Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Basically read this because I read the first one, and again (as a lot of my ya and teen reads) I read it to see what it was like before my young daughter read it.
Had a hard time finishing it, I felt like the last half of the book I was almost willing it to end.
But as with most things, I made myself complete it.
Had a hard time finishing it, I felt like the last half of the book I was almost willing it to end.
But as with most things, I made myself complete it.
Ugh. 2.5 stars is more like it. I like James and I like Noala and I even like Sullivan and Paul, but there’s just so much pointlessness and Unfulfillment that it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. And Dee? What a dumb and useless character she became! Noala says it best: “I got tired of watching her boohoo-ness really fast.” YES. Author, why did you let Dee in to this book. She plays no role except being annoying. She kills someone? We have zero information about what goes on with her. She’s seeing Luke but it isn’t Luke? Again, we get NO backstory at all in the book and it is just annoying noise. And don’t go whining about #spoilers, because -NEWSFLASH- those aren’t spoilers. Because they literally have nothing to do with the novel and Dee is a purposeless character in this book.
Continuing on... all the fairy backstory that we do get is pretty lame as well. There’s some sort of intrigue and dramatic events but they just don’t serve much purpose except for the bleak hope of adding some excitement in to the book.
And the fact that there was another showdown on a stage just grated on my nerves. Like, ok, things in the book already aren’t great, but can we get a little variety?
And seriously - Dee’s aunt? She has less purpose in this book than in the last book. What. The. Heck. Why is she here? She was not even invited to this party.
2 stars because I read it through but it was painful. Two stars because the author actually made this second book. But I absolutely do not want to read a third in this series. It’s sad, really, since I absolutely loved book 1.
Continuing on... all the fairy backstory that we do get is pretty lame as well. There’s some sort of intrigue and dramatic events but they just don’t serve much purpose except for the bleak hope of adding some excitement in to the book.
And the fact that there was another showdown on a stage just grated on my nerves. Like, ok, things in the book already aren’t great, but can we get a little variety?
And seriously - Dee’s aunt? She has less purpose in this book than in the last book. What. The. Heck. Why is she here? She was not even invited to this party.
2 stars because I read it through but it was painful. Two stars because the author actually made this second book. But I absolutely do not want to read a third in this series. It’s sad, really, since I absolutely loved book 1.
Three words; addictive, magical, & wicked.
I've been eagerly awaiting this novel since the last pages of Lament. Eagerly awaiting to fulfill my craving of James, I mean! Ballad, although could be considered a sequel to Lament, is more of a companion novel. Let me just say that Ballad finally (finally!) satisfies that insatiable hunger for James, after that enticing, all to short, glimpse during Lament. And can I say, that I only love him more. His witty retorts, his one line smart ass comments, his idiotic t-shirts.... they only add to his charm.
Ballad is a completely different story than it's predecessor. And I don't mean that in a negative way, but it's apparent from page one, that James' story is deep. He is so much more than his humorous exterior, it's heartbreaking. The beautiful complexity of his character is unbelievable. I was in awe of that alone.
However, I cannot fail to mention the extremely talented Maggie Steifvater. I can't explain her writing. It's addictive, it almost has it's own melody, the chorus from a song that gets stuck in your head. It is absolutely beautiful, which is a completely simplistic depiction, yet there is no other word for it. It. Is. Beautiful! And the thing is, the writing for this series feels totally different than it does for Shiver. (Another one of Maggie's novels) And Shiver is beautifully written as well, but it's a different kind of beauty, am I the only one that feels this way? Maybe I'm crazy.
The story was fantastic. It alternates between James and Nuala. There are a few texts from Dee thrown in there (which I thought were crucial to the plot), but really she's sort of background music in this novel. It was fast paced, but never felt rushed. Twists and turns that I never saw coming. Entertaining as well as enjoyable.
And I'm just going to stop right there, because I could keep going, but I'm not one for a long review, and this is like the longest in my history. Needless to say, I love this series. And I loved Ballad even more. I knew there would be great things to come when I read Lament. I'm so very glad to see it a reality.
I've been eagerly awaiting this novel since the last pages of Lament. Eagerly awaiting to fulfill my craving of James, I mean! Ballad, although could be considered a sequel to Lament, is more of a companion novel. Let me just say that Ballad finally (finally!) satisfies that insatiable hunger for James, after that enticing, all to short, glimpse during Lament. And can I say, that I only love him more. His witty retorts, his one line smart ass comments, his idiotic t-shirts.... they only add to his charm.
Ballad is a completely different story than it's predecessor. And I don't mean that in a negative way, but it's apparent from page one, that James' story is deep. He is so much more than his humorous exterior, it's heartbreaking. The beautiful complexity of his character is unbelievable. I was in awe of that alone.
However, I cannot fail to mention the extremely talented Maggie Steifvater. I can't explain her writing. It's addictive, it almost has it's own melody, the chorus from a song that gets stuck in your head. It is absolutely beautiful, which is a completely simplistic depiction, yet there is no other word for it. It. Is. Beautiful! And the thing is, the writing for this series feels totally different than it does for Shiver. (Another one of Maggie's novels) And Shiver is beautifully written as well, but it's a different kind of beauty, am I the only one that feels this way? Maybe I'm crazy.
The story was fantastic. It alternates between James and Nuala. There are a few texts from Dee thrown in there (which I thought were crucial to the plot), but really she's sort of background music in this novel. It was fast paced, but never felt rushed. Twists and turns that I never saw coming. Entertaining as well as enjoyable.
And I'm just going to stop right there, because I could keep going, but I'm not one for a long review, and this is like the longest in my history. Needless to say, I love this series. And I loved Ballad even more. I knew there would be great things to come when I read Lament. I'm so very glad to see it a reality.
Of course, packing light for the honeymoon, book wise, was a secret plan to allow myself carte blanch to purchase ebooks. I'd had to return this title prior to the honeymoon, in a big, sad stack of unread library books, and was eager to get back into Deidre and James' story.
Read entirely in airports and on planes, which I am sure led to the awful case of motion sickness I had at the end of the flight. Totally worth it, even if I preferred Lament.
Read entirely in airports and on planes, which I am sure led to the awful case of motion sickness I had at the end of the flight. Totally worth it, even if I preferred Lament.
Settling on a 3 again because that ending was REALLY good and had me floored.
I know there's a lot of people who swear by these two books but they're just okay. Once again, I thought a lot of the beginning and middle of the book dragged significantly, and Maggie's method of keeping the wool over our eyes in a lot of places hindered the story more than it helped (why did I have to read all of Dee's stupid unsent text messages). Though I will admit, I am now slightly more on Team James than I was when I read Lament (let's not forget how I was actively rooting for Dee to let him die in the ending and then Maggie made me do the same thing here but reversed which is actually pretty cool). However, I cannot and will not get behind his pretentious asshole-ness. I will happily choose Soft James any day of the week.
Dee is...so stupid. So stupid. Genuinely hated her and kinda wished she just disappeared off the face of the earth. If we ever get book three (I doubt we will, I think Maggie's moved on at this point from Requiem but who knows maybe she'll surprise us), it's gonna take a miracle worker to make me like her again.
The enemies-to-friends-to-lovers slowburn romance between Nuala and James is peak. The sexual tension was drawn out just long enough to make me want to keep reading and I think both Nuala and James had significant growth over the course of the story. I liked Nuala as the story went on, and I'm glad that we finally got a happy ending in one of these books after the bittersweet ending in Lament.
Shout out to Cernunnos. He wins the Best Dad of the Year award for all time.
I know there's a lot of people who swear by these two books but they're just okay. Once again, I thought a lot of the beginning and middle of the book dragged significantly, and Maggie's method of keeping the wool over our eyes in a lot of places hindered the story more than it helped (why did I have to read all of Dee's stupid unsent text messages). Though I will admit, I am now slightly more on Team James than I was when I read Lament (let's not forget how I was actively rooting for Dee to let him die in the ending and then Maggie made me do the same thing here but reversed which is actually pretty cool). However, I cannot and will not get behind his pretentious asshole-ness. I will happily choose Soft James any day of the week.
Dee is...so stupid. So stupid. Genuinely hated her and kinda wished she just disappeared off the face of the earth. If we ever get book three (I doubt we will, I think Maggie's moved on at this point from Requiem but who knows maybe she'll surprise us), it's gonna take a miracle worker to make me like her again.
The enemies-to-friends-to-lovers slowburn romance between Nuala and James is peak. The sexual tension was drawn out just long enough to make me want to keep reading and I think both Nuala and James had significant growth over the course of the story. I liked Nuala as the story went on, and I'm glad that we finally got a happy ending in one of these books after the bittersweet ending in Lament.
Shout out to Cernunnos. He wins the Best Dad of the Year award for all time.
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read Lament, this review may contain spoilers.
When I first started Ballad, I admit to being a bit skeptical. I really loved Lament and I wasn't sure that this one could be anywhere near as good as the first. And in the beginning, I didn't think it was. Then, of course, I really got into the story and it just took off. It got way better after that.
Where Lament was the story of Dee and Luke, Ballad is the story of James and Nuala. It was really more of a companion novel to Lament than it was a sequel. It's not necessary that you read Lament before you read this one to know what is going on but it really did help. I think that if you didn't read Lament you would question a couple things but you would be okay. =]
James was a really great character. He was egotistical, cocky, a bit crazy, and all together totally lovable. He was so cute, I just fell for him. He was just as cute in Lament but you didn't really get to know him much in Lament whereas this whole book was about him. Well, I guess it's about Nuala too. At first, I didn't like Nuala. She seemed really cruel and kind of heartless but she began to grow on me and she really was the perfect match for James.
The one thing that I really hated about this book was Dee. In Lament, she was a strong heroine who could fend for herself. In Ballad, she seemed to have gone off the deep end after losing Luke. I didn't like what she turned into but as the book went on I realized that it all had to do with the storyline. Which, by the way, was even more pulse-pounding than Lament. I never knew what was going to happen next and the ending was a total shocker!
Overall, Ballad blew me away just as much as Lament. So far I haven't read a single book by Maggie Stiefvater that I haven't completely enjoyed and I hope that continues with her future works. Well, actually with this track record, I highly doubt she could disappoint me. Also, I am hoping that there might be a third book after Ballad. This one introduced some characters that I would love to know more about and I felt that the ending could be added to. It didn't feel closed to me. Hopefully, it didn't feel closed to Maggie and she will want to continue with the series. I think that if you read this one, you will know exactly what I mean. So go read it! I really want to know if you guys agree with me. =]
When I first started Ballad, I admit to being a bit skeptical. I really loved Lament and I wasn't sure that this one could be anywhere near as good as the first. And in the beginning, I didn't think it was. Then, of course, I really got into the story and it just took off. It got way better after that.
Where Lament was the story of Dee and Luke, Ballad is the story of James and Nuala. It was really more of a companion novel to Lament than it was a sequel. It's not necessary that you read Lament before you read this one to know what is going on but it really did help. I think that if you didn't read Lament you would question a couple things but you would be okay. =]
James was a really great character. He was egotistical, cocky, a bit crazy, and all together totally lovable. He was so cute, I just fell for him. He was just as cute in Lament but you didn't really get to know him much in Lament whereas this whole book was about him. Well, I guess it's about Nuala too. At first, I didn't like Nuala. She seemed really cruel and kind of heartless but she began to grow on me and she really was the perfect match for James.
The one thing that I really hated about this book was Dee. In Lament, she was a strong heroine who could fend for herself. In Ballad, she seemed to have gone off the deep end after losing Luke. I didn't like what she turned into but as the book went on I realized that it all had to do with the storyline. Which, by the way, was even more pulse-pounding than Lament. I never knew what was going to happen next and the ending was a total shocker!
Overall, Ballad blew me away just as much as Lament. So far I haven't read a single book by Maggie Stiefvater that I haven't completely enjoyed and I hope that continues with her future works. Well, actually with this track record, I highly doubt she could disappoint me. Also, I am hoping that there might be a third book after Ballad. This one introduced some characters that I would love to know more about and I felt that the ending could be added to. It didn't feel closed to me. Hopefully, it didn't feel closed to Maggie and she will want to continue with the series. I think that if you read this one, you will know exactly what I mean. So go read it! I really want to know if you guys agree with me. =]
As all of Stiefvater's work, it is fantastic. An excellent follow up to Lament, I was so happy that it focused more on two other characters aside from Deirdre and Luke, moving them into an excellent, chilling sub-plot. I also really loved the representation of Cernunnos (a favourite Celtic god of mine) and his role in the book. If you've read Lament then Ballad will not disappoint.
This was one of the most amazing books I've ever read, there was plot twist after plot twist,most defiantly one of her best books yet!
Nuala is the best thing. James is the best thing.
But Dee ruins everything for me.
But Dee ruins everything for me.