Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
More reviews at Rondo of a Possible World: YA Book Reviews
Hades wasn't that bad of a book but some names and some characters just pushed me over the edge.
Bethany is an angel that can exhibit human characteristics. She oogles over her boyfriend Xavier Woods to the point where she can basically take over his shadow. The story begins when Beth is kidnapped by and taken on a motorcycle ride to Hell and is trapped with noway out but to rely on her siblings and human love.
Okay, Bethany just pisses me off completely. She is basically on par with Bella Swan. This book just completely overlaps with Twilight in the "annoying heroine" characteristic and the "THE BOYFRIEND IS THE AIR I BREATHE WITHOUT HIM I CAN'T LIVE" reformation. It's just horrible and Adornetto milks Beth for everything she's worth.
And for the record, I never took this book seriously. For one, calling the mighty Lucifer himself "Bid Daddy" it just irked me the whole way through. How am I suppose to take Hell seriously if they call their demon overlord Bid Daddy? I JUST CAN'T! That's like putting Mike Myers in the Passion of the Christ, YOU CAN'T DO IT, IT DOESN'T WORK.
And basically every character has the personality of cardboard. You have the stupid best friend who gets all the guys because of her looks. The doting boyfriend who is oblivious for the most part and too corny for my standards. The siblings Gabe and Ivy were the only two characters that I could really stomach in this book. Though they weren't the best put together characters *due to the lack of "human emotions because they're angels"* they still make the cardboard cutout character list.
Twilight fans may consume this book with their love of shitty put together characters and overpowering paranormal love story, but I must warn the common public... It's stupid beyond belief. The whole "Big Daddy" thing just really pisses me off for the most part. If you don't mind losing some brain cells, be my guest, read this book. Other wise, it's not worth your time. I just lost hours that I will never be able to get back :/
Hades wasn't that bad of a book but some names and some characters just pushed me over the edge.
Bethany is an angel that can exhibit human characteristics. She oogles over her boyfriend Xavier Woods to the point where she can basically take over his shadow. The story begins when Beth is kidnapped by and taken on a motorcycle ride to Hell and is trapped with noway out but to rely on her siblings and human love.
Okay, Bethany just pisses me off completely. She is basically on par with Bella Swan. This book just completely overlaps with Twilight in the "annoying heroine" characteristic and the "THE BOYFRIEND IS THE AIR I BREATHE WITHOUT HIM I CAN'T LIVE" reformation. It's just horrible and Adornetto milks Beth for everything she's worth.
And for the record, I never took this book seriously. For one, calling the mighty Lucifer himself "Bid Daddy" it just irked me the whole way through. How am I suppose to take Hell seriously if they call their demon overlord Bid Daddy? I JUST CAN'T! That's like putting Mike Myers in the Passion of the Christ, YOU CAN'T DO IT, IT DOESN'T WORK.
And basically every character has the personality of cardboard. You have the stupid best friend who gets all the guys because of her looks. The doting boyfriend who is oblivious for the most part and too corny for my standards. The siblings Gabe and Ivy were the only two characters that I could really stomach in this book. Though they weren't the best put together characters *due to the lack of "human emotions because they're angels"* they still make the cardboard cutout character list.
Twilight fans may consume this book with their love of shitty put together characters and overpowering paranormal love story, but I must warn the common public... It's stupid beyond belief. The whole "Big Daddy" thing just really pisses me off for the most part. If you don't mind losing some brain cells, be my guest, read this book. Other wise, it's not worth your time. I just lost hours that I will never be able to get back :/
Captivating! I loved this installment. I actually got far more caught up in this book than i did with the first in the series. It is writing like this that keeps me reading YA fiction even though i am nowhere near being a YA anymore myself. I couldnt decide whether i hated Jake or liked him - sometimes it seemed as if he really loved her and perhaps was regretting his fall from heaven (he appeared to look upon her wings with awe like perhaps he was missing his). I was hoping he would redeem himself somehow. I love Xavier and Gabriel. I wasn't too keen on Molly's involvement - why just Molly when there were other friends involved in the seance that started it all too? Found it very hard to put this book down and am now itching to find the next book in the series.
Wow. I thought it was pretty well written. I liked it more towards the end. I loved the scene in the car and the concept of their "White Place" and how she could communicate with Xavier. The end was pretty good and I loved how the author found a way to tell the second part of the story and not changer points of view. I do wish there had been a little bit more focus on the romance but overall very good. But warning...the book ends in a CLIFFHANGER!!! So have fun :).
*Major pet peeve with this book that I need to point out right now: Alex ditched the Aussie setting for America? How very uncool of you Alex, how very uncool. The Rugby players are now footballers? The School Captain is now the 'Class President' (which sounds so much less awesome then school cap, can I just say)? How smooth. Seriously?!? Who does that? Who changes their setting in the sequel and just pretends it was like that the whole time? Will the next one be set in the UK just because a lot of English people bought the book? Let us see my friends, let us see.*
ANYWAY...Hades is a huge improvement on the first book--which I didn't even finish. The first book was sunny and naieve whilst the second was darker and exciting (compared to the first, that is). The boring setting of Venus Cove (is there such thing as a Mary Sue SETTING? Because if there is, this would be one. Omg. I'm going to coin that term.) was replaced with the underworld which was a more interesting part of the story then any of the characters.
All of the characters were really hollow and one dimensional, I didn't feel like any of them progressed with the story. In the same way, I didn't feel like the story and conflict ever offered anything more then hollow threats. The main conflict was that Beth might've had to stay in the much more exciting and interesting underworld, Hades (Dear author that went to my friends' school and lived down the road from me: please check up on your Greek mythology. I know they teach it at MacRobb and Korowa, so don't give me that look). The other conflict was that if she stayed in 'Hades' she'd have to stay with Jake...Jake, the most interesting (if not cliched) character in the whole book. I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat whilst reading this.
Also, I felt a large amount of bible pushing. I get that the whole story was about religion and keeping faith but often the pushing of virtues hindered the plot and character development. Especially at the very end with Jake and Beth's deal; That could've been so much more exciting if not for the Christian values. Not to mention the cliched timing of the angels arriving.
That's the other thing. I don't geel like the main youthful characters, Beth and Xavier, ever actually contributed to the resolution of the conflict. I don't know if this was nother bout of bible-value pushing but every time something happened plot-wise it seemed like the adults had made it happen. This caused both Beht and Xavier to become danzels in ditress who just wandered around heart sick. They never used their skills to try and save Beth and they relied, activley, on the older angels to do something (although Xavier was all talk ALL THE TIME which got annoying.)
Another thing that annoyed me was that Xavier happily ditched all future plans for Beth, despite knowing her for less then a year and being dedicated to school for his whole life. At least Beth was objected to it.
The plot was really predictable and lacking in some places but the rich setting of Hades and the dark personalities attempted to make up for it. This book was a huge improvement on the first but still needed richer characters who weren't so love sick. I was kind of sad that Jake died because he was the most diverse, deep character (which, to be honest, isn't saying much). I hope my fellow Map 64 Melbournian Alex manages to pull out another 3 dimensional character like Jake or give Xavier a few more dimensions to explore. I really don't think there's any way to save Beth at this point (like, jeez, just the NAME is a Mary Sue name!!)
Lastly, for the next book I hope the plot is a little more menacing and more 'win-or-die' although, if it is the apocolypse, like it sets itself up to be, I'm sure it'll be put out a big conflict that trumps the other two.
Other things that kind of sucked
1. Apparently girls can't do anything for themselves
2. Co DEPENDENCY JIOBUNSINVRUIPEVHREIOVJRE
3. Just Beth and Xavier together in general
4. The 'sex is wrong' message
5. The "slut shaming"
I didn't HATE this like most people did but I can see that it's extremely flawed and not good literature on any level. It was just a quick book for me that I read whilst I was going up to the mountains to Ski, and I just tried not to look into it so deeply.
Plot Rating: 6.5/10
Character Rating: 6/10
Style of Writing: 6/10
First 1/3: 5/10
Second 1/3: 7/10
Third 1/3: 7.5/10
MC Rating: 5.5/10
Scenery Rating: 8/10
Concept Rating: 6/10
Emotional Rating: 7/10
Overall Rating: 64.5/100o
ANYWAY...Hades is a huge improvement on the first book--which I didn't even finish. The first book was sunny and naieve whilst the second was darker and exciting (compared to the first, that is). The boring setting of Venus Cove (is there such thing as a Mary Sue SETTING? Because if there is, this would be one. Omg. I'm going to coin that term.) was replaced with the underworld which was a more interesting part of the story then any of the characters.
All of the characters were really hollow and one dimensional, I didn't feel like any of them progressed with the story. In the same way, I didn't feel like the story and conflict ever offered anything more then hollow threats. The main conflict was that Beth might've had to stay in the much more exciting and interesting underworld, Hades (Dear author that went to my friends' school and lived down the road from me: please check up on your Greek mythology. I know they teach it at MacRobb and Korowa, so don't give me that look). The other conflict was that if she stayed in 'Hades' she'd have to stay with Jake...Jake, the most interesting (if not cliched) character in the whole book. I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat whilst reading this.
Also, I felt a large amount of bible pushing. I get that the whole story was about religion and keeping faith but often the pushing of virtues hindered the plot and character development. Especially at the very end with Jake and Beth's deal; That could've been so much more exciting if not for the Christian values. Not to mention the cliched timing of the angels arriving.
That's the other thing. I don't geel like the main youthful characters, Beth and Xavier, ever actually contributed to the resolution of the conflict. I don't know if this was nother bout of bible-value pushing but every time something happened plot-wise it seemed like the adults had made it happen. This caused both Beht and Xavier to become danzels in ditress who just wandered around heart sick. They never used their skills to try and save Beth and they relied, activley, on the older angels to do something (although Xavier was all talk ALL THE TIME which got annoying.)
Another thing that annoyed me was that Xavier happily ditched all future plans for Beth, despite knowing her for less then a year and being dedicated to school for his whole life. At least Beth was objected to it.
The plot was really predictable and lacking in some places but the rich setting of Hades and the dark personalities attempted to make up for it. This book was a huge improvement on the first but still needed richer characters who weren't so love sick. I was kind of sad that Jake died because he was the most diverse, deep character (which, to be honest, isn't saying much). I hope my fellow Map 64 Melbournian Alex manages to pull out another 3 dimensional character like Jake or give Xavier a few more dimensions to explore. I really don't think there's any way to save Beth at this point (like, jeez, just the NAME is a Mary Sue name!!)
Lastly, for the next book I hope the plot is a little more menacing and more 'win-or-die' although, if it is the apocolypse, like it sets itself up to be, I'm sure it'll be put out a big conflict that trumps the other two.
Other things that kind of sucked
1. Apparently girls can't do anything for themselves
2. Co DEPENDENCY JIOBUNSINVRUIPEVHREIOVJRE
3. Just Beth and Xavier together in general
4. The 'sex is wrong' message
5. The "slut shaming"
I didn't HATE this like most people did but I can see that it's extremely flawed and not good literature on any level. It was just a quick book for me that I read whilst I was going up to the mountains to Ski, and I just tried not to look into it so deeply.
Plot Rating: 6.5/10
Character Rating: 6/10
Style of Writing: 6/10
First 1/3: 5/10
Second 1/3: 7/10
Third 1/3: 7.5/10
MC Rating: 5.5/10
Scenery Rating: 8/10
Concept Rating: 6/10
Emotional Rating: 7/10
Overall Rating: 64.5/100o
OMGOSH THE EPILOGUE!! And whoa way to make a perfect moment a cliffhanger... WOAH is all I can say.
I would have given it 4 stars but the epilogue kind of blew me away
I would have given it 4 stars but the epilogue kind of blew me away
i dont know what it is with books lately but a lot are like this series. first book was so good and youre so excited for tye second one and then its not even good. i couldnt finish this.
Read the full review at Working for the Mandroid
Hades picks up a few months after Halo ends with Bethany and Xavier all flowers and rainbows again. Then comes Jake, masked as someone else, who tricks Bethany onto a motorcycle during one of her many fits of stupidity, and takes her to hell to reign as his queen. Now if you read my review of Halo, you know that I liked Jake in the first book. He was stereotypical, but at least he was fun in a sea of blah. In this book, however, he becomes almost as useless and stupid as Bethany. I mean, he kidnaps an angel, takes her to hell, and then expects her to fall madly in love with him and stay with him forever and ever. You’re kidding me, right?
The author uses a nice little storytelling device where Bethany can transport her consciousness to the outside world and see what her siblings Gabriel and Ivy are doing to rescue her. About a third of the book is told this way, meaning at least a third of the book consists of our narrator doing absolutely nothing and being useless. When she does do something, she ends up doing something stupid that convinces her not to do anything else for another hundred pages.
Though the part that gnaws on my brain the most is the description of hell. Apparently in Jake’s realm, it consists of night clubs where people are forced to dance forever in their afterlife. There are limos and motorcycles that zoom around in underground tunnels. Bethany is sent to live in the penthouse of a luxury hotel. Yes, some poor suckers are getting tortured through ritual mutilation, but we only dwell on that for a page or two. Then it’s back to the hotel with the gourmet food and executive conference rooms. And the devil wears cowboy boots. Um… what?
This book has all the problems of the first with the addition of being far more boring due to lack of character development since we’re familiar with the players already. The new secondary characters are the most interesting ones in the book and they hardly make a dent in page count. The religious dogma is even heavier handed and more repetitious that it starts sounding like an adult in a Charlie Brown cartoon. This volume also starts beating you with the “no sex before marriage” moral and once Adornetto starts, she rarely stops.
Hades picks up a few months after Halo ends with Bethany and Xavier all flowers and rainbows again. Then comes Jake, masked as someone else, who tricks Bethany onto a motorcycle during one of her many fits of stupidity, and takes her to hell to reign as his queen. Now if you read my review of Halo, you know that I liked Jake in the first book. He was stereotypical, but at least he was fun in a sea of blah. In this book, however, he becomes almost as useless and stupid as Bethany. I mean, he kidnaps an angel, takes her to hell, and then expects her to fall madly in love with him and stay with him forever and ever. You’re kidding me, right?
The author uses a nice little storytelling device where Bethany can transport her consciousness to the outside world and see what her siblings Gabriel and Ivy are doing to rescue her. About a third of the book is told this way, meaning at least a third of the book consists of our narrator doing absolutely nothing and being useless. When she does do something, she ends up doing something stupid that convinces her not to do anything else for another hundred pages.
Though the part that gnaws on my brain the most is the description of hell. Apparently in Jake’s realm, it consists of night clubs where people are forced to dance forever in their afterlife. There are limos and motorcycles that zoom around in underground tunnels. Bethany is sent to live in the penthouse of a luxury hotel. Yes, some poor suckers are getting tortured through ritual mutilation, but we only dwell on that for a page or two. Then it’s back to the hotel with the gourmet food and executive conference rooms. And the devil wears cowboy boots. Um… what?
This book has all the problems of the first with the addition of being far more boring due to lack of character development since we’re familiar with the players already. The new secondary characters are the most interesting ones in the book and they hardly make a dent in page count. The religious dogma is even heavier handed and more repetitious that it starts sounding like an adult in a Charlie Brown cartoon. This volume also starts beating you with the “no sex before marriage” moral and once Adornetto starts, she rarely stops.
3.3/5 ⭐️
The only reason that I’m giving this book three stars is simply because I adore the “ drama “ between Xavier and Molly, and because of Jake.
The story change a little bit, but not enough for me to give four stars. We see last romance but still love between the main characters, I like that we get to see more of some other angel’s.
I maybe be crazy, but I adore Jake, one of the most interesting characters on this book, to be honest.
But if Lucifer can be on this book, why couldn’t God ? But well, I’ll have to live with it.
The only reason that I’m giving this book three stars is simply because I adore the “ drama “ between Xavier and Molly, and because of Jake.
The story change a little bit, but not enough for me to give four stars. We see last romance but still love between the main characters, I like that we get to see more of some other angel’s.
I maybe be crazy, but I adore Jake, one of the most interesting characters on this book, to be honest.
But if Lucifer can be on this book, why couldn’t God ? But well, I’ll have to live with it.