falon
I think this might be just because I don't like romance that I didn't love this. I couldn't help noticing the times when Pike was really possessive or controlling and it was never addressed. The time he picked her up and spanked her against her will? Nope. If scenes like that had been cut out, this could easily have been a 4 star book. All the scenes like that completely took away from the moments where Jordan (seemingly) put Pike in his place for being an asshole. They felt out of place and strange and made me not like Pike and Jordan together. They usually seemed to have a lot of chemistry and to be a good match, but then there would be these weird, jarring scenes where Pike blew up on her, and she often said “you're not my father” because he literally was treating her like a child. I don't know; the rest of it was fine but all the stuff I said really detracted from the story for me.
3.5
I feel weird about this installment in the series. I loved the first two books, was iffy on the third, and didn't like the fourth at all. This one was...weird. It reminded me a lot of Beneath the Sugar Sky in the quest/plot-heavy aspect. I didn't love it in that one and I didn't in this one either. I think in the quest stories the length of the novels work against them. I wanted more time and development with Jack and Jill, Jill especially. I'm not sure in what way, but the ending felt rushed and left something to be desired. That being said, I loved being back with these characters, Jack was a horrific delight, Jack and Alexis's relationship was so cute and gay and I'm in love with it. I thought Jack's OCD was really well done. Overall, I liked it, but Down Among the Sticks and Bones will always be my favorite.
This was so so cute! The disability representation (while I cannot speak to it's accuracy) seemed genuine and real. The mental health rep was so well done. Taichi was a literal ray of sunshine; he was so sweet and silly and I loved him with my whole heart. I am not hearing impaired, but with how Kohei isolated himself because communicating was so hard and a burden, I could definitely relate. The only reason I took off a star was because the ending really confused me. I thought Kohei and Taichi were going to get together and then they...didn't? I really didn't know what was happening with them at the end. I know there's more volumes, but I felt like it should've either ended on a cliffhanger, like right after the kiss, or provided some resolution. But in all, I definitely want to read the rest of this series, it's so adorable.
I think this book just wasn't for me. It was very reminiscent of religious texts and proverbs and things like that and I just have personal reasons I don't like those. I felt a lot of these poems were well-written but didn't have any sort of rhythm or well-formed structure. I think this is a great book for a certain audience and I'm just not that audience.
I'm surprised at how low I rated this because i was actually really enjoying the beginning. i thought it was a little trope-y, sure, but the writing was easy, the characters were fun and it seemed like an interesting enough premise. but the downfall of this book for me is inan. i don't know what it is about him but he makes me feel so icky. i hated being in his head and his romance with zelie straight up creeped me out. it was beyond insta-love, filled with angst and saturated in melodrama, and didn't even make sense. one minute they were fighting, and the second inan doesn't act like a douchebag, zelie was in love with him? i'm not buying it. he also changed his mind about magic on a dime, seemingly with only one driving force behind it. he didn't feel like a deep character to me; he felt like a flopped attempt at a complex character that ended up confused and all-over0the-place. the only character i really liked was amari; i've seen her character before, sure, but iactually enjoyed her chapter and thought she was pretty well-written. i enjoyed her arc. the rest of them could be copy-and-pasted from any other fantasy story i've read. i most likely won't continue on with this series unless i'm bored one day and get curious about the cliffhanger.
within 30 pages this writing was already grabbing me by the throat. from there it was just a ride i enjoyed every second of. from the characters and their development to this whacked out world to trying to figure out what the heck was going on, this book held my attention and stole my heart. one of my favorites forever
i actually liked this better than shadow and bone for a couple reasons:
1. NIKOLAI
that's it
that's the review
just kidding
i also found myself more engaged and having strong feelings about the characters, albeit negative ones cough mal cough
it was still messy and nothing happened until the end and alina is a still a piece of white bread i had a better time reading this, probably because i listened to it
The writing was beautiful and it had a really strong beginning but it ended up being lacking in both plot and character development for me. There was no clear antagonist, climax or resolution and I'm not even sure what this was really about. I don't understand the world besides...it's magic. I wasn't engaged and every time I picked it up I wanted to put it down. I liked Zachary and I liked all the story snippets; it felt like a fairy tale or a myth rather than a real novel. But, it is a real novel, and I'm judging it as such.
1.5
i feel really bad but i just don't know what the point of this book was. it was kind of a combination of ari and dante, we are the ants and the perks of being a wallflower but like,,,a low budget mishmash lacking all of the elements that make those books so compelling. i feel like nothing happened and i got nothing from reading it.
i don't really know how to rate this. it's one of the saddest and most disturbing books i've ever read. it was well written, well researched and had fleshed out characters, but i can't say i enjoyed it or would recommend it because of the subject matter, especially because it's based on a true story. so yeah.
i've followed jasmine on instagram for a while and always love her work and her prompts are very inspiring. a lot of these poems really resonated with me and made me think. the way she uses words is really incredible, but i think when she is using more of a conversational tone it takes away from the poem because that crazy flowery writing is what brings it home.
i just...am so glad i waited until i had the toll already to read this. very similar to scythe in the twists and turns and throwing you all over the place, but the final twist creeps up on you and just explodes in the best way. you really get to see the characters develop over the course of this book and transform; even greyson, who's new in this book. the only thing i wasn't a huge fan of was the character of purity. she was very much an average wild girl plot device that i'm sick of seeing. but i'm willing to overlook it in favor of this fantastic sequel. it somehow took things darker than even scythe, and i just can't wait to start the toll in the next five minutes
i feel like,,,i was cheated. i'm just so sick of the cheating spouse trope in thrillers. there's other things that happen in life and i feel like i've just seen it a thousand times. that being said, i had a good time listening to this. i sped right through without even thinking and i ended up invested in alyssia a lot by the end. i thought theo was a good unreliable narrator where most people would probably not realize he's unreliable, but i never trust men so ✌️
i feel...weird about this. i love the idea and the beginning and the set-up and concept and world of this story. it had a lot that i liked. but the writing was direct and completely telling to the point of ridiculousness. it almost felt like a robot was translating a movie into writing. it was so on-the-nose and to-the-point it became tedious and displeasurable to read. also it was a little too close to the hunger games for comfort. but i still want to read the rest of the series.
