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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
I find her books to be so immersive. I think they're best suited for reading by the fire or candlelight. I read this one a lot faster than Spinning Silver. There were some moments that lagged a little for me but overall I found the word building fantastic.
Some favorite quotes:
"And I wasn't old enough to be wise, so I loved her more, not less, because I knew she would be taken from me soon." (p. 5)
" 'But none of that matters at all.' His head raised to stare balefully at me, but I said, incoherent yet convinced, 'It's just - a way to go. There isn't only one way to go.' I waved at his notes. 'You're trying to find a road where there isn't one. It's like -it's like gleaning in the woods,' I said abruptly. 'You have to pick your way through the thickets and the trees, and it's different every time.' " (p. 87-88) I appreciated that she followed her intuition so well and how difficult it was for Sarkan to adapt to this way of working. It really resonates because I feel that I have been trying to find a path where there isn't one, but not trusting myself to make my own way.
" 'It was all right when I did it,' I said. 'but when you did it, it was wrong. As though - you were following a trail, but a tree had fallen down in the meantime, or some hedge grew up, and you insisted on continuing on anyway, instead of going around it- '(...) 'It comes, I suppose,' I said thoughtfully, speaking to the air, 'of spending too much time alone indoors, and forgetting that living things don't always stay where you put them.' " (p. 93) Unfortunately living in urban industrial places, even going outside may not remind us of this, getting to wild natural places is the remedy.
"The moon was still above, clear white light coming through the bare branches. I followed my own faint breath and imagined myself a small mouse hiding from owls: a small mouse hunting for a piece of corn, a hidden nut. When I went gleaning in the forest, I often daydreamed as I walked: I lost myself in the cool shady green, in the songs of birds and frogs, in the running gurgle of a stream over rocks. I tried to lose myself the same way now, tried to be only another part of the forest, nothing worthy of attention." (p. 104) seems like a cool exercise to practice.
"For five horrible heartbeats I couldn't breathe at all, clawing at him and drowning in the open air" (p. 112) another way to tell time -hearbeats!
"If I could have remembered, at least some of the words would have been wrong: like hearing again a half-remembered favourite tale from childhood and finding it unsatisfying, or at least not as I'd remembered it. And that was how the Summoning made itself perfect, by living in that golden place of vague and loving memory." (p.137)
"I was grateful now for the long terrible months trying to find something, anything; I was grateful for all the failures, for every minute I had spent here in this tomb with the Wood laughing at me. It gave me the strength to keep the spell going." (p.144)
"The working made me feel-not better exactly, but cleaner, as though I were rinsing water over a wound." (p. 217)
"(...) truth didn't mean anything without someone to share it with; you could shout truth into the air forever, and spend your life doing it, if someone didn't come and listen." (p. 316)
"I'd been so long inside the castle, people and stone walls everywhere. The riverbank almost didn't seem real." (p. 328)
"'They learned the wrong things,' Linaya said again. 'But if we stay, if we fight, we will remember the wrong things. And then we would become-' She stopped. 'We decided that we would rather not remember', she said (...) 'Your sorrow and fear will poison my roots.' (p.414)
"But she hadn't been able to take root. She'd remembered the wrong things, and forgotten too much . She'd remembered how to kill and how to hate, and she'd forggotten how to grow." (p.419)
"I put my hand on her, felt hate and agony like a strangler vine tangled deep through her." (p.420)
"We were all happy, all together, and I could recognize the song of the river running through the ground beneath our feet, the song we really danced to." (p. 434)
Short Story: The Lake Witch: I found this to be a powerful story of the burden of keeping secrets and how when we let things fester it becomes so much harder to rid ourselves of them.
"'Nonsense, blaming Vodnik, like he has nothing better to do. Her voice is in there all right; it's just stopped up with a big nasty lump of a secret. It's got to come out, that's all.'"
"(...) the secret that was dragging on her like her skirts, heavy with water and entangling her. She could only stay in the sunlit world if she vomited it up and let it come out, or ele it would pull her down, and she didn't want to go down."
Some favorite quotes:
"And I wasn't old enough to be wise, so I loved her more, not less, because I knew she would be taken from me soon." (p. 5)
" 'But none of that matters at all.' His head raised to stare balefully at me, but I said, incoherent yet convinced, 'It's just - a way to go. There isn't only one way to go.' I waved at his notes. 'You're trying to find a road where there isn't one. It's like -it's like gleaning in the woods,' I said abruptly. 'You have to pick your way through the thickets and the trees, and it's different every time.' " (p. 87-88) I appreciated that she followed her intuition so well and how difficult it was for Sarkan to adapt to this way of working. It really resonates because I feel that I have been trying to find a path where there isn't one, but not trusting myself to make my own way.
" 'It was all right when I did it,' I said. 'but when you did it, it was wrong. As though - you were following a trail, but a tree had fallen down in the meantime, or some hedge grew up, and you insisted on continuing on anyway, instead of going around it- '(...) 'It comes, I suppose,' I said thoughtfully, speaking to the air, 'of spending too much time alone indoors, and forgetting that living things don't always stay where you put them.' " (p. 93) Unfortunately living in urban industrial places, even going outside may not remind us of this, getting to wild natural places is the remedy.
"The moon was still above, clear white light coming through the bare branches. I followed my own faint breath and imagined myself a small mouse hiding from owls: a small mouse hunting for a piece of corn, a hidden nut. When I went gleaning in the forest, I often daydreamed as I walked: I lost myself in the cool shady green, in the songs of birds and frogs, in the running gurgle of a stream over rocks. I tried to lose myself the same way now, tried to be only another part of the forest, nothing worthy of attention." (p. 104) seems like a cool exercise to practice.
"For five horrible heartbeats I couldn't breathe at all, clawing at him and drowning in the open air" (p. 112) another way to tell time -hearbeats!
"If I could have remembered, at least some of the words would have been wrong: like hearing again a half-remembered favourite tale from childhood and finding it unsatisfying, or at least not as I'd remembered it. And that was how the Summoning made itself perfect, by living in that golden place of vague and loving memory." (p.137)
"I was grateful now for the long terrible months trying to find something, anything; I was grateful for all the failures, for every minute I had spent here in this tomb with the Wood laughing at me. It gave me the strength to keep the spell going." (p.144)
"The working made me feel-not better exactly, but cleaner, as though I were rinsing water over a wound." (p. 217)
"(...) truth didn't mean anything without someone to share it with; you could shout truth into the air forever, and spend your life doing it, if someone didn't come and listen." (p. 316)
"I'd been so long inside the castle, people and stone walls everywhere. The riverbank almost didn't seem real." (p. 328)
"'They learned the wrong things,' Linaya said again. 'But if we stay, if we fight, we will remember the wrong things. And then we would become-' She stopped. 'We decided that we would rather not remember', she said (...) 'Your sorrow and fear will poison my roots.' (p.414)
"But she hadn't been able to take root. She'd remembered the wrong things, and forgotten too much . She'd remembered how to kill and how to hate, and she'd forggotten how to grow." (p.419)
"I put my hand on her, felt hate and agony like a strangler vine tangled deep through her." (p.420)
"We were all happy, all together, and I could recognize the song of the river running through the ground beneath our feet, the song we really danced to." (p. 434)
Short Story: The Lake Witch: I found this to be a powerful story of the burden of keeping secrets and how when we let things fester it becomes so much harder to rid ourselves of them.
"'Nonsense, blaming Vodnik, like he has nothing better to do. Her voice is in there all right; it's just stopped up with a big nasty lump of a secret. It's got to come out, that's all.'"
"(...) the secret that was dragging on her like her skirts, heavy with water and entangling her. She could only stay in the sunlit world if she vomited it up and let it come out, or ele it would pull her down, and she didn't want to go down."
Just could not get into this book. Personally found it incredibly boring with little explanation to what’s going on in the story. Maybe I’ll pick it up some other time, but I doubt it.
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
One of the most boring books I’ve ever read. 90% of the book was writing like: “we did this. And then, I did this. And then I did this but this time he responded with another frown. And then, I did this.” HORRIBLE WRITING!!!
The romance? Nonexistent. And The Dragon? Annoying and bitchy.
I tried to read this book when it first came out and DNF’d it at 20%, I should have just left it alone. I was determined to get through it after I saw how many people DNF’d it in the review section though so I could give a solid rating. Collectively I think we can (those who DNF’d) give this a one star rating.
The romance? Nonexistent. And The Dragon? Annoying and bitchy.
I tried to read this book when it first came out and DNF’d it at 20%, I should have just left it alone. I was determined to get through it after I saw how many people DNF’d it in the review section though so I could give a solid rating. Collectively I think we can (those who DNF’d) give this a one star rating.
Strong women. Fairytales, horror. A little bit sexy. A very good read
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-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
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-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:
No
Spectacular
After reading Spinning Silver, this book was really disappointing. The story was really slow in many parts, and I found the main character really irritating. There was a vast amount of repetition in how she was described (spent, exhausted etc.), so much so I can't believe it got past an editor. This is a real shame as the idea of the story is great, as was the ending.