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THE POPPY WAR BY RF KUANG: A BOOK REVIEW

10/8/2022

Note: This review is spoiler free
Book: The Poppy War
Author: RF Kuang
Genre: Fantasy
Age: For readers 14 and up
Rating: 3/5

What. Just. Happened?

I will forever be mad at how the Poppy War turned out. I was ready to risk it all and give it 5 stars based on the first half of the book alone and then suddenly a two year timeskip plus the removal of all the side characters threw all of that away. 😑

What I LOVED:

Rin and Nezha:
The ONLY time I will support enemies to lovers is if it’s academic rivals to lovers. Rin and Nezha did not disappoint 😌
Nezha to Rin: “You’re nothing.”
Me: What he ACTUALLY means: “You’re everything”. And they say romance is dead 😍

Spoilers: The part where they fought together to defend Sinegard during the first attack literally had me SCREAMING for real 😭

“Together? Together”
SJDFKAJF *CRYING, SCREAMING, THROWING UP AND PUNCHING THE WALLS RN 😭*

But all the buildup for their relationship was literally thrown out the window in the second half. It sucks. 🤧

Plot (only the first half of the book tho. The second half sucked): I LOVE fantasy books with an academic setting. I can’t stress enough how perfect the first half of the book was!! Neglected, impoverished girl with a natural talent gets into a prestigious academy? Academic rivals fighting for the top spot at the military academy? SIGN ME UP 😤
I took me only a few hours to read the first half because it was that good. Which is why it’s such a travesty that this book turned out to be the way it is 😞

What I didn’t like:

The Cike: Where’s Kitay? And why has he been replaced by these irrelevant characters?
For some reason the author thought it was a good idea to get rid of all the important side characters in the second half of the book and replace them with some weirdos that I could not bring myself to care about. It felt like I was reading a whole new book.
The Plot in the Second Half: This is where everything went downhill. It was unbelievably slow. NOTHING happened.
As if replacing all the side characters wasn’t enough, the author also thought it was a good idea to timeskip to 2 years in the future. In doing so, she skipped the academy plotline and brought Rin to some gloomy, underground cave away from everyone in the first half of the book. Boo 😐 👎

After she joined the Cike I just started skimming the entire book and then I just entirely gave up 75% into the book just because it was so mind numbingly boring. Life is too short to spend time reading mediocre books
🤷‍♀️

Read Review for A Curse so Dark and Lonely

Read Review for ACOSF

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The Unwanteds Quests by Lisa Mcmann: A Book Review

9/4/2021

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Note: This review is spoiler free (spoilers are all marked and have warnings)!
Book: The Unwanteds Quests Whole Series
Author: Lisa Mcmann
Genre: Fantasy
Age: For readers 10 and up
Rating: 2.5/5

Somebody call my doctor because I’m sure my BP skyrocketed while reading this series. A lot of the books in this series made me frustrated beyond measure. Other than Fifer being an annoying brat, the books have several other flaws. The writing style has less flow, the og characters are behaving differently, the dialogue between characters is not that interesting, the inner character monologue was just plain cringy and the overall plot was disappointing. I’m going to get this out of the way: the Unwanteds Quests is not as good as the original series. In fact, I’m going as far as to say that it’s not a good series at all. If it weren’t for the Unwanteds being my favorite series and everything, I would have abandoned this series from book one.

What could use improvement:

The Main Characters: It’s realllllly hard to like a book when the main characters are two MORONS who have NO BRAIN CELLS. 🙄 Thisbe and Fifer are two stupid teenagers who go out on a dangerous mission in book one and call it ✨ glamourous ✨ . Then they are stupid enough to forget all their supplies like seek spells or Hux’s wings. They just assumed Hux’s old wings would make it across the chasm…. like why are you guys gambling with your lives??
Fifer: I literally loathe this character so SO much. Why do I possess such hate?

Exhibit A: SHE’S IMMATURE. Thisbe was also immature at the start of the series but she grew up (somewhat). Fifer on the other hand still acts like a five year old the entire series but miraculously earns everybody and their mom’s respect while Thisbe barely gets a second glance for her achievements. Major Spoilers: The prime example of Fifer’s immaturity is when she throws a BALL a month after her brother DIED. Who does that????
Exhibit B: She’s not fit to be the head mage whatsoever. In Dragon Curse, all she cared about was power. She just wanted the leader title because she likes bossing people around. She constantly moped in this book about the MOST superficial problems. She also lacked empathy for others like Thisbe who was still suffering trauma from when she was held captive.
Sidenote (Spoilers): It makes no sense why everybody wanted Fifer to be the head mage. In Dragon Ghosts, everyone turned to Fifer for help during the mission in Grimere, which didn’t seem very logical. Every other person on that rescue team has gone on countless more rescue missions and have wayyyyy more experience. But instead they disregarded that Fifer has zero experience and is a literal 12 year old and put her in charge of a high stakes mission. Why did Simber and the others turn to her of all people for leadership?

3. The Revinir: The villain for the entire quests series was weak! I don’t know where this blabbering, too trusting fool came from but Eagala did NOT use to be like this in the original series. She was dumbed down in the spin off series to be some fool who falls for easy, see through schemes set by two 12 year olds. I still can’t get over the fact that she trusted Thisbe countless times and got betrayed by her time and time again. 😂 I mean did she never learn?! It made the Revinir seem weak and easily beatable, which made the entire villain plot boring. And that’s another thing- why did it take 7 books to defeat one person? It made the series tedious and repetitive. Besides, the Revinir wasn’t even particularly cunning and kept falling for ametuer plans. It definitely should not have taken 7 books to defeat her…

4. Og Characters: It’s like Lisa Mcmann took all of the original characters, threw them in the trash and replaced them with robotic versions of themselves. All of the original characters (Mainly Samheed, Aaron, Florence) were so different from their characters in the original series! For one, they had ZERO personality in the spin off series. Second, all their dialogues and the way they acted was so off! It didn’t even seem like I was reading about the same characters.

Example 1: Aaron (Spoilers in this paragraph): It seemed very out of character for him to lash out at Thisbe and publicly shame her in book 7. I get that Ishibashi had just died and he wasn’t acting normally, but still. The Aaron from the original series would not have adamantly held Ishibashi’s death against Thisbe.
Example 2: Florence (SPOILERS in this paragraph): If Aaron’s reaction to Thisbe in book 7 seemed odd, Florence’s reaction was even more bizzare. Aaron at least had an excuse to act out of sorts, because of Ishibashi’s death. But Florence? She was stubbornly shunning Thisbe for no reason. Even after Fifer explained that it was all a plan to betray the Revenir! It was so out of character for Florence.
The sad part about all of this is that if the roles were switched between Fifer and Thisbe, Florence would never have held a grudge against Fifer. She has clear favoritism between the two twins.
Example 3: Samheed: Samheed was just plain childish in this spin off series 💀 All of the character growth he developed in the original series was thrown away. For starters, what even was the pointless attempt to stir drama between Samheed and Aaron? It’s been ten years since the last series and you’re telling me Samheed STILL remains withdrawn and hostile towards Aaron? I mean I didn’t expect them to be close buddies in the spin offs, but I also didn’t expect Samheed to start adding fire to the anti-Aaron protestor’s fuel. It was a cheap attempt at stirring drama between the two but it came at the expense of Samheed’s character development.

5. Romance: The romance between Fifer and Dev was unnecessary. Lisa McMann built up a storyline throughout the books where Fifer was uncomfortable with any sort of romantic inclination. At the ball, Fifer stated many times that she could never see herself in a relationship. Then at the last moment, in book 7, Fifer was thrown into a relationship with Dev. This plotpoint seemed like ace baiting after the previous books made clear of Fifer’s indifference towards romance and relationships.
6. Inconsistencies (Spoilers): The number one plot hole in this book has to do with the magical seaweed. How does it even work? Because how did Aaron die of natural causes before Fifer or anyone else? The seaweed should have ensured a prolonged life but somehow he died before Fifer, Thisbe and several others…

I wish I just stopped reading the books after Island of Dragons. The Unwanted Quests lowkey ruined the amazing story and characters that were introduced in the og series.

Read my Spoiler Free review of the Betrothed

Read my Spoiler Free Review for "One of Us is Next"

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The Betrothed By Kiera Cass- A Book Review

7/24/2021

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Note: This review is spoiler free (spoilers are all marked and have warnings)!
Book: The Betrothed
Author: Kiera Cass
Genre: Fantasy
Age: For readers 10 and up
Rating: ⅕

No one, and I mean NO ONE should read this book. I’ve read the backs of shampoo bottles with a better plot than the one in this book. 😑 It’s the most boring book I’ve read and it took me 2 WHOLE weeks to finish this super short novel. If I can’t convince you to not read this 300 page trash, take a look at Goodreads where this book has an average of 2.9 stars…. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with that low of a rating. 😬

What I liked:
*crickets chirping* 🦗

What I HATED:

Silas- "’What was it about Silas Eastoffe that turned the air in the room into something sweeter?’ Hollis Brite asked herself.” Me: NOTHING. NOTHING AT ALL ABOUT HIM MAKES ANYTHING SWEETER. 😤 Minor spoilers: After Hollis was basically engaged to the King, Silas proceeded to kiss and flirt with her and then when Hollis told him that their stolen kiss was a mistake, he had the audacity to act all hurt and angry that she wanted to forget their kiss when she was in a romantic relationship WITH SOMEONE ELSE! Plus at the end he says “I don’t care if you ruin your reputation, just be with me”. Um… enough said 😬
Hollis- What an idiot. This girl needs to go buy a brain or something. 🙄 ✋ She was 17 (or 18?) and had the maturity level of a 13 year old. And to think her last name is Brite…. well that’s false information because she is ANYTHING but bright.
Delia Grace: IS THIS WHAT A FRIEND IS NOW DEFINED AS?! She’s backstabbing and so shallow and self centered it makes me want to rip my hair out. And the worst part is that Hollis still considers Delia her best friend after everything.
The Ending: Was the ending supposed to make me sad? I laughed instead.
The Romance: Guys, this book has insta love in it. That should say enough about how lackluster the romance in this book was. First Hollis is giggling over King Jameson and then the next second she lays eyes on Silas and is head over heels for him. They meet all of 4 times before they claim they are soulmates. What stupidity is this?! 🤨 This gave me Eikko and Eadlyn (barf) vibes from the Selection spin off. Where Kiera Class threw away the perfect Kyle-Eadlyn relationship to make Eikko and Eadlyn endgame when they ran into each other like twice before they were pronounced soulmates.
The Plot: Nonexistent. When Hollis goes out to buy herself a brain maybe she should also look into buying some plot for her book. Because I can’t tell you a single thing about what this book is about because NOTHING HAPPENED.
The Characters: Every single character was bland and had no personality. The main character has no development and I feel absolutely no connection to her. The sidekicks aren’t funny or serious or anything. They are simply there. Like walking zombies.
Breaking the Norm (or lack thereof): I really thought Hollis was going to stand up for herself and for all women in Coroa when Jameson wanted to make her just an ornament. However, Hollis only runs away from any difficult situation she is placed in instead of actively doing anything about it. Maybe in the second book she’ll address the gender inequality in this story.
BORING: Idk what else to say. This book isn’t like the other books I rant reviewed where I gave it a low rating because I loathe the characters or something about the plot just really ticked me off. This book’s main problem is that it’s mind numbingly boring. It is sooooo boring, I’d rather watch paint dry. I’D RATHER REREAD THE ACOTAR SERIES FOR CRYING OUT LOUD (which is my least fav series for those who are new here) THAN READ THIS BOOK ONCE MORE. The Selection Series is in my top 5 favorite series of all time. It was trash when critically looked at but it was so entertaining and I’ve reread the entire series 3 times. I was expecting a cheesy, cringy romance book with the Betrothed like with the Selection but I was also expecting entertainment. This book gave me no entertainment. It gave me cheesy, cringy dialogue, boring characters and no plot. I truly think I lost brain cells reading this book.

I’m doing you all a favor by encouraging you to swerve right past this book at the bookstore and to NOT read it. You’re welcome.

Read Spoiler Free Review for A Curse so Dark and Lonely

Read Spoiler Free Review for Shadow and Bone

Read Review for A Court os Silver Flames

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A Curse So Dark And Lonely by Brigid kemmemer- A Book Review

6/25/2021

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Note: This review is spoiler free (spoilers are all marked and have warnings)!
Book: A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Genre: Fantasy
Age: For readers 13 and up
Rating: 2/5 Stars

Out of all the books I’ve read in 2021, I think ACSDAL takes the title for “worst book I’ve read this year”. It was just so mind-numbingly boring and the same Beauty and the Beast retelling that has already been done like 20562754934 times. The only reason this book wasn’t a dnf was because I was forced to read it as my choice book for english class. The cringy dialogue, the boring plot, and the bland characters had me on the verge of falling asleep. There is literally no substance to this book.

What I hated:

Not Like Other Girls (Minor Spoilers for the first 25 pages of this book): This just deserves a whole category in my review. Rhen said on page 25 :

“Most of the girls Grey drags from her world won’t touch a blade or bridal, and instead gravitate to finery found within the lushly outfitted wardrobes inside Ironrose Castle. This early in the season, the other girl would sit by the hearth and gaze at me over crystal goblets, while I’d pour wine and tell them stories with just enough devilishness to make them blush. If I’d put a crystal goblet in this one’s hand, she’d likely smash it and use the shards to cut me”.

Oh that makes PERFECT sense. So the other girls he kidnapped and forcefully took to his castle were totally fine with it! 😄 Yah because everyone is just dying to get kidnapped by hot and handsome Rhen 😫 Ugh please. 🙄 Having the other girls blush and swoon over Rhen is just to create an exaggerated comparison of how Harper is “not like other girls'' because she is more stubborn than them. But the way she acted after getting kidnapped by these two is not anything extraordinary. She was mad at them (rightfully so) but that didn’t seem like a far fetched reaction. I mean, if anyone was kidnapped wouldn’t they also be mad at their captors? Would ANYONE sit and blush at their captors?!?! This trope just grated on my nerves when I read cringe worthy lines like those. Rhen be like: OoOooOoo HaRpeR is DiFfereNt aNd SpEciAl BeCaUsE ShE AcTuAlLy AcKnOwlEdgEs ThAt I’m A DouCheBaG.

Here are some other cringy “not like other girls” lines. CAUTION: Read these at your own risk because you might die out of cringe. (Also the quotes might be considered a very very mild spoiler)

"Did you play cards with the other hundreds of girls?"
"No."
That surprises me. "Why not?"
He rubs at his jaw. "That is a complicated question, my lady. Likely for the same reason I never found need to face them with a weapon."
AND
"She is interesting."
My eyes flick up. That's not a word I've ever heard Grey use to describe one of the girls. "Interesting?"

WOW! So SpEciAl and DifFeREnT.
2. Rhen: "I will not force myself on an unwilling girl." OH MY GOSH HE’S SO RESPECTFUL! So respectful he kidnaps girls and forces them to live in his castle for months! But that doesn’t matter because at least he won’t force himself on Harper! The bare minimum! What a kind guy! 🤠 👍
3. The Most YA Book Ever: This book has to be the MOST YA thing I have read in a while. It has all the elements to make the most horrific, juvenile YA book out there. I felt like the author treated this book as a potion and then added all the ingredients to make this book a typical, boring, enemies to lovers fantasy. There’s a love triangle, there is the “not like other girls” trope, there is “enemies to lovers” trope where the two are enemies for like two pages before they somehow fall in love. I’m telling you guys, this book is BAD.
4. The Romance: I refuse to acknowledge that this is considered romance. I’d like to call it hot trash instead. Typical enemies to lovers where they hate each other and then suddenly have one very very miniscule romantic moment that makes both of them love each other. Blah. This is why I’m starting to really hate enemies to lovers.
5. Plot: Plot? What plot? I don’t remember anything interesting happening in this book

What I liked:

The Cerebral Palsy Rep: I liked how it was included in this book. It was represented in a way where it didn’t become Harper’s only character trait. And Harper was like any YA protagonist, smart and strong. Too bad the author gave her such corny dialogues and a generic YA stubborn attitude.

Definitely avoid this book.
Red Flag #1: It is an extremely hyped book on Booktok and Bookstagram. That should already tell you how bad it is.
Red Flag #2: ANNOYING CHARACTERS
Red Flag #3: No plot whatsoever
Therefore, do not read this. You can thank me later. But if you still want to read a book where all the magic is sucked out of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale, then be my guest (haha get it? The Beauty and Beast song?)
Even if someone paid me to read the second book, I don’t think I could finish it. I somehow managed to finish the monstrosity of the first book and still be alive. No way am I ever reading the second book.

Read my Aurora Rising Review!

Read my Shadow and Bone review!

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Shadow and Bone (Book 1 of the Grisha Trilogy) by Leigh Bardubo- A Book Review

5/21/2021

51 Comments

Note: This review is spoiler free (spoilers are all marked and have warnings)!
Book: Shadow and Bone
Author: Leigh Bardubo
Genre: Fantasy
Age: For readers 14 and up
Rating: 4.5/5

After finishing Shadow and Bone I WAS SPEECHLESS?? Not necessarily because the book was extraordinary or whatever, but because I actually enjoyed reading it! I LEGIT STAYED UP PAST MY USUAL BEDTIME TO READ THIS ONE! That hasn’t happened in FOREVER! If you've read my other reviews you’d know I’m a grumpy, miserable reviewer who basically rates all books either 2 stars or 3 stars. So it came as a mind blowing surprise when Shadow and Bone became the first book that I had genuinely enjoyed reading in over 6 months. This book had its problems and it’s faults. But ngl, Shadow and Bone was kind of…….fun.
I literally promised myself after reading Six of Crows two years ago that I would NOT under any circumstances read Shadow and Bones. Not that I didn’t like the duology and the characters, but just because I found the Grisha world confusing. (This was my fault because I read Six of Crows before the Grisha Trilogy because I didn’t know the trilogy existed when I read Six of Crows). And partly because I didn’t want to read a separate trilogy where the crows don’t even show up once. Yet here I am, reviewing book one of the Grisha trilogy, and giving it 4.5 stars- which by the way does not happen often when I read hyped YA fantasy books!🤠
Either it’s the addicting storyline or just the captivating writing style. Whatever it was, it successfully kept my nose buried deep into this book.

Dislikes:

Nothing Super Special: This was your ordinary run of the mill YA fantasy book. Did I still devour the book in 48 hours? Yes. Will I remember the plot months later? Probably not. I will remember the addicting writing style but I will not for the life of me remember the plot. And that’s just because this plot is so common that it just blends right in with other YA fantasy.

There are so many books I could immediately rattle off where a girl discovers never before seen hidden powers (how she managed to hide her powers until then is beyond me) while put in a near death situation. The main character is then separated from her best friend/everyone she knows and then is taken to a camp or castle to learn new mystical, magical powers and are supposed to save the world. Anyone else getting major Red Queen vibes? This also reminds me of a less modern version of Percy Jackson in some ways now that I think about it. But it’s the exact storyline as Red Queen! Not that Leigh Bardubo copied or anything, but the plot of Shadow and Bone is so common in YA fantasy that it’s really similar to many books.
Also, is it just a YA thing now where every book has identical main female protagonists? The main character is depicted as ugly by literally everyone but not too ugly to pull like three guys for herself (Isn’t there a third guy in Siege and storm pinning for her?).
Alina: She’s fine, I mean I didn’t hate her or anything but she was nothing out of the ordinary you know? I can’t decide if I really like her or not because on one hand she’s probably one of the more realistic types of YA characters who’s more naive and scared after being thrusted in a very new environment. But at the same time there’s nothing that stands out about Alina. Idk, Maybe I’ll like her more in the second book
The Duke: Why did he even have an orphanage? It’s not like he got anything out of opening up an orphanage- no money or extra privilege- and he doesn't even like kids.
Magic System: Wish we went more in deep on the different powers in this magic system
The Ending SPOILERS SKIP THIS: Meh. I knew Alina would somehow easily escape the Darkling at the last minute with the author giving some feeble reasoning as to why she suddenly broke out of his power at the last minute. Yawn. 🥱

What I liked:

MALINA: I’m officially Malina trash 😃 THEY ARE SO CUTE!!!! As someone who is a hardcore best friends to lovers shipper, I shipped Malina from page one hehe. Shoo Darkling, we don’t want you here 😒
I’M JUST GOING TO LEAVE THIS ADORABLE QUOTE HERE (Spoilers): “I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I’d catch myself walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I’d seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I’d realize that you weren’t there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I’ve risked my life for you. I’ve walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I’d do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day.
Writing Style: Leigh Bardubo has such a flowy writing style that’s just so addicting!
It took literally less than a chapter to get into this story
SPOILERS: This quote: I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming, but somewhere in the dark, I thought I heard him whisper, “Always.”

PEETA?! IS THAT YOU? Hehe my Hunger Games loving heart loved that quote. I may or may not have given 4.5 stars to this book solely because Mal reminded me of Peeta in this one scene….. Jk I would never do that 😏 👀

Whoops. I realized I ranted about Shadow and Bone more than I talked about the nice things about this book🤨 Well don’t listen to whatever I just said. Read the book, it’s actually pretty good but a bit generic.
I would 10/10 recommend this book for those who have just started reading YA fantasy and would still recommend it for more experienced fantasy readers but advise to go in with lower expectations.

Read my Spoiler Free Aurora Rising review!

Read My ACOSF Review!

Read My Spoiler Free Review for Heartless

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A Court Of Silver Flames (ACOSF) by Sarah J Maas Book Review

4/30/2021

38 Comments

Disclaimer: This review is written by a cranky reviewer and contains SPOILERS
Book: ACOSF
Author: Sarah J Maas
Genre: Fantasy
Age: For readers 17 and up (I read this as a 16 year old and that’s my fault but would recommend this for 17 and up)
Rating: 3/5 stars

I tried so hard to hate this book like I hated the rest of the Acotar series (read my Acowar rant review here) but honestly, it wasn’t as bad. Ngl, I really enjoyed some parts (even if it pains me to admit that). All thanks to Nesta who shined in the book. As well as Gwyn and Emerie and even Cassian at times. HOWEVER, the other idiot moron characters in this book (cough cough RHYSAND and AMREN) made me tick off 2 stars.
Before you all scream at me like: “If you hate this series so much why do you read it?”. Basically I was curious about Nesta and I secretly like writing rant reviews and reading books I hate because I have no life and sometimes I like to torture myself by reading books I know I will dislike. 😅

Ok since I know I’m going to be really harsh and picky with this book, let’s first talk about the GOOD things in this book:

Nesta- I saw a lot of people hate her because she was mean and blah blah. Yah she is mean, but you all seem to eat up toxic bad boys who are incredibly selfish and rude. How come when it comes to Nesta it all changes? Personally I think it makes her character interesting.. At least she’s not just sitting, radiating positivity and kindness but doing nothing else like miss Garden Girl over there. 🙄 ✋
How there wasn’t toooo much Feysand: I am so glad we got minimal Feysand scenes in this book. THANK THE LORDS! WHOOO
Friendship: Best part of this book was Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie. End of story.
Blood Rite: Best part of action this whole book had. Wished it lasted longer but SJM would rather place importance on other irrelevant scenes.

Now it’s time for the cranky (crankier) part of the review:

What I didn’t like:
Rhysand 🤢 :

This character brings me to such fury when even his name is mentioned (Someone on Goodreads stated that his name is mentioned 791 times and that is 791 times I contemplated chucking the book across the room). Am I getting overworked and being dramatic over a fictional character? Most certainly yes. I just can’t help it. His stupid, ignorant and rude behavior irk me in a way no other character has ever done.
His attitude to Nesta is just downright mean. He literally has nothing better to do than kick her when she’s already down. Every word he speaks to Nesta is patronizing and condescending.
There was this appalling quote in the book: “Her and Rhysand and the baby. Rhysand--her brother. That’s what he was, wasn’t he?” What bs is this? Brother my as*. He didn’t do ONE THING for Nesta. “Any offering Rhysand threw her way was solely out of love for Feyre”. We’ve already established that Rhysand doesn’t give a crap for Nesta- he only tries to help her because she is Feyre’s sister. That much is obvious. And that’s fine. Nesta wasn’t the nicest to Feyre and so Rhysand doesn’t owe her extra kindness. But does he have to go out of his way to make her feel insignificant and hated? Especially when she’s struggling? AND YOU’RE TELLING ME that SJM had to spout Rhysand’s perfectness and kindness through Nesta’s mouth? How insulting! 😒 This is the man who forced Nesta to go to some camp not because he wanted to see her better, but because he was humiliated at Nesta spending 500 gold coins at some bar. So his plan of action was to demolish an ENTIRE VILLAGE where people ACTUALLY LIVE. Who does that? He just destroyed a whole village worth of people’s homes! THIS is the man who Nesta praised at the end, even though we all know that it’s not deserved. Rhysand did not help Nesta. He insulted her every opening he could get. He does not deserve praise from Nesta’s mouth. At least not now. Because that quote was just so sudden. A few chapters ago, Nesta still hated Rhysand and now she’s calling him her brother? Perhaps this quote would have been better suited to put in the sequel to this book?
Hiding that Feyre’s pregnancy would kill her was a really bad move on Rhysand’s part. Feyre had a right to know. And when Nesta told Feyre, Rhysand was like “Get Nesta out of this city. Right now. I’ll kill her” blah blah. Well at least someone had the courage to tell Feyre the potential threat. If she had not, then Feyre would have given birth less than a month later all happy and then figured out on that day that she would die.
But what makes that decision to not tell Feyre such a hypocritical decision on Rhysand’s part is that earlier in the book when he announced Feyre’s pregnancy, he eyed Nesta threateningly as if she would suddenly attack Feyre and kill her and her baby (what is with Rhysand and villainizing Nesta?). But the funny thing is that Rhysand is the threat here, by not telling Feyre about her own impending death. Yet he hypociritcally glares at Nesta instead. Like what?? 😑

Amren:

Don’t even get me started on this infuriating woman. She constantly shamed Nesta for getting together with Cassian. (And then our feminist king Rhysand agreed with Amren when she was slu* shaming Nesta in the earlier parts of the book). And she constantly insults Nesta’s appearance. We get it, Amren. You’re not exactly helping.
When Nesta apologized to Amren, Amren then make some irrelevant comment that had nothing to do with Nesta’s apology. PLUS when Nesta apologized, Amren should have apologized too. Amren hurt Nesta a lot and was very rude and obnoxious to her as well.

Elain:

Spoiler Alert (Not really): Elain is still a gardener with the personality of a doorknob. But now she’s not just any irrelevant doorknob, she’s a hypocritical one too. The way she acted….No. Just no. When ELAIN was not speaking all of Acowar because of her trauma, I didn’t see Nesta give up on her? Nesta was there for her every. single. day. So why is it, that when Nesta needs help, Elain doesn’t care enough for her sister to help her? WHY DOESN’T SHE GET OFF HER HIGH HORSE AND HELP HER SISTER WHEN SHE CLEARLY NEEDS HER?! Before Nesta called her a useless garden person in this story, Elain clearly could have visited Nesta (there was no hard feelings then). But noooo Elain is just lazy to put in the effort to help her sister. She would rather bake cookies and water plants than visit her sister and be there for her. Sure, she might have visited her sister once or twice and Nesta probably yelled at her. But you can’t just give up after that. This is your SISTER we’re talking about. Nesta will not open up with just one or two pity visits. It takes time but Elain nor anyone else in this book put in the effort. Nesta was willing to put that effort for Elain even when Elain ignored her for months and wouldn’t speak in Acowar. It makes me sad to see that Elain never put in enough effort to be there for Nesta.

Cassian:

Mostly, I liked Cassian. But I kind of hate how Cassian isn’t ready to hear that Rhysand is not some flawless god. Nesta could utter two words about him (all very valid especially after the way he treats her) and Cassian would get so angry at her-like downright mad. Not just Cassian, but why does everyone insist on treating Rhysand like the best thing that ever existed?

Mates:

Ofc since this a SJM book she just had to play the Mate card huh? I hate the whole idea of mates and fate decided soulmates but whatever floats your boat. I can’t wait for the next book where I will have to read the word mate 202850183508245 times! 🤠 (Sarcasm).

Blood Rite Rant:

When Nesta got taken away to the Blood Rite, THE REST OF THEM DIDN’T EVEN CARE?! They only cared about FRIKIN ERIS? Feyre (who was written as someone who cares about her sister so much blah blah) didn’t even bat an eye. Cassian had the only acceptable response to finding her gone.
After Blood Rite ended: Right after Brialyn was defeated, a second later Azriel and Mor came? Could they not have come like a minute earlier? How did they know Cassian and Nesta were at that part of the mountain anyways? And if they did know, why did they not stop the Queen? AND HOW COME THEY WERE NOT HAPPY NESTA WAS ALIVE, WORRIED ABOUT CASSIAN, OR ASKING WHERE GYWN AND EMERIE WERE?! They just walked into the scene so casually as if Nesta and Cassian weren’t all bloody and beat up.

Nesta’s Powers

The amount of disappointment I felt when Nesta lost all her powers at the end was very tangible. Like?? The whole book we NEVER see Nesta use her powers. We see some silver flame in her eyes and then it vanishes a second later. We NEVER even got to explore her powers. And then all too soon it’s gone.

Ladies and gentlemen, do not read this book. JK you can read this book for Nesta and then skip all the parts where Rhysand and Amren show up. Then it would be a great book 😃

Click Here to Read My Spoiler Free Review of The Shadows Between Us

Click here to read my Spoiler free review of "Heartless"

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BOOK REVIEW FOR "THE SHADOWS BETWEEN US" BY TRICIA LEVENSELLER

11/21/2020

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Note: This review is spoiler free (spoilers are all marked and have warnings)!
Book: The Shadows Between Us
Author: Tricia Levenseller
Genre: Fantasy
Age: For readers 14 and up
Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Synopsis: Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power:
1) Woo the Shadow King.
2) Marry him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.

Now doesn’t that synopsis just sound amazing! Yah well it did, but it turns out the synopsis was the only good part of this entire book.
Meh. That is what I have to say about this book. Completely and overwhelmingly meh. I mean the characters were flat, the storyline was cliche, the worldbuilding was nonexistent and it was just so boring and predictable!

I wanted to like this book, I really did but it just was such..... a huge mess. Where’s the flavor? Where’s the villain? Where’s the action?. Now I know what you’re thinking: “Not every story needs to be a fantasy style action packed novel” and I agree but... this book was literally marketed as a fantasy plotline with Slytherin type characters?!? And don’t get me started on the “Slytherin” characters.

What I didn’t Like:

Flat Characters:

Ok this was a huge reason why this book just didn’t do it for me. The characters are SO underdeveloped, meaning we get no backstory on them on why Alessandra is the way she is. I mean, believe it or not, but people aren’t just born with the diabolical idea of taking over an entire kingdom. We get a few hints that she’s like this because of her neglecting dad and her sister, which she hates (we were never given a reason on why she hates her sister). But we never really got a full story on how her sister treated her badly or how Alessandra suffered years of neglect. It would have made such a BIG difference if we had just gotten a few flashbacks in Alessandra’s childhood of how poorly she was treated and how she then grew up bitter with a plan to prove her dad and sister wrong. Oh and her mom? She’s frickin DEAD and we get like two mentions about her!

Next we have Kallias…. WHO LET ME THINK THAT HE WAS GOING TO BE SOME HOT TOXIC BOY? He literally has the personality of a rock. Actually, even rocks can be more interesting than this Kallias dude, so I take that back. Really, what did Kallias contribute to the story? He’s a horrible king who has to rely on Alessandra’s wise (more like obvious and mediocre) ideas to solve his own kingdom’s problems. He’s also clearly stupid (him and Alessandra) because I knew from a mile away who the villains were.
2. The Plot: Hey guys, I need some help. I searched high and low but couldn’t find the plot to this story! If anyone even has an inkling as to what happened in this book, please tell me because I have no clue! In all seriousness, I finished this book last week and already forgot like half the plot because THERE IS NONE! The whole book is Alessandra just living in the castle, gossiping with her friends and frollicking through the castle’s gardens. This is like the Selection but a hundred times worse (and I actually liked the Selection because it had a good romance, which this book lacks but more on that later). Literally the only good part about this book was that it was so short. I could not have handled more than 300 pages of this uneventful story.
3. The Inconsistencies and Unrealisticness (Contains very minor spoilers that aren’t important to the story):
The Father character: A huge inconsistency with this character! At the beginning, we are introduced to this character as a more power hungry guy who wants to marry off his daughters to rich and wealthy men. But then halfway through the father switches majorly. While Alessandra is “wooing” the king, her father keeps telling her to stop trying to win the king over and to settle for a mere lord. What?? The power hungry father we see at the beginning would have never said this but would have done everything he could to get Alessandra to marry the king so he could benefit off of that. Instead her father came several times to the castle asking Alessandra to just marry a lord. This made no sense whatsoever for the father character.
During the wrestling match Alessandra went to, she placed a bet on the smaller man. Then during the wrestling match, she, as an AUDIENCE member, went to go give tips to the wrestler. She literally gave away tricks and told the wrestler where to place his punches and the weak spots on the other wrestler. Huh??? What kind of wrestling place allows the audience members to intervene, give the wrestler tips and call it a fair match?
Another unrealistic part of this book are how dumb the villains are. SPOILERS: On page 181, when someone stabbed Kallias, they just assumed he was dead. They also then saw Alessandra lying on the ground and she said “Go, you killed him, go before the guards get you” and then the villain is dumb enough to believe her, just leave her on the ground instead of stabbing her too and then walks away. That gives Alessandra a chance to stab him back. Literally a villain should not be THIS dumb to just leave the two of them there and believe Alessandra’s words.
4. World Building? Haven’t heard of her: I don’t even remember the name of this kingdom. It was probably mentioned like once. Anyways, where is the world building? Was it on vacation? It must have been on vacation, because it obviously wasn’t present in this book. Nothing is explained in this book about how the kingdom works or anything. Then at some points in the book they throw around some words pertaining to their world that I have no clue what they’re talking about.
5. Super Predictable (SPOILERS skip this paragraph): I saw the Leandros thing from a MILE away (though I didn’t guess about it being Xanthos, so I’ll give the author credit on that brilliant plot twist). The Vasco thing? Was that supposed to be a surprise? I genuinely thought it was obvious from the second encounter we had with him. On page 113, Vasco says to Alessandra: “Now is the perfect opportunity to rely on us to run the kingdom for him while he spends his time with a beautiful young lady such as yourself”. I don’t know if Alessandra’s brain went on vacation along with the world building, or something but SHE CLEARLY WASN”T THINKING. Vasco literally just confessed to wanting to run the kingdom and Alessandra doesn’t even bat an eye. Tell me, read that quote and tell me you did not see Vasco being the villain from a MILE away!
6. Alessandra’s “Wisdom”:
Sure, this girl’s ideas were clever but they were ones that could have been made by anyone. I’m surprised no one else on the council thought of the classic bait and catch plan to catch the bandit. It’s such an obvious method to catch a thief that it’s alarming that Alessandra had to be the first one to say the idea instead of the supposedly “smart” king and council.
When Alessandra goes to see the wrestling matches for the first time, she prides herself on being able to place super smart bets and constantly winning. Yah, her “clever” observations could be made by anyone. On the first match, she observed that the champion wrestler was already wrestling so much, he must have been tired. She then placed a bet on the smaller one. See, this observation could have been made by anyone and the people she was placing bets with are people who are experts at this wrestling business. Surely they would also notice something as easy to notice as heavy breathing from the champion wrestler? But no, somehow Alessandra manages to win this bet and the next twenty or so.
7. Missed Opportunity with Hector (SPOILERS skip paragraph):
“They’ve never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart. And they never will.” So much for that huh? Guess they did eventually find his body, but you know what, it doesn’t even matter because it made NO change to the plot. The buildup to Hector’s investigation being reopened was actually kind of interesting but then it was all dropped suddenly. There was so much the author could have done with this plotpoint! Instead she just wrote that Kallias laughed at Alessandra when she got accused and then he just dismissed the murder case. And that was that. ???? Huh. Well, ok then. I guess instead of pursuing a more interesting plot line of Hector’s murder we can go back to the plotline where Alessandra gossips with her friends and frollicks through the castle gardens once more.
8. Romance: BLAND! This was not a enemies to lovers romance. Kallias didn’t even think of Alessandra as an enemy. Instead, it was like instant love for him. He saw her at a ball once and BAM, he wants her to live in the castle. Next thing you know they want to get married. This was not the enemies to lovers romance I was promised. Thank you, next.

What I Liked:

The First Line: Now that line was awesome! “They’ve never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart. And they never will.” YESSS MUAHAHA perfectly devious and awesome! Just what I signed up for. If only that awesomeness carried into the rest of the book.
The Book Was Short: This is a good lightread novel if you just want to escape the nonstop 600+ page fantasy books.

And that’s about it! Sorry to those who really liked this book, I respect your opinion but this one just wasn’t for me!

Read Review for the Mortal Instruments!

Read my Spoiler Free Review for "Heartless"

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Book review for the mortal instruments series by cassandra clare

9/26/2020

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Note: This review contains spoilers galore!
Book: The Mortal Instruments Series
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Fantasy
Age: For readers 14 and up
Rating: 3/ 5 stars for the series as a whole

City of Bones: ⅗
City of Ashes: 2 /5
City of Glass: 3 /5
City of Fallen Angels: 3.5 /5
City of Lost Souls: 2.5 /5
City of Heavenly Fire: 3.5/5

Note: NO HATE TO THE DARK ARTIFICES. That series is amazing and Emma and Julian are awesome. I actually can’t believe TDA and TMI were written by the same person

After finishing The Mortal Instruments (TMI) for the second time, I had one question: Why do we even need electrical chairs and other torture instruments when we have the Mortal Instruments series instead?! For real... I have NO IDEA how I loved this series the first time around. I remember last year reading all 6 books in 5 days and having a severe book depression after it. Bruh.... what was I even thinking. This series is so cringy and juvenile. Clace (Clary and Jace) make me want to straight up BARF... Ok this is turning out to be a jumbled up review but it’s actually quite fitting since this series is a bunch of jumbled up nonsense anyways.

Ok here’s the rant:

Alec and Magnus: First of all why is Alec so irritated with Magnus for the entirety of book 4 and 5 just because he’s been in relationships before? He’s like 500 years old... what does Alec expect? But nothing fueled my anger up as much as Malec in City of Heavenly Fire! In City of Lost Souls, Alec tries to shorten Magnus’s life and Magnus, rightfully, gets angry. I MEAN WHO WOULDN’T?! But in CoHF, Alec and the rest of the group say a dumb line like this: “None of them could believe Magnus and Alec broke up. They all thought Magnus loved Alec and Alec did too.” WHAT?! This has NOTHING to do with Magnus’s love for Alec and has everything to do with how Alec is a crappy human being. It’s the equivalent of someone you love trying to sell your kidney without your consent. AND THEN the group proceeds to come to Magnus’s house individually to bully him into getting back with Alec. Jace even has the nerve to say something similar to “you don’t even care about Alec”.... Um ok. OH and I can’t forget about when someone (I forget who) said “I can’t believe Magnus hasn’t forgiven Alec. If Alec was sorry enough he should forgive”. NO HE SHOULDN’T. What Alec did was unforgivable and completely wrong.
Clace.... BOILS MY BLOOD. Literally every convo between them:
Clary: Jace-

Jace: Don’t.
DON’T WHAT?! I JUST WANNA KNOW. The amount of times I’ve seen this conversation in this series is absurd

Clary- SHE’S SUCH A STUPID LITTLE WHINY BRAT. Like can you please get it through your thick head that THERE ARE MORE THINGS IN THE WORLD THAN JACE?!? Ugh, oh and why does everyone call her “stubborn” like it’s a good thing? She’s a newbie shadowhunter who doesn’t follow instructions at all and always needs someone to save her.... Why is everyone encouraging this behavior and giving her excuses like “oh she’s just stubborn”. Even Clary herself was like “you can’t stop me. I’m stubborn”.... GROW UP! Stop giving yourself excuses so that you can go and act reckless.
Clary and Jocelyn: Clary’s so rude to Jocelyn, her own mother. And don’t tell me Jocelyn deserves it because she doesn’t. Throughout Clary’s life, she was just trying to protect Clary because she knew Valentine was out there and it was dangerous. The way she protected her? Yah ok fine it might not have been the best way. But what she did was out of motherly concern. BESIDES SHE’S HER MOTHER... the way Clary treats her is appalling. Who talks to their mother like this? In City of Glass, her mom came out of a coma and the first thing Clary says is “Jocelyn.... what are you doing here”. First of all, why are you calling her Jocelyn instead of mom when you've never addressed your mom by your first name before. Second of all, can you please put your frustrations aside for one second and just be happy that your mom came out of a coma? Here’s another example of Clary’s rudeness: in City of Lost Souls, Jocelyn is like “I should have killed Jonathan when he was a child... all this is my fault” and Clary is like “I feel a flash of anger for my mom. She should have killed her own baby. Then none of this would’ve happened”. Clary, how do you expect a mother to kill her own baby?! And then she proceeds to contradict herself in City of Glass when Jocelyn was like “I knew Jonathan was a monster the first time I held him” and Clary thinks: “How could my mother even think that?! How could she judge a baby blah blah.” SHE LITERALLY CONTRADICTS HERSELF. Make it make sense Clary.
Jace and Clary are siblings- Gross... this plot point was so random and unnecessary.... ew. And just saying, there are many other incestuous plots in this book. Like Clary and Sebastien in book 5, Alec liking Jace in book 1 even though Jace and Alec are like siblings, when Isabelle called Jace “super hot” when they are basically siblings, etc.
Alec and Jace being Parabatai- Really?.... well they didn’t act like it. Name one scene where Jace and Alec acted close and all super bonded and parabatai like.
Jace- To think that I ever liked this boy to begin with.... *shakes head*. He’s SO ANNOYING. Spoiler: Here is City of Fallen Angels in a nutshell:

Jace: I don’t deserve you Clary... let me die
Clary: Nooo... Jace-
Jace: Don’t...
Clary and Jace have a romantic (cringy) moment.
Repeat on the next page.

Jordan and Maia- Um what was this?! Ok I get Maia accepting his apology since he wasn’t in control of himself and didn’t mean to hurt her, but that doesn’t erase the fact that he still abused her and she has trauma from it.... instead Jordan forces her into liking him. Example: When Maia stops Jordan from kissing her, Jordan protests and gets angry. 2nd example from City of Lost Souls: Maia says “I accept your apology and want to be friends”. Jordan: “I don’t want to be friends. I’m in love with you. Why can’t you see that I want to be with you?!” SERIOUSLY?! Not cool... you’re guilt tripping her into being with you? It’s good enough that she accepts your apology.... stop pushing it further. She has no obligation to be with you. AND don’t even GET ME STARTED on how clingy he is. In City of Lost Souls, Maia leaves him alone for A SECOND to go talk to Luke. Then Jordan thinks to himself: “She hates me... she’s disgusted by me..” Uh... clingy much?! She left you alone for one second. Chill
More of a question than a dislike but why was Simon so eager to get rid of the Mark of Cain? Like is it that bad? Why does Simon consider it a curse? From my perspective it literally doesn’t harm Simon or anything and it's actually super useful and saved Simon’s life countless times. Besides it only punishes the evil people who do something bad to Simon first, so I don’t see why Simon was like “it’s a curse. I hate it. I’m so excited to give it away to an angel even if it means that everyone who hates me can easily kill me now”
Ok just a note but how stupid is everyone to actually believe that the Faeries were on their side? Like Clary, Jace and the gang KNEW Meliorn was half Fae and couldn’t lie. Plus if this is a government as strict and careful as the Clave, then why didn’t they background check all the Downworld representatives?! It should have been immediately found out that Meliorn was half Fae and could lie. And Clary, who was visited by the Queen numerous times to ask if Clary could make Meliorn a representative should’ve at least raised Clary’s suspicions a little.

What I liked:

Simon and Izzy
The introduction of Emma and Julian... AWWWW CUTIES
The hallucination scenes in Edom where they all enter the place and hallucinate their deepest wish. These scenes just hit differently. I legit felt emotion in these scenes (Rare I know... the TMI books usually evoke zero emotion from me). But seeing Clary with her life if Sebastian in it and seeing Isabelle grow up while Max stays nine forever were very touching.

Aaaaaaand that’s where the list ends.

Moral of the Story: Don’t waste your time on this series.

Read my Spoiler Free Review for "Heartless" By Marissa Meyer

Read my Spoiler Free Review for "The Shadows Between Us"

Read my Spoiler Free Review for "Aurora Rising"

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Book review for "As old as time: a twisted tale" by liz braswell

7/10/2020

2 Comments

Disclaimer: This review is spoiler free except for the parts labelled as spoiler
Book: As Old as Time: a Twisted Tale
Author: Liz Braswell
Page Number: 484 Pages
Genre: Fairy Tale Retelling Fantasy
Age: For readers 12 and up
Rating: 3.5 / 5 stars

Synopsis: What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle of a mother she thought she would never see again. Now it is up to her and the Beast to work together and save all those who were cursed by the Enchantress’s spell.

I’m a sucker for all things Beauty and the Beast! I absolutely LOVE the story and romance between Belle and the Beast. I’ve watched the live action movie and the animated movie both at least a hundred times. So it came as a shock when I realized that I didn’t like this book as much as I would have liked to. It showed so much potential but the magic and beauty from the original story was just….missing….
The book just felt flat, especially near the end.

What I Liked:

Mystery of the Plot: I love how this book kept me on my toes even when it’s a story that I’m very familiar with. After the first 200 pages, this story goes on it’s own, unique and different from the original fairytale. Yet it still gave us some iconic moments between Beauty and the Beast sprinkled throughout the rest of the book.
Belle’s Book Addiction: This was SO relatable! The lines where Belle raves on and on about books...I felt that. Belle has always been my second favorite Disney princess (after Mulan) because I can relate to Belle’s book passion with every fiber in my body. I totally understood when she was talking about how she wanted the adventure and magic from books in her own life.
“Reading books let me realize there was a world beyond the river, beyond the people who made fun of me and my father. (...) I had books. Reading them is like travelling to other places. Being with other people. Living other lives. It made life far less….sad and lonely for me.”
Backstory: Ok wow! The backstory on Maurice and Rosalind was great! At first I was wondering how all this back story connected with the book. Then I realized that it was tied very well with the rest of the story. On page 152 (spoiler: when she came to see if the prince was going to be just like his parents), it all made sense and you could visibly see my revelation as I went “OHH”.
The Pacing: It was well paced and a fast read!

Why This Book Wasn’t a Favorite:

Nonexistent Romance: I searched high and low in this book for even a spark of chemistry but couldn’t find any. Seriously! You’d think a Beauty and the Beast retelling would be primarily focused on the romance between the two. They have no spark, no chemistry, no loving and caring glances or words and. There. Wasn’t. A. Single. “I love you”. WHAT KIND OF BEAUTY AND BEAST RETELLING DOESN”T HAVE THAT?! Remember when you first watched the movie and felt your heart twist when the Beast “died” and Belle was crying over him, telling the Beast that she loved him? Yah well there is no scene even close to that in this book. OH and in the end *spoiler* Belle and the Beast didn’t come to the conclusion themselves that they loved each other. Instead Maurice and Rosalind said “Oh we think you guys love each other” and then Belle and Beast look at each other and blush. THAT’S IT?! After 484 pages we don’t even get to hear it from your own mouths?! Someone has to tell it to you? Yah for sure you guys have true love….
The Ending (Spoilers: skip past this paragraph): There was no transformation scene. There was no iconic Beauty and the Beast ball dance (ok fine I get why we didn’t get this scene but I really wanted it). But there is no excuse for not having the transformation scene. WHO THOUGHT THIS ENDING WAS OK?! I was looking forward to the transformation scene where Belle recognizes him by his blue eyes and...sigh… The ending was very lame. Note: I just realized that Belle doesn’t even know the Beast’s real name by the end of the book.
The Inconsistencies: There were WAYYYY too many inconsistencies in this book but here are a few that made me super confused.

1) The age gap between Belle and the Beast. I think Belle was around four or five when the Prince was cursed (he was eleven). So that makes the age difference between them seven or six years. In this book, the Beast is 21 which means Belle is around 14-15?! Uh….. anyways.
2) Ten years ago when the curse was placed, Chip was five. When the curse was broken he remained five. However the Beast went from an eleven year old boy to a 21 year old man. How did he manage to age while Chip and the other servants stayed the same age? Or does this mean that when he transforms he will be eleven? How is Belle supposed to marry an eleven year old?
3) SPOILERS: When they find Alaric’s dead body ten years later, the corpse is somehow magically still intact. By ten years the body should have been a skeleton so it’s really weird how the Beast could identify who the ten year old corpse was.
4) Spoilers: In the end of the book, the Enchantress says she can either change back all the servants in the castle or change back the Beast. The Beast chose to change all the servants back. Belle’s mother apparently had enough magic to uncurse each furniture one by one. So why did she not have enough power to change just one more person? How come she didn’t have enough magic to change the Beast back?

Gaston: Gaston is one of my favorite villains so I was incredibly disappointed. Sorry to disappoint you all but he’s barely in this book. Gaston has about two scenes and we don’t get to even have a conversation with him until we get around the 300 page benchmark.
Belle: This book completely changed her. In the movie Belle was angry at the Beast when he locked her up and took her prisoner. At one point she even tries to escape out of the castle on her own with scraps of fabric tied together. However in this book, Belle weeped half of the time and it felt like all the determination and motivation in the original Belle had been taken out of her.
The Writing Style: The style was a bit off and in some sentences I got confused at its structure. These weird sentences were often written in odd ways where Brasswell writes in a more confusing sentence structure to get a point across.

This book was enjoyable because of the plot and pacing. However the ending and the non existent romance sort of diluted the reading experience for me. It’s a cute and fast read, but don’t expect too much out of it!

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book review for "the queen of nothing" by holly black

6/28/2020

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Disclaimer: Do NOT read this review if you have not read “The Cruel Prince” or “The Wicked King.”
Book: Queen of Nothing
Author: Holly Black
Page Number: 305 Pages
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/ 5 stars

The Cruel Prince: 5/5 (I rarely give out 5 stars by the way)
The Wicked King: 5/5
Queen of Nothing: 4 /5

“I hate being a fool. I hate the idea of my emotions getting the better of me, making me weak. But my fear of being a fool turned me into one.”

This is a review that pains me to write. I really wanted to love this book and had such high expectations…. QON (Queen of Nothing) just didn’t seem to have the magic that the other two books in the series had. I still devoured this book in one day but something was missing. Yet I can’t stand rating the last book of my 5th favorite series anything less than four stars, so it gets a few extra points simply out of pity.

Synopsis: Power is much easier to acquire than to hold on to. Jude has learned this the hard way after the recent betrayal she received from Cardan. Cursing herself over her stupidity, Jude now resides in the Mortal World, as a queen of nothing. Until Jude’s sister, Taryn, comes to her in search of help. One that requires Jude to venture into the Faerie World in which she is exiled from. But Elfame is not how she had left it. War is coming, and it is coming soon.

Right away, when I first got this book I was surprised at how short it was. There is no way everything can be resolved in just 305 pages! And I was right. There is still a lot of unresolved, barely touched on issues. I am predicting that this is because Holly Black has decided to keep things a bit open ended because she is thinking of a spinoff series, with Oak as the main character.
The shortness of the book also contributed to the ending being rushed, but more on that later.

“Come home and shout at me. Come home and fight with me. Come home and break my heart, if you must. Just come home.”

What I liked:

Jude: I’ve always loved Jude and considered her one of the most clever main protagonists ever. Usually I like Cardan and Jude equally, however Cardan was a huge disappointment in this book, so Jude stood out even more. Note: But I did think it was weird how Jude had become less revenge motivated in this book.
The First 75 Pages: I don’t even know why I enjoyed these pages as much as I did, but they were awesome! Spoilers: This book did not disappoint in the first 75 pages which is up until after Cardan discovers that it was Jude at the inquisition and not Taryn. I loved these initial pages because I got to read about how Jude was adjusting to the Mortal World and I got to read about the scene where Jude and Cardan meet again! *squeals*
Grima Mog: I love her!!!! And that fight scene at the beginning of the book was awesome.
Madoc’s Ending: Spoilers: I’m actually happy with the ending that Madoc gets. They all get to live together as a family again and Madoc can try to become the good father that he never was. Although there are many problems with this ending (Madoc could fill Oak’s head with propaganda and ideas for when he gets older and becomes king), I still love Madoc’s ending.

“‘It’s you I love,’ he says. ‘I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn’t have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours.’ He walks to the door to the royal chambers, as though to end the conversation. ‘You probably guessed as much,’ he says. ‘But just in case you didn’t.’”

Why this book was a massive disappointment:

Cardan: Ok I know that in an enemies to lover trope, they can’t always stay enemies and that the boy can’t always be a jerk…. But I didn’t expect Cardan to be a master of trickery in “The Wicked King” and then suddenly turn into a mushy, super nice guy in “Queen of Nothing”. Where’s the transition? As a reader, it would have really helped to actually read about the pain that Cardan felt when Jude was gone and see how that pain turned into love instead of just Cardan saying “I missed you while you were gone” or something like that. Cardan felt out of character this whole book.
Lady Asha: What was the point? There’s all this built up tension about Lady Asha and her circle of rebels. You would think that she would play a role in this book, but SHE. DOESN’T. She has absolutely no role in this book, which makes me mad, because the ending could have used more plot twists/action. Which leads me to my next point:
The Battle (Spoilers): Was there even one? This was supposed to be a high stakes battle and the final one in this series. It should have ended the series with a bang! Instead the “battle” (if you can even call it one) lasted about 3 pages and had no action whatsoever. Why did Jude even bother gearing up for a battle? Nothing happened. To make things even more dull, Holly Black decided to make Madoc surrender (which seemed very out of character for Madoc).
The Lame Ending (Spoilers): Cardan turning into a snake was unexpected and I was happy that finally there is some kind of plot twist in this book! However the ending just erased the impact of that scene. Even though I love Cardan, the ending would have had a more lasting impact if he had died. (I didn’t get the need to resurrect Cardan? Jude chopped off the snake’s head so he should have been dead.) My favorite endings are always the most memorable, in which a character that was very dear to me dies. As much as I hate characters dying, without it, the book seems too perfect. In “Queen of Nothing”, nobody died and it made the ending seem unrealistic, especially since they all just came out of a huge “battle”.
Cardan’s reason for Exilement (Spoilers): Seriously? After that amazing plot twist at the end of “The Wicked King”, you’re telling me that it was all just a big misunderstanding on Jude’s part?! It would have been so much better if Cardan actually had intention to take revenge on Jude and that’s why he exiled her.
Jurdan: I loved this couple so much but I didn’t feel the magic between them like I did in the first two books.

“By you, I am forever undone”

While I didn’t like this book as much as I wanted to, I still am sad to see these characters go. Jude and Cardan will always have a special place in my heart. The Cruel Prince is a book that I will never stop recommending and even if the last installment in the series wasn’t the best, I will continue to recommend this trilogy!

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