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izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
I forgot about this book til I was at the library. I loved the monsters in the story as well as the lore. It was so intriguing to see this world open up and learn about the real trouble it held deep under the surface.
I forgot about this book til I was at the library. I loved the monsters in the story as well as the lore. It was so intriguing to see this world open up and learn about the real trouble it held deep under the surface.
cecerachel's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.5
The story is easy to follow and read through. The character development of Kali was great; she started as a naive girl and ended as a fearless, badass queen. The usage of the names was also a nice touch to the lore and background of the story.
The plot twist of Griffin being the child that ‘fell’ was great for the whole story. I also liked that Jonash died because he was an actual dick who was obviously bad from the beginning when he dropped/pushed Kali off the side.
coffeelitmama's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this book was okay. I loved the aspect of a floating city & mysterious world below full of monsters. I got annoyed with Kali's way of thinking- that she was obligated and required to do what everyone told her. It was a quick read, but I felt like the ending was just blah. It feels like a second book would follow, but I'm not sure if there is supposed to be one or not.
sugaqueen88's review against another edition
4.0
This was a hard book for me to get into at first. I bought it last year, read the prologue and put it down. I picked it up tonight after finishing my book and read it straight through. It definitely surprised me in a good way.
onepageatatime's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. The description eminded me of Howls Moving Castle a little bit and that is why I decided to read it. This book was really good but it was a little bit rushed. The story line was really great though and the monsters were described in great detail and I really enjoyed reading about it. The twists and turns in the story were well thought out and not super obvious some of them you could forsee but not to the point where it was super obvious. I would read it again but I wish that it would have been a duology or a trilogy where we could have spent more time on the ground and see how everything works out afterwards and everything was a little less rushed.
fallingdownrabbitholes's review against another edition
2.0
Where to start?? I was really excited for this book. Since its been a slow year reading wise for me, I thought this would be a good book to get me back into the zone. It was a horrible choice for me to make. I'm not saying it was all bad.... It was just more bad than good. But I am not going to be completely negative! I'm not that type of person.... I try to see the good in everything soooooo here is the positives....
Positives
- I really liked the character Griffin!! I've always had a thing for warrior type characters! He seemed pretty cool and I liked how he protected our main character Kallima.
- I liked the idea of the floating continents. It was super interesting and that's what got me interested in the book
- Am I allowed to say that I am in looooovveeee with the cover of this book. Not that the writing has anything to do with the book... I just love it!!
- Kallima was different than most female characters in books I have read lately... I'm not saying she was an amazing character but it was nice to have a change!!
- I also wanted to state that I really enjoyed Amanda Sun's other books Ink and Rain so it's not like I would never read her books again I just find this is a weaker one on her part but I love Ink!!!
Negatives
- I am kind of getting tired of at least one of the characters finding out they are an heir to a kingdom or the lost princess\prince. I mean it's starting to get old. It becomes too predictable.
- I found the ending messy and the dialogue lame almost like I was watching a really cheesy movie. And the ending was fluffy with no real emotion... In fact there wasn't really any emotion shared by any of the characters. Not ones you could relate to. Kallima kept her secret from Griffin all that time and then when she finally tells him there's not much of a reaction... He just immediately forgives her.
- The whole Griffin needing to be rescued thing was kind of getting repetitive.
- Kallima, though not some rebellious women who knows how to fight, was kind of annoying... Like she knows this Griffin guy for how long and she's fallen in love with him. She's willing to die with him by her side... It all seemed to move a little too fast.
Anyways that was a couple tidbits I had about this book. Though I didn't really enjoy it, I am still looking forward to what Amanda Sun has to offer in the future!
Positives
- I really liked the character Griffin!! I've always had a thing for warrior type characters! He seemed pretty cool and I liked how he protected our main character Kallima.
- I liked the idea of the floating continents. It was super interesting and that's what got me interested in the book
- Am I allowed to say that I am in looooovveeee with the cover of this book. Not that the writing has anything to do with the book... I just love it!!
- Kallima was different than most female characters in books I have read lately... I'm not saying she was an amazing character but it was nice to have a change!!
- I also wanted to state that I really enjoyed Amanda Sun's other books Ink and Rain so it's not like I would never read her books again I just find this is a weaker one on her part but I love Ink!!!
Negatives
- I am kind of getting tired of at least one of the characters finding out they are an heir to a kingdom or the lost princess\prince. I mean it's starting to get old. It becomes too predictable.
- I found the ending messy and the dialogue lame almost like I was watching a really cheesy movie. And the ending was fluffy with no real emotion... In fact there wasn't really any emotion shared by any of the characters. Not ones you could relate to. Kallima kept her secret from Griffin all that time and then when she finally tells him there's not much of a reaction... He just immediately forgives her.
- The whole Griffin needing to be rescued thing was kind of getting repetitive.
- Kallima, though not some rebellious women who knows how to fight, was kind of annoying... Like she knows this Griffin guy for how long and she's fallen in love with him. She's willing to die with him by her side... It all seemed to move a little too fast.
Anyways that was a couple tidbits I had about this book. Though I didn't really enjoy it, I am still looking forward to what Amanda Sun has to offer in the future!
kendylthomas's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars ⭐️ July Book exchange
I actually really enjoyed reading this. To hear about the dragons, because dragons are my favorite, but to hear how Griffin took them down, &’ I was shook when I realized that he was not only Benu, BUT he was the 2 year old toddler that was thrown off the edge. I really do feel for this story.
The only thing I didn’t like was how annoying Keli got because she was super stubborn &’ didn’t want to come to terms with the fact that the people closest to her lied about something like this. That her own father supported throwing the Benu over the side. I also don’t like the ending part with the Phoenix, I think it could’ve been explained &’ written differently.
Other than that, o would definitely reread this in a heartbeat. I live for the adrenaline &’ thrill that this story produces &’ that these characters have.
I actually really enjoyed reading this. To hear about the dragons, because dragons are my favorite, but to hear how Griffin took them down, &’ I was shook when I realized that he was not only Benu, BUT he was the 2 year old toddler that was thrown off the edge. I really do feel for this story.
The only thing I didn’t like was how annoying Keli got because she was super stubborn &’ didn’t want to come to terms with the fact that the people closest to her lied about something like this. That her own father supported throwing the Benu over the side. I also don’t like the ending part with the Phoenix, I think it could’ve been explained &’ written differently.
Other than that, o would definitely reread this in a heartbeat. I live for the adrenaline &’ thrill that this story produces &’ that these characters have.
mnboyer's review against another edition
2.0
A novel filled with some interesting action sequences involving monsters (like dragons and griffins) that manages to fall flat when it comes to the character development--at least for me, I know that there are a lot of readers that praise this book. Many of the concepts (floating continents) are interesting and I do enjoy some science fiction and fantasy elements.
Yet what I really enjoy in any story are the characters. This particular book totes itself as a HarlequinTeen division book (no, I have no idea what I expected 'Harlequin Teen' to be) yet there's barely any romance throughout. I didn't want or need anything sexual or explicit. I just felt that even the "mini-love-story" (as I am calling it) was somewhat...boring...and it did nothing to really excite my imagination or make me feel like the romance was even necessary. Can a female character not become a heroine without a male character's help these days?
Overall, a quick read with some interesting visuals. I'd mark it as good summer reading for teens. Yet at the same time it only managed 2.5 stars from me.
Yet what I really enjoy in any story are the characters. This particular book totes itself as a HarlequinTeen division book (no, I have no idea what I expected 'Harlequin Teen' to be) yet there's barely any romance throughout. I didn't want or need anything sexual or explicit. I just felt that even the "mini-love-story" (as I am calling it) was somewhat...boring...and it did nothing to really excite my imagination or make me feel like the romance was even necessary. Can a female character not become a heroine without a male character's help these days?
Overall, a quick read with some interesting visuals. I'd mark it as good summer reading for teens. Yet at the same time it only managed 2.5 stars from me.
booksandladders's review against another edition
1.0
Disclaimer: I won a free copy of this book as one of the Goodreads First Reads giveaways courtesy of Harlequin Teen.
I'm sad to say there are no redeeming qualities in this one. The worldbuilding was horrible and extremely lacking, the characters were MEH, the plot was also meh, and the dragons didn't eat everyone at the end like I'd hoped. I should have known from reading the other reviews that I wouldn't like this one but I thought I'd take a chance anyway but I feel like it was a bit of waste.
I don't really have any good things to say about this one tbh. I don't like being too negative because I feel bad: someone worked hard to make this. But this just did not turn my crank at all. There were so many plot holes because of the terrible worldbuilding that I couldn't look past them. It seemed like any time something came up that the author threw something else into the mix to fill the gap but it just came across as awkward. Like the whole prophecy at the end was just random and not well developed at all. It made me roll my eyes and laugh.
The characters were so meh. Kali was alright but everyone else was just ick to me. Griffin was like a wet paper towel, just there to try and clean up some messes but making them worse. He was also like a terrible monster hunter considering he almost died like 15 times in the book. I think every time he met a monster he almost died. And he just wasn't love interest worthy. Oh and his heritage was stupid af. Jonash was stiff as a board and pulled a which was obvious to everyone but the MC. Just. I can't even describe to you how terrible his character arc is without spoiling it but it's bad.
The pacing was so off too. So much time would pass because the author would write "this much time has passed now" and I was just left baffled. Show me time passing, show me her healing, show me them walking to the mountains -- don't just say "ah yes, this whole trip has taken 5 days and we're here." I hate travelogue as much as the next person, but I hate time gaps even more. And the whole healing thing was just sighs. She had broken ribs and was shooting a bow and arrow with no difficulty like three days later.
As much as I enjoy that there are more standalone fantasy books, I think this one either needed more pages or another whole book so I could understand the world. AKA so there could be worldbuilding. Like there was none. None.
I do not recommend this one at all. Like it's a hard pass, not even a borrow from the library. You can read my status updates to learn more about what I didn't like about it.
Books and Ladders | Queen of the Bookshelves | Books Are My Fandom | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'
I'm sad to say there are no redeeming qualities in this one. The worldbuilding was horrible and extremely lacking, the characters were MEH, the plot was also meh, and the dragons didn't eat everyone at the end like I'd hoped. I should have known from reading the other reviews that I wouldn't like this one but I thought I'd take a chance anyway but I feel like it was a bit of waste.
I don't really have any good things to say about this one tbh. I don't like being too negative because I feel bad: someone worked hard to make this. But this just did not turn my crank at all. There were so many plot holes because of the terrible worldbuilding that I couldn't look past them. It seemed like any time something came up that the author threw something else into the mix to fill the gap but it just came across as awkward. Like the whole prophecy at the end was just random and not well developed at all. It made me roll my eyes and laugh.
The characters were so meh. Kali was alright but everyone else was just ick to me. Griffin was like a wet paper towel, just there to try and clean up some messes but making them worse. He was also like a terrible monster hunter considering he almost died like 15 times in the book. I think every time he met a monster he almost died. And he just wasn't love interest worthy. Oh and his heritage was stupid af. Jonash was stiff as a board and pulled a
Spoiler
Hans from FrozenThe pacing was so off too. So much time would pass because the author would write "this much time has passed now" and I was just left baffled. Show me time passing, show me her healing, show me them walking to the mountains -- don't just say "ah yes, this whole trip has taken 5 days and we're here." I hate travelogue as much as the next person, but I hate time gaps even more. And the whole healing thing was just sighs. She had broken ribs and was shooting a bow and arrow with no difficulty like three days later.
As much as I enjoy that there are more standalone fantasy books, I think this one either needed more pages or another whole book so I could understand the world. AKA so there could be worldbuilding. Like there was none. None.
I do not recommend this one at all. Like it's a hard pass, not even a borrow from the library. You can read my status updates to learn more about what I didn't like about it.
Books and Ladders | Queen of the Bookshelves | Books Are My Fandom | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'
7markers's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5