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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I really struggled with the pacing with this one. There were some moments that I felt were adequately paced and so many unimportant scenes that were so drawn out. This was especially frustrating when there were incredibly important or intense scenes and instead those felt really anticlimactic. I really wish we got more of her exploring the catacombs and a build up to her selling her soul to the deities and I wish there was more showing and less telling when it came to the exposition and world building.
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
monkey covering eyes emoji š
iām actually so sad i didnāt like this more. this was one of my most looked forward to reads. iāve been hanging to read this since 2023, and to not like itā¦. :(
iām going to be honest ā i had a lot of issues whilst reading this. i reserve 1-star ratings for books i positively despise, but honestly i canāt say what has bumped this up to 2-stars. i canāt think really of a single thing i liked. i guess i enjoyed the āfemale rageā type of aspect to laure? the fact sheās not a perfect MC was nice. the fact she wasnāt a shoe-in Y/N who was perfect at everything was nice to see, and the fact she didnāt really make apologies for getting what she wanted, however she did so, was also fun.
nowā¦ onto my list of grievances.
- laure is so flat. she is not interesting. her only personality traits are her talking about the ballet, talking about being evil, and talking about getting revenge. she has no deeper substance. only really in the last chapters did she face any real character development.
- the other characters are somehow even more flat than the MC. andor is probably the best written, but even then he feels generic. josephine, ciro, everyone at the ballet, etcā¦. nobody was giving me anything
- the pacing was so off for most of the book. like why was the climax of the story finished with 30% left, then ANOTHER conflict arises and is dealt with in like two chapters, then the ending showing how the characters have changed was rushed. like why does one major conflict end with laure waking up. and then the rising action built up in said conflict just fizzles away as it doesnt automatically continue from when laure wakes up ! what is going on
- there is no plot. the plot is for laure to do x at the ballet. and then she does. and then that is repeated like 4 times with almost verbatim dialogue, inner thoughts, resolution, etc. and then outside of that with acheron, the story has laure fucking about, then something happens, and then she fucks around a bit more, and then the resolution to all her questions is handed to her on a silver platter. like what???? why was the villain the one to tell laure their plan(s). the story focused so much on laure working out this āmurder mysteryā, and she did a terrible job!
- everyoneās motivations in this were stupid. everyone in this story minus laure felt like they were going about the story with earplugs in and a blindfold. i get that ur characters need to be to some degree dumb, or else the plot would be over too soon, but my god, the decisions being made in this book wereā¦. bad. unrealistic.
- because the plot was unrealistic, the dialogue felt unrealistic. i could not get immersed in this at all, because i was constantly reminded of the multitude of issues plaguing this book.
sigh. i really would rather not have to point out all the issues i have with a book. iād much rather sit here and be annoying and gush over the smallest things. but not even my immense want to love this book, i could not.
i cannot give you a good reason why i continued this. and also i cannot explain why i will read the next book. honestly i canāt even say im invested in what happens to laure. maybe its because i have hope the second book will be better? who knows. certainly i dont.
damn im annoyed i didnāt like this
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Stalking, Abandonment, Classism
dark
slow-paced
The writing in this book is fantastic, and the concept is so intriguing. I love the juxtaposition of ballet and eldritch horror, because dance can be a horror in its own right, as is beautifully expressed in this book. I love flawed main characters, and dubious life choices. And of course love a bisexual MC.
That said, the reason this wasn't a 5 star read for me is that I felt like it got really slow in the second half?Which feels insane to say because people literally died. And the ending didn't 100% hit for me. But that is a me problem! Overall glad I read it!
That said, the reason this wasn't a 5 star read for me is that I felt like it got really slow in the second half?
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was incredible. There are so many nuggets of information in this book, so many ties to history and real life. I was blown away. My first book by this author and I can not wait to read book 2. There were some points that felt a bit slow to me which was why I gave it 4.5. Overall, I ate this up!
dark
tense
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fun with ballerinas and demon gods :D
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes