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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
This book was haunting, cryptic, and so creepy.
After I read the debut [b:The Accident Season|23346358|The Accident Season|Moïra Fowley-Doyle|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1428338423l/23346358._SY75_.jpg|42905086], I didn't hold high hopes for this one. But it totally surpassed my expectations. The writing is so beautiful and poetic, I was completely immersed in the story from the beginning. Halfway to the book, I thought I had guessed the twist, and while my guess was correct, there was still so much more to it that I was left stunned when I finally finished the book.
The role that magic plays in this book is abstract and ambiguous. I was constantly questioning whether it really is magic or just a bunch of strange coincidences. At the end of the book, I still wasn't quite sure. It's one of those books that ties up all the loose ends and leaves you feeling satisfied with the ending and yet burning with more questions.
I must say a thing or two about the characters. There are too many characters in the book and it took me a few chapters to properly remember all of them. But other than that, I loved everything about them. I loved how diverse the characters are. They have different types of thoughts, different types of families, different types of relationships. There's LGBTQ+ representation and the way the author included it without making a big deal about dIVerSiTy is great.
There's romance, but it's not the centre of the plot – it's just there in a very normal and very natural way. There's racism, which is called out immediately. There's Olive and her sister having conversations about feminism, which kind of surprised me at first, but made me very happy. There are little bits of things like this sprinkled here and there that don't really add to the plot but make the characters very real and believable.
After I read the debut [b:The Accident Season|23346358|The Accident Season|Moïra Fowley-Doyle|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1428338423l/23346358._SY75_.jpg|42905086], I didn't hold high hopes for this one. But it totally surpassed my expectations. The writing is so beautiful and poetic, I was completely immersed in the story from the beginning. Halfway to the book, I thought I had guessed the twist, and while my guess was correct, there was still so much more to it that I was left stunned when I finally finished the book.
The role that magic plays in this book is abstract and ambiguous. I was constantly questioning whether it really is magic or just a bunch of strange coincidences. At the end of the book, I still wasn't quite sure. It's one of those books that ties up all the loose ends and leaves you feeling satisfied with the ending and yet burning with more questions.
I must say a thing or two about the characters. There are too many characters in the book and it took me a few chapters to properly remember all of them. But other than that, I loved everything about them. I loved how diverse the characters are. They have different types of thoughts, different types of families, different types of relationships. There's LGBTQ+ representation and the way the author included it without making a big deal about dIVerSiTy is great.
There's romance, but it's not the centre of the plot – it's just there in a very normal and very natural way. There's racism, which is called out immediately. There's Olive and her sister having conversations about feminism, which kind of surprised me at first, but made me very happy. There are little bits of things like this sprinkled here and there that don't really add to the plot but make the characters very real and believable.
Maybe it's more about firsts. Maybe every first is a loss.
There was something quite lovely about this book.
There was something quite lovely about this book.
I loved this book. It did take me a bit to figure out who all the charterers where and who was in each group of narrators (there are three narrators with their own circle of people), but it was so worth it. I am excited to read another book from this author.
There was something inherently interesting about this book that kept me reading the entire way through. Secrets to uncover, magic to understand. But I think it got a little too choked up in itself. There were so many characters in this book that it was hard to keep them straight - especially when they were all named after plants. I kept losing track of who had what storyline and which detail meant what and if things were happening in the past or the present. Honestly, the most exciting chapters were Laurel's and those were few and far between. And there was still just enough that didn't make sense by the end of the book that leaves me kind of scratching my head. It was beautifully written, and I don't mind a sense of mystery over some of the smaller details. But by the end, it just a felt a little underdeveloped.
this was really disappointing. I have almost nothing good to say about it tbh
1. the writing was okay but not great, some sentences and particularly the dialogue were clunky
2. I didn't find the characters engaging
3. similarly, I didn't find the story engaging, the entire time this book just absolutely failed to grab my attention
4. I found Hazel and Olive's perspectives almost indistinguishable a lot of the time, a new chapter would start and we'd switch perspectives and I'd forget we'd switched perspectives EVERY TIME until some dialogue made it clear
5. I found the twists at the end got progressively more and more ridiculous, not in the sense of there being no basis for them, they'd clearly been planted (well, some of them), but just that the idea of them at all had me saying "oh come on? really?"
6. ew @ the accidental incest. I mean the characters didn't know Ivy was their sister but still uncomfy to find out that the girl both Rowan and Hazel had had feelings for, and Rowan had done more than kissing less than sex with was their sister
7. Ivy was such a non-character. She was important to the overall plot of the book but in almost every single group scene if you completely took her out you would not notice
8. some of the dialogue was really cringy, especially when it got preachy about social issues, it's not that I don't agree with what was said bc tbh I do, it was just so shoehorned in so it could appear 'woke'
9. I didn't care about either of the romances
I wanted to dnf this book, but by the time I realised I wanted to I'd already been reading it for a week and didn't want that week to count for nothing so I just decided to finish it.
*if you're wondering why I gave this two stars instead of one when I have nothing good to say about it it's because I give books one star when they make me royally pissed off about how bad they are, and this book didn't do that, I just don't think it's good
1. the writing was okay but not great, some sentences and particularly the dialogue were clunky
2. I didn't find the characters engaging
3. similarly, I didn't find the story engaging, the entire time this book just absolutely failed to grab my attention
4. I found Hazel and Olive's perspectives almost indistinguishable a lot of the time, a new chapter would start and we'd switch perspectives and I'd forget we'd switched perspectives EVERY TIME until some dialogue made it clear
5. I found the twists at the end got progressively more and more ridiculous, not in the sense of there being no basis for them, they'd clearly been planted (well, some of them), but just that the idea of them at all had me saying "oh come on? really?"
6.
7. Ivy was such a non-character. She was important to the overall plot of the book but in almost every single group scene if you completely took her out you would not notice
8. some of the dialogue was really cringy, especially when it got preachy about social issues, it's not that I don't agree with what was said bc tbh I do, it was just so shoehorned in so it could appear 'woke'
9. I didn't care about either of the romances
I wanted to dnf this book, but by the time I realised I wanted to I'd already been reading it for a week and didn't want that week to count for nothing so I just decided to finish it.
*if you're wondering why I gave this two stars instead of one when I have nothing good to say about it it's because I give books one star when they make me royally pissed off about how bad they are, and this book didn't do that, I just don't think it's good
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Magical realism and I have a tentative relationship. Magical realism is the crazy, eccentric best friend who does random stuff all the time and I’m the best friend that keeps their logical head straight on their shoulders. So naturally, it’s an unlikely and rather unstable relationship.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy Spellbook of the Lost and Found to a number of degrees. I loved the Irish setting and while the Laurel chapters bothered me at first, I eventually warmed up to it and really liked the mystery of it all. Normally, it would bother me if we didn’t know what the opposing force is, but in this book had the interesting case of an invisible antagonist: the magic at work, the consequences of their actions come back to bite them.
The character voices were excellent and the setting was as well.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy Spellbook of the Lost and Found to a number of degrees. I loved the Irish setting and while the Laurel chapters bothered me at first, I eventually warmed up to it and really liked the mystery of it all. Normally, it would bother me if we didn’t know what the opposing force is, but in this book had the interesting case of an invisible antagonist: the magic at work, the consequences of their actions come back to bite them.
The character voices were excellent and the setting was as well.
Oh my, how old is Mags and how is she tied into all of this? This book was full of spells and magic, lost things as well as found. It was charismatic and confusing. I kind of guessed some of the end, one or two things surprised me, but for the most part I guessed it. I would say Olive was my favorite character out of the current characters, and Holly out of the past. She was whimsical and loved hard. They never did find Cathal. Weird.