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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
Wow I love a series that gets better with each book! This one was like 10x better than the first, and I really liked the first! I’m excited for the third!
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Damn. This book was wild. Following the characters on a doomed military mission was a lot more fun than I initially expected it would be. And THE TWISTS AND TURNS. All in all, a fantastic read, and I for one CANNOT WAIT to find out what happens in the third book
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ough.
My friends pushed me to keep reading, and now I've docked a star from the second installation of a trilogy thousands love. For some odd reason, I found my very deep niche in fiction at a very young age, and I'm just now starting to understand why I so rarely stray from it. This book– or perhaps the genre as a whole, I realize– is almost entirely comprised of the various elements I dislike in fiction, often ratcheting them up to eleven. I don't want to spend too much time dissecting this thing in detail, so I'll give each of them a bullet point or so:
• The plot. There virtually wasn't one, until the end, and by the time the payoff came, I had long since accepted that none of the characters were interesting enough for me to care what it contained. The driving force behind the story is violently telegraphed, and as a result I was largely bored. Perhaps this wouldn't have been as hard to accept, if it hadn't been for:
• The prose. Dear god. The plot is nothing compared to the way it's written. I want to copy this entire text into a piece of online software (which exists, for free, in many forms, with a high degree of user-friendliness and simplicity) that picks out repeated words and multi-word phrases, and suggests alternatives to diversify the writing. I do not think I've ever happened across a work of fiction so avoidably repetitive– and oh boy, so basic– in the bits of language it uses to get its point across. Over and over again, it feels like the author is actively going out of their way to avoid describing a character, situation, or object in a detailed or emotionally fulfilling way.
• The cringe. I don't care if this was intentional. I don't want it. There is just no reason to keep on doing that. I understand the purpose of fan service, but please, for the love of god, I am a proud queer person with zero aversion to sex in fiction, and I believe that there are only so many times you can mention fucking and penises over 400 (read: 800) pages of writing before it becomes clear that you're just straight-up obsessed with gay men and their genitals. Truthfully, these two guys (and their friends and enemies, too) start off as kinda-okay characters in the first book, but the more I read about them, and their thoughts, and desires, and connections, the more they started to feel like grotesque caricatures of themselves, incapable of inspiring genuine empathy. Romance can be lovely, but some folks just need to get a room.
Some people find a ton of joy in this book, and that is fantastic. I'm totally happy for them and respect them, and I'm adding an extra star because this was insanely fun to read alongside my buddies, and for better or worse, I'm probably going to read the third. I hope it's so, so much worse than the first two.
My friends pushed me to keep reading, and now I've docked a star from the second installation of a trilogy thousands love. For some odd reason, I found my very deep niche in fiction at a very young age, and I'm just now starting to understand why I so rarely stray from it. This book– or perhaps the genre as a whole, I realize– is almost entirely comprised of the various elements I dislike in fiction, often ratcheting them up to eleven. I don't want to spend too much time dissecting this thing in detail, so I'll give each of them a bullet point or so:
• The plot. There virtually wasn't one, until the end, and by the time the payoff came, I had long since accepted that none of the characters were interesting enough for me to care what it contained. The driving force behind the story is violently telegraphed, and as a result I was largely bored. Perhaps this wouldn't have been as hard to accept, if it hadn't been for:
• The prose. Dear god. The plot is nothing compared to the way it's written. I want to copy this entire text into a piece of online software (which exists, for free, in many forms, with a high degree of user-friendliness and simplicity) that picks out repeated words and multi-word phrases, and suggests alternatives to diversify the writing. I do not think I've ever happened across a work of fiction so avoidably repetitive– and oh boy, so basic– in the bits of language it uses to get its point across. Over and over again, it feels like the author is actively going out of their way to avoid describing a character, situation, or object in a detailed or emotionally fulfilling way.
• The cringe. I don't care if this was intentional. I don't want it. There is just no reason to keep on doing that. I understand the purpose of fan service, but please, for the love of god, I am a proud queer person with zero aversion to sex in fiction, and I believe that there are only so many times you can mention fucking and penises over 400 (read: 800) pages of writing before it becomes clear that you're just straight-up obsessed with gay men and their genitals. Truthfully, these two guys (and their friends and enemies, too) start off as kinda-okay characters in the first book, but the more I read about them, and their thoughts, and desires, and connections, the more they started to feel like grotesque caricatures of themselves, incapable of inspiring genuine empathy. Romance can be lovely, but some folks just need to get a room.
Some people find a ton of joy in this book, and that is fantastic. I'm totally happy for them and respect them, and I'm adding an extra star because this was insanely fun to read alongside my buddies, and for better or worse, I'm probably going to read the third. I hope it's so, so much worse than the first two.
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes