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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
ILLUMICRATE BOX : DNF at page 252. The Principal of Moments is a telling of an alien god who rules an alien planet that the human race now lives on. It’s also about a time traveler who is in love with a prince. Starting there the book starts telling each story every other chapter which each separate story lacked depth for me, I couldn’t connect with the characters or the world, it seemed like the author was so excited to just get everything out and spilled everything into the first few chapters. While reading this all I could compare this writing to was a group of high teenagers putting a cool story together and me observing with confusion. It’s as if all these little spurts of things happening for no reason. This book is definitely not adult it’s YA. The reason I’m giving 3 stars even though I DNF it is because this book may be great for some people, just not for me. At some point I may pick this book back up and casually skim it, but for now it will sit pretty on my shelf.
adventurous
mysterious
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:
No
I was enjoying this for the first 200 pages or so but I slowly but surely lost interest with every new chapter I read :/ it just got boring to me after a while and I realized that I didn't care about the plot or the characters anymore :')
maybe I had too high expectations idk but it just didn't deliver what I'd hoped it would.
the bits that bothered me the most were that it kinda read like YA even though it's supposed to be adult..
and also that the relationships between the characters just always felt surface level for some reason and I kept waiting for it to go deeper but idk I just never felt it.
so yea I kind of had to force myself to finish the book
maybe I had too high expectations idk but it just didn't deliver what I'd hoped it would.
the bits that bothered me the most were that it kinda read like YA even though it's supposed to be adult..
and also that the relationships between the characters just always felt surface level for some reason and I kept waiting for it to go deeper but idk I just never felt it.
so yea I kind of had to force myself to finish the book
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It breaks me to end up not loving this book... In theory, it's the perfect combination of everything I love if someone asks me what I want in a book: space opera with fantasy lore and elements, time travel, ominous ancient prophecies dated back thousands of years, and as the cherry on top, gay romance.
But I don't love this book. I don't think I even like it that much. The thing is, there is so much going on with this book that everything barely scratches the surface. The worldbuilding is underdeveloped, the fantasy elements are barely explored or explained. There were some shining moments, but in the end it leaves me bored as we jump from one conflict to another, which makes the plot feel choppy and the pacing uneven at times. The author stated that she started this book while she was 16, and it does come across as a tad bit juvenile for an adult book. I would probably have liked it more if I was reading it when I was younger. The Regency England setting was particularly jarring since you just basically have people speak in a modern tone.
Overall, I love the idea, but not the execution.
But I don't love this book. I don't think I even like it that much. The thing is, there is so much going on with this book that everything barely scratches the surface. The worldbuilding is underdeveloped, the fantasy elements are barely explored or explained. There were some shining moments, but in the end it leaves me bored as we jump from one conflict to another, which makes the plot feel choppy and the pacing uneven at times. The author stated that she started this book while she was 16, and it does come across as a tad bit juvenile for an adult book. I would probably have liked it more if I was reading it when I was younger. The Regency England setting was particularly jarring since you just basically have people speak in a modern tone.
Overall, I love the idea, but not the execution.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I like how the quest is somehow still linked to our human world. I am often not that much in books set in space but this one has kept my interest going amd that could be thanks to the link to our planet.
It sure helped that the characters were lovable. Rach had their strength and weaknesses, which made them more relatable to me.
It sure helped that the characters were lovable. Rach had their strength and weaknesses, which made them more relatable to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide, Colonisation
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
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:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was really excited to read this one but it fell really flat for me. I think this book had a lot of potential, there’s a lot of great ideas here (like Black & queer anti-imperialist sci-fi say no more) but there was just so much happening and none of it felt developed enough. I did like the characters, but their relationships with each other felt really shallow and none of the plot lines felt solidly tied together. After the halfway mark I started to get rather confused with all the prophecy stuff and I was not super invested in the ending tbh. I get the author was very young when this was written but I just felt it needed more time to be developed with more mature writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Genocide, Racism, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
the flow of this book is not good, i like the idea and the characters are interesting but I'm finding myself pulled away too much from the story bcs of the flow. maybe i pick it again in the future but rn I can't finish this without getting myself into a slump :(