Michu

Maybe? Ugh. No. Maybe? Yes for a second. Absolutely not. Okay? Hmm. Sure. No. Ugh.

If you took Shakespeare's Tomorrow and tomorrow soliloquy and added a million pages.

Some bright spots of hope and interesting interjections about art and beauty but all in all a slice of life turned into a textbook about ennui. I kept wanting to be let out.

I enjoyed the journey, as always with Kingfisher, but I wish everything didn't end so predictably. The magic in this book is well constructed and unique, as are the characters and the world. But the narratives and plots wrap up too neatly too quickly.

An interesting premise that goes a little nowhere and ends where you think it will.

To be honest, DNF. It starts in the middle of the last book and I found that I couldn't remember what was happening, nor did I care to look it up, nor were there any context clues in the first chapters to jog my memory. I felt between this and the last novel, like the main character became really whispy and pathetic. I just wasn't compelled anymore.

I changed my rating to five starsa because while I was left scratching my head after the novel, I cannot stop thinking about it and missing the gorgeous and bizarre atmosphere.

Mimi done said her side of some shit. What else do you really want?

I have never read a more incredible duology. Meticulous world building, intrinsic characters were fully fleshed out and surprising, every chapter a compelling progression. I would be surprised if any book beats this in my esteem. Not for a long while.

I used to love this series but the “honeydew” became an egregiously corny meme. it made me celibate. I also loathe that I paid full price for a retelling if the last books from a different POV.

I expected this novel to be different than most of the contemporary fantasy I read based on reviews and word of mouth... but all in all... it wasn't. However, it was compelling. I enjoyed it. The dragons and their personalities are the best part. I just don't think it's as “stand out” as people are saying, unless they haven't read as much of the genre as is current. But it is a good contemporary young female protagonist fantasy novel.

Though I'm not a fan of ambiguous endings, I enjoyed every part of this book. I read it fast, wanting to know what happened next, and enjoyed looking up and discussion symbolism and themes in the book. Compelling characters, riveting for as “novel in a bottle.” Very good.

A little tougher to digest that the first book but still a wonderful read. The world building intrigued me more than the characters.

I couldn't get through it. Not entirely sure why. A little triggering and weird at first so it never grabbed me.

Surprisingly wonderful. Though it shares similarities with other novels in the same genre, the characters are unique and unexpected.

Heartbreaking, layered, phenomenal.

I liked it fine however, I found the battle scenes extremely confusing (who was in water, who was on land, where anyone was,) and the ending sort of tacked on.

I remember telling everyone how good this book was when I started it. However, one week later, i cant remember anything that happened in it! Kind of a “snack” book to me. Very enjoyable but didnt make a huge impact, could use a sequel to flesh out the world more possibly.

Well I read this in English, unsure why it isn't on Goodreads that way anywhere.

A really wonderful and refreshing break from too much Eurocentric fantasy laden with cheap romance. The Poppy War is a gritty, fascinating novel with obvious but not heavy handed historical inspiration. Full of culture and realistic multifaceted characters, politics, magic, and war.

My top recommendation for anyone who reads fantasy and even those who don't.

I became deeply invested in the world and character building so I needed to read it. But the narrative became rushed and there were a lot of interesting plots that seemed to have their heads chopped off. I wondered afterwards of this was supposed to be more than one book, but needed to end here for some reason, or if a deadline crept up on the author. A fun read, but I wanted more than that from the well established universe.

Spoiler:


the connection to her other universes was well established and then in this book seems incredibly forced and doesn't benefit or build the ACOTAR lore at all, but just deus ex machinas it. I hope this is somehow redeemed in other books in either series but I don't feel it will be. They just used it as kind of a way to use artifacts from one series in another. I expected the connection to be way deeper than that. It also doesn't benefit either series to deepen the lore in both, connect them, and then never explain how it affects either universe. it feels like the corny thing they do in MCU post credit scenes l
Readers and the established worlds deserve so much more.

I was obsessed with Holly Black's Cruel Prince series. Everything I've read since then has been... fine. Unfortunately the novels seem to blend together in my mind. I can never remember in hindsight which was which.

Everyone raves about this series but it was severely chronically terminally poorly written. I dont care what happens in this series because the writing was distractingly basic and stunted to the point where is was like... weird. I dont know about the author. I'll give her credit if shes very very young. If a preteen wrote this, kudos, otherwise wtf lol

Beautiful through and through. The Odyessy from another point of view. Madeline Millers sentence structure is just as engaging as her plots. A masterpiece.

“She laughed, a sound of pure joy, and she cried more, because that joy was a miracle.”

My absolute favorite novel.

I enjoyed the rest of the ACOTAR series, however, as someone struggling with trauma, Nesta's story was fascinating, compelling, and resonated with me more than any other fictional novel. Her story is inspiring without being flowery, and the depth of her character and struggles is without match.

One of the novels I revisit often when I need motivation.

The entire Paladin series by T. Kingfisher took a class and a trope I've thought was boring my entire life and elevated it into a complex, human, intricate lifestyle I'm deeply invested and curious about. The whole series is a nuanced exploration of a belief system and its imaginative pitfalls and flaws I'd never have considered on my own. Every character is an adventure within themselves. The author's own investment is obvious in the layered and conflicted paladins and the characters around them. I haven't looked at paladins the same since I started this series and haven't stopped singing its praises to anyone who will listen.

Keep breaking my heart like this, I love it.