't go in expecting anything amazing. Read Graceling and except it for what it is- a well written, if simplistic YA book that avoids most pitfalls of the genre without doing anything special.
This serial needs a good edit and condense should it ever get published as eBooks (or even in print, the writing, characters and story are certainly good enough); I think we could lose around 20% of it to be honest. I'm still giving it 5 stars even though I stopped caring about back stories and skimmed a fair few of the interludes, it was just too amazing to dishonour with anything less than a five star. The plot was so complex I found myself losing track at points, or picking up on thing later than I should have,mostly because I wasn't paying as much detail as I would on something of shorter length (which is almost everything: as this book is ~1,750,00 words. For context The Wheel of Time is 4,410,036 words and A Song of Ice and Fire has 1,770,000 words as of this review. So yeah, long).
The ending though, I misunderstood a lot. Taylor, from whose perspective we see the end of the main arcs, narrates this in a very different (for want of a better way of describing it without spoilers) way, which makes complete sense narratively, although another interlude perspective from say, Tattertale would have been nice. Perhaps it was just the fact that it was 1am and I had slept that late for at least 3 nights in a row, whilst waking up at 7am (sorry body), in a frantic dash to finish it. That alone should speak for how good this serial is. Now that I've finished worm and I am no longer under the influence of whatever makes me single mindedly finish a book whilst giving me the physical ability to lose sleep and not be overly tired, I'll probably go back and read the interludes I missed and the two secondary arcs and enjoy them.
Similarly to how the last few proper chapters were hard to understand to my sleep-deprived mind, the “entity” interludes were confusing as fuck to my lucid waking mind. Perhaps the point, but a third of what was written in those interludes spread over more interludes would be easier to intake and process, whilst keeping that “this is beyond my understanding, but I kind of get the bigger picture” feeling.
Also a bit more exposition when Taylor joins the wards would have been nice. Felt like I lost touch with who Taylor was, who she has become.
Oh and the final ending for Taylor. yeah. I liked it a lot. Bitter-sweet; (for Taylor more than me in many ways) the best way to end anything imo. yes, taylor dying felt way less bittersweet for both me and Taylor than her surviving. Deaths at the end of books aren't my favourite way of ending things, even if some of my favourite books use it. Feels like an easy way out for the fictional characters and the writer in many ways.
This is a lot of complaining for a five star “book”, but looking at all the praise and 5 star reviews, all that needs to be said has been. When I write a review, it is mostly for my own sake; this is a place to get my thoughts, my likes and dislikes down, and to understand them before they fade from my mind. Worm is so good, I tend to pick out the bad and simply describe the rest as amazing.
Finally, my thanks and congratulations go to wildbow, for their dedication to this web serial and the enormous achievement that is competing it.
Also, here's the eBook version I read:
https://github.com/rhelsing/worm_scraper
Work great on kindle, no real problems, it formats chapter correctly, which is what usually doesn't work when I read stuff I haven't bought.
Actual Rating: 4.5
An all time favourite that is so amazingly good despite my grievances.
I'd like to start this review with a confession.
I hate(d) Adare hui'Malkeenian.
I wanted her to die a horrible death.
Adare isn't a bad human. She legitimately cares. I just hated every decision she made, every hypocritical word she said, every time she though she was so goddamn better than everyone else.
This book is beautifully dark. Valyn and some of Kaden's later chapters were beautiful and dark, and what's more it both of the have undergone numerous changes in themselves, in their worldview. Both of them have questioned themselves and everything they believed in. Adare in my opinion however, has barely changed. For all her high talk of being a better leader than everyone else, I don't see it. Except for in a few fleeting moments. Her speech at “Kaden's” funeral .
As for the ending, it wasn't what I wanted. After how things went at Rassumbur, I wanted a happy ending for Triste and Kaden together atop the Unhewn Throne, something I didn't think I'd want or even consider at halfway through.
Enough of my gripes.
How many times was I torn between rushing through this book to get to the stunning climax I knew had to be coming, or stopping to consider some of the amazingly quotable writing found especially in Valyn and Kaden's later chapters. RTC
This felt a lot like reading The Kingkiller Chronicles - only with a more creative world, better characters and without the long wait. People who have read both we see obvious similarities in plot and the way the book is written, but this book also exudes this unquantifiable feeling whilst reading, that Kingkiller and very few other books have given me. The Fifth Season much like Kingkiller makes me lose myself in the world, in such an odd way I cannot describe. Each word, each sentence, each paragraph is built so well, even if it lacks the ornate prose of other well written books.
But I can say that whilst Jemisin's writing lacks the subtly of Rothfuss, it is just as beautiful and enthralling. The world building is very good, not as thick and dense as epic fantasy, but still there, still enough. The use of written lore in the epigraphs (does it still count as an epigraph if its at the end of a chapter? I guess the end of a chapter is also the start of the next) is well done - it isn't overly dense like Malazan (or what I've read of it, which is books 1 and 3), and helps to over time to tell us about this about this wonderful world that Jemisin has created. The first 50 pages are tough, even with a prologue of exposition. Most of the parlance of this world isn't explained, and there is a glossary at the back of the book; however I feel that this book is best read without consulting the glossary, unless you forget a term in the course of reading this book.
The fits together so well. Everything is so well foreshadowed, but not too foreshadowed like some books where the plot twist is given away far too early. The plot is so satisfying in a way that is so hard to quantify (there it is again). Everything happens for a reason, everything has meaning . The twists and turn aren't heaped upon you all at once (okay, maybe the last few Essun chapters, but hey, those are the last few chapters of the book), and inference rewards the reader with so much more meaning.
The characters are all very well crafted, except Essun is some ways. She's a little too simplistic, so driven by revenge; and she's also so obviously the result of her past. Knowing her past lets you know Essun completely. She never surprises you. And maybe that was the author's aim in essentially making this book the story of Damaya, essentially making this one long backstory. It seems like Jemisin wants us to know the protagonist perfectly, going in to the next book, which seems like it will be written from one PoV, unless new chacrters are given PoVs..
Sabriel, The YA Protagonist All Others Hope to Be, Aka, the perfect mixture of personality traits and a decent level of competency while not being arrogant.
Sabriel is neither helpless nor too powerful or competent at saving the world, thinks clearly, doesn't do stupid things, and is, for the most part, an example of all the right things a person should say or do(and maybe this takes away from the book, removing a lot of character development in Sabriel from the book)
Not only does Sabriel not fall into the common faults I find in most recent YA heroines, but Sabriel the book avoids such flaws I find in most recent YA books as well (and not saying that I don't enjoy such books with some of these faults on occasion, but never in too high a concentration, please).Garth Nix, as with the Keys to the Kingdom series, which I read some time ago, creates a interesting world that is the perfect mixture of unique, fresh ideas and well-worn, trite fantasy.
The world isn't huge, isn't full of too much lore (or rather it isn't explored), but there is more than enough world building for a YA book.
And why has Sabriel lost a star?
Because its a bit boring sometimes.
Sabriel just felt..a little dull.I never wanted to do nothing else but finished the story; I wasn't enthralled in the book because I felt like I knew how it would go, knew how it would play out. It felt like I'd already read Sabriel. Everyone felt too good. It feels odd to say that this book felt dull. In only one book a schoolgirl has defeated a evil that has plagued the land of The Old Kingdom for 200 years.It just felt like a puppeteer was running the show and had planned out events from the start.
So... Sabriel goes here, kills this, escapes.
Goes here, does this, continues.
Stops, turns around, kills this.
Sabriel kills great evil. The End.
Not only that it felt too easy. That's it? That's all it takes. This is how I felt at the end of The Final Empire in many ways (although it was a longer book with more THINGS in it, so not so much). But then Sanderson reveals that it was not, indeed, as simple as that. Lets see what Lirael and a new PoV protagonist does to the series.
Warbreaker once again suffers from the typical problem of the first book in any Brandon Sanderson series- a slow, plodding first half filled with worldbuilding, with an explosive and super fast ending. Its fine in TWoK or The Final Empire, where sequels followed, but not so much in Warbreaker and Elantris. Okay, yes, they both have planned trilogies, but Elantris 2 isn't coming until after SA4, which means 3 or so years from now (13 years since publication), and Warbreaker 2 isn't coming until some time after the Elantris books are finished. We still don't have any sort of time period for future Nalthis books, so I somewhat doubt we will see any in the next 10 years considering Sanderson's other considerable projects.
I feel like the first half could be condensed plot wise a lot. Like halved, especially considering a lot of what happens isn't really meaningful for the plot. I do understand why the first half was as slow as it was- for character development and world building. Ultimately, if sequels to warbreaker came out quicker I wouldn't raise this issues with it, so I'm not deducting stars for this. I understand that Nalthis isn't the writers primary focus.
I also disliked most of the PoV characters until the end (this is where Warbreaker loses a star). Siri was just meh until the end; Vivenna annoyed me a lot with her religious righteousness, and superiority/arrogance . Lightsong was good, but most of his PoV chapters were 50% monologues (or llarimar- logues) about his beliefs, 50% witty dialogue. Lightsong wasn't that important until the end. I felt like Sanderson could have reduced Lightsong's screen time, and replaced it with the awesome combination of Vasher and nightblood.
This may very well be the best stand alone novella I have read. Maybe even he best novella I have read. Often with stand alone short stories, I have trouble connecting to the characters and the world, with such little character and world development.
In 175 pages Sanderson manages to deliver to 2 very good character arcs. I guess it helps that there is some established lore to build upon from Elantris, but except for a few mentions of distant lands, this book could be set in another universe.
I was ready to stop reading Riyria reading after I finished The Crown Conspiracy. I struggled through the slightly better Avempartha with the promise of better things to come. And come they did. Heir of Novron was a an amazing book (or two), and probably an all time favorite of mine. I'm pleased to find more of that amazing-ness in this book.
And I must admit nothing is cooler than watching the main characters getting manipulated into being what they are and doing what they do, by Arcadius, Rehn and Gaunt's sister(I'm starting to assume that these people are the Elderem Theoremship, considering that Arcadius knows Danbury Blackwater). Oh, and Kine put events into motion decades ago by sending Gwen and her mother to Medford, not to mention befriending Royce and giving him Alverstone.
if the feminist propaganda of graceling (which I in no way disagree with) was barely noticable, the message of equality (which I also do not disagree with) in bitterblue was like being hit over the head repeatedly with a shovel named feminism, especially in the ending. take what you will from that, but it's a really minor quible for me.
A well handled romance all things considered, although the sex was suddenly thrown in at a moment when I don't think it would have naturally happened. The false sense of complexity at the start of the novel was annyoing. Being inundated with every little slightly off detail, much of which has no relevance, made me feel like bitterblue was paranoid.
A ending which was altogether to happy for my tastes was bearable due to the well foreshadowed and executed plot twists. The characterisation of leck's worst victims was very very good. The revolving door of characters and time skips helped to speed up a suprisingly slow story for its length.
It wasn't AMAZING. It was barely good.
gasp (its Brandon Sanderson, what is this????)
It had problems. We were at 95% and were still trying to defeat the minor bad guy, which we had been fighting for the whole book up until now. Sanderson was probably wondering how he could possibly tie everything up in three books. And the ending wasn't so bad considering how unlikely it looked to me that all the plot points from book 2 could be dealt with in one 400 page book. But it was done. The ending still wasn't good (and wasn't fully explained), despite the attempts to hide it behind some philosophy, but it was passable given the situation.
It was boring at times, too fast at times and fell apart in the last 15%. It was despite that all, a good book. I've never liked Reckoners much. I'm less excited for a Reckoner's release then any other Sanderson release. I was more excited for Secret History (yummy Cosmere goodies yay!) tbh. I didn't like Steelheart much, I though Firefight was pretty good, but hey, I still read this book within a couples of weeks of release. Reckoners is still good and I'd still recommend it.
The characters were at their best in the series in this book. David felt less flat- I though he didn't have much of a personality in book 1 besides what he wanted. There was much great banter to be had, Megan and David were cute, Knighthawk was cool.
It only gets two stars because it does a decent job of commenting on social issues. Otherwise, a utterly unreadable book. The plot goes nowhere really, it just kinda meanders around before getting to what it wants to say about the social issues it addresses. I kept see plot points being set up and going, so is he going to.. or .. no? I spent the first three quarters wondering what this book was about. Football...no, A YA books about friends...no, teenage love...no, ahh finally... racism. It feels like 250 pages of some random kid from a random town, with a little commentary on social issues. Took me many sittings to finish- I found myself reading 5 pages and putting it down because of how boring it was. Would have given up within 30 pages if it wasn't required reading.
A tentative 3.5 that rounds up to 4 on pure enjoyment, not on critical reflection.
I found a hardcover of this book in a discount bookstore for only $6AUD. For context, a new release eBook is usually $12AUD at a minimum, and anywhere up to $17. A hardcover, is rare to even find in a store (and a bookstore itself is a dying breed) and is usually $30 at a minimum. So despite a few scathing reviews on GR, I thought I'd give this a try. I was relatively surprised.
I had my issues with the book, but not the same ones many others had. A lot of people though it was slow and info-dump-y, but whilst the first 50 pages were a bit info-dump-y, it wasn't much. Perhaps it is instead the result of the book being marketed as a YA book (which it is, sort of. Its borderline being straight up sci-fi/fantasy, but I think the romance finalised it for me that this was undoubtedly a YA book) , because anyone who has read any fantasy has probably had to deal with a lot more than a mere 30-50 pages of slightly slowed pace. This book was anything but slow, after Paige gets taken to Oxford. Too fast and too little character development if anything.
Paige is fighting an injustice that she has barely experienced herself. We get to see everyone else mistreated, but Paige has it relatively easy. She is extraordinarily angry, and she just acts like she is rebelling for the point of the matter. As if she must do it to make up for the lack of fire in everyone else. And I find it highly hypocritical, after gaining insight into Jaxon's character and his relationship with Paige and the Seals. Paige wants nothing more than to run back into Jaxon's arms like a pet, whilst she feels anger towards Warden for nothing more than his continued existence.
Wow. Didn't realise how much anger I had towards Paige's decisions.
The whole clairvoyance thing is interesting, but the amount of complexity felt like it was added so the author could say “HEY! LOOK AT ME WITH MY AMAZINGLY COMPLEX AND SPECIAL MAGIC SYSTEM”. The author has taken a few of trite terms and themes, added a few cool original concepts and mixed them around and called it depth. Complexity != depth. Making 100 different sub classifications for the lesser voyants and giving them long names doesn't mean you have depth.
The setting was magnificent. But it suffers from similar problems as the magic. A few trite themes, a few cool concepts, but no attention to putting them together in a way that works. Instead we get a needlessly complicated bunch of terms that we didn't need, and an effort to change everything and call it depth.
God. I'm making The Bone Season sound pretty bad for a 4 star book. because this book was never boring or slow. I finished in two days, and stayed up until 2am on night reading it. Despite its flaws and short comings, I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't enjoy it immensly.
Inital Thoughts: Despite its obvious flaws, especially when compared to the other books in the trilogy, the Midnight Star is beautiful in its simplicity and execution. Adelina has to be one of my favorite characters in a while.
Previous ratings in series:
1. The Young Elites: 6/10
2. The Rose Society: 8/10
Rating Breakdown:
Writing: 8.5/10
Enjoyment: 6.5/10
Pacing: 6.5/10
Characters, development and world-building: 9.5/10
Plot: 7/10
Creativity: 7/10
Overall: 8/10
Wow. I do have to say that this ending completely threw me, like much of this trilogy did. It was another completely uncharacteristic flash of brilliance in what I thought was a series of mediocrity taking itself too seriously, outside of these few brief moments of pure ingenuity.
So we enter this book around 6 months after the end of the previous installment, where our favorite innocent little elite, Adelina had successfully completed her goal of becoming pernicious queen bitch extraordinaire (any future dictators who want to make use of that title must pay royalty fees to me btw) in order to payback the unmarked and the world. She is also now schizophrenic (even if those voices in her head actually exist because her mental state is partly a result of the degrading of the elites' powers), paranoid and increasingly insane. She also is increasingly not in full control of herself. Ironically, her quest for outward strength and power leads her to lose her internal strength and control.
Adelina is a perfectly constructed character. First introduced as naïve, then twisted by fate, those around her, herself and her powers into a beautifully hateful and despicable character that we all are cheering for in some deranged way. This horrifyingly likable, yet utterly terrible character is alluring. Teren also receives a similar sort of treatment to his character, although in a different enough and lesser way as to feel different. I would disagree with anyone who claims his character arc did not reach a satisfying end.
Lu manages to break my heart with the small things, whilst making massacres feel apathetic. The ending left a shiver in me as it played perfectly with my heart. I felt emotion, yet the book didn't rely on shockingly horrifying me to produce it.
So, the ending was great. The trip there had its failures and successes though. This book felt a lot more flat that is predecessors, particularly The Rose Society. Dull enough to make me not sneak glances at it in class in sections (this is a usually practice for me). The book felt short yet managed to also feel dull at the same time. I finished within only a few hours due to its short length at 316 pages. Not much went on plot wise except the finale and its buildup. This book was far more an exploration of Adelina (and side characters, although we received far too few chapters from other PoVs for this to really happen), then a telling of an exciting story. And despite praising its handling of aforementioned topic, a lack of plot also results in a lack of opportunity to attack Adelina's psyche.
Anyway, this book is short, so it is still quite enjoyable despite being more flat and lacking in plot. Definitely worth a read.
muh blog
This is an odd one to give 3 stars to.
Firstly, I am hugely excited to read the next book and will start reading it as soon as I can.
Secondly, I flew through the book and it was certainly enjoyable on the whole and a good book when viewed as a whole.
Then, there was the romance. Horrible, boring, cliche and only forgivable because it set up its own demise.
Also- what did you do with my aldrik? Whilst he needed a fair bit of character development, he just becomes a love blinded idiot for the second half of this book.
I am in the habit of ignoring romances when reviewing YA. 80% of the time I vehemently dislike the way they are handled. But this romance ruined an otherwise decent book, with some amazing parts and some no so amazing parts.