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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
The ending was annoying, obviously it still feeds well to the next story and I am definitely enthralled. Can't wait to see what happens next for the queen's
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I made it through, but I'm not sure it was worth all the work. There are so many characters in these two books. I had both the hardcover book and the audiobook, but spend more time with the audio because of my massive commute to work, and man, there are too many characters.
It's a rough world out there, and maybe too many plots. The plot garden could have used a little pruning. At the end, I just shrugged. I was interested as we were going along, but at the end, things weren't resolved, people were sad, and I was meh.
This is disappointing because I love the universe and the concept. But plots meandering everywhere and people with similar names. Suitors and other young men and dropping like flies, hard to keep track of them.
Looking at my "dates read" I see that this took me over a year to finish. I'd got the hardcover when it first came out because I'd read the first one. Then I put it down. Then I got the audiobook from the library, but it expired and got returned before I made it to the midway mark - which is a long way. This is not a short book. Then I looked at my "currently reading" with shame and decided to request it again from the library, started completely over as it had been over 6 months at this point. I started out strong, used the cast list from my hardcover to figure out who people were.
But it just kept going, adding more and more layers which didn't make sense in the grand scheme of things. Interesting world, interesting characters, but too much of a disorganized mess for me I think.
It's a rough world out there, and maybe too many plots. The plot garden could have used a little pruning. At the end, I just shrugged. I was interested as we were going along, but at the end, things weren't resolved, people were sad, and I was meh.
This is disappointing because I love the universe and the concept. But plots meandering everywhere and people with similar names. Suitors and other young men and dropping like flies, hard to keep track of them.
Looking at my "dates read" I see that this took me over a year to finish. I'd got the hardcover when it first came out because I'd read the first one. Then I put it down. Then I got the audiobook from the library, but it expired and got returned before I made it to the midway mark - which is a long way. This is not a short book. Then I looked at my "currently reading" with shame and decided to request it again from the library, started completely over as it had been over 6 months at this point. I started out strong, used the cast list from my hardcover to figure out who people were.
But it just kept going, adding more and more layers which didn't make sense in the grand scheme of things. Interesting world, interesting characters, but too much of a disorganized mess for me I think.
Billy is the only man in this series I respect. also, Team Katharine. I support women's wrongs!!
*actually 2.5 stars*
The fact that I keep waiting and waiting for me to really like these books is impressive lol
It’s very much of the same as in the past book not real action but a lot of failings to make that happen
it just wasn’t for me I guess.
The fact that I keep waiting and waiting for me to really like these books is impressive lol
It’s very much of the same as in the past book not real action but a lot of failings to make that happen
it just wasn’t for me I guess.
I'm rounding again, 2.5 up to three because I was entertained and especially in the last third, the book had my attention. Probably because that's when things were finally happening.
Yeah, for a lot of this book, there's a whole lot of nothing going on. Sure we have Kat being creepy and crazy, which was a delight every time it focused on her, but mostly it was boring. These books were supposedly about these three queens trying to kill each other, but there was very little of that actually going on. Or killing anyone else, for that matter. Kat has a perfect motive and opportunity to kill Pietyr but doesn't, and he spends the rest of the book telling her what she can or can't do. His reasons for attempted murder boiled down to "because I loved you too much to let anyone else kill you". Really, dude?
I feel like a lot of the rules and logic of the world are broken for the sake of the plot. Like, what even is the point of the queens trying to kill each other when priestesses and the Black Council go behind their backs to plot which queen will get the crown anyway? Jules is "legion cursed" which is supposed to mean her powers are weak and they'll eventually drive her mad. Except she's amazing with both her powers and she never even shows the slightest bit of instability. Low magic was so unstable last time that it called a diseased and uncontrollable bear, but this time the bear is completely docile and fine around unfamiliar people. Arsinoe survives a crossbow bolt to the back and riding for miles on horseback, but Joseph dies of his wounds. I don't honestly mind this one since I didn't really care for Joseph as a character, but still, Arsinoe was saved by plot.
The biggest flaw of this series so far is that I still don't understand the politics of this world. Despite them being queens, we don't ever see any of these girls doing anything other than trying to kill each other/trying not to die. And the different groups all seem antagonistic toward each other, so how would a Naturalist queen rule the Poisoners, for example? The girls don't know anything about the other cultures or people aside from the ones that raised them. How can they possibly be good queens? They don't even sit in on any meetings! And when they discover that there's plotting going on behind their backs, they don't do anything about it.
Kat's arc was probably the most interesting part of the novel, but for most of it the readers aren't clued in to what was happening to her. It's really annoying to withhold information for the sake of a twist, especially when your narrative is supposed to be from that character's viewpoint. It would've been far more interesting if we knew from the beginning Kat's condition so we could see her struggling with her own nature versus what had happened to her. I also wouldn't have minded her and Nicholas teaming up to be creepy and blood-thirsty together, but, you know. Plot. Boring other love interest. Also, do we ever get any answers on if Kat had a gift or if she was the actual Naturalist or what?
I didn't really mind Mirabella, I just wish she had a more interesting plot thread. I feel like she could be interesting if the narrative actually let it happen rather than mask everything for the sake of mystery and twists. I also didn't mind Arsinoe, but she was basically a Monty Python character. "I'm not quite dead. I'm getting better!" I honestly was more worried the bear was going to die during that hunt sequence.
It also really sucks that the first really intense death scene was a previously strong and capable woman being beaten and choked by an angry drunk man. That's exactly the death we wanted to see in this story about FEMALES fighting each other to the death. I guess the author sort of made up for it by having three male characters die, one in a pretty gruesome way. But honestly the last two felt like just an excuse to create character angst, and one to push a couple together.
I'm still interested enough to keep going, but I'm not holding out any hopes of death matches any time soon.
Yeah, for a lot of this book, there's a whole lot of nothing going on. Sure we have Kat being creepy and crazy, which was a delight every time it focused on her, but mostly it was boring. These books were supposedly about these three queens trying to kill each other, but there was very little of that actually going on. Or killing anyone else, for that matter. Kat has a perfect motive and opportunity to kill Pietyr but doesn't, and he spends the rest of the book telling her what she can or can't do. His reasons for attempted murder boiled down to "because I loved you too much to let anyone else kill you". Really, dude?
I feel like a lot of the rules and logic of the world are broken for the sake of the plot. Like, what even is the point of the queens trying to kill each other when priestesses and the Black Council go behind their backs to plot which queen will get the crown anyway? Jules is "legion cursed" which is supposed to mean her powers are weak and they'll eventually drive her mad. Except she's amazing with both her powers and she never even shows the slightest bit of instability. Low magic was so unstable last time that it called a diseased and uncontrollable bear, but this time the bear is completely docile and fine around unfamiliar people. Arsinoe survives a crossbow bolt to the back and riding for miles on horseback, but Joseph dies of his wounds. I don't honestly mind this one since I didn't really care for Joseph as a character, but still, Arsinoe was saved by plot.
The biggest flaw of this series so far is that I still don't understand the politics of this world. Despite them being queens, we don't ever see any of these girls doing anything other than trying to kill each other/trying not to die. And the different groups all seem antagonistic toward each other, so how would a Naturalist queen rule the Poisoners, for example? The girls don't know anything about the other cultures or people aside from the ones that raised them. How can they possibly be good queens? They don't even sit in on any meetings! And when they discover that there's plotting going on behind their backs, they don't do anything about it.
Kat's arc was probably the most interesting part of the novel, but for most of it the readers aren't clued in to what was happening to her. It's really annoying to withhold information for the sake of a twist, especially when your narrative is supposed to be from that character's viewpoint. It would've been far more interesting if we knew from the beginning Kat's condition so we could see her struggling with her own nature versus what had happened to her. I also wouldn't have minded her and Nicholas teaming up to be creepy and blood-thirsty together, but, you know. Plot. Boring other love interest. Also, do we ever get any answers on if Kat had a gift or if she was the actual Naturalist or what?
I didn't really mind Mirabella, I just wish she had a more interesting plot thread. I feel like she could be interesting if the narrative actually let it happen rather than mask everything for the sake of mystery and twists. I also didn't mind Arsinoe, but she was basically a Monty Python character. "I'm not quite dead. I'm getting better!" I honestly was more worried the bear was going to die during that hunt sequence.
It also really sucks that the first really intense death scene was a previously strong and capable woman being beaten and choked by an angry drunk man. That's exactly the death we wanted to see in this story about FEMALES fighting each other to the death. I guess the author sort of made up for it by having three male characters die, one in a pretty gruesome way. But honestly the last two felt like just an excuse to create character angst, and one to push a couple together.
I'm still interested enough to keep going, but I'm not holding out any hopes of death matches any time soon.
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
honestly it was okay…felt like the plot was super drawn out
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes