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emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Was she so afraid to disappoint her parents and the King, that she was willing to put their happiness before her own?”
This is my first Marissa Meyer book and I must say her writing is lovely. Her words kept me hooked from start to finish. I haven’t read Alice in Wonderland so all I know of it is from the 1951 Disney movie. It’s interesting how she played with existing characters and gave them their own history in her story.
Before picking up this book knew that things were not going to go well for Cath because of who the Queen of Hearts is in Alice in Wonderland. That said, it still broke my heart how things came to be. It makes me sad how much of a contrast there is between the Cath from the beginning to the Cath at the end.
The romance between Jest and Cath was so good, I love forbidden lovers. The way Jest really cares about her and puts her well-being first makes me want to bawl my eyes out. Jest can do no wrong in my eyes, he’s perfect.
It’s gonna take a while for me to forget about this book because it made me really sad. Please go read it<3333
This is my first Marissa Meyer book and I must say her writing is lovely. Her words kept me hooked from start to finish. I haven’t read Alice in Wonderland so all I know of it is from the 1951 Disney movie. It’s interesting how she played with existing characters and gave them their own history in her story.
Before picking up this book knew that things were not going to go well for Cath because of who the Queen of Hearts is in Alice in Wonderland. That said, it still broke my heart how things came to be. It makes me sad how much of a contrast there is between the Cath from the beginning to the Cath at the end.
The romance between Jest and Cath was so good, I love forbidden lovers. The way Jest really cares about her and puts her well-being first makes me want to bawl my eyes out. Jest can do no wrong in my eyes, he’s perfect.
It’s gonna take a while for me to forget about this book because it made me really sad. Please go read it<3333
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the pain... although I felt the scene where Jest died was a little anticlimactic, edit: I can't stop thinking about this book, and now I think it being anticlimactic was the better choice (apart from realizing that Jest was definitely injured enough to not move in that scene and despite that he jumped in immediately to save Cath TT TT) bc if that scene was as sad as I was imagining, then I wouldn't be able to pay attention to the climax of the book, aka her becoming the queen of hearts we are familiar with. this is a story about the queen of hearts and not Cath and Jest's lovestory, afterall.
so the entire execution as a backstory of the queen of hearts was brilliant! I felt I was in wonderland and actually learning the past of the queen of hearts. I loved being in the world despite feeling so suffocated by the people always saying the same things to Catherine, but that's also a sign of how well executed it was, down to each character. now if this was a different story set in wonderlandwith a happy ending between the mcs, I would've found a new comfort favorite. that just made this book all the more heartbreaking (heh) to me.
so the entire execution as a backstory of the queen of hearts was brilliant! I felt I was in wonderland and actually learning the past of the queen of hearts. I loved being in the world despite feeling so suffocated by the people always saying the same things to Catherine, but that's also a sign of how well executed it was, down to each character. now if this was a different story set in wonderland
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Most of this book made me either really shocked or really sad. Fuck Margaret, Peter, the King, and Catherine's parents. Also, justice for the Duke, Jest, and Mary Ann. I loved them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Blood
Minor: Suicide, War
adventurous
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Murder
Minor: Body shaming
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to read this book because I really enjoyed the Cinder Series and I enjoy how Marissa does her re-tellings. I struggled with the Gilded Series and the Renegades Series. But I enjoyed this standalone.
This book is based on the Queen of Hearts. Before she got the Queen of Hearts title, she was Catherine Pinkerton, and she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. She was one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favourite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. She is a talented baker and all she wants to do is open a bakery with her best friend. But according to her mother, having a goal like that is unthinkable for a young woman who could be the next queen. Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter an intense and secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness and monsters, it looks like fate has other plans.
This is one of the times where all I wanted to do throughout this whole book is hug Cath and smack the shit out of her parents, like multiple times. All she wanted to do was to have her own life and open her own bakery. Yet her parents wanted her to marry off the power and status in the country. I just love how badass she got and how he learned to stand up for herself during this book. I love that she wanted to fight for everyone but also learned that she can’t save anyone. The storyline was strong and that you lose the fact that she’s not the villain until towards the end, but at the beginning she’s just this doe-eyed girl who had dreams and wishes. Jest was adorable and wanted more of him and his ending made me bawl my eyes out.
I would have loved for this book to be a dual POV, I would have loved to have seen how the Jest felt. I would have loved some more romance as well; it was a very quick and painful relationship, and I would have loved to be a bit slower and more romance.
This book made me root for the villain for the first time and I would love more books where the villain is the face of it all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Blood
Minor: Suicide, War
adventurous
emotional
sad
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:
Complicated
It took me a little bit to get into the book, but once we really got to see Jest and Cath’s relationship develop, I was invested. It was hard to read (emotionally) because the ending is in a way already known, but that didn’t stop me from reading it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Classism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Similar to Cruella or Maleficent, it’s the unexpected backstory of a character. True to the book and Alice in Wonderland movie, there are many overlapping characters. Powerful love story. Twists, turns, whimsy, fun, tension, creepy. Well done, though I might prefer to rewrite some sections and outcomes myself.
Content Warnings
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
adventurous
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Body shaming
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Body shaming
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don’t even remember why I bought this book, but I think it was because of @maditales. First up I want to say that I normally don’t read fantasy or like fantasy set in another world, except for vampires, witches and werewolfs don’t count for me. This book was just disappointing. Cathrine, the main character, was just plain annoying and I understand that Meyer tried to do this “she’s just a normal girl” thing, but it kind of got repetitive. Her only personality trait is that she loves to bake, that her maid is her best friend and that she likes Jest. Her doing something she is not supposed to was like the whole premise of the book. Her being in love with Jest instead of the King and wanting to open a bakery. Even though she essentially does not know anything about having to work for a living and not a hobby, which honestly seems delusional. So I don’t think she even would have made it very far even if he wouldn’t have died.
OH, and his death and the entire ending was SO abrupt. Suddenly she slayed the jabberwock, Jest was dead and she a bitch. But wait, she actually already was one just now a bigger one. Now onto Jest, his character was flat. I wanted to like him but I got nearly nothing, CRUMBLES even. Was I, just like Cath, supposed to like a man without knowing anything about him? No.
But I have to say, her writing style seemed pretty. Like it totally reminded me of the original Disney Alice in wonderland. I truly could imagine every single thing she described in close detail and it was as if too were in this fairytale. I can only describe it like sparkles and glitter and „soldier, poet, king“ playing in the background. But sadly I think this beauty was lost on me.
All in all, Meyer had a great writing style which sadly was not able to cover the lack of spark the book needed, even though it was way too long.
Rated it 2.0 but changed to 1.75
OH, and his death and the entire ending was SO abrupt. Suddenly she slayed the jabberwock, Jest was dead and she a bitch. But wait, she actually already was one just now a bigger one.
But I have to say, her writing style seemed pretty. Like it totally reminded me of the original Disney Alice in wonderland. I truly could imagine every single thing she described in close detail and it was as if too were in this fairytale. I can only describe it like sparkles and glitter and „soldier, poet, king“ playing in the background. But sadly I think this beauty was lost on me.
All in all, Meyer had a great writing style which sadly was not able to cover the lack of spark the book needed, even though it was way too long.
Rated it 2.0 but changed to 1.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Body shaming, Murder
Minor: War