Kyle
4.5 stars
I can't easily recommend this one since your enjoyment of this book definitely boils down to if you like the main character. She's so polarizing, and the narration is given such a distinct voice that it will either turn the reader off, or completely capture their full attention.
Overall though, I loved just about everything about this. The characters were compelling, the writing incredibly readable except for a few editing blips, the story extremely engaging, and I became easily emotionally invested in the turnout.
Took off half a star because for this particular book I wasn't a fan of the the transitioning between periods of time (not the ‘Past' and ‘Present' chapters, but the amount of time that would pass within those sections). To me it was a little lazy to just gloss over significant amounts of time in a paragraph, and was kind of jolting to actually read that weeks had flown by in a paragraph.
Still a great read (for my personal tastes) and look forward to the second book.
Honestly, this was probably the best of the trilogy for me, and even this one I'd rate as below average.
Pros
1. More narrative shift from Cassie (bleh) to more interesting characters like Zombie and Ringer
2. More action and less wandering around like previous books
3. Realistic ending given the circumstances
4. Some interesting plot twists (although not particularly great)
Cons
1. No attachment to any characters, even those I found more interesting
2. Still felt like a chore to slog through this, even if I did read it in one night
3. The writing; some of the lines Yancey has put into this book was borderline embarrassing to read, especially the pseudo sex scene
Even though I have more pros than cons, the lack of an entertainment factor for me really brings this one down quite a bit. This is more of a personal preference, but something about Yancey's writing really does not engage me, at least the style for this trilogy. I'm open to giving his other series a try, but I fear it might just be this is not the right author for me.
It was definitely interesting reading about an event in American history that I'd never heard about before. Unfortunately, the actually story written about was often boring, and most of the exciting parts were glossed over fairly quickly, and most of the side characters were either thinly drawn or I couldn't even keep track of.
I really appreciated the writing and unconventional style of storytelling that Downes used here, as well as the high readability the novel has. I wasn't as much of a fan of the lack of a plot the novel had, and although possibly intentional, I really never connected to either Erik or Thorn. I also found their individual voices to be too similar, and the sudden ways their stories intersected was too out of nowhere for my taste, even if there was one bit of foreshadowing prior.
In case anybody wonders on my opinion regarding the matter, I'd strongly recommend reading the five prequel stories to this, which can be found in the bindup collection [b:The Assassin's Blade 18243700 The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5) Sarah J. Maas https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1384362444s/18243700.jpg 25691778]. Most of the stories are surprisingly well written, and I'd even argue that the final story is even stronger than this full length novel.In regards to ToG, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I was initially worried about the third person narration leaving me too detached from the characters to connect, but Maas did a pretty great job at making me care for these characters. I also feel like that was a benefit of reading the prequels, since I'd already had 400+ pages to really get to know and understand Celaena. The love triangle was pretty well handled IMO, which I normally wouldn't be found saying of most YA books. Overall, this was a pretty entertaining albeit predictable book, but I can definitely see a lot of promise in future installments.
This was mostly a 2.5 star for me until maybe the last 30 or so pages when everything started coming together, then I'd bump it up the extra half star. Not too impressed with this one. Well written, but not paced well enough to hold my attention at least. I'll consider reading more of Suma's work in the future, since they do sound even better than this one initially sounded.
Fantastic opening and the middle is the perfect amount of unsettling, but it all kind of falls apart in the last 10 pages or so, which is truly disappointing. Flynn is a great writer, and this story may have benefited from being longer by maybe even 30 pages. The ending tries to constantly undo itself in such a short amount of time that it comes across as rushed and a lazy attempt at being a psychological mindfuck, when I know that Flynn is more than capable of doing given a proper amount of pages.
A tautly written, quietly horrifying novel. It's one of the most powerful books I've read this year, and has a whole lot to say in very few words, and says it well.
Although not told in explicit detail, there's no avoiding the horror that this book portrays, and it's a book that tackles a subject matter not discussed seriously enough. Easily one of the best books I've read this year, or in my life.
no specific spoilers, but do not read further on if you intend on reading the book and don't want to be spoiled at all
A compelling story with solid writing and an interesting cast of characters, but I find myself too put off by the ending.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not somebody who's against a less than HEA ending, but I'd have to agree with other reviews that I've read that described it as “pointless.” As a reader, we've stuck by the characters for 260 pages, and then left with an ending that opens up more questions and answers none. In some ways I feel the novel may have suffered with given answers, but the reader could leave more satisfied than this.
I can't even accurately put into words why the ending a disappointed me as much as it did, but I can't help but feel cheated, almost as though I wasted my time by reading this. I didn't come to read a book plagued by hopelessness and that's all. Because truly, what else happened? This book was nothing more than our central cast of characters slipping down into absolute depravity.
I'll give Brooks his credit for creating a compelling story and characters that held my attention and was also solidly written, but I can't quite say this is a book that I can give a higher rating.
3.5 stars
I think I get it. Maybe this story is just way too sophisticated for me, but I can't say with certainty that I understand what exactly Sedgwick was trying to say here. I believe I have the general gist of it, and I appreciated the twist in the last chapter that truly tied everything together, but I'd really need somebody to walk me through the significance of the spiral since probably a big chunk of it went over my head.
Between a combination of my confusion regarding the entire meaning of the book as well as my complete boredom with the entire first story and half of the second, I can't find it within me to rate this one much higher than 3.5 stars.
Amazing writing, great second half of the second story and amazing third and fourth story, and I can definitely appreciate what Sedgwick set out to do by writing a highly intelligent novel marketed for teenagers (although I'm sad to say that as a teenager I didn't quite get it).
2.5 stars
This is one of those rare books where, despite the fact that there's plenty of explosions and deaths, virtually nothing happens in terms of important events or even plot progression up until the very end. The progression of the story is very stagnant, and the reader often finds themselves in the same location for long extended periods of time, and the first half of the book is basically just the different perspectives of the characters all getting to the exact same point.
Ringer is definitely a much more interesting character than Cassie though, however I just can't find myself rooting for or all that invested in any of the characters. I'll read the final book since there's only 1 more to struggle through, but overall this is a disappointing series thus far. I could see The 5th Wave being adapted into a movie, but I'd be very interested to see what they could really make out of this.
I think this's a book that I lot of people won't like, or appreciate.
The characters are messy, mean, and not easy to like, and at times it seems like they deny their feelings and refuse to develop for too long. There isn't a whole lot of big plot points, however that isn't where the strengths in this book lie.
No, the reason why I went from wanting to give this book 4 stars to 5 is because the ending ripped my freaking heart to shreds, and maybe it's because I've finally entered high school, and the thought of leaving behind my entire life for adulthood, of leaving behind the memories and the friends that I've been fortunate enough to make, destroys me. However, this book is real, and so are the emotions that it stirs up inside of me.
I also loved the writing, character dynamics, as well as the development of the characters. At times it does seem like the book is just sort of wandering around, unsure of where it's going, and it's very possible that is what happened over the course of the writing, however when it finally does get back on the path, there's no stopping this book.
A book written with this much heart and reality simply cannot get a lesser rating from me. Easily one of the most surprising reads I've experienced in a long, long time, seeing as how I thought I'd only mildly enjoy this one.
Better than I had initially expected. While I think the major twist can be seen awhile before the reveal, the writing is solid, story is interesting, most of the characters and their dynamics are unique and disturbing to read about, the back and forth timeline worked extremely well, and the ending is beyond chilling. Although I wish Jenny had been given more fleshing out, since she was one of the more important minor characters.
I'll admit that this book is stronger than the first one in some regards, such as character development and plot, but a part of me just found more enjoyment out of [b:Sins & Needles 16029994 Sins & Needles (The Artists Trilogy, #1) Karina Halle https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347859611s/16029994.jpg 21799599]. Still, I think this is an amazing book in and of itself, and I can't wait to see how the story concludes in the last book! And also, a note on the love triangle: didn't bother me at all, and I think it was significantly better handled here than in a multitude of other books, but I'd beg to disagree that both interests are on equal footing. I think it's fairly obvious and not at all surprising that Ellie ends up picking Camden.
