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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fun shenanigans! Very hard to keep all the side characters in order, though.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was better than the second ib the series. (I have not read the books in order)
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
fast-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I have a bone to pick with this book.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books, not my favourite ever books but they were really fun. This book felt the complete opposite, I was so confused. I’ve never rolled my eyes so much reading a book before.
This book is unfortunate that it’s set in an already established setting, especially a fun setting. We’ve followed witches and pirates where they fly all over the world, get into daring escapades, tension-filled situations. The premise for this one was similar, a pair of spies, so I expected just as high tensions, but it felt so flat, I didn’t even recognise the climax until the chapter was over. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because they were stuck to the one setting (floating castle), the pirates/witches were far more interesting than the main protagonists, and all the dangerous situations were… socialising? Like I get that the two protagonists love reading and hate people, but you don’t have to beat it over my head multiple times.
Speaking of which, Alice is dumb. Like, just straight up dumb. Supposedly she reads a lot, how is she not able to understand what an idiom is? She reads Shakespeare, Jane Eyre, and all other authors who will undoubtedly insert idioms because that’s a pillar of literature, but she doesn’t understand any idiom? Like does she read a book and just get utterly confused every second sentence? Trying to figure out how it’s possible that someone’s heart “flutters”, or thinking that yes they do literally sweep the girl off their feet in these romance books, why would you think otherwise?
Not only that, she’s just somehow the top agent of fantasy world MI6 without knowing how to do a handstand? Never learnt any acrobatics even though she was trained as a kid to be this super secret spy? She never really shows any sort of spy skills or prowess, the very little we do know is that she beat up a guy at the very start of the book, every other time she’s needed help. “Oh yes I can pick this lock” then Daniel swoops in, says “Oh I got this” then does it for her. It’s impressive that I can suspend disbelief for flying houses, but it took me only took me two chapters before I lost all confidence in the main character. Whoever trained her and promoted her needs to be fired.
Or maybe this was the author’s way of showing off Daniel as this perfect, chiseled guy who is just so so perfect, he does nothing wrong, even if he does, he fixes it all singlehandedly. Alice never does anything in this book except for feebly throwing a vase at a tiger (which did nothing anyway), I made it a game with myself to count each time Daniel had to save Alice from some sort of danger or situation. This is honestly what I hated most about the book; in previous installments, both female protagonists were strong in their own rights, coming from a matriarchal society probably came with that, and in return they’re interesting female protagonists that’s hard to find in other books. But this felt like such a big step in the wrong direction, I almost gave up on reading it.
It also felt like the two main characters were the same person, just two different genders. Their personalities were just hate people and love reading, Daniel’s extra personality trait is maths and Alice’s extra personality trait is law-abiding. Other than that, basically the same person, it was so jarring reading it. I get that people usually have common interests and that causes them to be attracted to each other, but this felt copy and pasted.
It’s a shame that in an attempt to make the protagonists seem amazing, the author had to backtrack the awesomeness of the pirates. You mean to tell me that the only person who’s more concerned about their precious books over their alleged husband is Alice? And not the numerous ladies who make it a daily game to launch cannonballs out of flying houses? It is literally your afternoon pasttime, please stop lying about being so shocked.
I’m going to end this here because it would be too long otherwise, it’s hard to describe, but I just felt so offended by this book. It felt like it desecrated the previous two installments that I really enjoyed. I hope that it improves in the next book, or more likely I’ll go back and read the first two instead.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books, not my favourite ever books but they were really fun. This book felt the complete opposite, I was so confused. I’ve never rolled my eyes so much reading a book before.
This book is unfortunate that it’s set in an already established setting, especially a fun setting. We’ve followed witches and pirates where they fly all over the world, get into daring escapades, tension-filled situations. The premise for this one was similar, a pair of spies, so I expected just as high tensions, but it felt so flat, I didn’t even recognise the climax until the chapter was over. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because they were stuck to the one setting (floating castle), the pirates/witches were far more interesting than the main protagonists, and all the dangerous situations were… socialising? Like I get that the two protagonists love reading and hate people, but you don’t have to beat it over my head multiple times.
Speaking of which, Alice is dumb. Like, just straight up dumb. Supposedly she reads a lot, how is she not able to understand what an idiom is? She reads Shakespeare, Jane Eyre, and all other authors who will undoubtedly insert idioms because that’s a pillar of literature, but she doesn’t understand any idiom? Like does she read a book and just get utterly confused every second sentence? Trying to figure out how it’s possible that someone’s heart “flutters”, or thinking that yes they do literally sweep the girl off their feet in these romance books, why would you think otherwise?
Not only that, she’s just somehow the top agent of fantasy world MI6 without knowing how to do a handstand? Never learnt any acrobatics even though she was trained as a kid to be this super secret spy? She never really shows any sort of spy skills or prowess, the very little we do know is that she beat up a guy at the very start of the book, every other time she’s needed help. “Oh yes I can pick this lock” then Daniel swoops in, says “Oh I got this” then does it for her. It’s impressive that I can suspend disbelief for flying houses, but it took me only took me two chapters before I lost all confidence in the main character. Whoever trained her and promoted her needs to be fired.
Or maybe this was the author’s way of showing off Daniel as this perfect, chiseled guy who is just so so perfect, he does nothing wrong, even if he does, he fixes it all singlehandedly. Alice never does anything in this book except for feebly throwing a vase at a tiger (which did nothing anyway), I made it a game with myself to count each time Daniel had to save Alice from some sort of danger or situation. This is honestly what I hated most about the book; in previous installments, both female protagonists were strong in their own rights, coming from a matriarchal society probably came with that, and in return they’re interesting female protagonists that’s hard to find in other books. But this felt like such a big step in the wrong direction, I almost gave up on reading it.
It also felt like the two main characters were the same person, just two different genders. Their personalities were just hate people and love reading, Daniel’s extra personality trait is maths and Alice’s extra personality trait is law-abiding. Other than that, basically the same person, it was so jarring reading it. I get that people usually have common interests and that causes them to be attracted to each other, but this felt copy and pasted.
It’s a shame that in an attempt to make the protagonists seem amazing, the author had to backtrack the awesomeness of the pirates. You mean to tell me that the only person who’s more concerned about their precious books over their alleged husband is Alice? And not the numerous ladies who make it a daily game to launch cannonballs out of flying houses? It is literally your afternoon pasttime, please stop lying about being so shocked.
I’m going to end this here because it would be too long otherwise, it’s hard to describe, but I just felt so offended by this book. It felt like it desecrated the previous two installments that I really enjoyed. I hope that it improves in the next book, or more likely I’ll go back and read the first two instead.