I'm not really sure how to start this... Bardugo's books always sound like something I'm going to love. Her characters sound like the type of characteI'm not really sure how to start this... Bardugo's books always sound like something I'm going to love. Her characters sound like the type of characters I'm going to adore. However, in the past, I started two of her books, and I do not believe I did get past chapter three in either of those.
And then this book came, I fell love in with the cover. The blurb seemed fantastic. Reviews came, and it seemed so twisted, I book I would love. Then I noticed that the friends' average rating was way lower than the global one, and I was unsure. Should I read it or not?
Thankfully, Alex being the hero she is offered me a buddy read. So, I finally had a reason to read the book. And you know, it was time to know for good. To finish Bardugo's book. Either to fall in love with her work or to finally accept that her books are not for me.
So, I was finally able to pick up this book. And, now I'm unsure how to write this review. I keep going back, thinking that something is missing. But this is what it is.
I felt like CinemaSins (or BookSins?) every time I thought "hmm, narration." There was so much narration, description of unnecessary things and a lot of it felt like it was just told instead of shown. I got bored, really, really fast. I was reading very slowly, and I was not really interested in the story right from the beginning, which probably was not the best thing. And then Alex DNFed on me and I wondered if I should as well. But I had a goal, to finish a Bardugo book.
I started skimming certain parts which were dragging which helped a lot.
I cannot really say that there is really a moment where the story picks up. It always felt like there was something coming, some tension, some revelation and then the next chapter crashed down, and I was sad that for a moment I thought it would get more interesting.
There was so much said about this book being "adult" and how to expect gruesome things etc. Which were there... but somehow did not leave any impression. This connects to the main feeling I got from this book "plastic" and "flat". It should have been horrible, but it was sort of... just there? (view spoiler)[Even the moment when the guy ate from the toilet. Which feels super yucky just writing down had no effect on my while reading. (hide spoiler)]
If you read the spoiler, you saw that I referred to that person as that guy... which is because I had a terrible time trying to remember the names of the majority of characters. Sometimes after several chapters, a character was mentioned, and I was unsure which one was it, and I had to go back to see who they were and what they did.
Darlington... What can I say? Even people who disliked this book seemed to love Darlington. And you know what? I did not. For a character (view spoiler)[which actually was not in the story, only in the strange flashbacks from his POV (hide spoiler)] I really disliked him. I just could not get to like him. He was annoying, and I wished Alex would punch him. I was glad that he was gone (view spoiler)[I just wish his POV would have stopped soon and he would remain lost. (hide spoiler)] I have no idea how to describe him. On one side he has a bit of Hermione Granger feel to him. And on the other, he feels a bit like the usual bad/mysterious boy which he really was not. And the mix did not really work.
As for the villain. Well, I got two suspects. One became suspect to me the moment they appeared on the page. Because they just behaved suspiciously and the character was otherwise really out of the place even if others were put around to make it like there is a reason for this person to be in focus. It just seemed rather obvious. Then I got a second character I started to distrust. Because they just tried to keep everything way too hush hush. (view spoiler)[What a surprise that there were two villains who were not connected to each other and I guessed both of them. However, I have to say that I also had a moment of stupidity there. The moment Daisy was mentioned, I thought: "That's funny, the author got two characters named after the same flower only in different languages. I wonder if she did that on purpose or it is a coincidence." (hide spoiler)]...more
I think someone cursed me because lately, I'm facing too many disappointing books, I do not like this.
So, at first, I was really curious about this bI think someone cursed me because lately, I'm facing too many disappointing books, I do not like this.
So, at first, I was really curious about this book. I have to say that I was a bit nervous about the number of other books this book was compared to.
"Game of Thrones meets Red Rising in a debut young adult fantasy that's full of rivalry, romance... and dragons."
"Inspired by Plato’s Republic"
"the story is pitched as Aegon Targaryen and Hermione Granger with dragons, set in the aftermath of a bloody revolution."
Because once a book is so heavily compared to other (popular) books, it better to really deliver.
And for me, it did not. It's simple as that.
In the beginning, I really struggled with the characters. I was unsure if I really enjoyed Lee's POV because just in his first POV, I was annoyed by Annie before we even really meet her. She was just so heavily mentioned that I could not stand her. But in the end, I prefered Lee's POV to Annie's. His character was calmer, more reasonable and less... sensitive in a sense. I felt like Annie was always annoyed by something or someone.
Here, I need to share my favourite quote from this book which really made me giggle at the moment. "Maybe you could be my maidservant or something." "I don't know how to be a maidservant." "I think they just wash things. You're really good at that. Want to plan the trip with me."
However, I have to say that the first chapter was one of the lowest points of the book. It gets slightly better after that, but it still dragged. In all honesty, the book had few "interesting" moments when you thought something would happen and you turned the page and... nothing. Something really started to happen around the 84% mark. And then it all got super rushed. Not sure if it really made any kind of sense. I guess it was supposed to hype the reader for the rest of the series, which did not work, at least for me because I have no plans on continuing with this series.
As I mentioned above, I turned the page, and nothing happened, that's because so much happened off-page. When Lee was somewhere doing something interesting, we got Annie's POV instead. And then we would get some sort of recap of what the other experienced. And even sometimes when the things were happening on-page, I felt like they were not really happening more like we were told and it was described to us what was going on.
As for the books to which it was compared to, I do not get those. I see the comparison and mention of Plato's Republic and the French Revolution, even Blitz and I personally saw some similarity with the Russian Revolution. And this aspect was really good, probably the strongest point of the book. But the rest, Hermione Granger (I suppose that was Annie, but I don't really see it), Game of Thrones... No, nowhere near.
The story may have been good. The idea is good, but I did not enjoy the execution. And the writing is nowhere near the books mentioned above. Those "name-dropping" popular books may have done a huge disservice to the author and the book.
Beyond this, it might be slightly spoiler-ish! But spoiler will be still under the spoiler tag.
The whole book felt just like background noise to Lee/Annie drama. And I cannot stand them as a couple. I like them standing up for each other, but they do not work together as a couple. Annie spends the majority of the book being offended/annoyed/worried or whatever by something Lee did, did not do, how he moved his muscle or whatever. (view spoiler)[ I think that the Lee and Crissa relationship makes way more sense. As for Annie, I don't really get her with Duck, but even that's better than Lee. (hide spoiler)]
In all this, Power was the best character. He was my favourite, he was the only one who made any kind of sense, had a motive and somehow felt like a real character. Plus he was one of the few who could think for himself. (view spoiler)[ Though I do not 100% buy his support of Annie as the Commander. As for Annie being a Commander, I did not get nor liked how Lee handed her that position in the end. It felt really cheap. As for Power, I wonder why he sort of "saved" Lee in the end. (hide spoiler)]
As for dragons, you're probably wondering "this book has dragons, there is a dragon on a cover, why are you not mentioning the dragons?" Well. I sort of did not feel the dragon were that important. Harry Potter was more excited about his broom than these characters about their dragons. They were just tucked somewhere unless they needed to fly on them... And, they were just missing personality if that makes sense.
(view spoiler)[ Okay, so Lee is a son of a dragon lord, supposed to be killed off during the Palace Day. He thinks that the new leader saved his life, but he actually ordered his throat to be slit, which is an interesting turn of events. However, Annie noted how he looked similar to his father, many of the Golds knew his father way better than Annie did, even the new leader, I'm surprised no one noted the similarity. As for Lee's family, let's talk about Julia, I'm really surprised that she got killed off so fast. I expected her to play a more important role in the series, the family standing against each other. Plus she was possibly flying her dragon for longer than Lee, and I suppose she would get better tutors. And still, Lee's win felt very cheap. So, what I would like to see is Lee finding out that Lee killed his cousin for a person who did not save him but ordered his murder. (hide spoiler)]
What I enjoyed and it ties it to the French Revolution inspiration... The idea of bad guys. New regime which replaces the bad old one. Does that make them the good guys? It sort of shows that good and evil in certain cases can be a point of view. Depending on where you stand in one regime, you can see it as a good and others may see it as evil. That was very well done. It just shows that so much is just shades of grey, not white and black. Plus when they were pressured, they reach out to the practices of the previous regime to reach their goals. This was a good idea, and I wished it was more explored along with the idea of different social groups.
***Advance Review Copy generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***...more
***Advance Review Copy generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I sort of hate myself for this review.
When I started, I***Advance Review Copy generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I sort of hate myself for this review.
When I started, I thought that this quite possibly could be the best read not only in February but in 2019 as well! It was that good! I loved the story setting, loved the background, the magic part, and the main character was amazing! Elisse is an androgyny male, and several characters are confused about whether he is a male or a female at the beginning of the story. And I was confused as well for a moment, and I thought that it was so well done.
I loved how he was getting used to the Western world after coming from India.
The story was going so well until it was not.
Suddenly the whole world crumbled.
Nothing made any kind of sense. Elisse started calling a group of strangers his family or/and his brothers. I did not get the connection. I did not like their relationship cause it was so fake it was hard to even read their conversations. And suddenly I did not even like Elisse where at the beginning I liked him and thought that he was a great protagonist now it was gone, and I did not care one bit for him.
About 60% I almost gave up on the book but I did finish and I have to say that I liked Samedi and Loas but that's about it....more
I’d hoped I could marry for love now that my sisters had already been married off for tactical reasons.
“Gianna and I married for political reasons. W I’d hoped I could marry for love now that my sisters had already been married off for tactical reasons.
“Gianna and I married for political reasons. Why should Lily not be allowed to marry someone she wants?”
And I'm done with this series. I cannot take this any longer. How come that everyone suddenly turned so stupid? Like with the hope she'll be able to marry for love. Who could have even thought that after reading more than a page about their father? They all say how cruel he is and then they hope he'll be nice? Come on! And the huge love story that started back then when Lily fell from Romero when she was like 14- years-old or whatever? Nope, there was nothing between them, felt forced and stupid.
“Mother told me to be happy shortly before she died. And Romero makes me happy. I want to be with him.”
I thought that Gianna was dumb, but Lily takes the cake. This is just completely ridiculous. Luca actually won the Scuderi lottery. He got the only Scuderi girl that is not absolutely annoying and does not act on pure emotions. (view spoiler)[Except for some dumb decisions like helping Gianna run and then hiding Lily's secret. (hide spoiler)]
I went against his direct orders after all. That’s still a crime.”
Yes! He went against his boss, against direct orders. And after three books where Luca was painted as monster etc. he should have just put a bullet in his head and shipped Lily off to her father. This makes no sense. Same with "I won't go to war with Outfit because of this" and then suddenly "Fine, the war is happening no matter what."
Also, there are a lot of inconsistencies. Like the girl, Rocco (view spoiler)[ is going to marry (hide spoiler)] goes from being named Ramona to Maria. That's just sloppy.
So no, this series is so OVER for me. Nothing makes sense, and the characters just get more annoying with each other book in the series....more
Okay, I LOVE the author. Unfortunately, this book was a bit disappointing. I saw a lot of parallels with the Degradation.
Wulf - Jameson Eden - Ang KatyOkay, I LOVE the author. Unfortunately, this book was a bit disappointing. I saw a lot of parallels with the Degradation.
Wulf - Jameson Eden - Ang Katya - sort of Tate but with zero self-esteem
I hated that she was constantly putting herself down.
But the ending was shocking - NEVER saw that one coming. Stylo again managed to prove that she is a great author. So even though this is not my favourite work of hers, I will read the sequel....more
The weakest book in series. I really liked the scenes with other characters than just between the main couple. I guess my problem was that I never likThe weakest book in series. I really liked the scenes with other characters than just between the main couple. I guess my problem was that I never liked Painter or Mel and they just do not work together at all. The thing is I did not like Painter in the previous books. Here, when he was not with Mel or not thinking about Mel, he was bearable in this book. But otherwise, he was just asking for someone to slap me.
But my main problem is Mel who is lucky that Jessica is in the series otherwise she would be the worse character....more
Honestly, I think that this novel was the weakest in this series. First, the first half of the book was just the repetition of what we already knew. AHonestly, I think that this novel was the weakest in this series. First, the first half of the book was just the repetition of what we already knew. And then, when something was looking interesting, they just played it to the out. The characters would just come and say: This and that happened. Etc......more
"My brother knelt in the middle of our crappy living room, bleeding and awaiting execution, and all I could think about was me and Horse. What the hel"My brother knelt in the middle of our crappy living room, bleeding and awaiting execution, and all I could think about was me and Horse. What the hell was wrong with me?"
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