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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I have no idea how I feel about this book. It started off 5-stars but ended up 3-stars.
I loved the creepier tone to this one and spent the first 63% enjoying it, however, as a mood-reader, my enjoyment of a story relies heavily on when I read it. I say this because I reached a point where I didn't feel like reading any longer and, in normal circumstances, I would have taken a break and picked it back up another time. But I wanted to get it finished before the read-along livestream so I pushed on regardless. I don't know how much that played a role in my not enjoying the rest of the book as much. Maybe I wouldn't have liked it anyway, but I thought it was worth mentioning
I mentioned in a previous review in the series that there's a lot of telling rather than showing, and that hasn't improved. Neither has the awkward exposition, which continues to interrupt the story and feel unnatural. It always bothers me when dialogue or a character's internal monologue is explaining things they would already know. I get that it's for the reader's sake but there's better ways of doing it.
Gansey still has my heart.
I loved the creepier tone to this one and spent the first 63% enjoying it, however, as a mood-reader, my enjoyment of a story relies heavily on when I read it. I say this because I reached a point where I didn't feel like reading any longer and, in normal circumstances, I would have taken a break and picked it back up another time. But I wanted to get it finished before the read-along livestream so I pushed on regardless. I don't know how much that played a role in my not enjoying the rest of the book as much. Maybe I wouldn't have liked it anyway, but I thought it was worth mentioning
I mentioned in a previous review in the series that there's a lot of telling rather than showing, and that hasn't improved. Neither has the awkward exposition, which continues to interrupt the story and feel unnatural. It always bothers me when dialogue or a character's internal monologue is explaining things they would already know. I get that it's for the reader's sake but there's better ways of doing it.
Gansey still has my heart.
Gansey stood and put on his coat.
“I think,” he said “that if—when—we find Glendower, I will ask him for Noah’s life. Do you think that would work?”
[...]
Gansey, his best friend, his stupid and kind and marvellous best friend.
“Ronan, don’t forget to set the directional markers as we go. We’re counting on you. Don’t just stare at me. Nod like you understand. Good. You know what? Give them to Jane.”
I miss Noah.
“It was your birthday?” Noah demanded.
[...]
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us,” muttered Noah. “We could have gone for gelato.”.
“This is your home and I know that I’m an outsider, so far be it from me to chastise or generally over step. That being said, were you aware there was someone under…?”
He indicated the storm-dark area beneath the pool table. If Blue squinted she could make out a form in the black.
“Noah,” Gansey said. “Come out at once.”
“No,” Noah replied.
“Well! I see you two know each other and all is well,” Mallory said.
I'm so glad Adam has grown because I don't think I could take another book of his pride getting in the way. I'm also so proud of him for standing up to his father.
Now that he stood directly beside Adam, not looking at him, Adam could see that he was a little out of breath.
Ronan, behind him, was as well. They had run.
For him.
I love Ronan.
Ronan’s arms were still locked around her, she felt them quivering. She didn’t know if it was from muscle strain or worry. He had not even hesitated before grabbing her.
I can’t let myself forget that.
“I’ve dreamt him a box of EpiPens. I dream cures for stings all the time. I carry one. I put them in the Pig. I have them all over Monmouth.”.
Ronan had been looking for her, too? It would have been heartwarming, if she’d been in any danger whatsoever.
For a moment they remained that way, Ronan holding her as tightly as he would hold his brother Matthew, his cheek on her shoulder.
“Piss up a rope,” Ronan said.
And I'm going to be disappointed if Ronan and Adam aren't endgame.
As he sank into the driver’s seat, he found something already sitting on the seat.
[...]
On the bottom, Ronan’s handwriting labeled it merely: manibus. For your hands.
Ronan must have known what would be waiting for him, but still, he’s charged in willingly when Adam had asked him.
Blue. I don't think it's possible for me to like Blue at this point. She drives me nuts.
Adam didn’t reply, because his reply wouldn’t have been civil.
His silence, however, seemed to be worse. She snapped, “If you didn’t want to talk, I don’t know why you asked me if I wanted to come!”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have.”
“Right, who wants someone who thinks along with them!”
He reined himself in, with effort. With only a little barbed wire in his tone, he said, “I just want to get this done.”
“Just put me out here. I’ll walk back.”.
He said he didn’t want to talk about it, but she does so I guess that’s all that matters and warrants a hissy fit.
“Next time I’ll let you die,” Blue said. "You forget, Adam, when you’re pulling your special snowflake act, where I grew up. Do you know what the phrase is for when someone helps you during a ritual or a reading? It’s thank you. You shouldn’t have brought us here if you wanted to do it alone.”.
This is not a reasonable response to the situation. He was helping her. He asked them to stop talking so he could try and remember what happened during the scrying, the one he was doing to help find her mother. And she has another hissy fit. "Special snowflake act"? You mean the thing he's doing to help you? "Where you grew up"? You mean the house full of psychics, the thing that you aren't? I am still fuming over this one.
I read a post I was going to link that explained my feelings about Blue better than I could, including the exact same things that bothered me throughout the series, but it's been deleted now. In short. Blue is the worst thing about this series.
Which leads to conflicted feelings when it comes to a romance between and Gansey. The whole car scene had me all "aww okay this is actually really cute" but then Blue had to go and ruin it. I just like Gansey too much and dislike Blue too much to be happy about them, but Gansey's pining was cute.
Casually out of view of Ronan, making sure Adam was still sleeping, Gansey dangled his hand between the driver’s seat and the door. Palm up, fingers stretched back to Blue.
This was not allowed.
[...]
Blue touched his fingertips.
Just this —
He pinched her fingertips lightly, just for a moment, and then he withdrew his hand and put it back on the wheel. His chest felt warm.
This was not allowed.
Then she called Gansey.
It rang twice, three times, and then: “Hello?”
He sounded boyish and ordinary. Blue asked, “Did I wake you up?”
She heard Gansey fumble for and scrape up his wireframes.
“No,” he lied, “I was awake.”
Gansey caught sight of Blue then, and he rewarded her with his best smile—not his polished one, but the more foolish number that meant he was excited.
He picked up at once. “I wasn’t sleeping.”
The phone went quiet. It was never enough, but it was something. Gansey opened his eyes.
Noah sat against the doorjamb of the kitchen-bathroom-laundry. [...] There was nothing inherently guilty about the moment except that Gansey burned with guilt and thrill and desire and the nebulous feeling of being truly known. It was the inside of him, and the inside was all Noah ever really paid attention to.
The other boy wore a knowing expression.
“Don’t tell the others,” Gansey said.
“I’m dead,” Noah replied. “Not stupid.”
It was the way he stood, his shoulders shrugged, chin ducked, gaze from below uncertain eyebrows.
“SHE WAS ALL RIGHT,” Jesse assured him.
“My head knew that,” Gansey said. “But the rest of me didn’t.”
I can't tell if Piper was a great villain or a terrible one because I hated her but it was more annoyance every time she showed up to get in the way. One of my notes included: “Oh for fuck’s sake can she just die already” when she showed up in the cave.
The twists in the series haven't been getting me like the Noah one did in the first book. Things like Persephone should have had me pausing to be like "What the fuck?!" but at most I just think "huh" and carry on. I miss being shocked.
The ending left me underwhelmed. I couldn't remember what it was that I was enjoying at the beginning of the story. I wasn't excited about moving on to the next book and after finishing it and looking back on it, nothing much happened. It felt like its entire purpose was solely to set up the next book in the series, rather than it being its own book.
P.S. Justice for Jesse!
Review Date: September 22, 2019
Review Date: September 22, 2019
The climax of these books always happen far too fast imo but I’m hooked regardless
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
I am so glad I had the forethought to get the 4th book out of the library today.
1st read: 25th jul - 6th Aug 2020
? Stars
2nd read: 1st feb - 5th feb 2021
5 stars
? Stars
2nd read: 1st feb - 5th feb 2021
5 stars
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The shock hold this books have on me wow… The plot just keeps building up and if i dont get to the bottom of this im gonna die.
ps: i wont forgive the lack of Ronan/Parrish romance
this book was dry of love and i will not stand for that part of it
ps: i wont forgive the lack of Ronan/Parrish romance
this book was dry of love and i will not stand for that part of it
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated