nour
2.5 - A refreshing take on dark academia genre. Ava Reid's writing is brilliant as always.
3.5
I have so many personal disagreements on how some things went down in this finale, but overall i enjoyed the trilogy to some extent.
I have to say, though, The Darkling is one of the best villains out there. If nothing impressed me in this trilogy, the villain certainly did.
i really enjoyed this, i really did. there were moments i loved and Penryn remains the amazing heroine she is, so does the dynamic between her and Raffe. it's just that I felt it didn't surpass the first book.
“Love is not always a lightning bolt. Sometimes it is a creeping vine. It grows slowly until suddenly it is all that there is in the world.”
Underwhelming finale. The book would've benefited from trimming. 800 pages could've been easily 400 if it weren't for the unnecessary drama and repetitiveness. The only things i liked were Grace's “redemption” arc and Matthew's storyline.
James and Cordelia are the least interesting main characters in the shadowhunters books. Cordelia didn't feel as the protagonist of the story and she was constantly overshadowed by others. The love triangle was a mess and didn't make sense, especially when we already know who Cordelia will choose. It created rifts between the characters and many pages were wasted, pages that could've been used to show us how some plotlines were resolved instead of summarizing them in the epilogue.
Lucie and Cordelia didn't feel as close friends as we were supposed to believe and while i liked some of the conflicts they faced in this book, i still think we are told they are close instead of showing us. Lucie and Grace had more depth in their dynamic than Lucie and Cordelia ever had. I'm just quite disappointed in Cordelia as the main heroine, i liked her in book 1 but somehow she lost her charm here.
Lucie's powers were a wasted potential. She had more intriguing abilities and yet James gets to have the spotlight even though Lucie's ability moved the plot more. I'm not a big fan of her romance with Jesse but i admire her character in general so she was one of the few point of views i didn't mind reading without fighting the urge to skim.
Alastair provided the comic relief and for that i like him enough except that i wished we got more of him instead of his relationships. I felt the characters are written as couples instead of individuals.
I won't talk about the death of that character. It was lazy and unnecessary. And worst of all, no one seemed to care after things ended. They were all wrapped in their problems.
Overall, it was a huge disappointment. I liked how Malcolm Fade story ties to The Dark Artifices, i loved Grace's arc and i adore Matthew, but the finale was a mess and felt like an unfinished draft.
This book is so depressing, no need to delve to deep into what i felt, just reading it was enough.
“You decide the truth about yourself. No one else. And the choice about what kind of person you will be is yours alone.”
I don't want to jinx it but the beginning of this trilogy is so good. I adore Cordelia as the main heroine, I enjoyed the new generation cohort, and the plot -despite being slow at times- is quite engaging. My favorite out of these characters is definitely Matthew but i enjoyed everyone equally, especially reading about Will, Tessa, and Jem again.
Solid start that sets up the tone of the series seamlessly. I liked the dark twist and inspiration from Alice in Wonderland.
4.5
There wasn't anything drastically different from most YA fantasy books, but the author managed to make the story enjoyable and exciting to the end.
The characters are quite likeable. I liked Meira's resilience and strength, she was an amazing heroine. Both Mather and Theron were good characters and it made me tolerate the love triangle despite being one of my pet peeves. Although i have to admit that Theron appeals more to me as a love interest.
The construction of the world is intriguing and the plot is constantly engaging. There were too much info dump but i didn't mind that because the world building was interesting enough to read more about.
Rosamund Hodge is a master storyteller. Even her short stories make an emotional impact.
It was nice to dive back into Cruel Beauty world again.
This was my introduction to Olivie Blake's writing, and I can say for sure that I will be checking more of her works, since I found her writing to be exquisite and managed to capture the appeal of this story.
I've read my fair share of retellings and It's not always I find books that follow the original pattern while managing to have their own flair. But this one does that, and more. It is a Romeo & Juliet retelling, so expect family feuds (this time between two witch families, which I found to be cool) and tragic forbidden relationships. My favorite aspect though, was the way the author crafted her characters, I felt they were realistic and made sense to me even when they weren't at their best. The romance was balanced between the family politics and its own angsty, melodramatic themes like I expected it to be but I was pleasantly surprised with one specific pairing and ended up emotionally invested in their doomed love story.
“Why didn't you let me choose you? I would have gone to you, Masha, if you'd asked. You would've only had to ask, and i would have chosen you over everything.”
This book is amazing and boosted my love for the characters!
Jonas is probably my favorite so far but MAGNUS AND CLEO! DAMN THEY ARE PERFECT!
A brilliant debut! Usually i don't find myself enjoying adventure-quest storytelling but this book was exciting and very engaging. Loved the magic system, the middle eastern vibes, the character interactions and absolutely loved the heroine, flaws and all.
It got me out of my reading slump. Definitely one of my favourite reads this year, and I'm glad that this is a trilogy because i can't seem to get enough.
I'm fascinated by the themes of grief, loss, identity search and anxiety, this book gets darker by the end and i still don't know how i feel about the ending. Also, I really adore Midori's character.
Intricately plotted, rich narrative and loveable characters. Easily one of the best fantasy series i've read.
Very enjoyable. Not really mind-blowing but i liked it a lot and that's what matters.
However, I didn't click with the heroine or most of the characters (Maven was a cool character though). But i really liked the political intriguing plot.
As a fan of urban fantasy this exceeded all my expectations. I can't measure how much fun this book was. I loved the plot, the pacing and i loved every single dialogue between Penryn and Raffe.
