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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It was okay. I won’t pretend like I didn’t skip the parts where they ramble on about making food for half a page. I just didn’t care enough about Emilias cooking to actually want to read her process mixed with heavy flourishing of Italian. Most of the time she acted irrationally and in ways that had me shaking my head and staring off into space like “can you believe this”. Theres never any explanation about why she feels that things are off and she gives more descriptive thought process to describing Wraths clothes than piecing things together for the audience. If she is putting things together then we should probably also be able to but instead we are left completely in the dark with the authors weak attempt at trying to get us to feel Emilias “dread and fear”. I looked up the latin spell she used to summon him while I was reading and nothing came up that mentioned being bound in a betrothal, it mentioned something about the unending protection and the sun.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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:
Yes
Okay. I was able to make it 70 pages into this book before I couldn't continue for a very specific reason. First, I want to say that the story and overall premise was very intriguing and so far the main character, Emilia, hasn't rubbed me the wrong way or anything. However, the reason I cannot continue is due to the 1st person POV. I promise that I have read 1st person POV before and I actually enjoy it much more than the other most popular POV, 3rd person. Unfortunately, I feel that the word "I" is simply used too much. It's hard to explain because I'm sure this is true for almost all 1st person POV books but for some odd reason it is so prominent in my reading experience of this book. I understand this is a super petty reason to DNF an entire series and trust me I am upset cause the plot seems super interesting. But I thought I would add some quotes that have stuck out to me because I can't help it. (I also understand the irony about the fact that I have used the word "I" a considerable amount of times in this paragraph so far haha)
Ultimately what I am trying to say is it feels like every single sentence of this book starts with an "I" statement and then uses I throughout the sentence as well. Many paragraphs are structured like this:
"I understand... that I... and I decided..." "I am... so I can... and I will..."
Anyway, it was just super obvious and I couldn't get over it, no matter how petty the reason. If this is not a problem for you I hope the book is amazing! (Maybe I could listen to the audiobook and I wouldn't notice it as much, I don't know.)
These are excerpts from page 70 (where I stopped reading) to illustrate what I mean:
"...thought about what I wanted from the demon. I didn't want to offer it any opportunity to escape the circle, and I certainly didn't want it to harm me, so I decided on aevitas ligati in aeternus protego. Which roughly translated to 'Bound forever in eternal protection.'"
"For the final portion of the spell, I needed to prepare an exit. Apparently, demons were creatures of strict rules and had to adhere to them, so if I invited one to join me, I had to formally uninvite it and send it back to its realm. Good manners were advised, but I wasn't sure how well I could carry out on that part. I took a deep breath."
"I slowly set objects down in a circle. Bone. Fern. Candle. With varying lengths, they looked like rays of an occult sun. I lit the candles and walked around the perimeter, clutching a bird's skull to my chest, the final piece I need to make it complete. I hesitated."
"I stared down at the skull I held, wondering if this was really the path I should take. Maybe I should blow out the candles and..."
Another example is the structure of literally just half of page 64, where I really started to notice it and then only made it to page 70 (this may be a little confusing but I literally just want to show how each sentence in a singular page started with):
"... I was..., I pulled... I scanned... the longer I sat..., the more I accepted.... I'd try... I'd make... I'd ask... I had... I'd never... if I didn't... All I needed..."
Okay I'm done. I couldn't get past the writing and the not well done version of 1st person POV, good luck to anyone who tries! :)