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rachaelarsenault's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
YouTube review available here:
https://youtu.be/S9wfpApDRPA
As my rating surely reflects, I did not like this book. I get into depth about why in the video linked above, as well as in the detailed review I wrote on Medium:
https://medium.com/@rachaellawrites/pointless-bigotry-and-zero-accountability-an-in-depth-review-of-omens-bite-by-p-c-e3669d9d05cf
But, for brevity's sake, let's boil my thoughts down to a few salient points:
What I liked:
-White characters actually have skin tone described with specificity.
-A twist at the end that is accomplished by Hunter not being able to understand the spell she's casting due to it being written in Greek.
-There's a funny paragraph about cake at funerals.
What I didn't like:
-Kirk's POV was completely pointless.
-Mercy is incredibly spoiled, deeply unlikeable, and never held accountable for the things she did to Hunter at the end of Spells Trouble.
-This was poorly paced and a slog to read.
-There are a ton of logical errors with how the climax actually plays out, including the twist I otherwise liked.
-Kristin Cast's writing is lacks flow due to repetitive sentence structures, the dialogue is over-fluffed with filler descriptions and every minute gesture from the characters speaking, and a combination of absurd metaphors and tonally off word choice regularly pulled me from the story.
-P.C. Cast's writing is marked by excessively long, meandering sentences that often contain incorrectly used punctuation.
-There's casual fatphobia, hints of ableism and trans erasure, stigmatization of homelessness and addiction, and sex shaming.
-All of the homophobia and queer misery showcased in this book is pointless. And the pointlessness here renders all the homophobia Hunter suffered in the previous book equally pointless. It's there to add a bit of spice to the drama - that's it. Removing it from the story would change very little of substance.
https://youtu.be/S9wfpApDRPA
As my rating surely reflects, I did not like this book. I get into depth about why in the video linked above, as well as in the detailed review I wrote on Medium:
https://medium.com/@rachaellawrites/pointless-bigotry-and-zero-accountability-an-in-depth-review-of-omens-bite-by-p-c-e3669d9d05cf
But, for brevity's sake, let's boil my thoughts down to a few salient points:
What I liked:
-White characters actually have skin tone described with specificity.
-A twist at the end that is accomplished by Hunter not being able to understand the spell she's casting due to it being written in Greek.
-There's a funny paragraph about cake at funerals.
What I didn't like:
-Kirk's POV was completely pointless.
-Mercy is incredibly spoiled, deeply unlikeable, and never held accountable for the things she did to Hunter at the end of Spells Trouble.
-This was poorly paced and a slog to read.
-There are a ton of logical errors with how the climax actually plays out, including the twist I otherwise liked.
-Kristin Cast's writing is lacks flow due to repetitive sentence structures, the dialogue is over-fluffed with filler descriptions and every minute gesture from the characters speaking, and a combination of absurd metaphors and tonally off word choice regularly pulled me from the story.
-P.C. Cast's writing is marked by excessively long, meandering sentences that often contain incorrectly used punctuation.
-There's casual fatphobia, hints of ableism and trans erasure, stigmatization of homelessness and addiction, and sex shaming.
-All of the homophobia and queer misery showcased in this book is pointless. And the pointlessness here renders all the homophobia Hunter suffered in the previous book equally pointless. It's there to add a bit of spice to the drama - that's it. Removing it from the story would change very little of substance.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia
Minor: Classism and Fatphobia
foreverinastory's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This was quite painful to read at times and the 180 of character personalities was really annoying. Someone put these twins in some therapy. They need help not magic. Yikes.
Omen's Bite picks up were Spells Trouble leaves off. Mercy is still reeling from her mother's death. Hunter is bitter and resentful that she gave up her god for no reason. Now that she's pledged herself to Amphitrite's service, she must answer to the goddess. When it seems like the goddess might have answers to why the trees are dying, Hunter is desperate to find an answer and turns to dark magic.
This one was definitely darker than the first book. The majority of this book was annoying af to read. I hated the drama between the twins. Both of them are accountable, but Mercy really did somethings that she needs to rethink. She needs to reevaluate her priorities and how she deals with anger.
I wish I could say I disliked this enough to call it quits with this series, but the ending has me curious and I still do like Hunter. Mercy I could do without but I am curious to see if she'll make it out of this situation she put herself in. Tho I will say she did good when she hexed that one bastard.
Rep: white lesbian cis female MC, white cishet female MC, Egyptian cishet male side character, Egyptian side characters, white cishet side characters.
CWs: Death, murder, grief, bullying, slut shaming, blood, cursing, lesbophobia/lesbomisia. Moderate: prescription drug abuse, alcohol consumption, violence, abandonment, confinement, fire, injury/injury detail, toxic relationship (sisters), religious bigotry.
This was quite painful to read at times and the 180 of character personalities was really annoying. Someone put these twins in some therapy. They need help not magic. Yikes.
Omen's Bite picks up were Spells Trouble leaves off. Mercy is still reeling from her mother's death. Hunter is bitter and resentful that she gave up her god for no reason. Now that she's pledged herself to Amphitrite's service, she must answer to the goddess. When it seems like the goddess might have answers to why the trees are dying, Hunter is desperate to find an answer and turns to dark magic.
This one was definitely darker than the first book. The majority of this book was annoying af to read. I hated the drama between the twins. Both of them are accountable, but Mercy really did somethings that she needs to rethink. She needs to reevaluate her priorities and how she deals with anger.
I wish I could say I disliked this enough to call it quits with this series, but the ending has me curious and I still do like Hunter. Mercy I could do without but I am curious to see if she'll make it out of this situation she put herself in. Tho I will say she did good when she hexed that one bastard.
Rep: white lesbian cis female MC, white cishet female MC, Egyptian cishet male side character, Egyptian side characters, white cishet side characters.
CWs: Death, murder, grief, bullying, slut shaming, blood, cursing, lesbophobia/lesbomisia. Moderate: prescription drug abuse, alcohol consumption, violence, abandonment, confinement, fire, injury/injury detail, toxic relationship (sisters), religious bigotry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Cursing, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Confinement, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Violence
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