Vera
You know the sentiment when you are sitting in an unnecessarily long meeting and think “this could have been an email”? Well, this could have been a novella. Instead it's drags you along and loses it's momentum all the time through repetition. Coriolanus is unlikable, which isn't a bad thing - I love me a good villain - but being stuck in his head for 500 pages is too much, too frustrating and not exciting enough. He's too much of a wimp. He's giving major Draco Malfoy in his third year vibes. But without moving on from it. While I enjoying being back in this world and appreciated all the little easter eggs, I wish this book was half as long.
I just love these books. The characters are so lovable and funny and the whole concept is just gold. The Moana scene in this book made me burst out laughing in the middle of the night when I sneakily kept on reading next to an unamused Flo.
However for this one, I felt that the as soon as the spiciness begins, the story falls apart a bit and the relationship becomes less interesting. So far I think I like the second book in the series best but maybe I'm also just a sucker for Mack, who luckily also got lots if screen time in this one.
I don't know how to rate this - it reads like fanfiction in every way. Also as much as I love Rhys, if I have to read about Feyra's curling toes one more time, I'm out.
Ok to first get this out of the way: this book does not live up to its reputation AT ALL except that it‘s supposed to have very cringy writing and a catastrophic plot - minimal spiciness, maximum special snowflake cringy lead.
The most annoying thing about this book: it seems like the author decided midway: you know what? Actually I don‘t like where this is going, I‘ll just change it - making the whole first half of the book pointless. And oh how I hate it when fantasy characters use christian expressions like „oh hell no!“ - dude! You don‘t even know what hell is!
Perhaps I‘m not rating this lower because my expectations were as low as it goes to begin with, but I didn‘t have strong enough feelings about it to rate it a 2.
This was so wholesome ☺️
Nothing better than reading some fluffy, nerdy AND kitschy book-lover-centred YA romance to cheer you up when you're having a bad day.
Gimme all them tropes, baby!
Heartfelt, witty and with just the right amount of twists and turns! It's been a long time since I connected to something this much. The writing style was great, switching between diaries and outside views of our characters and shining a light on a generation often overseen. The characters felt so real, it made my heart ache. And the story was so intricately plotted with great attention to detail.
Best read of 2020 for sure.
There‘s just something about old British people scheming and romancing that makes them so adorable and fun to read about. (Additional to their war on technology which cracks me up thanks to my own grandma)
The story really highlighted some problems that elderly people might deal with, that nobody really addresses (such as their sex life, loneliness or being stuck in loveless marriages) and I really applaud it for that.
Of course I didn't mind the broad-shouldered, kind hearted and dreamy eyed love interest either.
This book must be the newest addition to my favorite things ever. Just. Wow. I loved it. SO MUCH. Maybe later there will be a more detailed review, for now it's just fuzzy feelings and heart hugs.
I guess 1 star for the moody colors and 1 star for the queer and feminist tones?
But seriously strong minus points for cringe, plot, and basically everything else.
Such a good book! Definitely want to re-read it sometime though because I feel like it is the type of book that is best when binged. And then it would probably have earned 5*
As always V.E. Schwab‘s writing style and character building is fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed the freshness and creativity of the plot.
Must read!
1,5 stars.
Although this book sometimes does a good job at portraying the ugly sides of mental illness and has a great concept, the plot and characters were terrible. Found myself dreading to read this and could not in the slightest understand why most of the reviews printed on the book itself describe it with„funny“ „makes you laugh out loud“ or call Moshfegh a „merciless comedian“. I could not find a single funny line in the book. And if issueing mean comments about people with eating disorders is „funny“ I fail to see the humor in that. Terrible read.
The worst book I have read in a while. The concept was so so great but the writing dragged on forever and nothing was ultimately explained in a satisfactory manner. (HOW ARE THEY THERE??) The ending was so far fetched and boring and I kept waiting for the plot twist that didn't come.
Sadly this book that has been sitting on my shelf for years utterly disappointed.
Cannot decide - probably 2.5 stars?
This book just made me feel kind of “eh”.
Not comparable with Normal People which I adored. This book features characters that often did not feel real, and seem to do everything in their power to feel miserable and misunderstand each other. And then it ends. I could appreciate the build up in the first half but the second half seemed like it had no clear plot line anymore. Sadly, I'm disappointed.
3.5✨
Loved the setting and it's unapologetic killing off of characters but I got the feeling that the story didn't really know where it wanted to go or at least it felt very chaotic and unimportant most of the time. I also think that Cardan was too unlikeable in the first half to consider him a love interest which doesn't really make me root for them. In the end everyone was just a bad person one way or another and it makes it a bit hard to care for the characters. However it definitely made me interested in continuing so it deserves being rounded up!
Beautifully written, but challenging pacing and some things that left a bitter taste.
This book's writing was whimsical and swept you up into the wintery and enchanting world that the story is set in. I thoroughly enjoyed the world, especially all the little spirits and the nod towards religious fanaticism.
BUT. The story is extremely slow paced. While the writing style makes up for that to a certain extent, I felt myself growing frustrated and bored often, especially because the story jumps around between characters, none of which are really followed through with except for Vasya. I found myself caring little about some of the characters and it takes a long time for the story to take off.
This also brings me to one of the things I hate encountering - when authors are unneccessarily cruel to their characters. To exemplify: We are supposed to like Pyotr. Yet, he (much much older than her) “takes Anna to bed” every night for the first period of their marriage, while she is sobbing and crying. Why? I'm guessing the author's argument would be “because that's the way it was back then”. But this reason just does not fly with me. This is a fantasy book. This does not add enough to the character to justify it, on the contrary, it makes me actively dislike Pyotr, who is supposed to be a kind father figure. This was not needed to show the role of women historically, since we get plenty of that at other points in the story.
All in all, I am curious what will happen to Morozko and Alyosha, but not sure whether my interest is peaked enough to continue reading the series. At the rate that characters bitch slap other characters in this book though, I'll be sure to have my fun flask ready.
2.5 stars.
Maaaaan it started off so good! I loved the build-up and the atmosphere but the second half of the book just didn't deliver. A lot of the plot (twists) seemed random, pointless and boring. The “mystery” wasn't a mystery, really. The main character became increasingly unlikeable and getting through the last third of the book took me forever. Some beautiful writing and amazing potential but the execution of the idea and plot was not well done. Sad, I really wanted to love it. :(
Beautifully done! I loved the different voices of the characters and you could feel the original Italian even through the translation (props to the translator!!)
Part one really pulled me in, part two lagged a bit (partly because the character was so unlikable to me) and part three really ended it with a bang. Recommend recommend!! Side note: this book is best read in one sitting!
While the story is interesting, the portrayal of female characters and constant sexualizing of everything kept drawing me out of it. The fact that it reads like an ongoing D&D campaign is fun but also doesn't help the story move along as we go from encounter to encounter (eg what was really the point of the cannibals). Towards the last ~50 pages the pacing picks up and I liked the idea of how the battle is faced in the end.
Yet, sadly, there's just too many dick jokes for my taste.
DNF at 31%.
I think I have read enough to know that I will not enjoy the rest of this book.
Maybe this is something you can read as bed time stories if you are really into Norse Mythology and this is great for making you fall asleep?
Clear no for me. It managed to completely sniff out any interest I might have had in Norse Mythology.
