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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
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 stars - I really liked the characters in this one. Especially in kings city. I enjoyed the emotion and relationships between characters. I didn’t care for the “monsters,” and felt that the overall story was a little bleak. Tw: animal abuse. (This was so hard to read.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Tremendo meh.
Yo leí de adolescente Graceling, que es el otro libro de la "saga" (pongo saga entre comillas porque se pueden leer de forma independiente) y me gustó muchísimo. Lo volví a leer hace unos años y me volvió a gustar, por ese motivo iba con bastantes expectativas con esta novela que no se han visto para nada satisfechas.
El inicio del libro me pareció una pasada. Las primeras 50/60 fueron muuy absorbentes y estaba deseosa de saber cómo continuaría, pero enseguida nos encontramos con un standby en los acontecimientos que casi se mantiene hasta el final del libro.
La historia está narrada por Fuego, que es la protagonista, y esto tampoco ha contribuido a mi disfrute, ya que me ha parecido un personaje tremendamente flojo. Para empezar hay un exceso de autocompasión en ella, que mezclado con sus ganas de hacer del mundo un lugar mejor, la convierten en la heroína mártir perfecta. Unos toquecitos de heroicos y dramáticos en ciertos personajes pueden ser características atrayentes, pero de verdad que en este caso se acaba haciendo pesado. Yo no he conectado con este personaje y me ha parecido simplón y poco carismático.
Al resto de personajes apenas los conocemos, ya que la gran protagonista es Fuego, por lo que pasan sin pena ni gloria por la historia.
Sobre la trama... pues creo que habría que preguntarle a la autora cuál pretendía que fuera. La atención estaba focalizada en Fuego y sus problemas de poca monta, pero hay una "subtrama" sobre reinos, conquistas y traiciones que podría haber tenido potencial si se hubiera desarrollado en condiciones. Esta "subtrama" está ahí, se entrevee que la autora quiere sacarla a la palestra, pero la realidad es que no genera interés porque no le pone atención, no implica al lector con las problemáticas y al final no se entiende bien. Para mí ha sido casi molesta esta parte, porque me daba la sensación constante de que no se estaba narrando como debería.
Y ya para terminar, comentar que mi edición tiene una traducción bastante raruna, con frases que me han chirriado mucho, expresiones que no había escuchado (lo cual me parece raro tratándose de un libro juvenil), y además los personajes se trataban entre ellos con una formalidad desmedida, al mismo tiempo que encontrabas expresiones tremendamente coloquiales y que no pegaban en el contexto de la obra. También había unos cuantos fallitos de corrección.
En fin que MEEEEH
Yo leí de adolescente Graceling, que es el otro libro de la "saga" (pongo saga entre comillas porque se pueden leer de forma independiente) y me gustó muchísimo. Lo volví a leer hace unos años y me volvió a gustar, por ese motivo iba con bastantes expectativas con esta novela que no se han visto para nada satisfechas.
El inicio del libro me pareció una pasada. Las primeras 50/60 fueron muuy absorbentes y estaba deseosa de saber cómo continuaría, pero enseguida nos encontramos con un standby en los acontecimientos que casi se mantiene hasta el final del libro.
La historia está narrada por Fuego, que es la protagonista, y esto tampoco ha contribuido a mi disfrute, ya que me ha parecido un personaje tremendamente flojo. Para empezar hay un exceso de autocompasión en ella, que mezclado con sus ganas de hacer del mundo un lugar mejor, la convierten en la heroína mártir perfecta. Unos toquecitos de heroicos y dramáticos en ciertos personajes pueden ser características atrayentes, pero de verdad que en este caso se acaba haciendo pesado. Yo no he conectado con este personaje y me ha parecido simplón y poco carismático.
Al resto de personajes apenas los conocemos, ya que la gran protagonista es Fuego, por lo que pasan sin pena ni gloria por la historia.
Sobre la trama... pues creo que habría que preguntarle a la autora cuál pretendía que fuera. La atención estaba focalizada en Fuego y sus problemas de poca monta, pero hay una "subtrama" sobre reinos, conquistas y traiciones que podría haber tenido potencial si se hubiera desarrollado en condiciones. Esta "subtrama" está ahí, se entrevee que la autora quiere sacarla a la palestra, pero la realidad es que no genera interés porque no le pone atención, no implica al lector con las problemáticas y al final no se entiende bien. Para mí ha sido casi molesta esta parte, porque me daba la sensación constante de que no se estaba narrando como debería.
Y ya para terminar, comentar que mi edición tiene una traducción bastante raruna, con frases que me han chirriado mucho, expresiones que no había escuchado (lo cual me parece raro tratándose de un libro juvenil), y además los personajes se trataban entre ellos con una formalidad desmedida, al mismo tiempo que encontrabas expresiones tremendamente coloquiales y que no pegaban en el contexto de la obra. También había unos cuantos fallitos de corrección.
En fin que MEEEEH
adventurous
dark
hopeful
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:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I would give this 5 stars again but I already have on another edition.
Scratch that I'm giving it anyways.
This is my favorite book of all time and it was the perfect reread ugh I wish I could inject this into my veins.
Scratch that I'm giving it anyways.
This is my favorite book of all time and it was the perfect reread ugh I wish I could inject this into my veins.
Kristin Cashore once again ripped out my soul. This is a book of war and despite it being YA does not shy from consequences, and heavy questions of morality. I read Graceling long ago and was never invested in reading this book because I really didn't care about King Leck's origin story, which was foolish because it's so much more. Truly excellent, and now I'll have to continue reading the rest of the Graceling realm series.
2024: appreciated this book a lot more on my second read. Loved it really. Bumped it up to 4 stars.
I was rather disappointed that Katsa and Po do not appear in this story, at all.
After the first few chapters I let that disappointment go, I tried to appreciate the book for what it did have. I really tried. I feel like I had to try to hard to like this book, honestly.
Fire was a good main character, she was a strong female protagonist with a real struggle I found to be somewhat relatable. Not that I had a monster father that could control people and was cruel to most, but still.
I also liked Brigan, I liked the way Fire and Brigan grew towards each other through the book.
However, I found this book rather boring. Sometimes I didn't understand what was going on. At this point I'm not actually sure if that's because things actually didn't make sense or because I missed things because I was bored. Either way, not a good sign.
There were a few parts I really liked though, at the least enough to keep me reading. But after reading Graceling, my overall feeling is disappointment.
I was rather disappointed that Katsa and Po do not appear in this story, at all.
After the first few chapters I let that disappointment go, I tried to appreciate the book for what it did have. I really tried. I feel like I had to try to hard to like this book, honestly.
Fire was a good main character, she was a strong female protagonist with a real struggle I found to be somewhat relatable. Not that I had a monster father that could control people and was cruel to most, but still.
I also liked Brigan, I liked the way Fire and Brigan grew towards each other through the book.
However, I found this book rather boring. Sometimes I didn't understand what was going on. At this point I'm not actually sure if that's because things actually didn't make sense or because I missed things because I was bored. Either way, not a good sign.
There were a few parts I really liked though, at the least enough to keep me reading. But after reading Graceling, my overall feeling is disappointment.
One of the worst books I’ve read. Disappointing because I enjoyed Bitterblue and Graceling but this book just dragged on
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Ooooh, boy. Okay. Where do I start? I guess with that this isn’t a continuation? Gracing and Fire happen completely independent of each other. Instead of continuing to build off of and elaborate the lands she started in Graceling, Cashmore sends us off to The Dells. Where Gracelings are not called Gracelings, they are called Monsters. And Fire is, supposedly, the only ‘Monster Woman’ in the Dells and shares the same powers as her father who is dead.
So fast forward to now where there’s a war brewing and Fire decides to go off to King City (aptly named) to help the King. During the whole book Fire must be careful because “everyone wants her, but they hate her, so they want to rape her to punish her for making them want her.” And that’s the book. The war doesn’t feel pressing enough to actually raise tension, and most of the attention is put on Fire, Brigand and Archer. Archer and Fire are fuck buddies but Fire doesn’t want to be in a relationship because he’s too jealous. Brigand doesn’t feel show any want for her so, obviously, she wants him.
Anything else? Well, you don’t need to know about that. There’s about ten billion names that don’t really matter because when you do see them, they are on the page for a half a second before they die or shove off somewhere. The war is about control of the country, but no one cares about who’s king, just as long as no one dies so you don’t care about that either. Oh, and that prologue at the beginning of the book? Irrelevant. Literally has nothing to do with anything other than the fact he’s a Graceling that comes from the setting of the first book to remind you that we’re still in the same universe. Just…kind of…bleh. It was interesting I guess? The writing had so many names that literally were switching to Fire to Brigand to Archer to Blah blah and so on, it gets really repetitive when you have to read, “Fire did this- fire said that, then Fire did this.” And the book didn’t really have anything to care about. I don’t even really care about Fire because she’s just kind of there. You could replace her with Mind Reader A and the book will still exist. Or just replace her with a competent spy…no powers required.
So fast forward to now where there’s a war brewing and Fire decides to go off to King City (aptly named) to help the King. During the whole book Fire must be careful because “everyone wants her, but they hate her, so they want to rape her to punish her for making them want her.” And that’s the book. The war doesn’t feel pressing enough to actually raise tension, and most of the attention is put on Fire, Brigand and Archer. Archer and Fire are fuck buddies but Fire doesn’t want to be in a relationship because he’s too jealous. Brigand doesn’t feel show any want for her so, obviously, she wants him.
Anything else? Well, you don’t need to know about that. There’s about ten billion names that don’t really matter because when you do see them, they are on the page for a half a second before they die or shove off somewhere. The war is about control of the country, but no one cares about who’s king, just as long as no one dies so you don’t care about that either. Oh, and that prologue at the beginning of the book? Irrelevant. Literally has nothing to do with anything other than the fact he’s a Graceling that comes from the setting of the first book to remind you that we’re still in the same universe. Just…kind of…bleh. It was interesting I guess? The writing had so many names that literally were switching to Fire to Brigand to Archer to Blah blah and so on, it gets really repetitive when you have to read, “Fire did this- fire said that, then Fire did this.” And the book didn’t really have anything to care about. I don’t even really care about Fire because she’s just kind of there. You could replace her with Mind Reader A and the book will still exist. Or just replace her with a competent spy…no powers required.
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Another fun book. I really liked that we got the vibe of Graceling but a completely new story. Loved getting some background on a character from Graceling as well.