I liked the theme of familial love. The character development was great. The romance was a bit lacking, bStrong beginning and end, the middle dragged.
I liked the theme of familial love. The character development was great. The romance was a bit lacking, but it wasn't bad. I liked the twist to the original story at the end. I also appreciated the asian influences. (I guess I have to read the second book to see more dragons)
Overall, this book was a little mediocre for me. But my standards for YA fantasy are pretty high after reading so many of them. Maybe if it was a bit shorter, I would have enjoyed it more. I don't really have too much to say about it since it wasn't amazing or horrible. It was a fun time, but I found myself wanting it to be over about halfway through....more
I love Juliet Marillier's writing. Her books are so atmospheric. Her descriptions are so vivid that you can feel like you are wherever the charac*3.5*
I love Juliet Marillier's writing. Her books are so atmospheric. Her descriptions are so vivid that you can feel like you are wherever the characters are. I could feel everything the main character felt. I could feel her love for her brothers, the pain in her hands, the longing she had to the forest.
The nature theme and the forbidden romance aspects reminded me of The Crown of Oaths and Curses by J. Bree. Of course, this wasn't as angsty and to be honest, frustrating. The MMC here is charmed by Sorcha pretty much on their first encounter. This is by no means a romance book but say whatever you want about older fantasy books with a romantic subplot but the heroes knew how to make a romantic declaration.
"It matters not if you are here, or there, for I see you before me every moment. I see you in the light on the water, in the swaying of the young trees in the spring wind. I see you in the shadows of the great oaks, I hear your voice in the cry of the owl at night. You are the blood in my veins, and the beating of my heart. You are my first waking thought, and my last sigh before sleep. You are--- you are bone of my bone, and breath of my breath."
I loved the atmosphere and the characters. I just can't help but wanting more. The plot is very slow paced. The romance is cute, but they needed more scenes together. The villain is pretty basic. He even has a long evil monologue. Even though I liked how the ending wasn't the perfect fairytale ending, I wanted more from it.
Overall, I enjoyed my time reading this book, but I have yet to find a Marillier book I love more than Heart's Blood.
Trigger Warnings for rape, animal cruelty and death, mentions of torture....more
The plot is nowhere to be seen. The world building is just info dumps that I don't care about. I have zero interest in these characters and DNF at 30%
The plot is nowhere to be seen. The world building is just info dumps that I don't care about. I have zero interest in these characters and there is literally zero chemistry between the main characters. The writing is below avarage.
I found the language barrier interesting at first but it wasn't executed well like in The Horde Kings of Dakkar series by Zoey Draven.
I think I need to stay away from all the booktok books but the hype always gets me....more
It was only a matter of time before she loved him. After all, he was a dragon! Who wouldn’t love a dragon?
The long awaited story of Esmeralda did noIt was only a matter of time before she loved him. After all, he was a dragon! Who wouldn’t love a dragon?
The long awaited story of Esmeralda did not dissapoint! The banter, the humour, the little eccentricities that are nods to Alice in Wonderland, all of it was so much fun. It was a bit too long and at times repetitive but overall, I really enjoyed it. I especially love Cassandra Gannon's humour and her creativity.
“You stole the moon?”� Esmeralda asked, not even surprised. “I gave it back.”� Trevelyan defended grouchily.
***
“I’ll kill them all later, if you like. For now, focus on survival.� “You’ll kill the entire Cauldron Society for me?� “Not just for you. I also like killing people.�...more
Does Robin Hobb secretly hate dogs? I wouldn't call myself an animal person, but I was devastated over how much the dogs suffered in this book. That dDoes Robin Hobb secretly hate dogs? I wouldn't call myself an animal person, but I was devastated over how much the dogs suffered in this book. That doesn't mean I wasn't devastated over Fitz because I definitely was (I want to beat every adult around him and give him a big hug). But, I can safely say that the few times I teared up were because of the animal abuse.
I went into this knowing it would be a slow-paced, character driven, politics heavy fantasy. I was no way near ready for how slow this book was. There is little to no plot, but even with the amount of injustices and sadness Fitz endures, the vibes are surprisingly cozy. I loved Fitz, and if you don't care about him, it would be impossible to finish this book. Because there is nothing else to keep you going. The side characters are interesting enough, but there are not enough scenes with them to deepen their connection with Fitz. He is very lonely and desperate to find a connection. The only real connection he has is with his dogs.
I also didn't think the book had that much politics. I guess I was expecting much more complex court politics. Generally, I prefer court politics over action scenes so I was excited but what we got was...fine.
Whenever I put the book down I thought I wouldn't return to it but every day I went back thinking I wanted to know what happened to Fitz next. It also helped that the writing was one of the best writings I have read in a fantasy book. It wasn't flowery nor it had too many descriptions but I could feel myself in the book whenever I picked it up. The scenes were so vivid in my mind, and everything Fitz felt I felt them too.
I am conflicted whether to continue this series. Even now I want to know what will happen next. But, I also dread reading pages and pages of nothing. I am not a huge fan of "no plot just vibes" books or slice of life books, and I felt like this was both of those things.
Spoilery p.s I can't believe I spent the majority of the book absolutely hating Burrich because of what he's done to an animal then realized he didn't do it later in the book. I was probably more shocked than Fitz because I 100% thought I would never forgive him even if he saved Fitz 100 times....more
The second and third books in this series should have been one book. I guess that was the case since this series was going to be a trilogy at first buThe second and third books in this series should have been one book. I guess that was the case since this series was going to be a trilogy at first but then it turned into a 5-book series.
The first half takes place in a day then there is a time jump (like a month) and the second half also takes place in about a day. But we learn what happens in that one month by characters telling us what happened which is a pet peeve of mine so even though this book had more plot than the second book I liked it less.
I am still having fun with these characters and their dynamics but I can't get over the fact that Tahereh Mafi decided to do dirty on her own series by stretching it out this much.
This took me less than 24 hours to finish so that was good but the beginning was a recap of what happened in the first two books, the middle is a drag and the last third could have been a chapter....more
It's nice to finish a trilogy but weirdly enough this didn't feel like the last book of a trilogy. It felt like a filler book.
Everything wraps up*3.5*
It's nice to finish a trilogy but weirdly enough this didn't feel like the last book of a trilogy. It felt like a filler book.
Everything wraps up in the last 100 pages, Apollo's POVs were unnecessary and if I was a Jacks fan going into this series I would be so upset that Apollo had more scenes than Jacks.
There were also so many unanswered questions. (view spoiler)[what happened to Aurora, Luc and Marisol? Why was LaLa even a side character she literally added nothing to the storyline (i guess she might be the next trilogy's mc but I felt nothing towards her) What was the point of the apples??? Jacks just could have said he loved them at the end and I would have been fine with it but he cryptically says "i don't need them anymore" WHY? I wanted closure with the Luc, Marisol story. I wanted to learn more about the Valors. (hide spoiler)]
The overall explanation was a bit weak for me. I know it is a fairytale-esque book and fairytales usually have pretty simple storylines but I felt like this story was leading to a more complex ending than it was.
I also wanted more from the romances. All of the relationships felt surface level to me.
That being said, I love Stephanie Garber's easy-to-get-into writing and her atmosphere is so well done. My favourite thing about this trilogy is the main character, Evangeline. She is unlike any other YA fantasy MC I have read. She is hopeful and such a romantic which I found very endearing.
Overall, I would give this series a 3.5 stars and recommend it to people who love fairytales and want to get more into the fantasy genre. It is easy to read and it has very little world building....more
I am glad I finally read this but wow the christian undertones are so strong. I might rewatch the movie since I don't remember the religious para*3.5*
I am glad I finally read this but wow the christian undertones are so strong. I might rewatch the movie since I don't remember the religious parallels. (The "sons of Adam", Aslan being reborn, women not supposed to fight lol, Edmund and Judas parallels etc)
This was a fun portal fantasy book and the audibooks are so quick to listen to that I might actually finish the series....more
I can't believe I accidentally listened to this first on an audiobook of the complete Narnia series. I didn't realise it was chronological instead of I can't believe I accidentally listened to this first on an audiobook of the complete Narnia series. I didn't realise it was chronological instead of publication order. This was very... christian. I knew C.S. Lewis is christian but I didn't realise how much his stories would be. This was an interesting prequel but I am more excited to read the actual first book....more
I might come back to this in the future, but I am so disappointed. Every time I try to read it, I get so frustrated because it feels lisoft dnf at 20%
I might come back to this in the future, but I am so disappointed. Every time I try to read it, I get so frustrated because it feels like this was written by someone else. Where is the Rooke from book 1? Where is the nature talk that captivated me? Where is the grovel?
I wish J. Bree took more time to write this because all that tension in book 1 went nowhere.
I need time to lower my expectations and maybe come back to finish it just to see what happens... or just read some spoilers....more
I am really enjoying this trilogy but I feel like I still don't know enough about Jacks to truly love the romance. I love Evangeline and how pure she I am really enjoying this trilogy but I feel like I still don't know enough about Jacks to truly love the romance. I love Evangeline and how pure she is but I find it odd that she keeps forgiving Jacks even though he doesn't do anything to deserve her forgiveness. Maybe not reading the Caraval trilogy first was a mistake in my part. I might have known Jacks a lot better maybe?
The ending was very fun and I am looking forward to read the last book. I am just hoping for more romance....more
This series surprised me by how good it was. I wish I could have enjoyed this last book more but the plot was boring and the romance developed way tooThis series surprised me by how good it was. I wish I could have enjoyed this last book more but the plot was boring and the romance developed way too quickly without having an emotional connection first. I also felt like the secondary characters could have been more fleshed out since this book is nearly 600 pages long. It felt more like a thousand to me but that's beside the point.
But I did really like the heroine's character development and her story overall. The relationship between her and her Kalloma was interesting.
It is bittersweet to finish this series but I am looking forward to any spin-off series Zoey Draven will write in the future....more
I hated the insta-lust. I couldn't even feel the chemistry between the main characters because of it. The world building is also all over the pla*3.5*
I hated the insta-lust. I couldn't even feel the chemistry between the main characters because of it. The world building is also all over the place.
But it was very fast paced and I loved the nature magic. Most of all I loved the last 20% of the book. I need to read the next one to see what is going to happen next....more
This one is my favourite of the series so far! I loved the angsty relationship these two had. I also loved their own character developments and b*4.5*
This one is my favourite of the series so far! I loved the angsty relationship these two had. I also loved their own character developments and backstories. The over-arching plot didn't move too much. I wanted to learn more about the red mist but it was still a great book and especially a romance to read. This was the angst level I wanted from the 4th book.
Even with everything these two did to each other I loved how they came back together stronger than ever. Sword and shield, thing? Loved that....more
I didn't like this as much as I liked the first three which is dissapointing since I normally love a second chance romance. But they are very hard to I didn't like this as much as I liked the first three which is dissapointing since I normally love a second chance romance. But they are very hard to pull off. I didn't care for the romance in this. I wish the reason they stayed apart for 9 years was an external conflict instead of Karin just staying away. And the reason he returns is because of a dream he had... That was lame.
But I am still loving the writing and the world. I am also very intrigued by the over-arching plot. I am excited to read more about the red mist and of course, the next couple....more
This was more emotional than the first two. The heroine was also more powerful than the first two heroines. I loved the emotional love story. But the This was more emotional than the first two. The heroine was also more powerful than the first two heroines. I loved the emotional love story. But the hero is pretty sane for someone who is called the Mad Horde King.
The plots are pretty weak in this series but I am loving the world, the characters and the romance....more
The art is absolutely amazing. But unfortunately, this wasn't for me. There were too much gore and violence involving children. The plot and the worldThe art is absolutely amazing. But unfortunately, this wasn't for me. There were too much gore and violence involving children. The plot and the world is interesting and I would have wanted to read more about the story but for now, I'll pass....more
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