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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
Listen to my The Conspiracy of Us fanmix on 8tracks.
Review also posted at Young Adult Hollywood.
ACTUAL RATING: 4.5 Stars
Ancient puzzle? Traveling across Europe, code-breaking, masked balls and Prada.
I knew I would consume this book even before I got the chance to read it. I am drawn to books, television show or any fiction that exude lavish and sophistication. I am cheap like that and The Conspiracy of Us is anything, but delightful and posh. What a perfect way to ruin me.
I am always on a quest for elegantly crafted stories and upon opening The Conspiracy of Us I was quickly swept off my feet. There is something enchanting and otherworldly about Maggie Hall’s writing. It is simply beautiful, that I found myself bookmarking every passage.
I love a good prose, even more so, if it’s done well.
Maggie Hall introduces new history to YA. I have not seen any books in this genre that is meshed with Alexander the Great and Diadochi. It is refreshing. The author creatively weaves the plot with numerous untold facts and added realism into it.
I usually shy away to stories that do not have a vast timeline because of the reason that I tend not to like them that much, but this book came into my life and proved all of my reservation wrong.
“Toshka.” He leaned forward, too. “It’s a Russian word, it has no translation into any other language, but the closest I’ve heard is the ache. A longing. The sense that something is missing, and even if you’re not sure what it is, you ache for it. Down to your bones.”
I have a kink for Latin and Russian text and passage, that’s all you need to know.
I absolutely love the main characters.
Do I need I to say more?
It’s a three-way romance.
I know most readers terribly hate love triangles, and I often find myself at the middle, partial to everything. I am that kind of person who basically ship everyone. It’s not a love triangle yet, or probably never, but it’s brewing in the air.
This book is kinda hot, and cute. It would make you blush and there would be guys and ships that will make you feel things.
There’s a popular saying that if you wear good shoes, they’ll take you to wonderful places. I believe beautiful books could also offer you the same experience. The Conspiracy of Us is a wanderlust piece. It made me feel like I was flying and out exploring the world. You need to read this. It would certainly appeal to every YA reader out there, looking for a fast paced read.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping
Minor: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury
No sugarcoat, this was typical and cliché, BUT it was fun especially toward the end.
I personally had the roughest time getting through a majority of the middle of the book (most of the Istanbul arc) and don't even get me started on the National Treasure, Where's Waldo moments that happened right after. The last bit was able to just nearly pull this read out of my DNF list....just bearly.
I personally had the roughest time getting through a majority of the middle of the book (most of the Istanbul arc) and don't even get me started on the National Treasure, Where's Waldo moments that happened right after. The last bit was able to just nearly pull this read out of my DNF list....just bearly.
My rating of The Conspiracy of Us trilogy -
[b:The Conspiracy of Us|17134589|The Conspiracy of Us (The Conspiracy of Us, #1)|Maggie Hall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1410275946s/17134589.jpg|23536517] ★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5 stars)
[b:Map of Fates|24481697|Map of Fates (The Conspiracy of Us, #2)|Maggie Hall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434982651s/24481697.jpg|44075908] ★★★☆☆ (3/5 stars)
[b:The Ends of the World|32814687|The Ends of the World (The Conspiracy of Us, #3)|Maggie Hall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1480357142s/32814687.jpg|44075945] ★★★★☆ (4/5 stars)
***************
*2.5/5 stars*
The beginning was ridiculous, that's for sure, but somehow my enjoyment of this silly story increased along the way.
Many thing just didn't make sense because they were simply not though through enough, there's way too much boy drama and romance for my taste. Also, hello insta-love (Avery and Jack). All of that could be more or less overlooked for the enteratining, adventurous aspect if it wasn't for the TSTL moments of the MC in this one.
Right at the beginning, she leaves with a guy she doesn't know to Paris to meet family she doesn't know anything about and doesn't say anything to her mother, not even that she's flying into another country without a freaking passport at that - like how did she thing she will get out of France if it turns out it was all a trick if she can't travel on her own?! Willing victim of abduction much?
Also, while I did like Jack, being in the heroine's head ment lots of decriptions of Jack's damn attractiveness. Like please staph!! We get it, we really do.. he is hot. I need more to romance than descriptions of abs and looks.
Then there's another guy - future love triangle - Stellan. I felt like his character maybe has the potential to be quite interesting if the author wrote him right in the sequel. (whispers, she does!! so while I may not loved him as a romantic prospect in this one, because he wasn't yet, I started to like him in the sequels!)
The thing that saved this book was mostly the adventure and captivating travels. It's fast paced and easy to read. It's fun and ridiculous and entertaining.
The whole mystery was Indiana Jones-ish, with secret society and rich people, if that's your thing, as well as easy to follow. For some reason I actually thought this book would be centered on politics and backstabbing. Nope. None of that. It's cantered on this big adventure, secret societies, and this whole tangle of chosen one trope. There's a promise of more adventure to come - tombs, secret treasures and prophecies, in the future!
All in all: add lots of romance, slightly TSTL heroine (character development in the sequels), prophecies and tresure hunting, with some expensive Prada dresses, Paris and adventure and voilà - this book.
It makes for entertaining enough read I guess, but only if you don't think too hard about all of the illogical, trope-y aspect of the story - and some stupid cultular stereotypes like idiotic jokes about blond Russians and morning vodka. *sigh*
I'd ultimately recommend this to youger teens or those who just want to be immersed and have fun with light - albeit a bit ridiculous - story. Quick and easy to read. Ha the potential to get better (and shh, it does) in the sequels.
[b:The Conspiracy of Us|17134589|The Conspiracy of Us (The Conspiracy of Us, #1)|Maggie Hall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1410275946s/17134589.jpg|23536517] ★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5 stars)
[b:Map of Fates|24481697|Map of Fates (The Conspiracy of Us, #2)|Maggie Hall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434982651s/24481697.jpg|44075908] ★★★☆☆ (3/5 stars)
[b:The Ends of the World|32814687|The Ends of the World (The Conspiracy of Us, #3)|Maggie Hall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1480357142s/32814687.jpg|44075945] ★★★★☆ (4/5 stars)
***************
*2.5/5 stars*
The beginning was ridiculous, that's for sure, but somehow my enjoyment of this silly story increased along the way.
Many thing just didn't make sense because they were simply not though through enough, there's way too much boy drama and romance for my taste. Also, hello insta-love (Avery and Jack). All of that could be more or less overlooked for the enteratining, adventurous aspect if it wasn't for the TSTL moments of the MC in this one.
Right at the beginning, she leaves with a guy she doesn't know to Paris to meet family she doesn't know anything about and doesn't say anything to her mother, not even that she's flying into another country without a freaking passport at that - like how did she thing she will get out of France if it turns out it was all a trick if she can't travel on her own?! Willing victim of abduction much?
Also, while I did like Jack, being in the heroine's head ment lots of decriptions of Jack's damn attractiveness. Like please staph!! We get it, we really do.. he is hot. I need more to romance than descriptions of abs and looks.
Then there's another guy - future love triangle - Stellan. I felt like his character maybe has the potential to be quite interesting if the author wrote him right in the sequel. (whispers, she does!! so while I may not loved him as a romantic prospect in this one, because he wasn't yet, I started to like him in the sequels!)
The thing that saved this book was mostly the adventure and captivating travels. It's fast paced and easy to read. It's fun and ridiculous and entertaining.
The whole mystery was Indiana Jones-ish, with secret society and rich people, if that's your thing, as well as easy to follow. For some reason I actually thought this book would be centered on politics and backstabbing. Nope. None of that. It's cantered on this big adventure, secret societies, and this whole tangle of chosen one trope. There's a promise of more adventure to come - tombs, secret treasures and prophecies, in the future!
All in all: add lots of romance, slightly TSTL heroine (character development in the sequels), prophecies and tresure hunting, with some expensive Prada dresses, Paris and adventure and voilà - this book.
It makes for entertaining enough read I guess, but only if you don't think too hard about all of the illogical, trope-y aspect of the story - and some stupid cultular stereotypes like idiotic jokes about blond Russians and morning vodka. *sigh*
I'd ultimately recommend this to youger teens or those who just want to be immersed and have fun with light - albeit a bit ridiculous - story. Quick and easy to read. Ha the potential to get better (and shh, it does) in the sequels.
seventeen-year-old girl who finds herself caught up in political intrigue, secret societies and quests for power. While some of the events are over the top, as a reader I was intrigued enough to let go and found myself caught up in the quest.
Avery is a strong heroine, and the author does an outstanding job of allowing us to get a sense of her personality prior to this maddening adventure. She handles it well, even as there are moments where she falters. Her actions, feelings and motives rang true allowing me to root for her.
Let us talk about the boys. Both are part of the Circle. Jack is the first to meet Avery and has been sent to retrieve her. He is mysterious, soft spoken and protective by nature. Stellan, on the other hand is darker, demanding and does not sugar coat things. We see another side a vulnerable side that intrigues me. Hall managed to make both appealing and I am eager to learn more. Avery is falling for one of them but their romance would be forbidden and a romance with the other might directly impact the prophecy…the tension was delicious.
Hall slowly revealed the world to us as Avery learned things leaving me filled with questions. A kidnapping propels Avery into the quest, as does her secret. The Circle itself is powerful and fascinating, creating this political game of intrigue and power struggles. Like Dan Brown’s stories, it is over the top, steeped in history and shrouded in religious aspects. I love when these things are weaved into mystery thrillers because no matter how far-fetched those little tid-bits of history make it feel genuine.
The Conspiracy of Us is the first in an untitled trilogy scheduled for yearly installments. Julia Whelan did an excellent job with the narration from the boy’s accents to Avery’s personality. At just under ten hours, the Conspiracy of Us works wonderfully on audio. The ending cuts of at a nice place, leaving us anxious for the next installment. I unplugged satisfied and excited for more. It was fun seeing this caliber of mystery thriller in the young adult genre.
Audio provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Avery is a strong heroine, and the author does an outstanding job of allowing us to get a sense of her personality prior to this maddening adventure. She handles it well, even as there are moments where she falters. Her actions, feelings and motives rang true allowing me to root for her.
Let us talk about the boys. Both are part of the Circle. Jack is the first to meet Avery and has been sent to retrieve her. He is mysterious, soft spoken and protective by nature. Stellan, on the other hand is darker, demanding and does not sugar coat things. We see another side a vulnerable side that intrigues me. Hall managed to make both appealing and I am eager to learn more. Avery is falling for one of them but their romance would be forbidden and a romance with the other might directly impact the prophecy…the tension was delicious.
Hall slowly revealed the world to us as Avery learned things leaving me filled with questions. A kidnapping propels Avery into the quest, as does her secret. The Circle itself is powerful and fascinating, creating this political game of intrigue and power struggles. Like Dan Brown’s stories, it is over the top, steeped in history and shrouded in religious aspects. I love when these things are weaved into mystery thrillers because no matter how far-fetched those little tid-bits of history make it feel genuine.
The Conspiracy of Us is the first in an untitled trilogy scheduled for yearly installments. Julia Whelan did an excellent job with the narration from the boy’s accents to Avery’s personality. At just under ten hours, the Conspiracy of Us works wonderfully on audio. The ending cuts of at a nice place, leaving us anxious for the next installment. I unplugged satisfied and excited for more. It was fun seeing this caliber of mystery thriller in the young adult genre.
Audio provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer
This was a fast-paced and fun read. I really enjoyed the dynamics between Avery, Jack, & Stellan. I did find it to be pretty predictable, but that didn't take anything away from my enjoyment of the story.
Oh, & I'm totally team Stellan.
Oh, & I'm totally team Stellan.
(Warning: a very long review with many quotes.) I didn't realize how lucky I've been until I started this book. I've come across plenty of YA books with leading ladies that I've disliked - maybe even hated - but until this one, I'd never come across one that was TSTL.
Very early on, we're treated to Avery finding a photo of herself in a classmate's (Jack) possession. This photo is one that she didn't take, her social media obsessed friend didn't take and it was taken in her front yard. Instead of worrying how he got it, she doesn't really seem to care. She never asks him about it; she never tells anyone about it.
'Jack seemed nice, but carrying a vaguely stalkerish photo was weird.'
She did follow him though, after she found the photo and over heard him talking on the phone with a British accent, which he most assuredly didn't have before. He invited her to prom. Instead of thinking he's some stalker freak, and against her mother's express order, she goes solely to meet him there.
'Then I waited until my mom was safely on her way to the airport, slipped my dress on, threw my hair up with bobby pins, and walked out the front door.'
She doesn't tell her mom where she's going or who she's going with. Her mother asked her to promise not to go. Not to go with Jack. This is how it starts - then you wind up chained to a radiator in a little hotel off i55 while he rants that he can't live without you
'"Quit it!" I finally snapped out of it and fought against his hand, careful to avoid the knife. "Let me go."
A few curious sets of eyes turned toward us, and I stopped struggling. As much as I wanted to get away from Stellan, I didn't want to make a scene.'
Right. Because when a guy has a knife in one hand, your arm in the other and is dragging you off, the most concerning thing at the moment is making a scene.
Now, at this point, Jack - her stalker - tells her to go with Stellan - the guy with the knife - and that she will be 'fine'. Instead of freaking out, instead of staying in the gym with all the people, instead of going right to the police, she listens.
She follows a guy that she literally just met today. A guy that she saw for the first time today. A guy that, during their first conversation, pulls a knife on her and tries to drag her out of the school gym.
She does this because a guy that she's known for less than a school year - a guy that has been stalking her and taking candid photos of her, and putting on a phony accent (which, even if she doesn't realize it, means he's in some seriously deep stuff) - tells her she will be 'fine'.
She, once again, doesn't tell anyone where she is going or who she is going with. Though the former might be because she didn't know. It isn't until she's getting into Stellan's car that she asks where they are going. Turns out, France. And she doesn't have a passport but that 'doesn't matter'.
'I didn't trust him for a second. And that would have been true even if he hadn't pulled a knife on me a few hours ago.'
Yet you still willingly got on a plane with him. Of course, it doesn't matter that you don't have a passport, because he's going to dump your lifeless body on a secluded beach somewhere.
'I shook it off and reminded myself that even if he'd been civil since the prom, something about him still made me uncomfortable, which meant it was deeply messed up to let him flirt with me at all, much less react to it. But if he was trying to get me to let my guard down, I could do the same to him.'
So…now you're bating the suspicious guy with the knife?
'I was too exhausted to protest anymore.'
Yes! Quit protesting and just let him do whatever he wants with you. Granted, this was only him untangling her pins from her hair, but she didn't want him to and told him so. Really, if he tries something more, would she put up more of a fight? I don't think so.
'But I couldn't help thinking about […] what kind of people would practically kidnap a girl from prom to bring her to France […]'
Kidnapping is 'against the person's will'. She went willingly, never arguing or protesting. This is not kidnapping - not even practically kidnapping.
'"Did you say you're keeping me here?" I wondered out loud. "For how long?"
Stellan was already walking away. "You're not going to question everything I say, are you? It's growing tiresome."'
Ugh. She hasn't questioned everything he said - in fact, this was probably her first question that wasn't either ignored or plot relevant. Instead of following up her line of questions, she get's distracted by Stellan's dress shirt being tucked in. (She has a strange fixation with if the shirt is tucked or untucked on the guys.) I'd like to mention that this is the same girl that, thirty pages ago, said this to her mother, after she was told she had two days to pack and be ready to move from Minnesota to Maine..
'"There are things I can't leave that fast. Like…getting the records for my AP classes transferred. There's no way a new school will let me into AP at the end of the year without paperwork. And checking the weather in Maine so I can put the right stuff in the right boxes."'
She's in a foreign country, without a passport and she allows the one person there that she knows slightly, to rebuff her questions. She doesn't know these people, is suspicious that they are the French mafia, and has no idea what their plans for her are. And she just lets it go.
'His eyes could almost have been deep blue, but they weren't, not quite. No, they were a dark violet.
They were exactly the color of my eyes.
I had never, ever seen another person with my real eye color. The guy disappeared back into the party. He must be related to me.'
Are violet eyes hereditary? I did a little reading about violet eyes, and I heard it's an incomplete form of albinism and then both parents have to have the recessive gene otherwise they'd have more normal colored eyes. I'm pretty sure this means he only 'must be related' to Avery in the same way everyone in the world must be related to one another.
'I dialed my mom's phone. I wouldn't let her force me to come home, but I was starting to feel bad.'
Do I really need to get into what's wrong with this statement? Beside the 'I won't do what mom says because I know better and she's not the boss of me' vibe, it's really about time she starts to feel bad. She ran away from home. All the way to France and now she can't leave because she doesn't have a passport. (Not that she wants to, anyway.)
'But it wasn't like there was anything wrong with shopping. It could be fun. It was nice of the Dauphins to take me in, and I might as well enjoy the perks while I could, before my mom found out what I'd done and locked me up until I turned eighteen.'
This little morsel came three pages after her rebellious 'I do what I want' tirade. I'm seriously starting to wonder if maybe she has some sort of mental disorder. Besides that, of course it's a good idea to shop for a ball gown when total strangers offer to pay for it. I'm pretty sure I've heard about cases where serial killers have to have their victims dressed just so…
'"I know exactly how old you are. Sixteen, seventeen next month. June fourteenth."'
Then:
'"Five foot two inches tall." He looked me up and down again, and I straightened automatically. "One hundred and three pounds."'
I'll give her credit for being slightly creeped out, but then:
'"Ah. Daddy issues, then," he said with a sage nod. "Though I suppose that should have been obvious when you immediately agreed to run off with strange and somewhat threatening men you didn't know."
I felt myself flush. Okay, yes, obviously I did have daddy issues, but it had nothing to do with my literary preferences. (He was ragging on her for reading Lolita.) I fished for a witty comeback, but I'd gotten too flustered.'
He knew her name before he ever talked to her and he knows her age and birthday, height and weight and she's more concerned about what he thinks of her reading preferences than that he knows all of this. He's the one that should explain himself, but he's put her on the defensive so she feels she has to make excuses for something that isn't wrong. (Okay, yeah, I'm surprised a 16 year old would read Lolita, but there's nothing wrong with that.)
'[…]the killer reached the bottom of the stairs.'
What did he kill, the dresses? Because, as of this point in the book, he hadn't killed anyone that Avery was aware of. He was, so far, merely an attempting killer.
'Stellan whirled on me. […] "Why did he try to kill you?"'
Victim blaming. Nice. (Maybe taken out of context, you won't see it, but he does have a knife and he's angry. I had to take it out of context though, otherwise spoilers!)
'He stalked across the floor until he towered over me.'
So now he's using intimidation tactics on a girl that was just nearly killed. Nice.
Now, I'd like you to note, this is just the first 80 pages.
On page 87, I was treated to this:
'In the space of one day, I'd turned into what I thought I'd never be: a naïve, hopeful idiot. Despite my wariness, I'd convinced myself this was fun. I'd spent all day smiling at famous people and admiring Paris and playing dress-up. I was thinking about going to a ball. All the while I had willfully ignored the ominous signs I didn't want to see.'
My note on this says: Finally! Is this the turning point?
'[…]you are the only girl with purple eyes in the world."'
Excuse me while I roll my eyes so had they fall out of my head.
'Allowing myself to be taken in by the Circle without understanding exactly what I was getting into would be beyond stupid. I had no room to be blindly optimistic anymore.'
The interesting thing about Avery is that this isn't character development. She claims that the way she was behaving for the previous parts of the book to be out of character for her. So, assuming that she is telling the truth and doesn't think she's brilliant when, really, she isn't, it's like the author knew where she wanted the story to go, but couldn't get Avery there without making her act like a stupid idiot.
The problem is, no matter what she's trying to be now, she made all those bad decisions and the reader won't be able to forget that. At least, this reader can't. I also imagine that there are a lot of people that will have given up before she starts acting like she had two brain cells to rub together.
To put it simply, I don't like Avery. She has potential when she's not acting like…well, like she was for the first 80 pages. Jack is a boring stalker. Honestly, there's nothing about him that I like. He pushes all the wrong buttons for me. I am a little interested in Stellan, as I do think he has potential to be an interesting character, but I balk at the thought of him being a love interest. Especially to a girl as weak willed as Avery.
The romance in the book is a huge part of the book. Avery is always noticing the guys, blushing while thinking about kissing them. It, so far, isn't a love triangle, but I bet that's where it's headed for book two.
'It wasn't my first kiss, but it felt like it was. It felt like how kisses in movies looked […]'
Oh, please.
'"That's when I stopped watching you just because it was my job," he said.'
Ugh, creepy! For pity's sake, quit romanticizing stalkers!
As for the romance, the only thing to hope for is that Avery gets a restraining order against both them.
I love secret treasure plotlines with historical mysteries thrown in, however this one was kind of a disappointment. I love the feeling of discovery, the idea that they're solving a mystery no one else ever has. My biggest complaint about this puzzle, the clues that they're following, is that they aren't breaking new ground. These are clues that someone else found and left for them, possibly as recently as a week ago.
'"He could have texted you where he'd hidden this stuff […]"'
Thanks for never once allowing me to forget that this isn't Indiana Jones or The Librarian. There's no feeling of wonder. No 'we did it when no one else did' no feeling that they were the only people that could. Very much a let down.
I will say, the latter part of the book picks up - enough that I am considering reading the second in the series when it gets published next year. This is partially due to the fact that the plot is left dangling. Majorly dangling and I haven't decided yet if I should be angry about that and swear off the rest of the series, or await it hopeful that it's better than this one.
(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)
Very early on, we're treated to Avery finding a photo of herself in a classmate's (Jack) possession. This photo is one that she didn't take, her social media obsessed friend didn't take and it was taken in her front yard. Instead of worrying how he got it, she doesn't really seem to care. She never asks him about it; she never tells anyone about it.
'Jack seemed nice, but carrying a vaguely stalkerish photo was weird.'
She did follow him though, after she found the photo and over heard him talking on the phone with a British accent, which he most assuredly didn't have before. He invited her to prom. Instead of thinking he's some stalker freak, and against her mother's express order, she goes solely to meet him there.
'Then I waited until my mom was safely on her way to the airport, slipped my dress on, threw my hair up with bobby pins, and walked out the front door.'
She doesn't tell her mom where she's going or who she's going with. Her mother asked her to promise not to go. Not to go with Jack. This is how it starts - then you wind up chained to a radiator in a little hotel off i55 while he rants that he can't live without you
'"Quit it!" I finally snapped out of it and fought against his hand, careful to avoid the knife. "Let me go."
A few curious sets of eyes turned toward us, and I stopped struggling. As much as I wanted to get away from Stellan, I didn't want to make a scene.'
Right. Because when a guy has a knife in one hand, your arm in the other and is dragging you off, the most concerning thing at the moment is making a scene.
Now, at this point, Jack - her stalker - tells her to go with Stellan - the guy with the knife - and that she will be 'fine'. Instead of freaking out, instead of staying in the gym with all the people, instead of going right to the police, she listens.
She follows a guy that she literally just met today. A guy that she saw for the first time today. A guy that, during their first conversation, pulls a knife on her and tries to drag her out of the school gym.
She does this because a guy that she's known for less than a school year - a guy that has been stalking her and taking candid photos of her, and putting on a phony accent (which, even if she doesn't realize it, means he's in some seriously deep stuff) - tells her she will be 'fine'.
She, once again, doesn't tell anyone where she is going or who she is going with. Though the former might be because she didn't know. It isn't until she's getting into Stellan's car that she asks where they are going. Turns out, France. And she doesn't have a passport but that 'doesn't matter'.
'I didn't trust him for a second. And that would have been true even if he hadn't pulled a knife on me a few hours ago.'
Yet you still willingly got on a plane with him. Of course, it doesn't matter that you don't have a passport, because he's going to dump your lifeless body on a secluded beach somewhere.
'I shook it off and reminded myself that even if he'd been civil since the prom, something about him still made me uncomfortable, which meant it was deeply messed up to let him flirt with me at all, much less react to it. But if he was trying to get me to let my guard down, I could do the same to him.'
So…now you're bating the suspicious guy with the knife?
'I was too exhausted to protest anymore.'
Yes! Quit protesting and just let him do whatever he wants with you. Granted, this was only him untangling her pins from her hair, but she didn't want him to and told him so. Really, if he tries something more, would she put up more of a fight? I don't think so.
'But I couldn't help thinking about […] what kind of people would practically kidnap a girl from prom to bring her to France […]'
Kidnapping is 'against the person's will'. She went willingly, never arguing or protesting. This is not kidnapping - not even practically kidnapping.
'"Did you say you're keeping me here?" I wondered out loud. "For how long?"
Stellan was already walking away. "You're not going to question everything I say, are you? It's growing tiresome."'
Ugh. She hasn't questioned everything he said - in fact, this was probably her first question that wasn't either ignored or plot relevant. Instead of following up her line of questions, she get's distracted by Stellan's dress shirt being tucked in. (She has a strange fixation with if the shirt is tucked or untucked on the guys.) I'd like to mention that this is the same girl that, thirty pages ago, said this to her mother, after she was told she had two days to pack and be ready to move from Minnesota to Maine..
'"There are things I can't leave that fast. Like…getting the records for my AP classes transferred. There's no way a new school will let me into AP at the end of the year without paperwork. And checking the weather in Maine so I can put the right stuff in the right boxes."'
She's in a foreign country, without a passport and she allows the one person there that she knows slightly, to rebuff her questions. She doesn't know these people, is suspicious that they are the French mafia, and has no idea what their plans for her are. And she just lets it go.
'His eyes could almost have been deep blue, but they weren't, not quite. No, they were a dark violet.
They were exactly the color of my eyes.
I had never, ever seen another person with my real eye color. The guy disappeared back into the party. He must be related to me.'
Are violet eyes hereditary? I did a little reading about violet eyes, and I heard it's an incomplete form of albinism and then both parents have to have the recessive gene otherwise they'd have more normal colored eyes. I'm pretty sure this means he only 'must be related' to Avery in the same way everyone in the world must be related to one another.
'I dialed my mom's phone. I wouldn't let her force me to come home, but I was starting to feel bad.'
Do I really need to get into what's wrong with this statement? Beside the 'I won't do what mom says because I know better and she's not the boss of me' vibe, it's really about time she starts to feel bad. She ran away from home. All the way to France and now she can't leave because she doesn't have a passport. (Not that she wants to, anyway.)
'But it wasn't like there was anything wrong with shopping. It could be fun. It was nice of the Dauphins to take me in, and I might as well enjoy the perks while I could, before my mom found out what I'd done and locked me up until I turned eighteen.'
This little morsel came three pages after her rebellious 'I do what I want' tirade. I'm seriously starting to wonder if maybe she has some sort of mental disorder. Besides that, of course it's a good idea to shop for a ball gown when total strangers offer to pay for it. I'm pretty sure I've heard about cases where serial killers have to have their victims dressed just so…
'"I know exactly how old you are. Sixteen, seventeen next month. June fourteenth."'
Then:
'"Five foot two inches tall." He looked me up and down again, and I straightened automatically. "One hundred and three pounds."'
I'll give her credit for being slightly creeped out, but then:
'"Ah. Daddy issues, then," he said with a sage nod. "Though I suppose that should have been obvious when you immediately agreed to run off with strange and somewhat threatening men you didn't know."
I felt myself flush. Okay, yes, obviously I did have daddy issues, but it had nothing to do with my literary preferences. (He was ragging on her for reading Lolita.) I fished for a witty comeback, but I'd gotten too flustered.'
He knew her name before he ever talked to her and he knows her age and birthday, height and weight and she's more concerned about what he thinks of her reading preferences than that he knows all of this. He's the one that should explain himself, but he's put her on the defensive so she feels she has to make excuses for something that isn't wrong. (Okay, yeah, I'm surprised a 16 year old would read Lolita, but there's nothing wrong with that.)
'[…]the killer reached the bottom of the stairs.'
What did he kill, the dresses? Because, as of this point in the book, he hadn't killed anyone that Avery was aware of. He was, so far, merely an attempting killer.
'Stellan whirled on me. […] "Why did he try to kill you?"'
Victim blaming. Nice. (Maybe taken out of context, you won't see it, but he does have a knife and he's angry. I had to take it out of context though, otherwise spoilers!)
'He stalked across the floor until he towered over me.'
So now he's using intimidation tactics on a girl that was just nearly killed. Nice.
Now, I'd like you to note, this is just the first 80 pages.
On page 87, I was treated to this:
'In the space of one day, I'd turned into what I thought I'd never be: a naïve, hopeful idiot. Despite my wariness, I'd convinced myself this was fun. I'd spent all day smiling at famous people and admiring Paris and playing dress-up. I was thinking about going to a ball. All the while I had willfully ignored the ominous signs I didn't want to see.'
My note on this says: Finally! Is this the turning point?
'[…]you are the only girl with purple eyes in the world."'
Excuse me while I roll my eyes so had they fall out of my head.
'Allowing myself to be taken in by the Circle without understanding exactly what I was getting into would be beyond stupid. I had no room to be blindly optimistic anymore.'
The interesting thing about Avery is that this isn't character development. She claims that the way she was behaving for the previous parts of the book to be out of character for her. So, assuming that she is telling the truth and doesn't think she's brilliant when, really, she isn't, it's like the author knew where she wanted the story to go, but couldn't get Avery there without making her act like a stupid idiot.
The problem is, no matter what she's trying to be now, she made all those bad decisions and the reader won't be able to forget that. At least, this reader can't. I also imagine that there are a lot of people that will have given up before she starts acting like she had two brain cells to rub together.
To put it simply, I don't like Avery. She has potential when she's not acting like…well, like she was for the first 80 pages. Jack is a boring stalker. Honestly, there's nothing about him that I like. He pushes all the wrong buttons for me. I am a little interested in Stellan, as I do think he has potential to be an interesting character, but I balk at the thought of him being a love interest. Especially to a girl as weak willed as Avery.
The romance in the book is a huge part of the book. Avery is always noticing the guys, blushing while thinking about kissing them. It, so far, isn't a love triangle, but I bet that's where it's headed for book two.
'It wasn't my first kiss, but it felt like it was. It felt like how kisses in movies looked […]'
Oh, please.
'"That's when I stopped watching you just because it was my job," he said.'
Ugh, creepy! For pity's sake, quit romanticizing stalkers!
As for the romance, the only thing to hope for is that Avery gets a restraining order against both them.
I love secret treasure plotlines with historical mysteries thrown in, however this one was kind of a disappointment. I love the feeling of discovery, the idea that they're solving a mystery no one else ever has. My biggest complaint about this puzzle, the clues that they're following, is that they aren't breaking new ground. These are clues that someone else found and left for them, possibly as recently as a week ago.
'"He could have texted you where he'd hidden this stuff […]"'
Thanks for never once allowing me to forget that this isn't Indiana Jones or The Librarian. There's no feeling of wonder. No 'we did it when no one else did' no feeling that they were the only people that could. Very much a let down.
I will say, the latter part of the book picks up - enough that I am considering reading the second in the series when it gets published next year. This is partially due to the fact that the plot is left dangling. Majorly dangling and I haven't decided yet if I should be angry about that and swear off the rest of the series, or await it hopeful that it's better than this one.
(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)
adventurous
funny
mysterious
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