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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
THIS. BOOK. I’m short, I loved it. Here’s the long version, point by point:
- Oh, the Arya Stark parallels! Her fierce need for vengeance against her family’s killers, the list she keeps of those who’ve wronged her...and yet she’s completely different as well.
- The tone! I absolutely loved the writing style & the footnotes. Narrator’s voice is A+
- World building is A+ as well! I became completely immersed in this world & loved learning more and more about it. They even have their own language, slang, plus history and mythology, which made it feel so much more authentic.
- Even when things seemed or were predictable, the story still managed to surprise me & not cross over into the land of cliche trope-ism.
- Spiderkiller is everything Severus Snape should have been. Everyone is unique & well-written, even the insufferable Jessamine. There are several acolytes we don’t really hear about or spend much (if any) time with until they die, but the story also can’t focus on 50 characters, so I understand it. Some needed to be handled this way & I appreciated that the author didn’t try to do too much. It allowed more time for better fleshed out main characters.
- Mia is never presented as being invincible or unbeatable. She has some natural talents, but she also trained heavily, and there were still areas where she was under par. She had to work hard and make mistakes in order to better herself.
- “The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us.”
- I usually do NOT care for romantic plot lines, but Mia’s relationship with Tric was well handled, and I wound up really loving it (and both of them, together and individually). Even the sex scenes were done to advance the plot & further the character development, rather than being thrown in just for the sake of having a sex scene.
- The exploration of the line between humanity & monstrousness was well done. Mia learns how to distinguish between the two, Justice vs. needless death, & that even when death is deserved, it’s still a complex subject.
- I guessed some of the major plot points pretty early on, but dismissed them the further in I read. Then, even when my predictions came to fruition, I was still caught completely off guard. Well played, Jay Kristoff. Well played.
- Oh, the Arya Stark parallels! Her fierce need for vengeance against her family’s killers, the list she keeps of those who’ve wronged her...and yet she’s completely different as well.
- The tone! I absolutely loved the writing style & the footnotes. Narrator’s voice is A+
- World building is A+ as well! I became completely immersed in this world & loved learning more and more about it. They even have their own language, slang, plus history and mythology, which made it feel so much more authentic.
- Even when things seemed or were predictable, the story still managed to surprise me & not cross over into the land of cliche trope-ism.
- Spiderkiller is everything Severus Snape should have been. Everyone is unique & well-written, even the insufferable Jessamine. There are several acolytes we don’t really hear about or spend much (if any) time with until they die, but the story also can’t focus on 50 characters, so I understand it. Some needed to be handled this way & I appreciated that the author didn’t try to do too much. It allowed more time for better fleshed out main characters.
- Mia is never presented as being invincible or unbeatable. She has some natural talents, but she also trained heavily, and there were still areas where she was under par. She had to work hard and make mistakes in order to better herself.
- “The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us.”
- I usually do NOT care for romantic plot lines, but Mia’s relationship with Tric was well handled, and I wound up really loving it (and both of them, together and individually). Even the sex scenes were done to advance the plot & further the character development, rather than being thrown in just for the sake of having a sex scene.
- The exploration of the line between humanity & monstrousness was well done. Mia learns how to distinguish between the two, Justice vs. needless death, & that even when death is deserved, it’s still a complex subject.
- I guessed some of the major plot points pretty early on, but dismissed them the further in I read. Then, even when my predictions came to fruition, I was still caught completely off guard. Well played, Jay Kristoff. Well played.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This pulled me out of a small reading slump. It had a lot of intrigue going on, so that was a major plus for me. The only thing I didn't understand was that That discontinuity aside, I'm interested to see where the plot goes. They really foreshadowed the shit out of it in the beginning of the book, and I want to see if it lives up to that.
Spoiler
the beginning of the book painted the protagonist as "not a good person AT ALL" but then they kept showing all these little quirks where she felt bad for people and "didn't belong in the school." Well, which one was it? That didn't really make sense.
It was okay.... I probably won't read it again and I had to force myself to finish it. Very confusing book too.
The best book I have read in ages. Hooked me from the start with the great juxtaposition of the first scenes. I loved this book from start to well, not ending. It's bloody, brutal, shocking, quick to cut, witty and heartfelt. I love the little history tidbits, the swears, the phrases, characters and the world.
“The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us.”
“The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us.”
adventurous
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
4.75 // Brilliant, my only “compliant” is the footnotes, but as I got further in they became very few and far between really.. but I loved it nonetheless. Highly recommend