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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
theoretically, i should LOVE this book! it has an amazing concept and so many of the things i usually love in a book - a heist plot, an extremely dysfunctional found family, an iconic female mc, and a commentary on the impacts of colonialism (we love a fantasy book that tackles deeper themes!!). Also, vampires. enough said. now, don’t get me wrong it’s not a bad book - but i don’t think the concepts were translated well in the book.
everything about the story just felt underdeveloped. firstly, the world of White Roaring & Ettenia/beyond felt very unexplored or glossed over. I struggled to understand the dynamics of the city - how do others in the city live (towards the end it randomly brings up rival gangs), how class divides the vampires, the magic system (which again randomly appears towards the end), and more about the political system. on this note, a tinier confusion for me was that Spindrift is supposedly not in the nice part of town but also used to be a highly-esteemed museum, how does that work?
further, i wish we spent more time in Arthie’s world to understand the importance of Spindrift and her found family there - it would’ve made the threat of Spindrift being taken away more high stakes for us readers. which goes into my next issue, which is the heist plotline felt very boring and not high intensity as you would expect. for breaking into a highly guarded building that’s filled with vampires (!!!), the crew had a surprisingly easy time and never once did their plan go completely off the rails. (also once we learned Arthie had could’ve easily accessed the ledger the whole time, everything kind of felt pointless?)
lastly, the characterizations. i don’t really understand why we only got 3/5 of the crews POVs. i would understand having Arthie & Jin’s POVs but once you add in Flicks and not Laith & Matteo, it feels odd. especially when those are the characters that felt the most underdeveloped & unclear. (i also feel like this was mainly bc it was the easiest way to keep their secrets from the readers, but still.) anyways, Arthie as a character was really hard to pin down. wdym she spends the whole book on how she only cares to save Spindrift and has no care for the world at large, but within a few pages decides to forgo that motivation and risk it all to bring down the Ram.
overall, i just wish this book lived in the story and world a bit more. it would’ve made the plot stronger, the characters more grounded, and created far less confusions (there were a lot of moments where i felt like i missed a page.)
everything about the story just felt underdeveloped. firstly, the world of White Roaring & Ettenia/beyond felt very unexplored or glossed over. I struggled to understand the dynamics of the city - how do others in the city live (towards the end it randomly brings up rival gangs), how class divides the vampires, the magic system (which again randomly appears towards the end), and more about the political system. on this note, a tinier confusion for me was that Spindrift is supposedly not in the nice part of town but also used to be a highly-esteemed museum, how does that work?
further, i wish we spent more time in Arthie’s world to understand the importance of Spindrift and her found family there - it would’ve made the threat of Spindrift being taken away more high stakes for us readers. which goes into my next issue, which is the heist plotline felt very boring and not high intensity as you would expect. for breaking into a highly guarded building that’s filled with vampires (!!!), the crew had a surprisingly easy time and never once did their plan go completely off the rails. (also once we learned Arthie had could’ve easily accessed the ledger the whole time, everything kind of felt pointless?)
lastly, the characterizations. i don’t really understand why we only got 3/5 of the crews POVs. i would understand having Arthie & Jin’s POVs but once you add in Flicks and not Laith & Matteo, it feels odd. especially when those are the characters that felt the most underdeveloped & unclear. (i also feel like this was mainly bc it was the easiest way to keep their secrets from the readers, but still.) anyways, Arthie as a character was really hard to pin down. wdym she spends the whole book on how she only cares to save Spindrift and has no care for the world at large, but within a few pages decides to forgo that motivation and risk it all to bring down the Ram.
overall, i just wish this book lived in the story and world a bit more. it would’ve made the plot stronger, the characters more grounded, and created far less confusions (there were a lot of moments where i felt like i missed a page.)
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-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
I felt some parts dragged and it took too long to pick up the plot
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
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:
Yes
Very different from Faizal's first duology, but it had its charms. I found it a little slow and VERY inspired by Six of Crows. But ultimately, I enjoyed the characters and I think it ended in a cool spot.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This "tearoom heist" story or however it is billed barely features the tearoom. I know that should not be the focal point of this review but it annoyed me so much I had to mention it.
This book feels very much like an imitation of Six of Crows but it isn't as clever or as well written or as cohesive and unfortunately when compared to that work it comes off much more poorly.
Having said that, I think if I had not been comparing them, I might have enjoyed this story much more. Arthie is an interesting character. Flick and Jin were interesting. Penn was fine.
I think it just wasn't as clever as it could be. I wasn't as invested in their success. I'm giving it a 3 because I didn't hate it.
This book feels very much like an imitation of Six of Crows but it isn't as clever or as well written or as cohesive and unfortunately when compared to that work it comes off much more poorly.
Having said that, I think if I had not been comparing them, I might have enjoyed this story much more. Arthie is an interesting character. Flick and Jin were interesting. Penn was fine.
I think it just wasn't as clever as it could be. I wasn't as invested in their success. I'm giving it a 3 because I didn't hate it.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes