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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
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:
Complicated
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It's such a disappointment when a book you've had on your TBR for so long doesn't live up to your expectations. Don't get me wrong, the worldbuilding was good, particularly the religious and sci-fi elements. I could picture the city and its inhabitants quite clearly. However, the plot dragged a lot. There were a lot of spikes of action, but most of the time it plateaued with nothing much happening. Or more accurately, things were happening but I couldn't find it in me to care enough.
That was the problem with the characters too. I couldn't connect with them, especially and unfortunately Elena, our main character. I don't think she has enough emotional development, to the point that the end of her 'arc' in this book confused me. My favourite character was Yassen, who was more fleshed out but that's probably because it's easier to write a brooding morally grey male love interest with a tragic backstory. Leo and Ferma were also really interesting characters, and I could tell what they represented in this world and in the plot. Elena came off really immature for her age, I kept forgetting she was supposed to be 25. And I am utterly unconvinced of her and Yassen's chemistry, they barely exchange dialogue for the majority of their scenes together. I kind of wish the slow burn was even slower, because their confessions kind of came out of the blue.
All in all I probably won't pick up the sequel, mainly because the plot doesn't interest me (neither did the ending, which I saw coming) and I will forget the events before the last book comes out.
That was the problem with the characters too. I couldn't connect with them, especially and unfortunately Elena, our main character. I don't think she has enough emotional development, to the point that the end of her 'arc' in this book confused me. My favourite character was Yassen, who was more fleshed out but that's probably because it's easier to write a brooding morally grey male love interest with a tragic backstory. Leo and Ferma were also really interesting characters, and I could tell what they represented in this world and in the plot. Elena came off really immature for her age, I kept forgetting she was supposed to be 25. And I am utterly unconvinced of her and Yassen's chemistry, they barely exchange dialogue for the majority of their scenes together. I kind of wish the slow burn was even slower, because their confessions kind of came out of the blue.
All in all I probably won't pick up the sequel, mainly because the plot doesn't interest me (neither did the ending, which I saw coming) and I will forget the events before the last book comes out.
slow-paced
Honestly this book would be really good for someone who wants world building to the max. But, unfortunately that’s not what I thought I was getting into and so this book was kinda disappointing.
(Also I picked this book up because I saw a video saying that this was for all the people who wanted to see Katara and Zuko get together and I didn’t see any of that at allll)
(Also I picked this book up because I saw a video saying that this was for all the people who wanted to see Katara and Zuko get together and I didn’t see any of that at allll)
This felt like it took me forever to finish but it was good. The story was interesting enough and I did like all the characters. Samson being the Prophet was not on my bingo card and I’m intrigued to see where his character goes. The world building could’ve have been fleshed out more for me though I did enjoy the three different perspectives we got, which is rare for me to say.
adventurous
challenging
dark
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:
Yes
“You’re killing me, Yassen, and at the same time you’re the one keeping me from death”
It’s taking me a week to figure out how I really want to talk about this book. The Phoenix King is a very well written book. I enjoy the pros. It’s not aggressively purple yet not too casual. I enjoyed the characters. They actually had a bit of life to them versus being vessels or shells. There is a sort of power system at play yet it seems very daunted. The book of the book is a very slow burn political uprising type of story, which is quite literally the opposite of what I usually enjoy.
And yet it still one of the best books that I’ve Read so far in the year and it’s probably because at the end of the day I was left wanting to read more because I enjoy her writing style, though the story did not pull me in as I was expecting. I still found myself continuously reading which I think is a merit to her success.
The book follows a washed up assassin a king trying to protect his kingdom and a princess trying to make her own Path to the throne. While I would usually be turned off from a slow burn book, I found myself intrigued by other things. I was very intrigued by this world. She’s built where one kingdom is built on the power of their fire bending king and their tech another kingdom is quite literally a kingdom of cyborgs almost metal people
I was intrigued by the father daughter relationship that I got to read. I was explaining this to a friend of mine the other day that most books don’t really teach me a lesson or make me think about life, but I think because of the premise the characters and the fact that it is a South Asian inspired story I found myself much more interested in thoughts of why is the father behaving this way? Why are these decisions making? Why are these decisions? The daughter is making when I am a father what I make the same decisions with my child did my father make the same decisions with me? It’s interesting. I usually never have these thoughts, but I did this time
I do think I’m going to pick up the next book. I don’t know when but I think I will because I wanna see where the story goes. It ended almost like I expected quite quite honestly it did end kind of how I expected it to end, which isn’t a bad thing.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes