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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Subverts your usual YA tropes and expectation. I don't mind being stuck in Meda's head as she was very fun to read. I've actually never read a YA that dare to take this direction...
3,75/5 stars
don't fall for my rating, this book is actually really good. i'm still unsure if i want to round it up to a 4, because the story was truly a breath of fresh air, but then again i think i want to give the sequels the chance to be even better. i don't usually write detailed reviews for books i enjoyed, but a few things were missing for it to be perfect. let's start with the good and what actually made me interested in the first place: the heroine. meda. god, she is amazing.
meda eats souls. human souls. and she enjoys her kills. but she's not totally heartless. with her being what she is, you'd expect her to be completely evil.... yet, the girl doesn't just decide to kill anyone in sight. she hunts bad people, the i'm a nurse in a mental hospital and i abuse my patients kind of scum. she lets herself be swayed by ghosts, who show her the memory of their deaths and then she hunts their killers. and while that might make her sound like a total goody two shoes, meda is snarky. meda is selfish. she wouldn't hesitate to throw someone under the bus if it means it'll save her skin. she constantly battles with herself over killing people for information and also guilt, guilt that seeps from long hidden secrets that she never brings up.
her narration?
surely the strongest point of the novel. she'll make you cackle with laughter while you're stressing over the plot and the main characters being on the verge of death. and this book has plenty of it. death. fast-paced as soon as you get into it, one moment the characters are screaming at each other, the next they have to fight demons to save their skin, while also professing their love to each other. it's a wild ride. in every sense of the word.
i loved jo. born into a family of templars, she had an accident a few years back that disabled her and now no one wants to take her seriously. they don't want her to get hurt or to fight, so jo is bitter. and angry. her purpose in life is no longer a full out possibility, unless she lets go of her own rage. and she does. i'm excited to see where her friendship with meda that started on distrust and slight manipulation will lead. it looks promising and i'm totally here to see them be at that point where they are ready to die for each other.
now, on the things that didn't leave me that impressed: the writing. it was okay. it wasn't bad!! but, simplistic at times, especially at the beginning, it was easy to get through even if i winced a couple of times. i noticed that it got better as the book went on and it actually was pretty fun to not reread some of the metaphors to understand the meaning behind them, for once!
also the tone, at other times, was kinda "fluffy" i guess? it wasn't overly dark, the descriptions of horrific elements were very elementary and i think i would've enjoyed it more if it could've jumped that step and went full on into the horror category.
also the fact that meda was that and that and that made me lowkey roll my eyes.
i did enjoy cracked, nonetheless. the fact that there was no romance was exciting!! its lack didn't bother me at all and i'm really eager to see what happens next. another thing is that the book could pass as a stand-alone! while we're left with plenty of possibilities, all the plot points wrap up nicely together by the end. it is such a rarity in lit that it is surely a plus in my book! and while that is good for anyone who might not like series, i will continue to devour the sequels and hopefully they'll be even better than this one.
don't fall for my rating, this book is actually really good. i'm still unsure if i want to round it up to a 4, because the story was truly a breath of fresh air, but then again i think i want to give the sequels the chance to be even better. i don't usually write detailed reviews for books i enjoyed, but a few things were missing for it to be perfect. let's start with the good and what actually made me interested in the first place: the heroine. meda. god, she is amazing.
"Samson, this foul piece of slime, understands me better than [my mother] ever did. But unlike him, at least I’m ashamed of my wickedness – when I’m not reveling in it. Like a dog wallowing in a mud pool, I love the glop and splash of ick. It’s not until after, when the stink dries stiff and itchy that I regret it. Other wicked things, like Samson, don’t feel the guilt. They don’t have a memory-mom tsking and shaking her head.
Instead, they have me.
I suspect they never really feel guilt, but I make sure they drown in regret. Red, sticky regret.
So Samson’s right, I am like him. But unfortunately for him, hypocrisy is the least of my many sins.”
meda eats souls. human souls. and she enjoys her kills. but she's not totally heartless. with her being what she is, you'd expect her to be completely evil.... yet, the girl doesn't just decide to kill anyone in sight. she hunts bad people, the i'm a nurse in a mental hospital and i abuse my patients kind of scum. she lets herself be swayed by ghosts, who show her the memory of their deaths and then she hunts their killers. and while that might make her sound like a total goody two shoes, meda is snarky. meda is selfish. she wouldn't hesitate to throw someone under the bus if it means it'll save her skin. she constantly battles with herself over killing people for information and also guilt, guilt that seeps from long hidden secrets that she never brings up.
her narration?
surely the strongest point of the novel. she'll make you cackle with laughter while you're stressing over the plot and the main characters being on the verge of death. and this book has plenty of it. death. fast-paced as soon as you get into it, one moment the characters are screaming at each other, the next they have to fight demons to save their skin, while also professing their love to each other. it's a wild ride. in every sense of the word.
i loved jo. born into a family of templars, she had an accident a few years back that disabled her and now no one wants to take her seriously. they don't want her to get hurt or to fight, so jo is bitter. and angry. her purpose in life is no longer a full out possibility, unless she lets go of her own rage. and she does. i'm excited to see where her friendship with meda that started on distrust and slight manipulation will lead. it looks promising and i'm totally here to see them be at that point where they are ready to die for each other.
now, on the things that didn't leave me that impressed: the writing. it was okay. it wasn't bad!! but, simplistic at times, especially at the beginning, it was easy to get through even if i winced a couple of times. i noticed that it got better as the book went on and it actually was pretty fun to not reread some of the metaphors to understand the meaning behind them, for once!
also the tone, at other times, was kinda "fluffy" i guess? it wasn't overly dark, the descriptions of horrific elements were very elementary and i think i would've enjoyed it more if it could've jumped that step and went full on into the horror category.
i did enjoy cracked, nonetheless. the fact that there was no romance was exciting!! its lack didn't bother me at all and i'm really eager to see what happens next. another thing is that the book could pass as a stand-alone! while we're left with plenty of possibilities, all the plot points wrap up nicely together by the end. it is such a rarity in lit that it is surely a plus in my book! and while that is good for anyone who might not like series, i will continue to devour the sequels and hopefully they'll be even better than this one.
This has been a... funky read.
I like Meda - her snark, her evilness, her character development and the holy fact that she does not have a love interest in this story makes me scream for joy. Cracked is one of the endangered fantasy books that has not fallen into the dark and horrid abyss of pointless love triangles or pinning over Perfect-God-Scuplted-Man. We all need a little hallelujah for that.
“Naivety is cured with time. Stupidity is terminal."
I like Meda - her snark, her evilness, her character development and the holy fact that she does not have a love interest in this story makes me scream for joy. Cracked is one of the endangered fantasy books that has not fallen into the dark and horrid abyss of pointless love triangles or pinning over Perfect-God-Scuplted-Man. We all need a little hallelujah for that.
“Naivety is cured with time. Stupidity is terminal."
3.5 stars. Through like 70% of this I was convinced this would be a 3 star read but the end pushed it up half a star.
The witty, sardonic narration from Meda was funny, but it felt relentless. It reminded me loads of Sara Wolf’s Lovely Vicious. I could appreciate it in moments, but it felt jarring in certain scenes — like after a whole bunch of humans Meda put at risk have been murdered and she contemplates her next fast food meal.
Also, since Meda knows nothing of her origin, there’s exposition running through a large chunk, dare I say more than half, of the book. It came very close to feeling like info dump.
I loved the girl friendship between Meda and Jo. I also liked that Meda’s human half and demon half allowed her to reflect on the darkness of her human side towards the end, but how she still fought to see the good. (A lot of the book I felt she was callous and unfeeling, and didn’t contain a lot of human emotion at all)
I will probably be picking up the sequel because there are a few questions still unanswered. Like her mom’s motivations to do it with a demon when she had her bae and everything. (This was clarified in the book but it still seems unreliable, coming from *that* source)
The witty, sardonic narration from Meda was funny, but it felt relentless. It reminded me loads of Sara Wolf’s Lovely Vicious. I could appreciate it in moments, but it felt jarring in certain scenes — like after a whole bunch of humans Meda put at risk have been murdered and she contemplates her next fast food meal.
Also, since Meda knows nothing of her origin, there’s exposition running through a large chunk, dare I say more than half, of the book. It came very close to feeling like info dump.
I loved the girl friendship between Meda and Jo. I also liked that Meda’s human half and demon half allowed her to reflect on the darkness of her human side towards the end, but how she still fought to see the good. (A lot of the book I felt she was callous and unfeeling, and didn’t contain a lot of human emotion at all)
I will probably be picking up the sequel because there are a few questions still unanswered. Like her mom’s motivations to do it with a demon when she had her bae and everything. (This was clarified in the book but it still seems unreliable, coming from *that* source)
DNF at 35%... way too childish for me.
Cracked was amazing. Probably one of the best books I've read this year. It's about Templars and soul-eating demon, plus we get an awesome main character, hilarious, selfish and deathly and her amazing companions. How can a book with all these thing be bad? I'll tell you the answers: it can't.
Meda is by far my favourite protagonist of 2015: she doesn't give a shit about what other people think, she just cares about herself. She's a demon, and she needs to eat souls tp survive. She kills and she doesn't regret it. Oh, and she's so sassy!
And there is no love interest!
Then we have Chi, Jo and Uri. I can sum up they're relationship with this quote:
"Asinine solo plan where I risk it all to save the planet! Chi.
Rude comment. Jo.
Fake attempt to be included in dangerous mission. Me.
Slightly less asinine plan involving the two pf us. Uri.
Rude comment. Almost-sane plan using Chi and me. Jo.
Cringe-worthy comment about Jo's leg. Chi.
Head explodes. Near homicide. Jo.
Life-saving intervention ending the debate and getting everyone to agree to Jo's plan. Me."
This is just amazing as it sounds, so just go and read it!
Meda is by far my favourite protagonist of 2015: she doesn't give a shit about what other people think, she just cares about herself. She's a demon, and she needs to eat souls tp survive. She kills and she doesn't regret it. Oh, and she's so sassy!
And there is no love interest!
Then we have Chi, Jo and Uri. I can sum up they're relationship with this quote:
"Asinine solo plan where I risk it all to save the planet! Chi.
Rude comment. Jo.
Fake attempt to be included in dangerous mission. Me.
Slightly less asinine plan involving the two pf us. Uri.
Rude comment. Almost-sane plan using Chi and me. Jo.
Cringe-worthy comment about Jo's leg. Chi.
Head explodes. Near homicide. Jo.
Life-saving intervention ending the debate and getting everyone to agree to Jo's plan. Me."
This is just amazing as it sounds, so just go and read it!
I realise I'm a minority in this but I was SO DISAPPOINTED.
It had the premise to be everything I wanted in a book.
The first couple of chapters were okay if a little flat.
Then as the book went along I started to detest ALL THE main cast.
Meda is so self absorbed and self centred. I literally wanted to punch her.
Chi, what a Douchenugget. Enough said.
Jo . . .Jo you were set to be my favourite character . . .but you were just so . . . flat in the end. . .
Even the plot fell short.
I ended up routing for the bad guys >__>
It had the premise to be everything I wanted in a book.
The first couple of chapters were okay if a little flat.
Then as the book went along I started to detest ALL THE main cast.
Meda is so self absorbed and self centred. I literally wanted to punch her.
Chi, what a Douchenugget. Enough said.
Jo . . .Jo you were set to be my favourite character . . .but you were just so . . . flat in the end. . .
Even the plot fell short.
I ended up routing for the bad guys >__>
DNF @ 10%
The concept was intriguing. Unfortunately, urban fantasy isn't really my jam and I struggled a bit with the writing (I don't think the author's style is for me).
The concept was intriguing. Unfortunately, urban fantasy isn't really my jam and I struggled a bit with the writing (I don't think the author's style is for me).