Reviews with content warning for Classism - Pilvilinna

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Pilvilinna by Kerstin Gier

7 reviews

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

3.5 stars. The majority of the book is about what's happening daily in the hotel and who's who of the guests and staff. I would have liked a little less of that and more interactions between characters with various types of relationships building. I loved the encounters between Tristan and Sophie and felt natural chemistry between the two. Ben is sweet and protective, but the love he claimed for Sophie felt forced. Action and thrill really amped up in about the last third of the book, and I was riveted to know how everything would play out in the end. There are a couple instances where I felt writing was lazy with skipping over action to make it retold later to Sophie, but I'm betting that was to keep the book length down. Sophie is not the brightest young woman, as I could easily see multiple mistakes she was making while they occurred. Her naivety and slower thinking feeds into who she is, though, and why hotel work is much more suited to her than college.

The story starts just before Christmas and continues through New Years, which made the end of the year and into January the perfect time to check this out. The audiobook narrator is great. A fairly lighthearted book that I definitely recommend for someone who would like a little romance and mystery thrown into their holiday book escapades.

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that_person_logan's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

I really enjoyed this book. Like thoroughly enjoyed. There were twists and surprises I didn’t expect, and I adored how everything- truly everything- came back full circle. I loved the romance and the two options we were given for love interests. I adored the scenery and setting and the descriptions of the Swiss alps in wintertime can’t be beat.
I want to purchase a physical copy for myself so I can reread this and recommend it to everyone.
I love Unbelievably Greedy Gus and Kleptomaniac Gus with my whole heart.

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myahstover's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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amberinpieces's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Kerstin Gier ist für mich Nostalgie pur. Sie war die erste "ya-fantasy"-Autorin, die ich je gelesen hab. Das Wolkenschloss ist zwar kein Fantasy-Buch, aber echt so angenehm zu lesen. Die Chraktere sind super liebenswert. Das ganze Buch fühlt sich wie eine Tasse heiße Schokolade mit Marshmellows und Sahne an. Das Cover ist auch total knuffig und so schön illustriert.
Kerstin Gier schafft es echt tolle schlagfertige weibliche Hauptcharaktere zu schreiben, die realistisch sind.
Was ich auch häufig an YA-Büchern kristisiere ist, dass männliche Hauptcharaktere sich oft in moralischen Grauzonenen bewegen. Das ist bei Kerstin Gier nicht so. Die Charaktere sind zwar manchmal arrogant oder gemein, aber nicht mehr als die üblichen Teenager sind. Man hat nicht, dass Gefühl das Charaktere etwas absolut moralisch Verwerfliches tun.
Toll fand ich auch, dass hier angesprochen wurde das viele Schätzte (hier der Diamant) unrechtmäßig in die Hände Europas und die von Oligarchen gelangt ist.

in diesem Buch wird der Diamant ja sogar zurück gebracht

Ein Kritikpunkt: asiatisch ist kein Beschreibungsmerkmal für das Aussehen. Der asiatische Kontinenent wird von Menschen verschiedener Ethnien bewohnt (indisch, russisch, japanisch, koreanisch). Das auf einen Typ zu stereotypisieren ist falsch. Man kann Charaktere auch anders beschreiben.
Abschließend möchte ich noch auf eine Sache hinweisen: EAT THE RICH. Es gibt keinen Menschen der ohne Ausbeutung und Korruption an seine Milliarden gekommen ist.

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kathabooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious tense 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

3.75

let me start with my cover review. all the pieces are there: i love the illustrations, the typeface of the title, the background color. the typeface and color for the author's name aren't my favorite but i don't hate it. my main issue is with the arrangement. like placing the hotel above the title looks wrong. with some repositioning, it could be so good.

and that's also generally how i felt about the actual contents. its plot summary makes for a very good story, but the way it was executed into a 300-page novel was rocky due to an uneven pace. the first 75% is largely uneventful, more slice of life, then the last 25% turns into an intense mystery/thriller. if it's not going to commit to being a slice of life, then i wish it would get to the actual conflict much earlier than three-fourths of the way through. also irritating that the peak climax of the book abruptly ends with "and then i went unconscious" while the day is saved by someone else. all the dissatisfaction of a deus ex machina, compounded by the fact that we don't even get to see it play out in real time, only the recap Sophie gets from others after the fact. and what ever happened with the

chandelier falling

? did it lost its relevance to the plot immediately? then what was the point of all that? talk about "some fake moment of suspense that all gets resolved two pages later"…

this is a reread for me. having some recollection (most of it i forgot) plus this time the ebook made it a lot easier to follow, but there were still a few too many characters for me to remember. like Mara Matthäus and Jaromir—they came up again at the end and i had no idea who they were. on my first read, i liked Tristan better than Ben. this time, i started on Ben's side because Tristan's vibes were a little too close to fuckboy for my liking, but at least he's hot and mysterious and anti-imperialist; Ben just becomes possessive and bitter. go home. also it was a little cringe to hear a character say, "I've fallen in love with you"—i know trauma bonding and all but it's been like a week, dial it back. but i have this issue with so much YA romance so maybe it's just me ??

as others have mentioned, the portrayal of women isn't great. Ella, Gretchen, Hortensia, Camilla, Ava, Ariane ("Whatsername"), Mrs. Smirnov/

Yegorov

, and

Mrs. Ludwig

are all portrayed negatively, with Fräulein Müller somewhere in the middle. like damn. i don't think Sophie herself had an "i'm not like other girls" mindset, but the writing definitely showed that she was not like other girls and therefore better and more worthy of romance.

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