tori
LAHSOSJDOJSKAKD OH MY GOODNESS
I honestly don't even know if I can put it into words the feelings this book gave me. If I had the ability to, I don't doubt that I would've finished this within a few days. Sadly, though, schooling got in the way of that :(
This was the first book in so long that made we want to stay up until the early hours of the morning reading. I haven't been so enraptured in a story in a while and this was so much fun!! I got so attached to these characters in ways I really wasn't expecting and the amount of times my jaw dropped, I made inhuman noises, or I simply clutched at my chest because of the PAIN this book inflicted is INSANE.
I have so many other books left on my TBR but there's a very high possibility I might force my mom to drive me to Barnes and Noble tomorrow to go pick up “Crooked Kingdom” and the entire “Shadow and Bone” trilogy.
Can't wait for the show to come out but definitely need to read all the others before I watch it!
**3.75
Oh wow. Ok.
So that wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I also can't say I was disappointed. I wish I knew about the romance aspect more going into it because that came as a bit of a shock but I still enjoyed that part.
The writing was definitely beautiful and you can absolutely see the author's past experience as a horror author shine through. However, some of the writing was pretty unclear. For example, Tierney would be thinking about running and it wouldn't be clear that she actually started running until a couple paragraphs later when she was already running.
Also, even though the story was in first person, it felt that we weren't really in Tierney's head. We didn't know what she was thinking a lot of the time, or at least not explicitly. It's probably just a personal choice, but I really enjoy when we know a character's plan as they're executing it and there wasn't a lot of that in this book.
(Also, even though she was clever, the main character was... just a tad dumb at points lmao)
That ending, though. Wow.
Everything about the last part, called “The Returning”, was amazing. It was a like a call-to-action and, though it was rather abrupt and I wasn't that crazy about the final line, I personally really enjoyed the vagueness of the ending. It leaves it open to interpretation.
One of my favorite quotes has to be “ She's so incredibly grateful, but she shouldn't have to feel grateful for this—for being treated like a basic human being. None of us should.”
Wow
Ngl I had absolutely no critical thoughts while reading this so idk if can give it a star rating lmao
Actually wait I'm gonna give it three stars bc I gave the other two four and I didn't like this one as much bc Jacob was super manipulative and toxic to her and she knew that but she just... went with it
Oh.... uh.... alright.
Well then. I don't really know how to articulate my thoughts on this well, so I'll do it in the simplest possible terms.
I thought the story was enjoyable and interesting but the characters were extremely unlikable. I really only liked one (and a half) character(s), but he didn't even get a happy ending. None of them did really, and my dislike of this book might also be due to the fact that I'm finishing this the day after Christmas and I've simply been in the mood for something upbeat and warm.
The writing style was dense and definitely and acquired taste, but I personally really, really enjoyed it. However, the timeline was a little messy at times. There was this one thing Tartt did an astonishing amount where she would have the characters say “Remember when {this thing} happened?” but it wouldn't be something that had previously been explained to the reader. The characters would have a conversation about it, AND THEN she would explain the event to the reader, instead of just letting us know when it happened in the first place and calling back to it later.
Not to mention the fact that the last 100 pages or so where very repetitive, but then there was the final couple pages and the epilogue that was sort of a reprieve.
It was alright. There were a few things I really enjoyed but there were too many flaws for me.
It was alright, I guess. It was really repetitive and was pretty straight forward. There weren't really any beautiful metaphors that punched me in the gut or anything like that. I really liked the last chapter, about femininity and how women are powerful and should life each other up, and that last chapter is really all thats saving this from being a one star book.
Also, I'm personally just not a fan of this style of poetry.
**3.5 Perfect September read for that period right between summer and fall!!
I really enjoyed this! The plot was really intriguing! It was super atmospheric and it felt like the ocean and the island were their own characters. I also really liked the characters and “quaint, small town with something to hide” vibes.
However, it was also pretty predictable. I guessed almost every plot twist except for one VERY early on. Also, some bits of the writing style did leave something to be desired. There were some scenes that were supposed to be pretty high-stakes and dramatic that just fell a little short.
There were some absolutely beautiful gems within though, including:
“Love is an enchantress—devious and wild.It sneaks up on you, soft and gentle and quiet, just before it slits your throat.”
and I think my personal favorite:
“I fell in love. What's more human than that?”
Overall, good spooky vibes
I read this for school but don't get it twisted; the fact that this was required reading had absolutely no hinderance on my enjoyment of this.
I really really loved the writing style. It was so beautiful and seemed to romanticize every aspect of life. But there were so many plot points or lines of dialogue that just had me asking “why? But... but why?” I really couldn't get into the story, and that might be because this just wouldn't have been something I would've picked up on my own.
Also, there's definitely something to be said about how schools have us read stories about racism from a white character's POV and by a white author.
oh...
I'm done...
That's it...
That's the end...
...
...
...
i wasnt ready
Okay but in all seriousness, I genuinely really enjoyed this. Aveyard's storytelling and writing was still amazing as ever and I stand by my statement that she just has a way of making you love and care for characters, even if you don't want to...
cough cough MAVEN cough cough
However, there were just a couple things which I wish were written a little differently.
I wish that there was a little bit more trepidation on Queen Cenra's part before just turning around and retreating. I get that we were in Iris's perspective and that getting Cenra's also would've just been over the top, but I think Iris would've been able to read her pretty well, at least well enough to understand her hesitation and convey that to the reader. Sort of watching her go back and forth between deciding whether to stay and fight or to retreat and get home safely.
Also, I do sort of wish that Kilorn was with Mare just a little bit more throughout this book. Considering that he's her best friend, I think that her feelings towards him should've been stronger. Ya know, a platonic love, platonic soul-mates. I think that the scenes he was in were sort of brushed over and he didn't matter a ton.
Another thing was that parts of the final battle did feel a little underwhelming. I don't mean between Maven and Mare, that was wild. I mean the BIG battle. I feel like a lot of the scenes were a bit slowed down and could've been written w a bit of a faster pacing. I also think that the writing was focusing on the small parts of the battle as opposed to the mass destruction that was happening around them.
But those didn't really take away my enjoyment, though.
Also, I was thrown for a loop w the amount of people that died in this book. And I don't mean that so many characters that I loved died, I mean almost no one died. I was seriously expecting a massacre of all the characters I loved.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this and I liked this as a conclusion to the series but it fell just a little flat for me, especially the last ~100 pages of the book.
But the first ~500 were still phenomenal, right on par with the rest of the series.
Honestly I really preferred the show over this. While I tried looking at this as just a book, I couldn't help but subconsciously compare the two. The book felt a little rushed and none of the characters really felt like characters. I get that they're supposed to be superheroes and they're not supposed to be entirely realistic, but they all felt very one-dimensional.
I literally had to put down the book and just process for a couple minutes after I finished.
Every book in this series changes genres, just a little. While the first one felt a bit like a spy story, and the second more an adventure, this one was an odd mix of the two! The perspective switches were (almost always) super interesting and the diversity and representation was awesome!
I do feel like this book fell a little flat simply because there were a couple chapters that dragged a little long. While in the beginning, we got Mare and Cameron's perspective, I thought that once Mare got out of imprisonment, we were going to get Evangeline's as a replacement of Cam's. While there was only one more chapter from Cameron's perspective, I still felt it was a little unnecessary.
But, considering that was the worst part of the book says a lot!! I adored the subtly of the writing and I loved the twists and turns of the characters backstories we got. Not to mention the fight scenes were so fast-paced and action packed! They also paid off so much more because of how little there were.
Even though I docked this book a star, I still think that it is phenomenal and I can't wait to read the final installment of the series!!!
I think this is the easiest 5-star rating I've ever given a book. From the very beginning, I knew that I was going to love this book. And I did. I adored everything from the witty narration, to the flawed yet insanely lovable and relatable characters, to the representation that made me feel seen and heard. Everything about this book is phenomenal. (Not to mention the absolutely swoon-worthy protagonists!!! Ahhhh I love them!!!
I really really enjoyed this!! This has been on my list since I read “The Strange Fascinations Of Noah Hypnotik” a little less than a year ago. One of my favorite things about David Arnold's books is that the characters are always crazy and wild and insanely memorable. I also love how there's always a bit a fantastical element to his stories. Not in the sense of magical realism but more to the effect of “That wouldn't really happen in real life, but I'm going to suspend my disbelief for the sake of the fact that I WISH it would happen in real life”, ya know?? I absolutely adore Arnold's writing style and the way he crafts his characters.
This 100% would've gotten 5-stars if it weren't for a few key things:
1) There were a few pretty fatphobic remarks from our main character. They weren't necessarily direct but more internalized. Mim also didn't learn or grow out of that behavior. It just didn't sit right with me.
2) There was a scene that was straight out of r/thathappened. I genuinely had to set the book down and take a break for a little while after I read it. It was something to the effect of:
Bad person: being bad
Mim: says something to that person
Everyone: CLAPS
I understand that this book was written in 2014 but it definitely shows. (Also the same thing happened in “The Fault In Our Stars” and that's not forgivable either. Just ugh)
3) I wasn't a huge fan of the last line. The ending as a whole was pretty great. It had just the right mix of ambiguity and closure, something I'm realizing David Arnold does really well. However, the very last two lines just didn't fit for me. This alone wouldn't have docked it a star, but combined with my other two points, it really just solidified its place at 4 stars.
Overall, it's a really great book and I feel it definitely deserves a read.
DNFed at 17%. Just couldn't get into it. It was written super strangely and the characters made no sense. The kindergartener talked like a thirty-year-old which was just super off-putting (and I know that he was probably some supernatural being or something and that was supposed to be a twist later on?? But it didn't feel right)
In the beginning, the book was really great! I loved the perspective switched and the writing style was amazing. I loved the way that the author hinted at things and slowly revealed more and more about the characters. I also thought the humor was really well-written. I thought for sure it was going to be a five star read.
At about 15-20% I realized that the story and characters had a couple flaws, but it was still overall a pretty good story and the writing style was really saving it. I thought maybe it would be a four star.
Then, about half way through, the novelty of the writing style wore off and I was really starting to see through and flaws of the characters, especially Eleanor. Not to mention the fact that there were some side characters who were almost nothing but caricatures of stereotypes. So, maybe just a three star book.
When I got to about 60-70% of the way through the book, I just simply found Eleanor annoying. She was picking fights with Park and getting mad at him over pretty much nothing!! He would try to compliment her and she would twist his words around just to be mad at him. Also, some of the things she would say were just plain odd and borderline creepy. She would talk about how she wanted to bite Park's cheeks and “eat his face whole”. Weird. Two star.
Then, the ending. The ending actually wasn't that horrible. It was really sweet and gave the both of them sort of happy endings?? But when you really think about it, Eleanor is still being a bit of a jerk to a guy who did nothing but love her. He wrote her letters every single day and she read none of them. Nearly a year went by before she sent anything to him. It took a year of her not reading his letters and him not hearing anything in response (so, basically, no communication at all) for her to finally say “I love you.”
However, I actually really liked Park. He was one of my more favorite characters I've read about in a while. When he loved, he loved with his whole heart and he put others before himself in every situation he could. While a couple of the things he did were odd, I think that he was still a pretty great character. The fact that he was happy at the end sort of almost made up for everything Eleanor had done throughout pretty much the entire book. So. Three stars.
I think I went into this book with high hopes because I had previously read “Fangirl” by the same author and that is probably one of my all-time favorite books. Not to mention, I just finished reading “Red Queen” right before I read this one and not many books deserved to be compared to that one.
Overall... meh.
Ps. I really don't understand the whole subplot about Park needing to learn to drive shift. It just seems unnecessary and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I'm sure it's symbolic of something, but I genuinely cannot tell what.
Pretty good!! If you really like history, this'll be great for you!! I do sort of wish it went a little bit more into the conspiracy side of the mystery because throughout the entire book, they were posing many interesting questions but never answering them until the final couple pages of the book in the Postscript. But as for the rest of the book, it tells the story with just enough detail for you to really understand what happened, even if you're—like me—going into this book knowing next to nothing about the topic.
THIS BOOK IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS ENOUGH!!!!!❤️❤️❤️
The writing immediately grabs you and hooks you right into the story. It's beautifully written and the settings are all amazingly vivid while still not being too flowery and too long-winded. The characters are all so real and fleshed out. Their emotions and actions all make sense, no one does anything for no reason, and the pacing is absolutely perfect. There are twists around every turn, you think you know something, then it gets flipped completely on its head.
All I can say without spoiling anything is:
Anyone can betray anyone.
I would 100% recommend this to anyone, no matter what genre you usually prefer. This is the first fantasy I've read in a long time and what a way to jump back in. I'm going to start the second tomorrow and I am beyond excited!! I've definitely found a new favorite author!
This book was amazing. It pulled me in straight from the start. Be warned, there's not really a plot, it's more just following Francie as she grows up in Brooklyn. However, the story of her growing up and exploring and learning about the world around her is so captivating and intriguing that you'll barely notice the lack of plot. The characters have such interesting stories and lives and you get so invested into. And the characters are far from cookie cutter! They each have their own rises and pitfalls, their roses and their thorns. Also be warned if you're a cryer; the latter half of the book made me cry about three times. The last 20% of this book gave me such feelings of hiraeth, the way everything is so beautiful worded and lovingly described. This book is absolutely one of my favorites ever.
The characters all felt very cookie cutter: The spunky newbie MC who stumbles her way through life until she finds a group to help her, the “by-the-books” love interest who has a secret that keeps them from being together, the supportive best friend who might have a secret, but you'll never know! Also, there was no build up to the twist at the end, so it didn't feel satisfying at all.
However, I read this in between some very heavy books that required a lot of thought and took some time to process, so it was a nice refreshing break. Something I could read in my free time without having to pay too much attention to. A summer read.
This book is absolutely amazing!! It's so beautifully written and has so many clever metaphors intertwined throughout the story. One of my favorite quotes from the book has to be “Sometimes I feel like a guest in a house full of loving people I barely know, and I see a wide-open yard out back, and think, ‘That's where I want to be', and so I walk outside. But standing alone in the empty yard, I look back inside at a house full of loving people, and I think, ‘Why did I come out here?'” It takes one of the most overdone, overused tropes and turns it right on its head. There was a moment when I was reading it when I really believed that this amazing book was going to fall victim to a classic cliche, but it 100% did not. There are so many great twists and turns in this and all the characters are so unique! Each of them have something that makes them different and unique, none of them are cookie cutter archetypes at all. Overall, just a really great book!
