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being_b's review
1.0
A lousy book with a premise rooted in white supremacy.
This book is bad on every level a book can be bad:
a) The writing is sloppy-- words are misused, dialogue is clunky.
b) The pacing is molasses-slow. We spend immense amounts of time hearing about people forgot to put on their shoes before rushing outside and now their socks are wet, so they make plans to go back to their house to pick up dry socks and maybe a sealed container of soup for lunch and on and ON.
c) The characters are shallow and characterisation is inconsistent. The villain is a cardboard Sexy Stupid Bad Girl. The MC is the Mariest of Sues. We're told the male lead is a decisive far-thinker but we spend most of the book seeing him throw tantrums about trivial things such as the smell of the MC's hair dye.
d) The world-building is lazy, uncreative, and unconvincing. The Others (vampires, werewolves, Elementals, etc) dominate the globe. Humans were "created" in Europe, and live in circumscribed enclaves elsewhere in a system that recalls the reservations the US imposed on Native Americans. Despite this, humans have developed cell phones, cars, the internet, etc. We're told the Others dominate the land, but we mainly see the non-human characters trying to accommodate to the human system while the humans go about pretty much oblivious.
e) The plot is bog-standard color-by-numbers Bad People try to get MC, Good People protect her, Showdown, Victory, end. Still probably the best part of the book as unlike everything else it isn't broken, just boring.
And the racism? Well, if "humans" only ever existed in Europe before "discovering" North America... then basically every non-white non-Western human has been erased from this universe. In their place we have the monstrous, human-eating terra indigene, the Others. Basically, "white Europeans" are the stand-in for all of humanity, and monsters are the stand in for everybody else.
If that doesn't bother you (!!!) then maybe this will. I mentioned earlier that human society and technological development in the novel is basically identical to what we have today- cell phones, cars, internet, etc. This implies that all of human societal and cultural development IN OUR WORLD NOW is the result of white European ingenuity and effort, and EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD is totally extraneous. This is a standard white supremacist argument, and grotesquely untrue at every level.
I wish I could be shocked that such a sloppy, lazy, and fundamentally bad book came from a major publishing house-- I will definitely be more cautious in buying books from Roc in the future.
This book is bad on every level a book can be bad:
a) The writing is sloppy-- words are misused, dialogue is clunky.
b) The pacing is molasses-slow. We spend immense amounts of time hearing about people forgot to put on their shoes before rushing outside and now their socks are wet, so they make plans to go back to their house to pick up dry socks and maybe a sealed container of soup for lunch and on and ON.
c) The characters are shallow and characterisation is inconsistent. The villain is a cardboard Sexy Stupid Bad Girl. The MC is the Mariest of Sues. We're told the male lead is a decisive far-thinker but we spend most of the book seeing him throw tantrums about trivial things such as the smell of the MC's hair dye.
d) The world-building is lazy, uncreative, and unconvincing. The Others (vampires, werewolves, Elementals, etc) dominate the globe. Humans were "created" in Europe, and live in circumscribed enclaves elsewhere in a system that recalls the reservations the US imposed on Native Americans. Despite this, humans have developed cell phones, cars, the internet, etc. We're told the Others dominate the land, but we mainly see the non-human characters trying to accommodate to the human system while the humans go about pretty much oblivious.
e) The plot is bog-standard color-by-numbers Bad People try to get MC, Good People protect her, Showdown, Victory, end. Still probably the best part of the book as unlike everything else it isn't broken, just boring.
And the racism? Well, if "humans" only ever existed in Europe before "discovering" North America... then basically every non-white non-Western human has been erased from this universe. In their place we have the monstrous, human-eating terra indigene, the Others. Basically, "white Europeans" are the stand-in for all of humanity, and monsters are the stand in for everybody else.
If that doesn't bother you (!!!) then maybe this will. I mentioned earlier that human society and technological development in the novel is basically identical to what we have today- cell phones, cars, internet, etc. This implies that all of human societal and cultural development IN OUR WORLD NOW is the result of white European ingenuity and effort, and EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD is totally extraneous. This is a standard white supremacist argument, and grotesquely untrue at every level.
I wish I could be shocked that such a sloppy, lazy, and fundamentally bad book came from a major publishing house-- I will definitely be more cautious in buying books from Roc in the future.
nalian's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
tessa_b's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
chelseaj91's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I'm sorry it took me so long to get to this!
The world building was interesting (although I will admit that some of it was a little...well the choices made were choices, that's for sure). I'm very curious about Tess and her Other form because clearly there's something there and she's more than a shop owner/baker.
I didn't like Asia as a villain. Mainly because she didn't give off "villain" so much as stereotypical high school cheerleader who couldn't fathom never getting what she wanted. Her constant references to Asia Crane, SI were annoying. And the fact that she said a couple times "a pro wouldn't do X", yet she went and did something similarly stupid when she decided to not only sell Meg out but attempt to kidnap Sam. I mean, she claimed it was because people would want leverage over the leader of a Courtyard but how thick do you have to be to think they'd even have time to send out a "hey we have your nephew, so do as we say" before they were stormed by Others?
It took a minute but I loved the way the Others started to warm up to Meg and even started playing with her. Jake's antics with the pens were hilarious and I kind of loved the way Henry urged Sam to play "chase" with Meg...granted he should have warned her first but still. Sam was just adorable and I wanted to wrap him up and hold him tight. It was sad that he'd gotten stuck but I liked that he trusted Meg enough to shift again, although I did find myself laughing at the way Simon would get frustrated because Sam wanted to do things Meg's way.
Meg was intriguing and I want to know a little more about things from before she ended up in Lakeside. Obviously we know she's a blood prophet and she escaped but like, what led her to making that choice? Was it just the vision she saw of Simon or was there more to it? What other visions did she see that might actually be important going forward? I liked that she got the Liaison's job and made it her own, like how she handled receiving the deliveries and figuring out ways to keep her guards and helpers entertained. Getting Sam's harness was actually inspired, even if the Others felt insulted but I feel like they should have realized that it got Sam free and maybe it wasn't so bad sooner than they did.
Simon was actually hilarious. Mainly because he couldn't figure out how human Meg showed up and suddenly the Courtyard was in love with her. Even if he grumbled about it, I liked that he not only claimed her as theirs when the wanted posters went out, but he was suddenly invested in protecting her. His exasperation at the dog beds was great and I love that suddenly they have them everywhere in the shops.
The tension between Meg and Simon is great and I really hope the payoff is worth it. I definitely want to read the rest of this series and can't wait to see what other things frustrate Simon about living with Meg.
The world building was interesting (although I will admit that some of it was a little...well the choices made were choices, that's for sure). I'm very curious about Tess and her Other form because clearly there's something there and she's more than a shop owner/baker.
I didn't like Asia as a villain. Mainly because she didn't give off "villain" so much as stereotypical high school cheerleader who couldn't fathom never getting what she wanted. Her constant references to Asia Crane, SI were annoying. And the fact that she said a couple times "a pro wouldn't do X", yet she went and did something similarly stupid when she decided to not only sell Meg out but attempt to kidnap Sam. I mean, she claimed it was because people would want leverage over the leader of a Courtyard but how thick do you have to be to think they'd even have time to send out a "hey we have your nephew, so do as we say" before they were stormed by Others?
It took a minute but I loved the way the Others started to warm up to Meg and even started playing with her. Jake's antics with the pens were hilarious and I kind of loved the way Henry urged Sam to play "chase" with Meg...granted he should have warned her first but still. Sam was just adorable and I wanted to wrap him up and hold him tight. It was sad that he'd gotten stuck but I liked that he trusted Meg enough to shift again, although I did find myself laughing at the way Simon would get frustrated because Sam wanted to do things Meg's way.
Meg was intriguing and I want to know a little more about things from before she ended up in Lakeside. Obviously we know she's a blood prophet and she escaped but like, what led her to making that choice? Was it just the vision she saw of Simon or was there more to it? What other visions did she see that might actually be important going forward? I liked that she got the Liaison's job and made it her own, like how she handled receiving the deliveries and figuring out ways to keep her guards and helpers entertained. Getting Sam's harness was actually inspired, even if the Others felt insulted but I feel like they should have realized that it got Sam free and maybe it wasn't so bad sooner than they did.
Simon was actually hilarious. Mainly because he couldn't figure out how human Meg showed up and suddenly the Courtyard was in love with her. Even if he grumbled about it, I liked that he not only claimed her as theirs when the wanted posters went out, but he was suddenly invested in protecting her. His exasperation at the dog beds was great and I love that suddenly they have them everywhere in the shops.
The tension between Meg and Simon is great and I really hope the payoff is worth it. I definitely want to read the rest of this series and can't wait to see what other things frustrate Simon about living with Meg.
mollywetta's review
3.0
I'm still not sure exactly what I feel about this . The world-building was interesting, but the main character Meg felt a little...too perfect? too easily accepted by the Others. Still want to continue the series.
aranafyre's review against another edition
4.0
Probably the best audio book we've listen to so far. Cute story with parts that even had my husband chuckling.
callmeren's review against another edition
5.0
The world and the plot is more interesting than the barely existent romance, and I love the book for it. And the plot and world is beyond excellent too, so there's no minus there.
kiaras's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75