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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Tried the audiobook for 30 minutes and gave up. It was all a world building infodump I couldn't keep up with provided by a very annoying, incredibly unlikeable protagonist. I think I don't like Novik as an author after not liking anything of hers since Temeraire and am going to give up on her.
great start to the series, i loved the world and the dynamics, plot, relationships, and characters. *end of series spoiler* just looking back on this book after finishing the series i hand to give it a low rating. i now realized the flaws ell had in this book that i didn’t see at first. one example is that way she treats orion is unfair and upsetting because orion is the best part of all the books, i think. he is very adventurous and complex but the book disregards this.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
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:
N/A
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
I really like El’s darkness and her straightforward “I could mess you up” attitude. There’s a lot of world building, but it’s worth it. They characters are intriguing and makes me want to know more about Scholocmance.
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated
I went into this with high hopes from reading her prior work Uprooted, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Yet, this fell short for two reasons. The first was the world-building. practically every chapter had to do with the world-building than the actual storyline. The second was El's middle/high school whining over a boy, which got on my nerves. The first chapter alone made it clear of two things, that she hated the guy and was planning to kill him. I'm not even sure if I will continue the series and I do it will only be to see the relationship associated with El's future and the boy - I can only hope that I won't be as irritated with the sequel if I do read it.
Quite simple and YA, but also devoured it am dying to read the sequel, so there's that
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This has been my first introduction to Naomi Novik and there is no doubt at all that she’s an incredibly unique and creative writer.
The amount of imagination and interest that has gone into creating this world is astounding.
The voice of El as the protagonist comes through really strongly and gives her a really solid character.
The concept of the world and the school is so unique and fun. It was really fun trying to envision the different rooms and places and parts of it all.
All this being said, I don’t know why but I didn’t love the book overall.
The whole way through I couldn’t quite put my finger on what wasn’t clicking for me but I found myself switching off while reading rather than being fully engaged.
I think the style of writing and storytelling is very creative and impactful, however it didn’t feel like it worked for me specifically.
The ending was very strong and intriguing so I’ve not yet decided if I want to carry on with the series or not.
The amount of imagination and interest that has gone into creating this world is astounding.
The voice of El as the protagonist comes through really strongly and gives her a really solid character.
The concept of the world and the school is so unique and fun. It was really fun trying to envision the different rooms and places and parts of it all.
All this being said, I don’t know why but I didn’t love the book overall.
The whole way through I couldn’t quite put my finger on what wasn’t clicking for me but I found myself switching off while reading rather than being fully engaged.
I think the style of writing and storytelling is very creative and impactful, however it didn’t feel like it worked for me specifically.
The ending was very strong and intriguing so I’ve not yet decided if I want to carry on with the series or not.
dark
reflective
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:
N/A
I honestly had such high hopes for this book cuz I really enjoyed her prev book (Uprooted) and the whole premise for this book IS SO INTERESTING and right up my alley. But my gawd was it so hard to read. I blame the chunks and chunks and CHUNKS AND HUGE CHUNKS of info dump THROUGHOUT the entire book omfg. While I'm always all for detailed world-building and lore, man was this tough to waddle through. It's like not only were there paragraphs after paragraphs of SO MUCH INFO dumped on the reader, but its done so consistently throughout the book. Its like while I expected this at the beginning cuz that's normal and necessary, IT NEVER STOP omfg. Not to mention how jarring it is, when I'm immersed in the plot, following Galadriel's journey right, then out of nowhere, here's two pages worth of history into the New York enclave, or how about this random wannabe valedictorian's (who was never mentioned before) entire struggle and life journey, HERE YOU GO! Like fk me I SERIOUSLY DO NOT CARE! By the time I got to the 80% mark, I was so done with this book and skimmed through the rest of the way. (Although I think I was pretty damn persistent already ok, I made it thru 80%, but I did skip most of the boring stuff)
It felt like 50% info dump, 50% plot (what plot?). The only saving grace for 2 stars is the characters lol. Really enjoyed reading the growing friendship between Orion and Galadriel, it was cute and wholesome as heck. I also like how secretly overpowered Galadriel is LOL, she easily wipes out enemies without anyone else knowing. But ya everything else kinda sucked, even the whole shenanigans with the school being in a void and shit shifting all the time according to the students' beliefs? Maleficiers and malia and mals and idek what the fk is going. Way too many names, too much shit going on. Like to build mana, she can use her clothes?? But then it also requires doing something with effort?? Huuuuh??? Just nope. Not going to bother with the sequel either
side note: HURRAY its my 80th book of the year!! What a way to end off...
It felt like 50% info dump, 50% plot (what plot?). The only saving grace for 2 stars is the characters lol. Really enjoyed reading the growing friendship between Orion and Galadriel, it was cute and wholesome as heck. I also like how secretly overpowered Galadriel is LOL, she easily wipes out enemies without anyone else knowing. But ya everything else kinda sucked, even the whole shenanigans with the school being in a void and shit shifting all the time according to the students' beliefs? Maleficiers and malia and mals and idek what the fk is going. Way too many names, too much shit going on. Like to build mana, she can use her clothes?? But then it also requires doing something with effort?? Huuuuh??? Just nope. Not going to bother with the sequel either
side note: HURRAY its my 80th book of the year!! What a way to end off...