Angela
i guess this was better than the last one.
the ending still annoyed me but i didn't feel as passionately about it as the first one [don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing though].
I'm gonna be honest i skipped all the sex scenes. i tried and i couldn't. maybe cause i was listening to the audiobook but they disgusted me a lot [and as someone who reads fanfics and manga i can tell you I'm not a prude or smth; they were just very much not my cup of tea].
also, this was way too sweet. not even in the feelings the characters were expressing but more so in the language they were expressing them with.
i do still like the writing overall though. i like the humour and the sarcasm and just the attitude (?), i don't know. i like a lot of scenes but i liked them as scenes and not as parts of the book.
funny thing is I usually actually like [and support] the “one-night-stand” and “sleeping-around” and “friends-with-benefits” situations cause “hell yeah!! sex doesn't not equal love or relationship. if you're attracted to smb and they are attracted to you in that way, then go for it, kids” but here it's just... i don't know, it didn't work for me. it was so clear from the beginning that it was more than that. and while I like stories where characters start fucking only to realise “shit, I think I'm starting to like you”, I like it more where it's with strangers or even sort of an enemies situation [you know the I don't like you but you're hot but wait now that we've had sex I think you're not as bad as I thought] and not acquaintances/friends.
also, i've now read reviews about the whole “zaf as a muslim character would never sleep with her even if he's not practising” and yeah...my dad is a “non-practising” muslim, and considering the fact that i was born before my parents got married, I'm pretty confident in saying you guys are very wrong. don't forget that not every representation of your identity is a representation of your story. at least in the way that zaf is muslim he is very much like my dad so i'd say it's fairly accurate. and some of my cousins do wear hijabs but that's basically all the took from Islam. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just saying that nowadays it's common for ppl to take parts of smth they like and leave parts they don't like out. so just because it's not your experience doesn't mean it isn't an accurate representation of other ppl you don't know.
i really fucking hated that ending
to the point that I almost want to give it a 2 star even though I considered giving it a 4 at some point
chloe is so fucking annoying and no I don't care that she has issues. we all have fucking issues.
there's a big difference though between having issues and focusing on yourself after you make another person, one you supposedly love, have a fucking panic attack. to the point that he is the one being punished by the ending, thinking he “fucked up” and trying desperately to “make things right”. yeah, how about no? i swear to god, if he actually said “I'm sorry I had a panic attack” [which he almost did] this would've been a one-star review.
it didn't help that I knew what the main conflict was going to be the second I saw that list.
and if we spent a little less time on “omg, I want to fuck her/him so much” and put the conflict a little earlier maybe there'd be more time to properly resolve it instead of that cheesy Hollywood ending [which especially disappointed cause I expect more from a book written by a British author].
in any case, red deserved better than chloe.
also also, I'm not the one to talk since I have a tendency to like a romance more the unhealthier it is [in fiction] but I actually agree with chloe that their love relationship seems a bit codependent? idk if that's what I'm trying to get at, but definitely not the healthiest thing on earth [i could go on a rant how life isn't healthy to begin with so you shouldn't strive for smth 100% healthy anyway, but the book seemed to care about this being “a perfect relationship” and it really isn't, so]
almost forgot
it was too long in my opinion. it was a ten-hour audiobook and it could've easily been around eight.
concept: great
execution: no, thank you
sex scenes are awkward
every single point is repeated over and over again [yes, I got it, he has a nice dick, and you want to get married and have kids, ugh, shut up already]
the whole plot is basically non-existent
they want to fuck each other; they do that; conflict happens; they are sad cause they wanted to fuck each other some more but, you know, conflict; conflict resolved. yay, wedding
and also of course josh is a perfect man, cause those exist. but also he needs to be explained why what he did was bad. cause brain and perfection don't go together apparently
at least he's not as dumb as his friend. with whom josh apparently never had a single fight before, but who decided to be an asshole suddenly since the book needed a conflict. i even thought maybe there's some hidden plot of brody actually having a crush on josh all these years and now that josh is finally serious about a girl he can't take it. but no, that would be to plot-heavy for this book. we need to get back to our main characters wanting to have sex. cause in case you didn't catch it before, he has a great dick and they really want to fuck
the language is too cheesy and cringe-inducing: “Falling in love with you is the least professional thing I've ever done. And I want to keep doing it over and over again.”
ugh, no thank you
overall, this was bad and I wish I didn't read it
[also gram was annoying]
5 chapters in update
as smb from eastern Europe, i want to say that all the “inspired” bits are very annoying so far, such as the heavily accented narration. i don't see the reason for it to be so. it could just as easily have been a completely original world. i can kind of see the inspiration but also it could've just as easily been any other gods' pantheon. just because the gods have Slavic names [which btw gods in Ancient Rus' did not have. if you're curious the highest god, the one parallels to Odin and Zeus was called Perun, for example. which is not a name actual person has. and i personally met two Veceslavs in my life cause it's a very common name. so can we like... not give gods human names? please?] doesn't make it a Slavic inspired fantasy. the interactions with gods are fun though. but i do usually like those. it reminded me of the rick riordan's egypt series. i love the banter.
the other thing is that during a religious war, no side that calls the other heretics and preaches the conversion or elimination policy can ever get my sympathy. this just won't happen.
also, why is Serefin giving me major Zuko vibes? with his whole “i don't want to do these terrible things but i can't not so oh well. and also i wish there wasn't a war and i could just be the prince instead of hunting the avatar the cleric”. [while! btw. Nadezhda came around killing ppl very fucking quickly after struggling with it for five seconds]. and the way he talks about his dad. plus his sister [Ostyia is his sister, right?] who is enjoying this way too much is Azula if Azula cared for her brother [at least for now she seems to genuinely care for him and honestly i hope this point stays cause Serefin needs some love... wow, i fell quickly]
Nadezhda on the other hand is super annoying. it's not even the “unlikable character” conversation cause i honestly don't give a fuck [Serefin just killed a kid and i still like him the best out of all the cast]. i just don't root for her. i wanted Serefin to catch her and she escaped and i was very disappointed about it.
also the whole holiness thing, i know the series synopsis says “Joan of Arc-inspired” [which btw, if i'd seen it sooner probably wouldn't have picked this book up at all, cause no thank you] but please stop with the chosen one+holy cause it's annoying
the character i'm very curious about is Malachiasz. he reminds me of smb and i can't put my finger on it. animes would often have characters like this. he's sort of giving me the “plot twist i'm a villain” vibe but also i'm getting smth else from him. he's like a Tyki Mikk or smth. like yes, i am getting the villain vibes but that only makes me trust him more. idk, i have theories about him [or at least if this was anime i know how this would've turned out and i really wish we will go that route]
finished:
the only thing i can say is that it was predictable
but I'm not sure i even care anymore
so i saw this on one of the goodreads lists and was like “wait, I gave it a 2? not a 1?? a 2? really??? ...why??”. so I thought i'd go look at what I said in my review... and there wasn't one.
...
good job, me. are you proud of yourself? i hope you are.
i have no idea why this isn't a one but objectively, it probably wasn't HORRIBLE. like, I have read worse things. and I do remember there being SOME things that were kind of okay-ish. but also this was the worst book I've read in 2020 and I hate it with a passion. i really do.
so, what do I remember?
i remember I guessed the plot twist. okay, maybe not the whole plot twist, but I guessed like 85% of the reveals. which doesn't usually bother me. i look up spoilers to things purposefully sometimes. but this was very predictable. like it was painful how predictable this was. because! if I guessed it all, why haven't the main character? she is supposed to be very smart. or at least I think so? this magic school lady hires a muggle basically to solve the case magic police ppl couldn't solve. she doesn't hire a witch or a wizard and she doesn't hire some famous sherlock holmes type character [and don't give me the whole International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy bullshit. if they wanted the case solved this badly they could've made an exception. and maybe just erase the memory afterwards. don't tell me they can't erase memories, cause I won't buy it.]
so anyway, our main character is supposed to be very smart. or if not very then at least just smart. and with all the heavy-handed foreshadowing and hints and just everything she didn't put two and two together until the scene unravelled right in front of her?? are we like /sure/ she's smart? cause she seems like a dumb-dumb to me.
then there was a love interest? and there was a whole side plot with him and a certain secret but I honestly do not remember how it ended. I'm guessing not good, but I don't care. and for a person who ships characters who have never even met [not always but that happened once or twice!] that's saying a lot. i remember I liked the guy fine. and I remember I didn't approve of the way the plot was going with those two. but I don't really remember how it all ended.
now we need to talk about an elephant in the room. cause it sits there in the corner and glares at me. I see you, mate. stop doing that! so the elephant, the “this is a noir harry potter fanfiction” elephant. or is it? it tries to be. but it ends up being not really noir cause the writing doesn't exactly pull it off. it tries. the beginning was fine. it had that whole jessica-jones-but-magic vibe. only jessica is, you know, good at her job and has a better-established attitude and some agency about her. our main character lacks in that department. also, our main character is basically an alcoholic. but she seems to be an alcoholic only to be noir and that's not enough to be noir, honey, I'm sorry. you're just whiny and annoying. the whole “family is complicated” is so lily and petunia. and then we get to the school and the whole thing turns into some weird pretty little liars/gossip girl mash-up. if anyone has seen the spin-off PLL: the perfectionists, this book is that but with magic. it tries to pull off the dark academia but it falls short. i feel like it might have improved a little if it was a college? cause this was an adult book about young adults and I did not come here for the teenage drama of “I have daddy/sibling/friend issues”.
there were interesting moments magic wise. what actually happened is kind of an interesting and truly creepy idea. and the abortion scene... fuck that abortion scene. wow. it was my favourite moment but wow.
so overall, I can see ppl liking it, but I was very disappointed.
i do not care for ppl who are not even British to write their version of jack the ripper [even yana toboso's version annoyed me a bit and i love her]
i don't exactly appreciate history being rewritten as a cover up. from big things to small [though it is debatable whether anything from history can be called small – hello, butterfly effect]. i didn't like magic [magnus] being involved in french revolution and i liked it even more for a demon to be the real jack the ripper. a human did that. some human became a real life monster and did these things. and i personally neither need nor want a magical exuse
oh how i hate the 20th century. even more so when the disasters of twentieth century are being connected to magic in one way or the other in fiction. don't shift the responsibility from humanity – it doesn't deserve it
another thing i don't like is when some magical being knew it was all going to happen but either didn't care enough to change anything or simply couldn't
and yet
this wasn't bad
this was interesting
i almost liked it