Astraios
The relationship between Nadim and Zara is both utterly weird and damn magnificent. As the rest of the story, every character is interesting in it's own way, but I'm mostly liking this book because stars, universe, ALIENS, war between aliens ??? I'm sold.
I just wished there was more otherworldly planets, not just that one time and then just the inside of Leviathans, though I get why that would not be relevant, but after a few chapters I felt kind of claustrophobic.
I'm honestly disappointed, I saw this book in my local bookstore once, loved the idea and try to find it for months, so when I finally got my hands on a copy, I was really excited.
And then I started reading. It's slow. Really, really, way too slow. And the more I was learning about the characters, the less I was interested in their destiny or whatever it's called when a paper figure is trying to get to the end of the book.
Maybe it's just not for me, but I was struggling to get to the end of each page, hoping maybe, just maybe it would finally get better, but at some point I realised I was actually dreading the idea to pick it up again to read some more.
I did not finish this book because I honestly don't want to hate it, and I'm sad that I didn't like it, given how much I expected the story during the months it took me to find it.
I despise Andreus from the bottom of my heart.
That being said, I was enthralled by the story, the political stakes that were displayed and how human were the twins, with their own flaws and qualities. I was surprise that there was no magic in the realm, even though the seer and connections to the wind seem to be, but it only made the story a bit more interesting given that it was only relying on the characters personalities, not some otherwordly experiment. Andreus is a love-blinded, selfish bastard because he is, not because he's under some kind of spell.
I enjoy the reading, really I do. I'm curious about the political intrigues, but that's it, because everything else is SO expected, there is literally no surprise in any of what should be a plot twist. One of the character is the long lost heir of a faraway kingdom ? We've seen that coming from the beginning. Someone can wield magic when there is no more magic ? Well, guess who's not surprised ? I'm just disappointed that there is no real surprise here.
It took me a while to get to read this book.
I had so much expectations, and was scared to be disappointed.
I loved every word of it.
I already knew I was fond of the “report style” since Illuminae, but here it just made sense, and discovering characters through discussions, as some kind of observation, made the whole “science stuff” much more real.
It also made the characters more human, with just a few span of their lives exposed, some crude truths thrown in the arc of History.
I don't know guys I loved this book, and the cliffhanger made me scream, I can't wait to get my hands on the next book.
First of all, I love August Flynn and his flaws and his doubts and everything that makes him. And I love Kate Harker and her anger and her violence and her fears. I wasn't ready to let them go when I started this book, I'm still not doing good now that I have to put down the book.
Unlike many other sequels I've read, Our Dark Duet is not simply a second story, happening after and that if you're not happy about, you can just forget and decide only the first book ever existed. Our Dark Duet is happening with This Savage Song. Everything was just the obvious ending of what had been started. The ones that died are still here in some way, and those who survived suffered the consequences, or gained from it.
It was a bit long sometimes at the beginning, but once the rythm is settled, everything's happening so fast, you can't put the book for a minute.
I cried for this, I got angry for this, and Todd and Viola slowly won my heart (and soul and kidney for that matter).
Nothing was really expected, except maybe for one or two ‘incidents', al of it was a surprise, mostly the end. I'm not over the end.
L'étrange sentiment de retrouver Mathias Malzieu, mais pas tout à fait. Une renaissance, un nouveau lui. Le choc au fil des mots, la poésie allègre qui danse avec une quelque chose de plus sombre.
Touchant, comme toujours, mais pas ennivrant, pas à la manière rêveuse d'un Jack au coeur d'horloge ou des baisers qui rendent invisibles, parce que c'est tout en réalité, et c'est un joli tour de force d'avoir su conserver les mots poètes et la douceur des guerriers-vampire en pyjama.
I remember reading this book a few years ago, because my little brother had to review it for school. He didn't wanted to read it, so I tried to prove him wrong and read this.
I already had Battle Royale on my shelves so I figured it'd be a kids version of it.
Boy was I wrong. It's a good book when you consider WHEN it'd been written.
The characters are so hateful, but I think it's the rude reality : kids are monsters, and it can only get bad when they're on their own. This is surprisingly honest I think : if you're not like everyone around you, then you're the monster, and when you try to fit in, you become something much worse.
Besides the characters tho', the end is such a disappointment. I don't know what I was expecting but after such escalating violence, it felt like the option of facility.
It's a good book when you're around 14, but not for much longer.
It's a weird and funny thing to go back to old childhood memories. I had some vague notions of how fiercely I had love Iorek, and hated Ms Coulter, but reading it almost ten years later, I realize how much I forgot about the plot. Hell, I didn't even remember how the first and second book were related in any way, and now I'm just more excited than before to discover the end of the trilogy again.
For those who've never read The Golden Compass : do it, give it to children, to lovers, to friends, to anyone barely smiling at you in the street. It's a formidable adventure with witches, warriors, parenting gone bad, gyptians, and you'll travel from the posh side of England to the faraway cold of the Northern lands. There's so few things more exciting than this book.