Tass

This is my first time reading a YA novel in years. Figured i should give this best-seller everyone raves about a chance. What a big mistake. The writing is just bad as bad the author of Twilight, but this time I won't make the same mistake I made in middle school where I would force myself to read an entire series once I started it, no matter how much I disliked it. I thought it was the only way my opinions or reviews could be valid.

The author also copied from a ton of popular stories, Harry Potter to name one of them. I know there's really no such thing as an original idea but the similarities were way to similar and literally everything was predictable. There just wasn't enough deviation from borrowed texts. Dropped hints were more like spoilers. JK Rowling did a much better job with this. Impressive, really. This book is once again proof that as long as you follow the common YA plot formula, it doesn't matter how poor the writing is and if the idea is original or not, you'll have a successful book. Anyone can become a published author at this point. At least I recognize I should leave the writing to other people.

I ended up skimming the last third of the book. Needless to say, I won't be finishing this series. The first book was a waste of time. I'll go back to the non YA fantasy books that tend to have far better writing, well developed worlds, and better plots (I recommend Wheel of Time, The Kingkiller Chronicles, and the Stormlight Archives). Seriously, once you try a fantasy novel, you will rarely go back to YA except for that diamond in the rough.

I have heard this author has improved significantly so I'm considering trying another novel from her but I'm honestly not sure if it's worth my time and effort. I would need to know someone with the same opinion I had of this book to actually likes her newer ones.

I'm giving the book three stars because the writing is beautiful, and that's the only reason I could finish reading it. In terms of the plot, it's just not my cup of tea. I found it very dull and I was losing interest every 5 minutes. Truly a struggle to read. I can see why others would like it. But I place the novel up there with The Great Gatsby: beautifully written, but no substantial plot that could hold my interest. I was just bored the entire time.

So, whether you enjoy this book will come down to if you like the writing and if the plot is interesting to you. I only enjoyed the writing, but I wanted to read the novel before Netflix makes it a film. But now I'm even debating if the film would interest me since the writing is taken away.

Either way, I think everyone should at least try reading it since it is a classic and the writing is worth reading, at least for a few chapters.
The analogies the author makes are somewhat strange when you first read them, but totally spot on.