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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I wanted more from this one, after loving the first and really loving the second. But it was a little light for me on why I should care about the characters loving each other, and the (thankfully pretty limited) spicy scenes really took me out of it with a kind of sex that seemed to have nothing to establish it. I dunno. It just felt like it wasn't quite the same level as books 1 and 2.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
📖
This was an amazing book -- and a wonderful series. I loved how this book continued the series while focusing on Vera and Deepak, and I thought it was a good conclusion to the series. I adored the characters, and I loved the relationship between Vera and Deepak. The pacing was good and I enjoyed the writing style.
This was an amazing book -- and a wonderful series. I loved how this book continued the series while focusing on Vera and Deepak, and I thought it was a good conclusion to the series. I adored the characters, and I loved the relationship between Vera and Deepak. The pacing was good and I enjoyed the writing style.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Gaslighting, Alcohol
Minor: Biphobia, Grief, Classism
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
funny
inspiring
medium-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
Since 12th Night is one of my favorite Shakespeare's plays, I was looking forward to this reinterpretation of it. Unfortunately, this book kept everything I dislike about the play and none of the elements I enjoy.
Both the book and the play suffer from tonal imbalance, but where with the play the staging interpretation could help fix that issue, the book stands on its own, and in this case — can't stop the silly wobbling.
A similar thing happened with the characterizations: both the play and book have them very loosely sketched in a way that doesn't really give them true definition. In the play, it's intentional space left for the actor's talent to fill in. But in the book we end up with this long novel about half-drawn people moving around and taking some actions — all with the grace of marionettes that have some of their strings cut off.
When these poorly animated figures start having explicit sex on page, it's a whole new brand of weird, but at least those scenes were easy to skip. Although insertion of those scenes into the specific places in the plot did have me perplexed, because from what I was reading, sex should have been the last thing on those characters' minds both situationally and emotionally. Which only contributed to the impression of the characters being nothing more than the author's marionettes.
In the end, this book failed to give me a successful reimagining of a favorite play and it also failed at giving me a story and characters that could stand on their own merit, because all of it felt poorly constructed, half-baked and magic-wand-wavy. It's hard to believe that this is a newer release from an author whose book I really liked in the past: it seemed like a debut effort that didn't get much editorial help. Very disappointing.
Both the book and the play suffer from tonal imbalance, but where with the play the staging interpretation could help fix that issue, the book stands on its own, and in this case — can't stop the silly wobbling.
A similar thing happened with the characterizations: both the play and book have them very loosely sketched in a way that doesn't really give them true definition. In the play, it's intentional space left for the actor's talent to fill in. But in the book we end up with this long novel about half-drawn people moving around and taking some actions — all with the grace of marionettes that have some of their strings cut off.
When these poorly animated figures start having explicit sex on page, it's a whole new brand of weird, but at least those scenes were easy to skip. Although insertion of those scenes into the specific places in the plot did have me perplexed, because from what I was reading, sex should have been the last thing on those characters' minds both situationally and emotionally. Which only contributed to the impression of the characters being nothing more than the author's marionettes.
In the end, this book failed to give me a successful reimagining of a favorite play and it also failed at giving me a story and characters that could stand on their own merit, because all of it felt poorly constructed, half-baked and magic-wand-wavy. It's hard to believe that this is a newer release from an author whose book I really liked in the past: it seemed like a debut effort that didn't get much editorial help. Very disappointing.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes