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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
1.5 Stars
I have never felt more disappointed in my life after reading this book, because this book was a disaster. It wasn't bad, but there was a lot of stuff that happened that I really just not liked one bit. This was one of my hyped books after I got past the weariness of it, especially from the title and the cover. It gave me Mulan vibes and literally the title just sounded epic. But it Disappointed Me.
I expected sword-fighting, and you know an actual plot? There should have been a lot more badass action instead of just endless adventure, and very boring POV's. And I have like no idea where to begin, because everything really had struggles. (Watch knowing me, I'll probably edit my rating later and this turns to 1 star rating.) And I already did went from 2 stars to 1.5.
The Characters:
Normally, I either love them or I find them quite irritating which unfortunately became the latter option. The characters didn't suck at least, but really they were really typical YA girls. They're either strong or they're naive and girly. Why is there no in between? Please authors, please don't make them just strong or girly and being naive. Have female characters be girly, but also wield a sword at the same. Or better yet, have girls literally use anything as a weapon if they find themselves in a dangerous situation while being in a dress. It will make your book more memorable, and a lot of people will appreciate you.
Lu: I liked Lu, but not really. She was barely touching the liking mark of my character expectations, but she was really a cliche. I could name hundreds of female characters who are like her, and she was really no expectation. She didn't bring anything new, and she was a little boring.
Her personality was quite the same as the others, and she felt really one-dimensional. She didn't feel fleshed out as she should have been. All I knew was that she just wanted her throne and that was basically it. She didn't bring anything new with her, and was really boring.
Min: I never liked Min at all. She got really annoying and reminded me of my cousin (who's a spoiled brat). That's how annoying she gotten with her sweet, naivety personality and basically that was about it. I barely know any of the characters backstories at all. Did I mention she had no other qualities besides being sweet and naive?
That's how flat they were. There was nothing special about them. Oh wait, there's another character, and yay, my favorite part (not).
Nok: First of all, Nok brought nothing new (obviously). He was just on the neutral level, and I couldn't really connect with him. His perspective was boring, his personality was boring. And he was quite bland, and brought nothing new to the story.
THERE'S A CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK (UNFORTUNATELY I DO NOT REMEMBER HIS NAME), BUT I DO REMEMBER THAT THE CHARACTER IS QUEER. HE ATTEMPTED TO RAPE NOK. USUALLY, IF IT'S JUST ONE CHARACTER AND THERE'S OTHER QUEER FOLKS IN THE BOOK, I DON'T FIND THAT AN ISSUE. BUT IF THERE'S ONLY ONE QUEER PERSON AND ATTEMPTED TO RAPE NOK, THAT'S WRONG! THAT PUTS QUEERS FOLKS TO BE RAPISTS, IT'S HARMFUL TO QUEER FOLKS. PLEASE DON'T DO THAT.
The Plot:
OMG, I'm just literally trying not to laugh as I write the word 'plot'. There was no plot at all. Nothing happened that was truly special in the 400 pages this book covered. It was just an endless adventure that Lu goes on, and Min just stays at the castle being emotionally abused (which is again, NOT okay). So yeah, the plot was like nonexistent and literally just brought about five more issues to the mix, which will be lovely to write about.
Writing:
The writing wasn't too bad (yeah right). I just wanted to say that instead of downright saying, this was not the best writing at all. It wasn't pathetic, but ever wanted to read a disjointing 3rd person POV? Yeah, it wasn't fun and that's what happened in this book.
The writing was really boring. It made the characters seem quite disjointing in their chapters, as it went back and forth between them. It brought major issues to the pacing, and I mean major, because it was really challenging in trying to find some form of entertainment in this book.
The pacing was really slow. It moved at a snail's pace up until the last 50 pages where the action happened, but it was mediocre at best. It was where the pacing picked up quite a bit, and literally just rushed through it all. That's what I mean it really had major problems with it. I haven't seen such a major pacing issue in books, but this one was a special case.
Coming back to the disjointing issues. Reading through the book, it was a struggle. The character's chapters didn't seem like they line up well with each other and just brought an entire mess with it.
Other Things I Can't Categorize:
-I loved the Asian setting and characters. And that's pretty much it that I really liked besides the cover.
-Lu's and Min's tendency of calling people's names from other kingdoms/nations/ethnically? They called people from Ellandaise "pink." and I don't know how to really respond to that. It just seems like a harmful thing to say to people.
-The slur used-skipskin. I have no idea what that is, the author doesn't bother going in detail to explain it, but it's really offensive. I don't appreciate how "anti-otherness" the author is in this book using offensive language and slurs to people.
I have never felt more disappointed in my life after reading this book, because this book was a disaster. It wasn't bad, but there was a lot of stuff that happened that I really just not liked one bit. This was one of my hyped books after I got past the weariness of it, especially from the title and the cover. It gave me Mulan vibes and literally the title just sounded epic. But it Disappointed Me.
I expected sword-fighting, and you know an actual plot? There should have been a lot more badass action instead of just endless adventure, and very boring POV's. And I have like no idea where to begin, because everything really had struggles. (Watch knowing me, I'll probably edit my rating later and this turns to 1 star rating.) And I already did went from 2 stars to 1.5.
The Characters:
Normally, I either love them or I find them quite irritating which unfortunately became the latter option. The characters didn't suck at least, but really they were really typical YA girls. They're either strong or they're naive and girly. Why is there no in between? Please authors, please don't make them just strong or girly and being naive. Have female characters be girly, but also wield a sword at the same. Or better yet, have girls literally use anything as a weapon if they find themselves in a dangerous situation while being in a dress. It will make your book more memorable, and a lot of people will appreciate you.
Lu: I liked Lu, but not really. She was barely touching the liking mark of my character expectations, but she was really a cliche. I could name hundreds of female characters who are like her, and she was really no expectation. She didn't bring anything new, and she was a little boring.
Her personality was quite the same as the others, and she felt really one-dimensional. She didn't feel fleshed out as she should have been. All I knew was that she just wanted her throne and that was basically it. She didn't bring anything new with her, and was really boring.
Min: I never liked Min at all. She got really annoying and reminded me of my cousin (who's a spoiled brat). That's how annoying she gotten with her sweet, naivety personality and basically that was about it. I barely know any of the characters backstories at all. Did I mention she had no other qualities besides being sweet and naive?
That's how flat they were. There was nothing special about them. Oh wait, there's another character, and yay, my favorite part (not).
Nok: First of all, Nok brought nothing new (obviously). He was just on the neutral level, and I couldn't really connect with him. His perspective was boring, his personality was boring. And he was quite bland, and brought nothing new to the story.
THERE'S A CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK (UNFORTUNATELY I DO NOT REMEMBER HIS NAME), BUT I DO REMEMBER THAT THE CHARACTER IS QUEER. HE ATTEMPTED TO RAPE NOK. USUALLY, IF IT'S JUST ONE CHARACTER AND THERE'S OTHER QUEER FOLKS IN THE BOOK, I DON'T FIND THAT AN ISSUE. BUT IF THERE'S ONLY ONE QUEER PERSON AND ATTEMPTED TO RAPE NOK, THAT'S WRONG! THAT PUTS QUEERS FOLKS TO BE RAPISTS, IT'S HARMFUL TO QUEER FOLKS. PLEASE DON'T DO THAT.
The Plot:
OMG, I'm just literally trying not to laugh as I write the word 'plot'. There was no plot at all. Nothing happened that was truly special in the 400 pages this book covered. It was just an endless adventure that Lu goes on, and Min just stays at the castle being emotionally abused (which is again, NOT okay). So yeah, the plot was like nonexistent and literally just brought about five more issues to the mix, which will be lovely to write about.
Writing:
The writing wasn't too bad (yeah right). I just wanted to say that instead of downright saying, this was not the best writing at all. It wasn't pathetic, but ever wanted to read a disjointing 3rd person POV? Yeah, it wasn't fun and that's what happened in this book.
The writing was really boring. It made the characters seem quite disjointing in their chapters, as it went back and forth between them. It brought major issues to the pacing, and I mean major, because it was really challenging in trying to find some form of entertainment in this book.
The pacing was really slow. It moved at a snail's pace up until the last 50 pages where the action happened, but it was mediocre at best. It was where the pacing picked up quite a bit, and literally just rushed through it all. That's what I mean it really had major problems with it. I haven't seen such a major pacing issue in books, but this one was a special case.
Coming back to the disjointing issues. Reading through the book, it was a struggle. The character's chapters didn't seem like they line up well with each other and just brought an entire mess with it.
Other Things I Can't Categorize:
-I loved the Asian setting and characters. And that's pretty much it that I really liked besides the cover.
-Lu's and Min's tendency of calling people's names from other kingdoms/nations/ethnically? They called people from Ellandaise "pink." and I don't know how to really respond to that. It just seems like a harmful thing to say to people.
-The slur used-skipskin. I have no idea what that is, the author doesn't bother going in detail to explain it, but it's really offensive. I don't appreciate how "anti-otherness" the author is in this book using offensive language and slurs to people.
3.5ish stars. Not bad, but also not really my thing on a personal level.
Review to come later. Watching Dead Pixels at the moment, sorry.
Right, I found this very enjoyable, easy to read and fun. There's some nice influences going on, and the magic is certainly interesting; the 'slipskins' are almost mythical, were-creatures who have been hunted to extinction. There's a young woman to inherit the throne, the younger sister who is over looked but has her own secrets and strengths, the scheming mother and the usurper to the throne.
The Girl King has many things we've seen before in YA fantasy and it depends on if you like the lead characters as to how much you'll enjoy this version. I really liked it and am looking forward to reading the sequel, though I've no idea where it's heading without spoiling it.
If you want a fun, fantasy tale about family lies, friendships and desperation, this might be the book for you.
Also the author listened to The Hounds of Love album while writing. One of my favourite albums.
Right, I found this very enjoyable, easy to read and fun. There's some nice influences going on, and the magic is certainly interesting; the 'slipskins' are almost mythical, were-creatures who have been hunted to extinction. There's a young woman to inherit the throne, the younger sister who is over looked but has her own secrets and strengths, the scheming mother and the usurper to the throne.
The Girl King has many things we've seen before in YA fantasy and it depends on if you like the lead characters as to how much you'll enjoy this version. I really liked it and am looking forward to reading the sequel, though I've no idea where it's heading without spoiling it.
If you want a fun, fantasy tale about family lies, friendships and desperation, this might be the book for you.
Also the author listened to The Hounds of Love album while writing. One of my favourite albums.
adventurous
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
wow this was such a wild ride.. I haven’t figured out my rating so RTC, but I do know that Mimi Yu’s writing is one of my absolute favorites that I’ve ever read!! also I NEED book 2 asap
3 stars for the writing and the world building [and the cover art!], which was stunning; 2 for the plot/pacing/character development/characters
4 word review: Less Good Princess Mononoke
*Potential spoilers ahead*
PROS:
- Stunning world building/descriptions
- Beautiful writing
GRIPES:
- False advertising of intense sibling rivalry: They barely interacted for 90% of the book, and then suddenly Min does a 180 on her loyalty to her sister, purely because she's a half sister? Dude. I don't even have any siblings and I doubt that's how it would play out. They didn't even have that much friction between them beforehand?
- Random romance subplots?? Why... Why is this necessary? What does this add?
- No emotional connection to the characters at all
- Character motivations and intentions: So Lu wants the throne, yet is widely regarded as a prissy, entitled princess, it seems she wants to prove everyone wrong but why does she add in something about saving the people of the Northern lands? Why does she care so much about them? Am I missing something here?
- Slow/non-existent/predictable plot: (in which nothing happened for 90% of the book, till the climax in the last 40 pages or so)
- So much confusion: ... I'm not even sure what I don't know? Something about them knowing each other as children? The random Gods added in?? The lake?? wut
- Magic and Gods and magical people ... wut?
- Non existent character development?
- The ending ... wut
It started so strongly and I was so intrigued by this book, but the more I find myself reflecting on it, the more likely I am to downgrade it. Shame.
4 word review: Less Good Princess Mononoke
*Potential spoilers ahead*
PROS:
- Stunning world building/descriptions
- Beautiful writing
GRIPES:
- False advertising of intense sibling rivalry: They barely interacted for 90% of the book, and then suddenly Min does a 180 on her loyalty to her sister, purely because she's a half sister? Dude. I don't even have any siblings and I doubt that's how it would play out. They didn't even have that much friction between them beforehand?
- Random romance subplots?? Why... Why is this necessary? What does this add?
- No emotional connection to the characters at all
- Character motivations and intentions: So Lu wants the throne, yet is widely regarded as a prissy, entitled princess, it seems she wants to prove everyone wrong but why does she add in something about saving the people of the Northern lands? Why does she care so much about them? Am I missing something here?
- Slow/non-existent/predictable plot: (in which nothing happened for 90% of the book, till the climax in the last 40 pages or so)
- So much confusion: ... I'm not even sure what I don't know? Something about them knowing each other as children? The random Gods added in?? The lake?? wut
- Magic and Gods and magical people ... wut?
- Non existent character development?
- The ending ... wut
It started so strongly and I was so intrigued by this book, but the more I find myself reflecting on it, the more likely I am to downgrade it. Shame.
You can see my full review here!
*I received an eArc of this book from the Publishers through Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
This was a struggle to get through. I mean, this had everything that would appeal to me and still managed to fall flat?
Because nothing really happens. Pacing wasn't an issue- I flew through it with ease, but not only is there no real sister conflict that I was promised, I'd have to wait until book two to actually get what I was looking for.
I will say the imagery was pretty nice. The descriptions were easy to visualize and even when the characters are running for their lives, the scenery wasn't lacking.
The information being revealed felt unfinished and not in the sense of come back on Tuesday to see what happens next episode. I ended up unsatisfied with the twist when they were revealed.
I could mention the characters, who were lack luster, the romance that I won't call a romance because bullshit, the villain who I guess I can get behind if I'm reaching. But again, nothing happens. I was just let down.
01/07-- I didn't *hate* this but... this was not fun.
*I received an eArc of this book from the Publishers through Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
This was a struggle to get through. I mean, this had everything that would appeal to me and still managed to fall flat?
Because nothing really happens. Pacing wasn't an issue- I flew through it with ease, but not only is there no real sister conflict that I was promised, I'd have to wait until book two to actually get what I was looking for.
I will say the imagery was pretty nice. The descriptions were easy to visualize and even when the characters are running for their lives, the scenery wasn't lacking.
The information being revealed felt unfinished and not in the sense of come back on Tuesday to see what happens next episode. I ended up unsatisfied with the twist when they were revealed.
I could mention the characters, who were lack luster, the romance that I won't call a romance because bullshit, the villain who I guess I can get behind if I'm reaching. But again, nothing happens. I was just let down.
01/07-- I didn't *hate* this but... this was not fun.
I have to sit with this one for a bit, but I'll try to review this at some point.
*I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
Why did I want to read? Asian inspired fantasy, with two female protagonists? Sign me up.
The Girl King was a 2019 release I was super excited for, and I felt very privileged to receive an ARC of it. Perhaps because my expectations were so high, the reality was bound to fall a little short. Although there were some glimpses of things I really liked and found interesting – probably enough to induce me to continue the series beyond this point – this book was just ok. And not just ok, but problematic in places, in ways that I only began to really question after I’d finished reading.
This book marks another move from Euro-centric fantasy, and I did love not only the setting but also the way it focused almost entirely on the female characters within that world. One thing The Girl King cannot be accused of is not having enough women, even if they don't really like each other too much, which was another source of frustration.
However, the particularly lacklustre romances, problematic queer rep, and unnecessary sexual assault scenes are what really make me hesitant to recommend this to people.
TW: rape/sexual assault
Full review here!