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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
adventurous
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
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5 rounded down bc I gave Will of the Many a 4 and I think it was better than this.
Guys, this was just Wheel of Time, condensed, with one additional magical thing.
I’m not going through every single similarity because I could spoil one or both series but good god, it was insane to the point where there’s even a magical dark city in both where crazy stuff occurs. 🤦♀️ Vessels? Ohh you mean Ter’angreal.
But what Robert Jordan excelled at, characters, Islington just… doesn’t. These characters are very flat. I didn’t really see much character development in this entire 600 page book and they felt like poorly written YA characters. And I like YA books. But one can only “let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding” so many times. The only character that had a tiny bit of development was Caeden and that’s because he had lost his memory so he was a blank slate 😂
Overall, it was a little better than fine. I also felt like Islington thought of everything and threw it alllllll in the book. He wasn’t focusing well. And while some things were really cool, other things just made me cringe.
Also, almost all the adults in this book sucked? 🤪 Good for an adult book huh?
Guys, this was just Wheel of Time, condensed, with one additional magical thing.
I’m not going through every single similarity because I could spoil one or both series but good god, it was insane to the point where there’s even a magical dark city in both where crazy stuff occurs. 🤦♀️ Vessels? Ohh you mean Ter’angreal.
But what Robert Jordan excelled at, characters, Islington just… doesn’t. These characters are very flat. I didn’t really see much character development in this entire 600 page book and they felt like poorly written YA characters. And I like YA books. But one can only “let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding” so many times. The only character that had a tiny bit of development was Caeden and that’s because he had lost his memory so he was a blank slate 😂
Overall, it was a little better than fine. I also felt like Islington thought of everything and threw it alllllll in the book. He wasn’t focusing well. And while some things were really cool, other things just made me cringe.
Also, almost all the adults in this book sucked? 🤪 Good for an adult book huh?
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Unfortunately a let down after reading The Will of The Many by the same author. It suffers from trying to cram too much into one novel. It simultaneously rushes through things and tries to tackle several novels' worth of plot points at the same time. Important scenes happen off page, only to be summarized by one of the main characters after the fact so we, the readers, can get the gist. A lot of tell, don't show. Some interesting ideas and I'm hopeful that book 2 and 3 improves, but so far I'm not impressed, sadly.
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
slow-paced
I have mixed feelings about this book. The story itself was good, with some interesting twists and turns, but the writing felt a bit underwhelming.
The style, content, and character complexity felt like the mid side of YA writing. The characters themselves came across as a bit flat.
There were also a lot of places and people to keep track of, which made things confusing—especially without a map or clear contextual cues. I listened to the audiobook version, so that might have contributed to the confusion. Still, I usually don’t have trouble following characters and organizations but this time I felt like I needed a glossary.
Also one trope that really grinds my gears kept popping up- the classic “There’s no time to explain!” Yes, there absolutely is time to explain-literally every single time there was time to explain!!! Ugh! Just thinking about it irks me.
Overall, the plot was solid and story interesting, but the execution was uneven. The characters needed more depth, and the writing could have been more immersive.
The style, content, and character complexity felt like the mid side of YA writing. The characters themselves came across as a bit flat.
There were also a lot of places and people to keep track of, which made things confusing—especially without a map or clear contextual cues. I listened to the audiobook version, so that might have contributed to the confusion. Still, I usually don’t have trouble following characters and organizations but this time I felt like I needed a glossary.
Also one trope that really grinds my gears kept popping up- the classic “There’s no time to explain!” Yes, there absolutely is time to explain-literally every single time there was time to explain!!! Ugh! Just thinking about it irks me.
Overall, the plot was solid and story interesting, but the execution was uneven. The characters needed more depth, and the writing could have been more immersive.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
liked the guessing games of wtf was going on w davian, very silly very whimsy. heard second and third are better so hopefully those don’t have sections that feel like it’s stuffing lore and minor important details down your throat. will say, as this is my second time reading islington, the romance subplots don’t make sense w pairings and it’s apparent it’s written by a man <3
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated