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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
this book started off so strong and then kinda plummeted at the end.
The vibes are so good when we're doing a murder mystery on a boat with faeries. Like, I was having so much fun. Even when there was no more boat and we were just wandering, it was still a good time. I thought Lorelei was a likeably frustrating main character, and the rest of the cast was distinct and compelling.
As a Jew, I was a bit skeptical of the fantasy Judaism (mostly in that it is literally just Judaism, unchanged outside of the name), but I was willing to let that go once we talked about rabbis debating whether or not faerie cows would be kosher. Peak Judaism, truly.
Everything shifted for me at about the 75% mark, though. Lorelei goes from understandably flawed to frustratingly dumb and inconsistent. The rest of the cast devolves into caricatures that move the plot along, and don't even get me started on Sylvia at the end. I feel like every trait we ascribed to her got thrown out for either the sake of the plot or the sake of the relationship and it was super dumb.
The climax of this book also revolves around a blatant plot hole.We are told that the Vanishing Isle appears at night on the new moon, and then disappears come morning. Every new moon, it appears somewhere else in the world, and exists nowhere for the rest of the month. And yet! When the crew arrives on the Isle they are there for multiple days, spending at least two nights there before finally leaving. This might have worked if the island, perhaps, dropped them somewhere in the middle of nowhere when they finally leave, but we don't see this! We just skip from Lorelei killing Adelheid to everyone back on the boat arriving home. So who knows what was even going on with the island that is supposed to vanish after, like, twelve hours. Things like this just made the ending feel sloppy and rushed.
This book had so much potential, but it unfortunately decided to squander all of it in the last 100 pages.
The vibes are so good when we're doing a murder mystery on a boat with faeries. Like, I was having so much fun. Even when there was no more boat and we were just wandering, it was still a good time. I thought Lorelei was a likeably frustrating main character, and the rest of the cast was distinct and compelling.
As a Jew, I was a bit skeptical of the fantasy Judaism (mostly in that it is literally just Judaism, unchanged outside of the name), but I was willing to let that go once we talked about rabbis debating whether or not faerie cows would be kosher. Peak Judaism, truly.
Everything shifted for me at about the 75% mark, though. Lorelei goes from understandably flawed to frustratingly dumb and inconsistent. The rest of the cast devolves into caricatures that move the plot along, and don't even get me started on Sylvia at the end. I feel like every trait we ascribed to her got thrown out for either the sake of the plot or the sake of the relationship and it was super dumb.
The climax of this book also revolves around a blatant plot hole.
This book had so much potential, but it unfortunately decided to squander all of it in the last 100 pages.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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:
Yes
This book was a complete letdown. You can tell that the author came up with the premise of "dark academia gothic sapphic rivals to lovers" first and added the other very extraneous-feeling elements later to add to the vibes. The vibes were certainly there, but everything else fell so flat that I was just left disappointed in the end.
The extraneous stuff added for the vibes:
The extraneous stuff added for the vibes:
- First of all, this book shouldn't be classified as dark academia because the university is irrelevant as a setting and none of the characters actually use their specialties for anything. No studying, no research, nothing. Any mentions of collecting data and research feel like set dressing.
- The folklore aspects. The mc Lorelei is a folklorist (except she actually wanted to be a naturalist, but that was never shown in her interactions with the natural world) and will recount the obligatory folk tale every once in a while, but it all felt very shoehorned in. We only meet a few creatures who tend to blend together and don't learn much about Lorelei's work, nor see her use her academic skills very much. This ain't no Emily Wilde that's for sure
- The murder mystery. I'm honestly not sure why this plot was even included in the first place considering Lorelei, a supposedly sharp and analytical person, is so terrible at investigating (she found a clue in her room and completely forgot about it) that the killer (who she never suspected bc she never bothered investigating) had to reveal themselves to get that plot wrapped up
- The side characters' relationships. Idk why but the author made the other members of the expedition group childhood friends with the emperor and each other and also war veterans and also former nobility of their colonized nations. They also had some sort of polycule thing going on idk. You'd think this would be delved into deeper but it isn't and most of these characters disappear for large parts of the book anyways. We're also seeing them from Lorelei's pov, and she hates them all, so you're not exactly endeared to them
- The politics. Why would you put in anticolonial messages throughout your entire book and have the mcs discuss how bad it would be if the emperor got more power...only to have them serve him in the end for the sake of "stability" and make the character who rebels against colonialism the bad guy? And have the mcs get married and go "ooh maybe our love will solve prejudice". It honestly feels like the author just wanted to finish the book and ended things quickly
It's a shame bc the romance is sweet, the writing is beautiful, and Lorelei's character was well explored. Unfortunately this book was just a mess
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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
choosing to ignore some of the issues i had with confusing plot points and some sudden tone shifts that didn’t make sense to me because i loved reading this book. it’s gay and it’s jewish so it’s for me!
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
This one suffered from a lack of balanced pacing. I liked the folklore elements - particularly the little stories that were place liberally in the beginning and then all but disappeared - but I would have loved more of the differences between the provinces (duchies? Annexed nations? See, not really sure what those were other than that each of the noble characters was from a different one), but instead we got kind of blindsided by certain distinctions of those territories only when they became relevant. Also, the magic was way too hand-wavey. Lorelei, despite having minimal training, was always able to use magic conveniently without suffering any major consequences.
Also not sure why this is classified as dark academia? The university is barely present and no one is actually actively conducting research at any point except for Adelheid and Ludwig. I wish their respective fields of study were more relevant to the actual meat of the story.
As for the rivals-to-lovers romance, I actually rather liked it. Lorelei is so predisposed to roll her eyes at and poke fun at Sylvia that their constant awareness of each other just works rather seamlessly. Though I think Sylvia as “battle hardened warrior maiden” needed a bit more reinforcement - particularly at the part where her shiny silver saber designed to ward off magical creatures is pitted against a steel blade (a matchup which is clearly defined early on in the story and does not go as telegraphed)
Another thing that I really appreciated was just how well Jewish history (specifically the oppression of Jewish faith/practices and the corralling of Jews into slums) was integrated into this fictional and magical society. I think it gave an otherwise “fanciful” story quite a solid touch of reality without being heavy handed.
{My thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}
Also not sure why this is classified as dark academia? The university is barely present and no one is actually actively conducting research at any point except for Adelheid and Ludwig. I wish their respective fields of study were more relevant to the actual meat of the story.
As for the rivals-to-lovers romance, I actually rather liked it. Lorelei is so predisposed to roll her eyes at and poke fun at Sylvia that their constant awareness of each other just works rather seamlessly. Though I think Sylvia as “battle hardened warrior maiden” needed a bit more reinforcement - particularly at the part where her shiny silver saber designed to ward off magical creatures is pitted against a steel blade (a matchup which is clearly defined early on in the story and does not go as telegraphed)
Another thing that I really appreciated was just how well Jewish history (specifically the oppression of Jewish faith/practices and the corralling of Jews into slums) was integrated into this fictional and magical society. I think it gave an otherwise “fanciful” story quite a solid touch of reality without being heavy handed.
{My thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}
adventurous
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
Grew on me in the best way! The world building wasn't my favorite at the start, but this lesbians-at-sea, whodunnit adventure won me over. Great writing and I loved getting Lorelei's perspective.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated