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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Racism
adventurous
dark
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
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was really nervous about this one. I wanted so badly to love it. I made the rookie mistake of falling in love with the cover (it's so pretty!). And I did end up liking it! A lot! I think I want to re-read before I fully pass judgment on it, because my main takeaway right now is that this is an extremely well-written YA fantasy story (written in the first person present POV, and I liked it despite that terrible choice) that does fall into some unfortunate (and unnecessary!) tropes that most YA fantasy books also fall into. But it also does some really, really cool things, and just zooms through plot like nobody's business. And the worldbuilding is so good! And cool! I am using a lot of exclamation marks!
But I'm still having trouble separating the actual book from my expectations. Ultimately, I decided to round up from my 3.5 stars because the book is a really good example of the things that I didn't think it needed to do. So even if I wish it didn't do them, at least it did them well.
Some scattered thoughts:
*As mentioned previously, the worldbuilding is excellent. Specific and well thought out. And interesting! Not just detailed, but detailed in a way that intrigued me. I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but I can't help it. This book's worldbuilding (and characters, and dialogue, and writing, and almost everything else) is what I wanted from Children of Blood and Bone. There, I did it and now I will stop.
*The female friendship in this is excellent.
*This book has the ultimate Smash the Demon Lizard Patriarchy Energy going for it.
*It was not predictable! (Except for the instances where it indulged in overused and unnecessary YA fantasy tropes). So many twists I didn't see coming, and it gets through so much exciting plot. A lot of authors would have stretched just what happens in this book out to like three books.
*I am very excited to see where this goes.
In all, despite my issues with it not being A Book of Perfection like I wanted, I am very glad I read it, and will most definitely be reading the rest of the series.
[3.5 stars, rounding up]
But I'm still having trouble separating the actual book from my expectations. Ultimately, I decided to round up from my 3.5 stars because the book is a really good example of the things that I didn't think it needed to do. So even if I wish it didn't do them, at least it did them well.
Spoiler
In case you're curious, it was mostly the romance. This book absolutely did not need any romance, but it's YA so let's put it in there anyway. There was no reason Deka couldn't have just been friends with the boy and maybe romance could have come later. I just don't think we always need romance! I am also a little salt about Deka being The Best At Everything, although that was sort of undercut by her not actually being human, but we don't learn that until the end.Some scattered thoughts:
*As mentioned previously, the worldbuilding is excellent. Specific and well thought out. And interesting! Not just detailed, but detailed in a way that intrigued me. I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but I can't help it. This book's worldbuilding (and characters, and dialogue, and writing, and almost everything else) is what I wanted from Children of Blood and Bone. There, I did it and now I will stop.
*The female friendship in this is excellent.
*This book has the ultimate Smash the Demon Lizard Patriarchy Energy going for it.
*It was not predictable! (Except for the instances where it indulged in overused and unnecessary YA fantasy tropes). So many twists I didn't see coming, and it gets through so much exciting plot. A lot of authors would have stretched just what happens in this book out to like three books.
*I am very excited to see where this goes.
In all, despite my issues with it not being A Book of Perfection like I wanted, I am very glad I read it, and will most definitely be reading the rest of the series.
[3.5 stars, rounding up]
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I think this is my #1 book of the year. It’s only Feb but I am calling this #1
adventurous
dark
inspiring
tense
fast-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:
No
Had fun listening to this, I'll definitely listen to the second one. Great fantasy story unlike one I've read before. It had a good setup for the second.
I like what the book stands for. Women equality. however I really feel like that this book is just giving us all the necessary information we need before the second books starts. in this book relationships are build and powers are discovered. you get to know about the world and what is happening inside it. only at the end (the last 60 pages or so) you get to experience some real action. this made it a slow paced book which is fine, but I would’ve liked to see more action. this could relate to her power or the building of some relationships because sometimes I was like ‘oh we are friendly with this person now okay’ like it just suddenly happened without much context.
woohooo feminist revolution is fantasy rocks. the writing is soo good, i enjoyed the realistic MC and the side characters were interesting too. the love interest especially, such a green flag. i repdiceted some things but still dang it's so different from most YA fantasy these days.