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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
"He is slow, and the sea sings to us both, but he returns to me."
My first Maggie Stiefvater book and I was not disappointed.
That last line especially, really got me.
Not as good as I thought it would be. I didn't really understand the setting, and there were too many side characters who I didn't care about enough. The water horses' appearance is not described properly so I couldn't visualise them well. I did not like how the romance developed. It was too sudden and out of place.
No reason given why Kates nickname is Puck. Pucks reason for entering the race are utterly ludicrous. I don't like the choice of names but that is just a personal preference not a flaw in the writing.
Overall not as expected, but not bad
No reason given why Kates nickname is Puck. Pucks reason for entering the race are utterly ludicrous. I don't like the choice of names but that is just a personal preference not a flaw in the writing.
Overall not as expected, but not bad
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Perhaps the fact that I am reading this as an ebook over a physical book had a part in this, but this book just did not capture my attention at all. I didn't get very far through it, but I have no motivation to pick this book up at all. I'd definitely consider giving it another go in the future, but for not it's just not for me.
This was my first venture into YA fantasy in a long time, and it’s coming with mixed feelings.
I’m not sure how much to put aside due to my understanding of the nature of YA: the dramatic writing, tropey plot points, and stereotypical characters. I think these things aside, it was an entertaining story that gave me a few little twists that kept my interest.
That being said, it took about 150 pages for me to warm up to the style. I think if I hadn’t been reading this for book club, I may not have finished. The pacing of the story in general felt drawn out to me: every scene was treated with equal weight and length, which I didn’t think was effective. 400 pages felt a little too long for me, but I felt the writing and story really improved the more I read.
If it weren’t for chapter titles indicating character names, the switching point of views would have been harder to follow. Without any obvious indicators, I didn’t feel that Sean or Kate had distinct enough voices to flesh out their characters. But they have neat moments, and there are a lot of elements of this story that could have been really cool had they been given more space: Kate’s love for the island and rebellion against its customs, her brother Gabe’s need to leave it, the history of their island, the conflict between Sean and his employer (or even the class aspect of most of these conflicts more generally).
All in all, it was more of a miss than a hit for me, but ended up being a decent read regardless.
I’m not sure how much to put aside due to my understanding of the nature of YA: the dramatic writing, tropey plot points, and stereotypical characters. I think these things aside, it was an entertaining story that gave me a few little twists that kept my interest.
That being said, it took about 150 pages for me to warm up to the style. I think if I hadn’t been reading this for book club, I may not have finished. The pacing of the story in general felt drawn out to me: every scene was treated with equal weight and length, which I didn’t think was effective. 400 pages felt a little too long for me, but I felt the writing and story really improved the more I read.
If it weren’t for chapter titles indicating character names, the switching point of views would have been harder to follow. Without any obvious indicators, I didn’t feel that Sean or Kate had distinct enough voices to flesh out their characters. But they have neat moments, and there are a lot of elements of this story that could have been really cool had they been given more space: Kate’s love for the island and rebellion against its customs, her brother Gabe’s need to leave it, the history of their island, the conflict between Sean and his employer (or even the class aspect of most of these conflicts more generally).
All in all, it was more of a miss than a hit for me, but ended up being a decent read regardless.
Yes, this book was a hard start for me. With that said, I fell in love with the book shortly after chapter 3. There were tears at the end, a love like that is special! To give up a life of pain free - freedom to be with someone is priceless!
