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mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
1.0
I never read this one growing up. I didn't find out there was a sequel until after I fell out of the habit of reading. Going into it with fresh eyes on this series - I was very disappointed in book one after my recent re-read - I was not expecting much though I can admit I did hope that it would manage to improve.
As is typical whenever I hope for the best it gets worse.
What made it worse was that this book got my hopes up. Miri travels to the kingdom of Asland as a special guest/lady in waiting for Britta. Miri will be attending the Queen's Castle, a top lowlander university, for the year she's visiting. Halfway into her stay Britta is to wed Prince Steffan. Sadly, all is not as perfect as Miri once assumed the lowlands must be. There's a commoner uprising looming and Miri is torn between her allegiance to her good friend Britta and the desire to do what's right for the people.
I loved this as a foundation.
I love political intrigue in books. I love not knowing who to trust. I love getting swept up in revolution. I love the backstabbing, the betrayal, the pursuit of justice no matter the cost.
The parts of this book that dealt with this aspect were the best to me. The only problem is that like in the first book everything from worldbuilding to characterization are threadbare leading the whole novel to unravel upon closer scrutiny.
A lot of it comes down to Britta. Purportedly, Miri's best friend I can count on one hand the amount of times these two characters talk in a book over 300 pages long. And when they do Britta comes off as so self absorbed and immature. Miri's whole arc is rooted in learning about the cruelty perpetuated on behalf of the boorish King. So we're entrenched in that struggle. Civil unrest is only growing. People can't even afford shoes in the winter. The King takes more in taxes everyday from his nobles meaning they in turn take more taxes from the already impoverished lower class. Yet, Britta barely alludes to the increased dissent in the kingdom nor does she seem to even think about what’s going on as long as it doesn’t affect her. She's worried for her own life, but doesn't care at all about the valid complaints being levied against the crown. She's about to be a Princess who will eventually have major influence as Queen one day. Her best friend is essentially a commoner. She lived amongst commoners for a year. How can she not even try to understand where they're coming from? All she cares about is if Steffan still loves her because 'he's growing distant. ' Okay, Britta have you ever considered the fact that maybe as a Prince he has certain responsibilities that are more important than paying attention to your stupid wedding? When a campaign is launched criticizing her, I agreed wholeheartedly. She did steal the crown away from a Mount Eskelite. It was totally unfair that her father used his connections as a noble to manipulate the system in her favor. And Britta did lie to her 'friends' including Miri for almost a year about her heritage, an unintended, but still duplicitous action in its own right. This facet of the story is why I hated the ending to the Princess Academy and it’s what tanked its score for me.
I don't care that she and Steffan were 'in love'. It doesn't excuse what was done. I liked seeing the criticisms I had come up in-story because it really was a huge drag on the first book. What bothers me though is that Miri and Britta never address this growing divide in their friendship. Miri throws herself into the plight of the 'shoeless' yet she's still ever as devoted to Britta - a person who with alarming frequency demonstrates how frustratingly little she understands about Miri as a person? It's so disingenuous.
Miri is described as a bold, headstrong girl. Why isn't she calling Britta out? Why isn't she pushing Britta to get more involved? Oh it's because she's Miri's friend so who cares if she acts like all the other nobles we despise and disparage for their ineffectuality, I guess. Also Miri is scared of how she'll react so she says nothing. Like what? I understand that it's hard to put a strong opinion out there to someone you care about when you can't be assured of their response. But, it directly contradicts Miri's fiery personality to never bring it up not even in the heat of the moment. It does a disservice to both characters particularly Miri as the protagonist. She doesn’t have to drop Britta. I’m just saying that a fight about it would have gone a long way towards creating a sense of profundity.
And when Miri the central character lacks depth then you can imagine how flat the others are.
Only a few of the girls from the first book make an appearance in this one. I mentioned in my review of The Princess Academy that I appreciate the difficulty in fleshing out an ensemble cast. That no longer applies when you cut twenty girls down to five. There was more than enough for the five to do that would have actively contributed to the story. For like half the book the girls are doing nothing except sitting around the castle. They’re supposed to be helping Britta with her duties as honorary ladies only they don’t know how to do anything fancy like normal ladies/ladies in waiting would do so they’re kind of stuck at first. When the girls do pick up hobbies to occupy their time it’s a blink and you miss it kind of thing that feels like it was put in only so the reader technically couldn’t complain.
Esa has started apprenticing to be a doctor. She's seen firsthand how lack of resources robs the poor of their lives as a younger sibling died and her mother suffered a few miscarriages. Why is this not folded into the story more? Why isn't Esa also attending secret salon meetings? Or engaging in seditious acts by giving free medical care? A doctor is in a prime position to see both sides of the argument while Esa's unique background would also give her an interesting perspective on the uprisings.
Frid is working as a blacksmith; a job that in their worsening political climate was disproportionately skewed in favor of the noble class. Gerti has become involved in an orchestra and historically, music has been a great tool for surreptitiously spreading information. Katar has been immersed in Aslandian culture working as the delegate for Mount Eskel for the past year. Bena and Liana are once again made out to be villains for not fitting into the very narrow parameters for feminism, but in their social climbing we could have created more dimensionality for the upper class rather than treating the lot as a monolith or relying on Britta to represent an entire group of ‘good rich people’ we never see. Literally all of the girls have a plot element that would add so much more depth to the conflict and raise the stakes if pursued even the tiniest bit.
Oh wait, I forgot. Only Miri is allowed to engage in anything relevant to the main plot. My mistake.
Going back to Miri, further increasing my disdain for her she cheats on Peder this entire book and it is never seriously brought up. I don’t care for Peder because he’s barely a character. That being said, I didn’t want Miri to cheat on him!
Peder has been permitted to apprentice as a stonecarver in Asland; a talent of his briefly touched upon in the first book. This is used as an excuse to keep him completely removed from all action until the very end because he’s just ‘too busy’ and ‘too tired’. That frees Miri up to be wooed by Timon - the insurrectionist son of a rich wannabe noble landowner who also attends Queen’s Castle. At the beginning of the book Miri despairs over Peder not asking for her hand in betrothal despite her being of age. For the rest of the book, Miri questions whether Peder is the one for her. She proceeds to hang out with Timon during all her spare time going so far as to kiss him on several occasions as well as begin to seriously envision a life together. This is seriously a full blown affair. In the end Miri vaguely tells Peder that she ‘thought she felt something but she now knows she was wrong’. And that’s it? Everything is hunky dory, Peder and Miri get engaged to be engaged (they want to wait for their fathers to oversee it as is the custom/requirement for betrothals).
I hate love triangles because so often it’s a contrived way to create tension. I would have preferred the tired, predictable story beats over what happens in this book. It bizarrely tried to have the love triangle without following any of the proper steps. Yeah, I might have hated it either way, but you still need to go through the process if you’re going to do it. Peder is so underwritten nothing Miri does can affect their relationship.
In that same conversation when Miri alludes to her dalliance Peder mentions that he saw her and Timon acting a bit cozy at a ball that took place a few chapters ago. He expresses absolutely no thoughts about this one way or the other. In fact you’d think he’s only going through the motions of courting Miri rather than being motivated by any special interest in her. The reason he didn’t ask Miri for a betrothal? He didn’t grow up with anybody around him having betrothals so he never knew what the protocol was for doing it. So Miri should have known she’d have to be the one to initiate. What a lazy, cheap cop out to avoid the fact that this book only served to highlight how disparate these two characters are. She goes to see Peder maybe three times before he suddenly becomes important for the climax. While visiting she makes a point each time to not share any of her misgivings so as not to burden him or under the frankly insulting assumption he ‘just won’t understand’. How is anyone supposed to ship this?
Timon is way more developed. He loves learning. He has super strong convictions. He is actively fighting for change. Plus, he actually spends time with Miri meaning I can see chemistry between the two.
Also this aligns with a more personal grievance; Miri should not go back to Mount Eskel. She is grasping at her old life when it is so obvious that she would thrive in Asland. I get it. It’s hard to leave home. It’s even harder to consider it I’m sure when it takes days or weeks for visits and/or correspondence. But, I just do not think Hale sells it well enough why Miri would choose to go back. Yes, her family is there. Yes, she loves her home. No, that’s not a good enough reason to stay when it would be empirically better for her to move away. Her wanting to educate the people of Mount Eskel is a great reason, but if that’s her path I don’t like that this book spent so much time providing evidence as to why Miri would be perfect in Asland.
The whole ending is a slog. Miri is no longer working to fight oppression; she’s firmly aligned herself on the side of the bourgeoisie who are more than happy to watch the people live in squalor in order to save her friend. A friend who in her ignorance is maintaining the very same systems that keep people like her best friend down. I’m supposed to be rooting against the shoeless overthrowing and killing Britta just because she’s Miri’s friend? The shoeless were 100% correct in their opinion of Britta. Miri keeps telling them that Britta’s different, but the narrative does absolutely nothing to prove this to me. This fundamentally undermines most of the themes presented. Reading about Miri’s relentless crusade to save a character who does not deserve it is excruciating.
The king has some sad backstory and family secret that he wasn’t privy to so he’s absolved of his crimes. Nevermind the fact that he still has to be bullied into doing what’s right in the end. Also Britta is now revered as some sort of savior by the people after doing the bare minimum. She gets stripped of her title as some sort of compromise so she can still marry Steffan. And that is supposed to make up for the inherent inequality of her being chosen as the Academy Princess in the first place when she cheated; her now being a commoner and the ‘shoeless princess’ erases how wrong it was that she won in the first place.
I swear this book would be ten times better if Miri wasn't the only one permitted to save the day. None of the other girls can get in on the action because it might take away from Miri's shine. Every aspect is arranged in such a way that Miri has to be the center of the universe regardless of how it affects the quality of the story. Basically if Miri's not there to see it, does it matter?
I cannot believe how much worse this book was from the first one. I don’t think this was intended to be a series and it definitely shows. What’s worse is that looking at the publishing gap from book 1 to 2 there was plenty of time to improve on the story. I wouldn’t recommend either of these books, but if you’re cruising reviews before starting Palace of Stone I’d say if you like The Princess Academy then stop there.
As is typical whenever I hope for the best it gets worse.
What made it worse was that this book got my hopes up. Miri travels to the kingdom of Asland as a special guest/lady in waiting for Britta. Miri will be attending the Queen's Castle, a top lowlander university, for the year she's visiting. Halfway into her stay Britta is to wed Prince Steffan. Sadly, all is not as perfect as Miri once assumed the lowlands must be. There's a commoner uprising looming and Miri is torn between her allegiance to her good friend Britta and the desire to do what's right for the people.
I loved this as a foundation.
I love political intrigue in books. I love not knowing who to trust. I love getting swept up in revolution. I love the backstabbing, the betrayal, the pursuit of justice no matter the cost.
The parts of this book that dealt with this aspect were the best to me. The only problem is that like in the first book everything from worldbuilding to characterization are threadbare leading the whole novel to unravel upon closer scrutiny.
A lot of it comes down to Britta. Purportedly, Miri's best friend I can count on one hand the amount of times these two characters talk in a book over 300 pages long. And when they do Britta comes off as so self absorbed and immature. Miri's whole arc is rooted in learning about the cruelty perpetuated on behalf of the boorish King. So we're entrenched in that struggle. Civil unrest is only growing. People can't even afford shoes in the winter. The King takes more in taxes everyday from his nobles meaning they in turn take more taxes from the already impoverished lower class. Yet, Britta barely alludes to the increased dissent in the kingdom nor does she seem to even think about what’s going on as long as it doesn’t affect her. She's worried for her own life, but doesn't care at all about the valid complaints being levied against the crown. She's about to be a Princess who will eventually have major influence as Queen one day. Her best friend is essentially a commoner. She lived amongst commoners for a year. How can she not even try to understand where they're coming from? All she cares about is if Steffan still loves her because 'he's growing distant. ' Okay, Britta have you ever considered the fact that maybe as a Prince he has certain responsibilities that are more important than paying attention to your stupid wedding? When a campaign is launched criticizing her, I agreed wholeheartedly. She did steal the crown away from a Mount Eskelite. It was totally unfair that her father used his connections as a noble to manipulate the system in her favor. And Britta did lie to her 'friends' including Miri for almost a year about her heritage, an unintended, but still duplicitous action in its own right. This facet of the story is why I hated the ending to the Princess Academy and it’s what tanked its score for me.
I don't care that she and Steffan were 'in love'. It doesn't excuse what was done. I liked seeing the criticisms I had come up in-story because it really was a huge drag on the first book. What bothers me though is that Miri and Britta never address this growing divide in their friendship. Miri throws herself into the plight of the 'shoeless' yet she's still ever as devoted to Britta - a person who with alarming frequency demonstrates how frustratingly little she understands about Miri as a person? It's so disingenuous.
Miri is described as a bold, headstrong girl. Why isn't she calling Britta out? Why isn't she pushing Britta to get more involved? Oh it's because she's Miri's friend so who cares if she acts like all the other nobles we despise and disparage for their ineffectuality, I guess. Also Miri is scared of how she'll react so she says nothing. Like what? I understand that it's hard to put a strong opinion out there to someone you care about when you can't be assured of their response. But, it directly contradicts Miri's fiery personality to never bring it up not even in the heat of the moment. It does a disservice to both characters particularly Miri as the protagonist. She doesn’t have to drop Britta. I’m just saying that a fight about it would have gone a long way towards creating a sense of profundity.
And when Miri the central character lacks depth then you can imagine how flat the others are.
Only a few of the girls from the first book make an appearance in this one. I mentioned in my review of The Princess Academy that I appreciate the difficulty in fleshing out an ensemble cast. That no longer applies when you cut twenty girls down to five. There was more than enough for the five to do that would have actively contributed to the story. For like half the book the girls are doing nothing except sitting around the castle. They’re supposed to be helping Britta with her duties as honorary ladies only they don’t know how to do anything fancy like normal ladies/ladies in waiting would do so they’re kind of stuck at first. When the girls do pick up hobbies to occupy their time it’s a blink and you miss it kind of thing that feels like it was put in only so the reader technically couldn’t complain.
Esa has started apprenticing to be a doctor. She's seen firsthand how lack of resources robs the poor of their lives as a younger sibling died and her mother suffered a few miscarriages. Why is this not folded into the story more? Why isn't Esa also attending secret salon meetings? Or engaging in seditious acts by giving free medical care? A doctor is in a prime position to see both sides of the argument while Esa's unique background would also give her an interesting perspective on the uprisings.
Frid is working as a blacksmith; a job that in their worsening political climate was disproportionately skewed in favor of the noble class. Gerti has become involved in an orchestra and historically, music has been a great tool for surreptitiously spreading information. Katar has been immersed in Aslandian culture working as the delegate for Mount Eskel for the past year. Bena and Liana are once again made out to be villains for not fitting into the very narrow parameters for feminism, but in their social climbing we could have created more dimensionality for the upper class rather than treating the lot as a monolith or relying on Britta to represent an entire group of ‘good rich people’ we never see. Literally all of the girls have a plot element that would add so much more depth to the conflict and raise the stakes if pursued even the tiniest bit.
Oh wait, I forgot. Only Miri is allowed to engage in anything relevant to the main plot. My mistake.
Going back to Miri, further increasing my disdain for her she cheats on Peder this entire book and it is never seriously brought up. I don’t care for Peder because he’s barely a character. That being said, I didn’t want Miri to cheat on him!
Peder has been permitted to apprentice as a stonecarver in Asland; a talent of his briefly touched upon in the first book. This is used as an excuse to keep him completely removed from all action until the very end because he’s just ‘too busy’ and ‘too tired’. That frees Miri up to be wooed by Timon - the insurrectionist son of a rich wannabe noble landowner who also attends Queen’s Castle. At the beginning of the book Miri despairs over Peder not asking for her hand in betrothal despite her being of age. For the rest of the book, Miri questions whether Peder is the one for her. She proceeds to hang out with Timon during all her spare time going so far as to kiss him on several occasions as well as begin to seriously envision a life together. This is seriously a full blown affair. In the end Miri vaguely tells Peder that she ‘thought she felt something but she now knows she was wrong’. And that’s it? Everything is hunky dory, Peder and Miri get engaged to be engaged (they want to wait for their fathers to oversee it as is the custom/requirement for betrothals).
I hate love triangles because so often it’s a contrived way to create tension. I would have preferred the tired, predictable story beats over what happens in this book. It bizarrely tried to have the love triangle without following any of the proper steps. Yeah, I might have hated it either way, but you still need to go through the process if you’re going to do it. Peder is so underwritten nothing Miri does can affect their relationship.
In that same conversation when Miri alludes to her dalliance Peder mentions that he saw her and Timon acting a bit cozy at a ball that took place a few chapters ago. He expresses absolutely no thoughts about this one way or the other. In fact you’d think he’s only going through the motions of courting Miri rather than being motivated by any special interest in her. The reason he didn’t ask Miri for a betrothal? He didn’t grow up with anybody around him having betrothals so he never knew what the protocol was for doing it. So Miri should have known she’d have to be the one to initiate. What a lazy, cheap cop out to avoid the fact that this book only served to highlight how disparate these two characters are. She goes to see Peder maybe three times before he suddenly becomes important for the climax. While visiting she makes a point each time to not share any of her misgivings so as not to burden him or under the frankly insulting assumption he ‘just won’t understand’. How is anyone supposed to ship this?
Timon is way more developed. He loves learning. He has super strong convictions. He is actively fighting for change. Plus, he actually spends time with Miri meaning I can see chemistry between the two.
Also this aligns with a more personal grievance; Miri should not go back to Mount Eskel. She is grasping at her old life when it is so obvious that she would thrive in Asland. I get it. It’s hard to leave home. It’s even harder to consider it I’m sure when it takes days or weeks for visits and/or correspondence. But, I just do not think Hale sells it well enough why Miri would choose to go back. Yes, her family is there. Yes, she loves her home. No, that’s not a good enough reason to stay when it would be empirically better for her to move away. Her wanting to educate the people of Mount Eskel is a great reason, but if that’s her path I don’t like that this book spent so much time providing evidence as to why Miri would be perfect in Asland.
The whole ending is a slog. Miri is no longer working to fight oppression; she’s firmly aligned herself on the side of the bourgeoisie who are more than happy to watch the people live in squalor in order to save her friend. A friend who in her ignorance is maintaining the very same systems that keep people like her best friend down. I’m supposed to be rooting against the shoeless overthrowing and killing Britta just because she’s Miri’s friend? The shoeless were 100% correct in their opinion of Britta. Miri keeps telling them that Britta’s different, but the narrative does absolutely nothing to prove this to me. This fundamentally undermines most of the themes presented. Reading about Miri’s relentless crusade to save a character who does not deserve it is excruciating.
The king has some sad backstory and family secret that he wasn’t privy to so he’s absolved of his crimes. Nevermind the fact that he still has to be bullied into doing what’s right in the end. Also Britta is now revered as some sort of savior by the people after doing the bare minimum. She gets stripped of her title as some sort of compromise so she can still marry Steffan. And that is supposed to make up for the inherent inequality of her being chosen as the Academy Princess in the first place when she cheated; her now being a commoner and the ‘shoeless princess’ erases how wrong it was that she won in the first place.
I swear this book would be ten times better if Miri wasn't the only one permitted to save the day. None of the other girls can get in on the action because it might take away from Miri's shine. Every aspect is arranged in such a way that Miri has to be the center of the universe regardless of how it affects the quality of the story. Basically if Miri's not there to see it, does it matter?
I cannot believe how much worse this book was from the first one. I don’t think this was intended to be a series and it definitely shows. What’s worse is that looking at the publishing gap from book 1 to 2 there was plenty of time to improve on the story. I wouldn’t recommend either of these books, but if you’re cruising reviews before starting Palace of Stone I’d say if you like The Princess Academy then stop there.
kattzie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mehsi's review against another edition
5.0
I have waited for about 8 years for a sequel, constantly hoping there will be one. When I heard about the sequel last year, I was really fangirling and squealing.
First: Sorry for the chaotic review. :)
I got the book, and I put everything else on hold. I only do that for the special books. :)
And special it was, the book was wonderful. So happy to see everyone again, to read about Mount Eskel, to read about Miri. And ofcourse rooting for Peder and Miri, because they just had to get together. :)
This time the book takes place in Asland, at the palace and the surrounding areas. Britta is about to get married to Steffan, and the Princess Ladies have to be there. So Miri and her friends set of for a few days trip and will be staying at the palace for a year. Miri is doubting if she wants to go, she doesn't want to leave her father and her sister. But in the end she goes, promising she will write them letters and will send them when the spring comes and the traders go to Mount Eskel.
I loved the little letters we got at the end of the chapters. How Miri starts of insecure, worried and afraid, but in the end grows up and is more secure and sure of herself.
I was happy to see Miri got a chance to go to school (Queen's Castle) and study. I loved the descriptions of the clothes, the library, the whole school. I wish I could go to such a school, it sounds really wonderful.
In this book we also got 2 boys, 1 is Peder and 1 is Timon. Miri is floating between them, unsure about her feelings.
Timon, well let say.. I was rooting for him the first part, but quite soon I was hoping he would just disappear. He was annoying and way to opiniated about political stuff.
On that note, I didn't mind the political stuff much, though it got boring sometimes. I wish we more had a story about the romance between Peder and Miri. Miri and her friends and just a fun book. Now it was loaded with political stuff and for some parts I skipped it.
I can understand why it is needed, since we already knew about the problems with the King, and how he keeps overtaxing and getting more and more gifts while the rest of the country starved.
I loved the ending,
Overall a good book. Romance, action, magic all combined in this book. I would recommend it. Though be sure to read the first book. You will be very confused if you enter this book without the knowledge of the first book.
First: Sorry for the chaotic review. :)
I got the book, and I put everything else on hold. I only do that for the special books. :)
And special it was, the book was wonderful. So happy to see everyone again, to read about Mount Eskel, to read about Miri. And ofcourse rooting for Peder and Miri, because they just had to get together. :)
This time the book takes place in Asland, at the palace and the surrounding areas. Britta is about to get married to Steffan, and the Princess Ladies have to be there. So Miri and her friends set of for a few days trip and will be staying at the palace for a year. Miri is doubting if she wants to go, she doesn't want to leave her father and her sister. But in the end she goes, promising she will write them letters and will send them when the spring comes and the traders go to Mount Eskel.
I loved the little letters we got at the end of the chapters. How Miri starts of insecure, worried and afraid, but in the end grows up and is more secure and sure of herself.
I was happy to see Miri got a chance to go to school (Queen's Castle) and study. I loved the descriptions of the clothes, the library, the whole school. I wish I could go to such a school, it sounds really wonderful.
In this book we also got 2 boys, 1 is Peder and 1 is Timon. Miri is floating between them, unsure about her feelings.
Timon, well let say.. I was rooting for him the first part, but quite soon I was hoping he would just disappear. He was annoying and way to opiniated about political stuff.
On that note, I didn't mind the political stuff much, though it got boring sometimes. I wish we more had a story about the romance between Peder and Miri. Miri and her friends and just a fun book. Now it was loaded with political stuff and for some parts I skipped it.
I can understand why it is needed, since we already knew about the problems with the King, and how he keeps overtaxing and getting more and more gifts while the rest of the country starved.
I loved the ending,
Spoiler
Peder and Miri getting engaged/betrothed. Sooooo happy with that. Though Peder is a bit.. well typical guy stuff. :) And I loved the kisses they shared.Overall a good book. Romance, action, magic all combined in this book. I would recommend it. Though be sure to read the first book. You will be very confused if you enter this book without the knowledge of the first book.
erinricks's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, I read this in one day. I could not put it down. Like, it gave me physical pain to put the book down. Shannon Hale did another AMAZING job, and I really want the third one. Well, it's waiting at the school library for me! Yay!
kebreads's review against another edition
5.0
I want to read this book! I just finished re-reading book 1 and can't wait to read book 2!
I love this book. In it Miri is being pulled it opposite directions on multiple fronts, and she has to learn how to deal with the consequences that come with actions.
I love this book. In it Miri is being pulled it opposite directions on multiple fronts, and she has to learn how to deal with the consequences that come with actions.
gmamartha's review against another edition
4.0
Worth waiting for! Has the right amount of adventure, loyalty, bravery, friends and family.
mazieb's review against another edition
challenging
informative
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
sallyavena's review against another edition
4.0
I liked the story line. I liked the resolution of the story. I enjoyed all of the new characters and how the old characters grew. The only one that seemed to get shelved and therefore didn't develop was Britta. I would have liked to see her grow more.
Here's the one reason it didn't get 5 stars and I'm struggling with this a little. I like Hale's style of writing. She can use metaphors and similes like no other writer I have read and I like that. It makes her stories more interesting and I like the visualization in my head. However, I like stumbling upon them and having them be a treat in the story that keeps the vision of what is going on in your head, but not taking away from the story. In this book they seemed over done. There were so many on almost every page I got lost in those instead of the story. Not sure if that is a good thing...maybe just too much of a good thing.
Here's the one reason it didn't get 5 stars and I'm struggling with this a little. I like Hale's style of writing. She can use metaphors and similes like no other writer I have read and I like that. It makes her stories more interesting and I like the visualization in my head. However, I like stumbling upon them and having them be a treat in the story that keeps the vision of what is going on in your head, but not taking away from the story. In this book they seemed over done. There were so many on almost every page I got lost in those instead of the story. Not sure if that is a good thing...maybe just too much of a good thing.
avonleagal's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a fun read and it got me out of my reading slump. One thing is I will always be team Peder, Timon sucks.