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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
Wowww warm and fuzzies 🥰 I really liked this series, characters were flawed but loveable. Plot was interesting and the twists were pretty wild. The creative insults were amazing. Why wasn't this a full 5 stars? I'm actually not sure.
Meeeh… I like the book enough but I wouldn’t read it again. Don’t get me wrong it’s not a horrible read it’s just a frustrating topic. I think the author is a good writer, and I like the style in which the main character tells the story. I just spent the entire book wanting to punch everybody in the face and since they’re fictional characters, I can’t, which is why I have to give it three stars.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Minor spoilers
You know what, I mostly liked this book.
Because I was warned about the teen relationship stuff, I wasn't so shocked by it and could handle it better. Still, I sigh, because I have yet to see a "mature" portrayal of teenagers that doesn't involve sex stuff. I'm 21 and a "loser kid" who hasn't done any of that stuff and I'm not alone. But that's personal taste, not an indictment on the book. I think that different people had different ideas for how Orion/El was supposed to go, and if you have that picture in your mind it's easy to be disappointed.
I think the themes came together really well. All about inequality, sacrificing the most vulnerable for the benefit of immediate safety. Some reviewers have compared the themes to Le Guin's The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. I read that story recently as well, and heard a YouTuber talk about it, and read some other short stories in conversation with it, and anyway this book isn't an Omelas copy. Omelas contains a criticism of itself-- criticizes the lack of imagination that says that an ideal society cannot exist without some secret suffering, that cruelty is necessary and inevitable. That's not the thesis of the Golden Enclaves, but it's certainly all part of a conversation about imagining a better world.
I've just accepted now that Orion is just kind of a blockhead. I guess I was hoping for him to emerge as a person more, but maybe who he is is just not very interesting? I feel bad about this because I am certain there are neurodivergent people with very limited interests and I don't want to say that such a trait is unpersonlike. But we don't really get to see inside Orion's head. Just Galadriel's opinions on his upbringing, and the depths of his hopelessness and trust in El. I guess I just wish I could have seen him make a couple friends. It's uncomfortable that he's still so tied to Galadriel. Earlier in the series, El realizes that she's not the only thing he'll ever love; she's just the first. I wanted to see that come true.
You know what, I mostly liked this book.
Because I was warned about the teen relationship stuff, I wasn't so shocked by it and could handle it better. Still, I sigh, because I have yet to see a "mature" portrayal of teenagers that doesn't involve sex stuff. I'm 21 and a "loser kid" who hasn't done any of that stuff and I'm not alone. But that's personal taste, not an indictment on the book. I think that different people had different ideas for how Orion/El was supposed to go, and if you have that picture in your mind it's easy to be disappointed.
I think the themes came together really well. All about inequality, sacrificing the most vulnerable for the benefit of immediate safety. Some reviewers have compared the themes to Le Guin's The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. I read that story recently as well, and heard a YouTuber talk about it, and read some other short stories in conversation with it, and anyway this book isn't an Omelas copy. Omelas contains a criticism of itself-- criticizes the lack of imagination that says that an ideal society cannot exist without some secret suffering, that cruelty is necessary and inevitable. That's not the thesis of the Golden Enclaves, but it's certainly all part of a conversation about imagining a better world.
I've just accepted now that Orion is just kind of a blockhead. I guess I was hoping for him to emerge as a person more, but maybe who he is is just not very interesting? I feel bad about this because I am certain there are neurodivergent people with very limited interests and I don't want to say that such a trait is unpersonlike. But we don't really get to see inside Orion's head. Just Galadriel's opinions on his upbringing, and the depths of his hopelessness and trust in El. I guess I just wish I could have seen him make a couple friends. It's uncomfortable that he's still so tied to Galadriel. Earlier in the series, El realizes that she's not the only thing he'll ever love; she's just the first. I wanted to see that come true.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Confusing and just not as near as good as the first two , became so wishy washy and all of a sudden introduced a bunch of new characters in the third book. I just didn’t like kt
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
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:
Yes
A fantastic ending of a trilogy. i loveddd the progression of the students learning to deal with the real world and the implications of their past and future :')