Reviews

2/5 stars.

let’s talk about why this felt short for me.

1. rondo
in my book review for a conspiracy of stars i said i didn’t understand rondo’s purpose and this book basically confirmed that. why was rondo a character in the first place? what was the point of olivia “falling in love” with him if she was just going to throw him aside in this book? like he literally should’ve just been cut.

also if a third book does come out, his character better have something going on because at this point, he needs to go. like soon.

2. characters
i feel like with this i had so many expectations. i felt that we would get some good character development, but this felt very much like ‘olivia and friends’. everything is happening to our character and our character alone. the purpose of the faloii is simply to guide and to answer questions, and whilst that’s great we don’t really see much of a development in terms of their character? idk if we’re even supposed to see character development with them??

and then there’s my problems with the gang. first off alma pissed me off in this book. that could be because olivia felt annoyed by her and so i also felt annoyed by her, but there really wasn’t a connection as there had been in the first book. her inputs and her character were far better in the first instalment. in this however she lost whatever spark she had and she basically had no relevance to the plot other than to put a contrast between her and olivia.

speaking of olivia this girl pissed me oFF. she had her friends there the whole time and she couldn’t appreciate them being there or trying to talk with them instead of discovering this new part of her?? like i get it, but these were your people befORE u got special gifts. these were the people who broke you out of the zoo and all you can do is distance yourself, snap at them, and give them poor excuses as to why you’re being a dick??

jaqout’s involvement in this book was also pretty useless. he survived the dirixi but for what? why? he had like zero to none input and his involvement was completely unnecessary.

if he also somehow survives i’ll be surprised.

then there was joi who’s only purpose was the infuriate olivia. she literally could’ve been so much more but whatever. let’s ignore that.

yaya and them lot had no further mentions which also made me mad and sad and disappointed. so i hope they’re involved in the next book.

as for villains, i hoped that we would’ve seen more of dr albatur and his loyal subjects/ his abominations, just to remind the reader how baD and tyrannical this guy is. i just feel like it would’ve raised the stakes sO MUCH.

3. plot
the plot in this honestly felt like a hot meSS. at first it was going well, then the kidnap happened and honestly i feel like it fell from there. there was no flow to it at all. it all just felt like olivia making last minute plans and expecting everyone to go with them. which is fine, i guess, at first but after the third time? or fourth time??? can something not happen and then olivia change her course because of that? why not just have her pass through the places as she’s achieving her goal, that would’ve made it so much more easier.

and as for things i liked, i’d say only the first part. that part was the only thing i enjoyed.

marciafelis's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Faloiv and its inhabitants are still as vibrant in An Anatomy of Beasts as in A Conspiracy of Stars; the worldbuilding is once again outstanding. I also loved that we get to uncover a lot of the mysteries set up in the first part. However, some plot points felt forced or arbitrary to me, even though they mostly managed to stay relevant to the plot. Also, Octavia seems to be sliding further into the "misunderstood but special teenager" mindset (though, considering her circumstances, this is understandable to some degree). This and the fact that I feel most of the other characters didn't get to share the spotlight made it harder for me to connect to the cast this time. Still, I'd be interested to see where the story goes in a third book.

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