I didn't like this. I saw the ending right in the beginning and was completely unsurprised by it all. Well, everything but the "twist" but I call BS oI didn't like this. I saw the ending right in the beginning and was completely unsurprised by it all. Well, everything but the "twist" but I call BS on that. She took a tired, used out plot form and added this whole BS thing on the side.
I also didn't like the white knighting (view spoiler)[of her abusive ex. All he needed was LOVE! GAG ME WITH A SPOON! (hide spoiler)]...more
Let me just say that I think she did a very good job with the challenges that this book presented. Almost every character that had a book or short stoLet me just say that I think she did a very good job with the challenges that this book presented. Almost every character that had a book or short story is in this one. She used three loose main plot lines to do this. They were fuzzy but I don't think she could've done better than that.
Why the 3 stars then? Well, because it was very hard to read. I had to break it up. It was more the nature of the genre/series than anything. It was one very, very long sap fest. Was there a scene that someone's heart DIDN'T explode or someone's life wasn't shattered by their boundless love?
Every breath every character took was a earth breaking, heart exploding, etc fest. There were hearts exploding wherever. JFC, 20% in and I was like CALL THE FUCKING DOCTOR! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG ABOUT ALL THESE HEARTS EXPLODING.
In the Romantic genre, you get that. I understand. But much of those books have a limit to the sap. The couple often hates or doesn't give a shit about the potential partner. We only get the heart exploding from two characters, and that generally happens mostly in the second half.
This was okay. I did finally finish it. I started it months ago. LOL. I'll probably read the next one but not certain. =/
I think this had promise but This was okay. I did finally finish it. I started it months ago. LOL. I'll probably read the next one but not certain. =/
I think this had promise but it was kind of jumped by the modern ideas that are attached to it. This came in the form of modern morality as well as the cliches attached to this time period.
The one that came up the most was her attitude around black people and Indians. It was very much a Good White Person type thing. Slavery is baaaad. Indians are an abused tribe. She's living in the South. There are numerous reason why she could think slavery is bad, but none of these are discussed her. It's just one shop clerk that was friends with her dad. I thought that was very unrealistic for her location and time period. I'd be okay with this attitude if there'd been a real reason or there was some other feels on the subject. 'oh, slavery is distasteful, but what would they do without us' type of thinking that was used at the time.
Why not have this be a chance for character growth, even if a bit slightly?
Her attitude towards Indians would be the same. I mean, Indians would kill settlers. They were to be feared. In our day and age, we know why this is. We know what the government was doing to them. They were, for all intents, trying to kill them all off. Hitler admired the US for this. But the lay people didn't know this. They just saw their side of things. The government wasn't going to say 'oh yeah, they're totally killing white people they come across because we kill their children at even the smallest excuse, we break every treatie we make with them, and do our best to wipe them off the face of the planet so they're kind of angry with us.' Of course not.
Another thing was all this 'woman stuff' and 'man stuff' BS. We have this notion that there was this strict line between the two and there wasn't much of one, when it came to the poorer classes. Of course a woman would be taught to fire a gun and clean game and all that. Like Mrs. Jones not wanting a male doctor to help her with the birth because birthing is 'women's work'. What nonsense.
Then there were just the nitpicky stuff an editor should've picked up. Like that scene where two guys came out with their fiddles and another came out with his violin. Violins and fiddles are the same thing. =.= ...more
I don't know if it was expectations of this being a horror book or what. I I... I didn't like this much.
I KNOW! I KNOW! Stop looking at me like that.
I don't know if it was expectations of this being a horror book or what. I enjoyed the writing in itself. I liked the characters and I felt like she did an okay job separating them all out. The horror elements were scary. I should've at least liked this book.
I think, for me, the problems where the continuous cycling of POV characters (there were MANY for such a short book) along with the ending.
When we'd get to a scary bit, we'd quickly be ported away again, and the next time we'd see the character, he'd be okay. There was no building the tension up at all. Since the book is written from a future POV, it's not really written in chronological order.
But I kept waiting for this ending that never happened. The only constant thing in all the POVs across the entire book was the person hinting about "what happened to Julian" and "that girl". Over and over and over we are told this.
Then you get to the end and it turns out that no one saw anything so it felt so incredibly anti-climatic to me. I also found it highly incredulous that Julian's dissappearance would've been scary enough to send everyone packing. I mean, when you considered it to the other events that happened to these people and they all being like 'yo, wazzzup' about it all. And then Julian dissappears and no one sees a damn thing and they're all so freaked out about this thing no one saw that none stayed to search for him?
Bah. I didn't like it. I figured I'd finish the trilogy and that's the only thing I like about it. It just became more and more implausible as time weBah. I didn't like it. I figured I'd finish the trilogy and that's the only thing I like about it. It just became more and more implausible as time went on....more
Meh. All around, mostly boring. It wasn't bad enough that I'd want my life back again. It was all just very ... scattered, I suppose. There were SO maMeh. All around, mostly boring. It wasn't bad enough that I'd want my life back again. It was all just very ... scattered, I suppose. There were SO many plot threads and side thingies that nothing got explored in detail and so there wasn't any depth.
The reactions of Rose seemed really off putting too. Like, half the time it seemed like she hated her mother, and said as much, but then she stayed there with her, basically like a maid. If she was so terrible growing up and if things were that bad, why not move out? Even if she didn't have a spine? There was the dichotomy that I'm to get across. The author was telling us one thing and the reactions, thoughts, stuff she did was very different.
There was the whole psychic thing that's never fully discussed. It felt like more of a plot point to drive the story and kind of fuel the "suspense". It didn't feel like it belonged.
And, of course, the murder. It was pretty much out of the story. We're told she's under suspicion, but almost nothing happens on that end for much of the book. We're just told this. She goes to the police station right in the beginning and once after that, but it's like it never really happened. She had to continuely bring it up because it was so nonexistent....more
I have given up on this novella. I tried. I really did. I think the reason I hated this so much is because I kept trying to finish it. It's simply a sI have given up on this novella. I tried. I really did. I think the reason I hated this so much is because I kept trying to finish it. It's simply a short novella. How hard can it be to finish? With that in mind, I thought it wasn't exactly fair to give it 1 star.
I wanted to like this a whole lot more than I did. There is actually a really good story kernel here. This could've been so much better if it had been developed more and lengthened, perhaps put in some subtlety and character development.
First problem we come to is world building. To put it simply, there is none. This is obviously an UF but that's literally all we know besides the fact that the catering company works for the government (which has a branch that works with demons.) So, we know demons are a thing here. We know there was big bug monsters. We know that angels are here too. We get these desperate aspects thrown at us with absolutely no explanation why for anything. Why do they work for the government? Who knows. How did they capture this angel? God if I know (harhar!) How do they work with this random Indian medicine man?
The second issue is the cast. This is an ENORMOUS cast. This would be a challenging cast for a normal sized NOVEL, much less a novella. There are literally 15+ characters that are in the floating "main cast". Who the fuck are all these people? Who knows! By the time the group when to find that recipe (I can't honestly tell you how many nor even the name of their department), I kind of checked out.
The third is the plot and the shit that happens. A lot of people have mentioned already but there is a lot of convenient things that happen that stink of deus ex machina. Those bothered me but what was worse was just the general random scenes thrown in in an attempt to make a plot. Action is not the same thing as plot. Some were just ridiculous. Like having to have a knife fight on the first day, to draw blood twice, in order to have her vote counted. It's just randomly thrown out there.
Or like how, some time after this, we get this long scene were the guy who lost goes to see an alchemist to "heal" the wounds. He does all this stupid mojo shit, swears a lot, makes witty banter, and is gone. I'm reading this and thinking "has anyone heard of wound creme?" It was so unnecessary (it came with beating a dove to death) and bizarre. He wasn't hurt badly at all.
On top of that, the cliches really hurt the plot too. They're so painful. So they have to cook this angel they get. They cut off a hand and cook it up, so they can replicate the taste without actually killing the angel. You get 5 SECONDS to guess what angel meat tastes like. Don't even try. Just come up with the most cliche thing that comes to mind. Yes. That's right. Angels apparently taste like chicken.
Really?
Ops. Gotta go. My eyeballs just rolled out of my head. Best go catch them....more
This wasn't bad but it didn't feel like anything. I don't know how else to say it. It didn't feel like I was reading a story. There was no character gThis wasn't bad but it didn't feel like anything. I don't know how else to say it. It didn't feel like I was reading a story. There was no character growth, no plot, nothing. It was interesting and the writing style was good.
Where did this take place? When did it take place? It felt sloppy like that. It felt like an incomplete thought, to be honest. Like the author didn't want to put the thought into all the details.
Should I feel sorry for her? I didn't. She did just kill that woman. It was incredibly stupid. Let her go back and get her stuff. While she's busy getting caught, again, they could make their escape. Why did she save her in the first place? And how convenient that someone with the exact right skills was staying under her roof. Hell, HOW did she manage to NOT bleed out before getting to her, for one, and secondly, they did know how to deal with injuries of that kind. There's no reason why she was rushing cross town bleeding out... And how does this witch not know who are the shapeshifters in her village? That seems very much a 'need to know' thing...
It just felt like an incomplete thought is all I can really say....more
rating: 2.5 I bumped it up for two reasons: 1) it was a very fast read and 2) I didn't know who the killer was until it was revealed.
The rest was disarating: 2.5 I bumped it up for two reasons: 1) it was a very fast read and 2) I didn't know who the killer was until it was revealed.
The rest was disappointing. This book simply has no resolution. The author tried very hard not to do that YA romance ending where everything is resolved in a paragraph and still somehow managed to do that.
This was mainly accomplished by having very little resolution. I was unsatisfied with Leon. I thought the girl who died was a major plot cop out. The killer was out of left field. Nothing, nothing is ever resolved about the rape. And that whole little thing with Tina made my eyes roll out of my head.
I should go find them before I drop a star. =/...more
I tried. I did try and even finished this but... I just can't. Incidentally, I found the male MC much more interesting than the female MC this time arI tried. I did try and even finished this but... I just can't. Incidentally, I found the male MC much more interesting than the female MC this time around.
I still can't figure the reason this book was written in the first place. Talk about a filler book! Our hapless heroes literally (harhar) travel to another country for school and then head home. Everything in the middle is just stupid school drama.
There was a neighboring army that popped up, much like the Spanish Inquisition, at the beginning and end of the book. It was ridiculous. According to this book, the army is fighting to put their prince on the thrown of their civil war ravaged country. Yet we have this entire army just sitting in the woods, looking for wizards. What worse is the fact that a) no one in the book, not even the freakin' country, know this huge army is there (you'd think 10s of thousands would be easy to spot. You'd be wrong.) and b) this prince takes this army to lay siege on an entirely different country. Yes. They lay a siege in a foreign country while trying to fight for the kingship in their own country. WHAT?!
"Hey guys! I have an awesome plan! You know how we're fighting to put me on the throne? Well, why don't we take our entire army out of the country (along with myself, naturally) and go lay siege on an entirely different country for no good reason. How does 6 months sound to you? Surely my brothers won't try to conquer my kingdom while I'm gone."
Riiiiiight. Sounds legit.
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But worse still is how this book basically reads like it's a ripoff of the Wheel of Time series. Only, you know, much, much, much, much worse. ...more
Not good but not bad. This felt like the original story, or story seed, to From a Buick 8. The theme is basically the same. Strange, not-quite-right cNot good but not bad. This felt like the original story, or story seed, to From a Buick 8. The theme is basically the same. Strange, not-quite-right car is left abandoned and mysteriously eats people who go inside it....more
I LOVED this until it decided to jump from a somewhat original (but well written) story to the run of the mill, generic dystopian. The author didn't eI LOVED this until it decided to jump from a somewhat original (but well written) story to the run of the mill, generic dystopian. The author didn't even bother to explain the how or why. You want a rehash of the Matrix, this book is for you. >__________________________>;...more
This took SO long to finish! It wasn't bad but it wasn't really good. I'm meh on it. This, like most first novels, suffers from being called 'a mix ofThis took SO long to finish! It wasn't bad but it wasn't really good. I'm meh on it. This, like most first novels, suffers from being called 'a mix of this famous book and that famous book'.
The huge number of possibilities truly got out of hand, especially at the end, and that ending was like 'erm okay. really?' It was bad enough that I was almost OKAY BRING ON THAT SUICIDE! since it seemed the most rational idea. The reason for her being up there made very little sense....more
This wasn't BAD but I just didn't like it all that much. I suppose if this was the first type of this sort of book I'd read, I might've been more receThis wasn't BAD but I just didn't like it all that much. I suppose if this was the first type of this sort of book I'd read, I might've been more receptive to it. As it was, I like the first book of this kind I'd read several years ago (title: Heir Apparent.)
I also found it incredibly annoying the rambling that happened in this book. The geekdom stuff was cute until it became a huge drag for me. The level the author went into explaining every bit of this history was overwhelming. At times if felt like I was reading a history book.
So, not bad but not OMG good either. /shrug...more
This was more meh for me. The beginning took so long to get into for me and the 'secret' at the end was obvious from the beginning. The way the story This was more meh for me. The beginning took so long to get into for me and the 'secret' at the end was obvious from the beginning. The way the story reads makes that abundantly clear.
I didn't like any of the characters. I wish Kevin had been more, well, anything. If he's a cunning sociopath than he'd at least pretended he care. That's the creepy part of sociopaths: they blend in really well. You can't spot them. This was truly not the case here at all. Nor can I believe a cunning child would just stare at a TV for 10 hours a day.
I also thought Eva should've stepped up to the plate more. She's with him 24/7. There'd be plenty of time to take him to various child psychiatrists. If you don't get the answer you needed then you go for second opinions elsewhere. Hell, she should've just made an appointment for herself and asked a professional what he or she thought. Or, perhaps better, gotten written accounts from teachers and the like about Kevin's behavior. ...more
It wasn't terribly written. I would've given this 3 stars if this was the authors first book (it has that first book funk) but it isn't and thus I donIt wasn't terribly written. I would've given this 3 stars if this was the authors first book (it has that first book funk) but it isn't and thus I don't think she truly deserves the extra star.
The ending was lackluster and ended before the actual ending. The rest of the book was 90% talking. There was talking, talking, and more talking. After which, there was more talking. That got really old really fast....more
Alisi � wants to read too many books �
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