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54 reviews for:
Magic of Blood and Sea: The Assassin's Curse; The Pirate's Wish
Cassandra Rose Clarke
3.82 AVERAGE
54 reviews for:
Magic of Blood and Sea: The Assassin's Curse; The Pirate's Wish
Cassandra Rose Clarke
3.82 AVERAGE
I'm so tired right now because this duology kept me all night! I just couldn't stop reading, which is great. I've always wanted to read this and I'm lucky enough to find a copy in the library. Typical YA, but it really kept me reading. It is action-packed and magical, however, it took me some time to get used to Anana's character. Her unrequited love kinda hit me at first, which I never expected and as a pirate, she needed to be saved a lot. Her hating on all beautiful women is kinda lame, but in the end, she became cooler and stronger. Her and Naji's slow-burned romance though, my cup of tea. Haha! The plot sometimes flew over me, maybe it's too late and tired for me to digest that quick and all I wanna see is for those two to kiss mutually. So... 3.5 stars for the bind-up, definitely an enjoyable read.
I think that the writing of this book was a perfect balance between dialect and proper English, as well as between flowery and plain language. As a person who doesn't like overly flowery language, I can definitely appreciate the subtlety of this writing style.
I like the characters, and their relationships. The main character, Ananna, was spunky, headstrong, cautious, and rational. I enjoyed it. She didn't spend time mooning over boys, and when she did, it wasn't love at first sight. She preferred people who weren't perfect, and she wasn't described as perfect either.
There was also a lesbian couple in it, and it wasn't highlighted, or thought of as wrong. It was treated in a completely normal way, like it wasn't any different than heterosexual relationships, which it wasn't.
Naji, the other main character, was sufficiently broody, and caring, and flawed. He spent a lot of time worrying about how he looked - he has a large scar marring his face, which was definitely normal, seeing as he thought it made him different. But it wasn't over-done.
Most of the book, both characters are lovesick, where their potential love interests don't reciprocate their feelings; another refreshing aspect of this book.
This book is about pirates, and there is a little pirating in the book itself, but mostly they are on a quest to break their curse (this is not a spoiler, as it happens within the first couple of chapters). It isn't really a treasure hunt per se, so I was kind of disappointed that there wasn't more about pirates. Not to say that there isn't a lot about pirate culture, and a lot of pirate cameos, but this book was not about the act pirating. So be warned if you were thinking of picking this book up on the pirate synopsis alone.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book, and I recommend it. Just know that this is not really a substitute for the pirates of the caribbean movies.
I like the characters, and their relationships. The main character, Ananna, was spunky, headstrong, cautious, and rational. I enjoyed it. She didn't spend time mooning over boys, and when she did, it wasn't love at first sight. She preferred people who weren't perfect, and she wasn't described as perfect either.
There was also a lesbian couple in it, and it wasn't highlighted, or thought of as wrong. It was treated in a completely normal way, like it wasn't any different than heterosexual relationships, which it wasn't.
Naji, the other main character, was sufficiently broody, and caring, and flawed. He spent a lot of time worrying about how he looked - he has a large scar marring his face, which was definitely normal, seeing as he thought it made him different. But it wasn't over-done.
Most of the book, both characters are lovesick, where their potential love interests don't reciprocate their feelings; another refreshing aspect of this book.
This book is about pirates, and there is a little pirating in the book itself, but mostly they are on a quest to break their curse (this is not a spoiler, as it happens within the first couple of chapters). It isn't really a treasure hunt per se, so I was kind of disappointed that there wasn't more about pirates. Not to say that there isn't a lot about pirate culture, and a lot of pirate cameos, but this book was not about the act pirating. So be warned if you were thinking of picking this book up on the pirate synopsis alone.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book, and I recommend it. Just know that this is not really a substitute for the pirates of the caribbean movies.
For me, this book was a great binge read. It took me about a day, and made me care about the characters very quickly. A few things, though. It moved too fast, and bad grammar (even if it's for the sake of building a character) really irks me. Also, stories where the premise is confusing and isn't explained at all make me feel like the author couldn't think of a reason for something to happen, so they just didn't give one. I don't know, I liked this book, but it felt like (sort of) a weird, less amazing version of Daughter of the Pirate King.
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I was looking for a good pirate book, and I found one! This was a great adventure though I found it a bit convenient at times. The relationships were strong and realistic, the characters were all flawed and human except the Manticore who was my favorite character in the series. I liked Naji, but I found him tiresome at times and unlikeable. Our Main Character Ananna was the real masterpiece as her emotions and actions became real. The side characters were interesting enough. I found the pacing of the plot had some issues as it took too much time on some parts while hurrying over other more important parts. The end was very hurried with many things happening and resolving in a page or two. I found that the world was very intriguing and I hope to spend more time in her other series exploring it. Overall a really good book.
I really loved this being a duology, totally necessary! I reviewed each book separately, but I loved Ananna's story and her relationships with Marjani and Naji. This is totally amazing to read if you want some great heroines doing amazing pirate things!
Simply put, I enjoyed Magic of Blood and Sea. It is an easy read that is a bit predictable, but nevertheless I found it an enjoyable, quick read. I loved the relationship of Ananna and Naji, even if it felt a bit trope-y at times. There is very little world building in the book, and the duology is basically 500 pages of Ananna and Naji having a strop, running off, stumbling into danger, and then coming back together, so if you don’t connect with either character early on, this may not be the book for you. Thankfully I fell in love with Ananna – the crass, infuriatingly stubborn pirate – from the get-go. Unfortunately, a few small details stuck out as plot holes or contradictory which jarred me from the story and impacted my overall experience. This may not be the best book I've ever read, but I did have a pretty big, dopey smile on my face for a fair amount of it.
3.5/5 on the strength of Anana's voice.
The relationship between the mains seems to want to forgo clichés but doesn't quite manage it, there are still misunderstandings and needless withholding of information, and sometimes it even works! because they're both prickly, stubborn characters... But as an example of when it fails, Book 2 opens with a scene where Anana is thirsty and decides to go to the source, despite Naji's warnings, because "nothing ever happened to her there" when in fact something very much happened to her there a few pages ago!
Overall I enjoyed the book and the characters but I feel that a tighter editing and less reliance on easy tricks (he's the assassin who was sent to kill her!) to fabricate conflict would have made this an even better read.
The relationship between the mains seems to want to forgo clichés but doesn't quite manage it, there are still misunderstandings and needless withholding of information, and sometimes it even works! because they're both prickly, stubborn characters... But as an example of when it fails, Book 2 opens with a scene where Anana is thirsty and decides to go to the source, despite Naji's warnings, because "nothing ever happened to her there" when in fact something very much happened to her there a few pages ago!
Overall I enjoyed the book and the characters but I feel that a tighter editing and less reliance on easy tricks (he's the assassin who was sent to kill her!) to fabricate conflict would have made this an even better read.