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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I thought it was fanstastic and I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series.
This book had a slow start for me, but somewhere around the second half it really started to pick up. There were a lot of twists and I really felt for all the relationships throughout. The situations and writing brought me tears of many kinds and I love when characters and their relationships are written so well they can do that to me.
This was a nicely written feminist tale--nothing felt shoved down your throat, there were amazingly written female icons and an inspiring mentor-figure, it mentioned an w|w couple in a positive light, showed men in positive and negative lights, and it was incredibly grounded in the fantasy world. You get strong platonic and romantic relationships and I was so happy for how much focus was given to the closest platonic one. <3
**Spoilers below!!!**
I did wonder at, however, why the world changed in the first place. It was really neat to watch the paradigm shift from "demon" to "goddess" but the only thing that helped me believe these *weren't* essentially the same thing depending on where you stand was when Deka said they founded Otera in the first place. Even then, I wondered if we were just leaving one manipulated belief (Infinite Wisdoms) for a new one--they *say* the goddesses were gentle, loving, and all that, but were they to all? Why did the Jatu rise up against them in the first place? Were they fighting for free will, since the Goddesses and the Nuru could force obedience? It made me hopeful to see Deka lead a future that addressed and undid all potential past harms from both sides--sort of like Zuko and Aang in Avatar, but none of this seemed to be addressed or even questioned. This made me skeptical of the ending. It did mention "make sure none of this ever happened to anyone else." And that one of the Goddesses was "kind and loving to alaki and non-alaki alike." But for some reason that wasn't enough for me. Probably because I needed to hear a positive opinion of them from non-alaki back then themselves, and that may have been near impossible to dig up (though the hate from all remaining true jatu and the fact that the Nuru's power had stronger control on them in general didn't help my skepticism.
This was a nicely written feminist tale--nothing felt shoved down your throat, there were amazingly written female icons and an inspiring mentor-figure, it mentioned an w|w couple in a positive light, showed men in positive and negative lights, and it was incredibly grounded in the fantasy world. You get strong platonic and romantic relationships and I was so happy for how much focus was given to the closest platonic one. <3
**Spoilers below!!!**
I did wonder at, however, why the world changed in the first place. It was really neat to watch the paradigm shift from "demon" to "goddess" but the only thing that helped me believe these *weren't* essentially the same thing depending on where you stand was when Deka said they founded Otera in the first place. Even then, I wondered if we were just leaving one manipulated belief (Infinite Wisdoms) for a new one--they *say* the goddesses were gentle, loving, and all that, but were they to all? Why did the Jatu rise up against them in the first place? Were they fighting for free will, since the Goddesses and the Nuru could force obedience? It made me hopeful to see Deka lead a future that addressed and undid all potential past harms from both sides--sort of like Zuko and Aang in Avatar, but none of this seemed to be addressed or even questioned. This made me skeptical of the ending. It did mention "make sure none of this ever happened to anyone else." And that one of the Goddesses was "kind and loving to alaki and non-alaki alike." But for some reason that wasn't enough for me. Probably because I needed to hear a positive opinion of them from non-alaki back then themselves, and that may have been near impossible to dig up (though the hate from all remaining true jatu and the fact that the Nuru's power had stronger control on them in general didn't help my skepticism.
adventurous
emotional
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:
Yes
hopeful
mysterious
I hate having to rate this so low because I was so excited to read it for a while now. Unfortunately, even though the premise was really interesting, the execution was not.
There were far too many characters introduced at all once, which made it really difficult to keep track of who was who. I don't think there was one character who wasn't a stereotype/archetype of YA novels, which is not always bad, but I didn't get a sense of any of their personalities beyond the stereotype. The writing was also pretty clunky with way too much exposition and description, as well as a lot of repetitive phrases.
Another thing that irked me was the way it seemed like the author had to cram in every single social issue that she found important. All of them were ones that I'm interested in and also feel strongly about, but it still felt like I was being forcefed an agenda.
I won't give up on the author because I think a lot of her mistakes could be solved with more experience, but I do think I'm done with this series.
There were far too many characters introduced at all once, which made it really difficult to keep track of who was who. I don't think there was one character who wasn't a stereotype/archetype of YA novels, which is not always bad, but I didn't get a sense of any of their personalities beyond the stereotype. The writing was also pretty clunky with way too much exposition and description, as well as a lot of repetitive phrases.
Another thing that irked me was the way it seemed like the author had to cram in every single social issue that she found important. All of them were ones that I'm interested in and also feel strongly about, but it still felt like I was being forcefed an agenda.
I won't give up on the author because I think a lot of her mistakes could be solved with more experience, but I do think I'm done with this series.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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:
Complicated