Alex鈥檚 Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2024

7,225

pages read

books read

Alex

Shortest Book

111

pages

Longest Book

623

pages

Average book length in 2024

401

pages

Most Shelved

12,104,507

people also shelved

Intentional Interviewing and Counseling by Allen E. Ivey

Least Shelved

1,373

people also shelved

Alex鈥檚 average rating for 2024

3.6

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

4.56 average

Alex鈥檚 first review of the year

really liked it

This is the book that got me back into reading after ~7 years of not touching anything but fanfiction. This might not be the most original or well-written book, but it鈥檚 FUN, and that鈥檚 what matters most to me. It hooked me right from the start, the plot was always interesting, there wasn鈥檛 a single part where I felt bored, and I read the whole thing in 2 days (and have since reread and annotated)

I liked the world-building and history, but the ex This is the book that got me back into reading after ~7 years of not touching anything but fanfiction. This might not be the most original or well-written book, but it鈥檚 FUN, and that鈥檚 what matters most to me. It hooked me right from the start, the plot was always interesting, there wasn鈥檛 a single part where I felt bored, and I read the whole thing in 2 days (and have since reread and annotated)

I liked the world-building and history, but the exposition was very obvious (with a lot of it just being literally recited by Violet in a pretty artificial way) and lowkey distracting at times, even though it made it easier to understand. I particularly loved the chapter headings. The fight scenes were very easy to follow too.

I think it has the proper amount of focus on both the fantasy and romance, not too much or too little of either, although I feel like they didn鈥檛 know each other well enough to fall for each other so hard so fast.

I really liked Violet as an MC, the 鈥渟he鈥檚 so small and fragile鈥� trope but done right, her physical weakness has an actual cause and real consequences, but she鈥檚 still determined and strong in her own ways, and has a relatable and likeable personality. This book also has some of my favourite side characters (including the dragons themselves), I loved most of them, which isn鈥檛 good for my heart in a war fantasy setting where so many people die鈥�

Sometimes the language feels a bit out of place for the setting, like a millennial trying to imitate Gen Z speech, with too much swearing, but most of the time it didn鈥檛 bother me, probably because I鈥檓 their age.

I noticed some plot holes (like how Violet鈥檚 friends notice she鈥檚 wearing Xaden鈥檚 flight jacket even though flight leathers aren鈥檛 supposed to have any identifying marks).

(I can鈥檛 fully comment on the plagiarism and lack of originality issues as I haven鈥檛 read the main books it allegedly steals from - Red Queen & the Game of Thrones series, but I will say some of y鈥檃ll are definitely reaching with some of those claims about other series鈥�)

However, there is something that needs to be addressed: white actors need to stop borrowing from cultures they do not respect enough to properly research. The dragons and geography names in this book are all based in Gaelic. She refuses to pronounce those names properly and doesn鈥檛 even pronounce the language鈥檚 name properly. ...more

础尝贰齿鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

really liked it

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

liked it

The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Alex鈥檚 last review of the year

it was ok

I think I would've enjoyed this book more if I didn't have such high expectations for it due to BookTok. The amount of people I saw describing this as 鈥渢he best book they鈥檝e ever read鈥� is honestly concerning, and does this book a disservice.

*I wouldn鈥檛 call this enemies to lovers, there was never a shred of animosity form Kai鈥檚 side, and Paedyn only finds him mildly annoying/wants to punch his cocky smirk off his face, she never actually wants hi ...more

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