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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
4.3
The writing had a lot of non-sentences instead of full ones. I hope I see a lot more disabled protagonists written by disabled people in many other genres!
The writing had a lot of non-sentences instead of full ones.
Spoiler
Also, the last events of the book were kind of confusing; I didn't know what was going on and how they happened. I didn't really think the romance between Portia and Aria was necessary, but I didn't mind it that much. There was no drama about it, which I don't know if that was realistic. Overall, it was good.
As a spoonie it's hard to find books where I can meet characters like me. And that's a pity. Because not only I need the message that I'm more than my illness, that I can still be a heroine and find my squad, other people in the world need that message too. Yes, my illness limits my abilities sometimes, but it's not everything I am. So, when I saw this book, with a spoonie as the heroine, on Netgalley I had to request a copy. I'm really happy the publisher gave me one!
The book takes its time to introduce us to our heroine. We get to know her parents, where she lives, how people in her home town talk to and about her and most of all how her illness impacts almost every part of her life. But once the heroine leaves her hometown and moves to Paris and discovers that she will make her dream come true and will become a musketeer the tone of the book changes and it becomes this addictive adventure story in the time of the French kings.
In a lot of ways the elements of the stories about the three musketeers we know are still there. Our heroine loses her father, becomes the fourth musketeer in an all women squad and is tasked with saving the King of France from death. However, since our heroine is a woman the way to deal with all these problems is a little different. I love how the author found a way to show us fierce and brave women without losing touch with the time period and position of women at the time.
And although in a way this book is about four female musketeers trying to find out who's plotting to kill the King, this book is even more about one woman learning a lot about herself. Throughout the book our heroine is confronted with her limits, her strengths, her emotions, her weaknesses, her fears, her anger and her willpower. And I love how that also means that she's slowly learning that she's still worthy, lovable and worth fighting for and with.
I want, and most of all need, more books like this!
The book takes its time to introduce us to our heroine. We get to know her parents, where she lives, how people in her home town talk to and about her and most of all how her illness impacts almost every part of her life. But once the heroine leaves her hometown and moves to Paris and discovers that she will make her dream come true and will become a musketeer the tone of the book changes and it becomes this addictive adventure story in the time of the French kings.
In a lot of ways the elements of the stories about the three musketeers we know are still there. Our heroine loses her father, becomes the fourth musketeer in an all women squad and is tasked with saving the King of France from death. However, since our heroine is a woman the way to deal with all these problems is a little different. I love how the author found a way to show us fierce and brave women without losing touch with the time period and position of women at the time.
And although in a way this book is about four female musketeers trying to find out who's plotting to kill the King, this book is even more about one woman learning a lot about herself. Throughout the book our heroine is confronted with her limits, her strengths, her emotions, her weaknesses, her fears, her anger and her willpower. And I love how that also means that she's slowly learning that she's still worthy, lovable and worth fighting for and with.
I want, and most of all need, more books like this!
Lillie Lainoff's debut novel "One for All" has all the things one could want from a fun, historical ya: musketeers, strong women, pretty scenery and both wlw and disability rep. Sounds awesome, so I was actually excited to read this. Especially considering this is an ownvoices novel, with our protagonist Tania suffering from the same chronic illness the author does, and one I honestly haven't heard of before. This is also were the story shines, while in mostly every other regard it turned out to be kind of mediocre.
The writing is approachable and it's a quick read, there are no pacing issues, it's a well enough crafted novel. The one thing I can criticize about the writing is probably one of my biggest pet peeves ever: This story takes place in France, so naturally, the characters speak French. The novel is written in English though, so naturally, the language on paper is English. Now, randomly throwing in French words in dialogue just to make sure your readers really know that these characters are FRENCH!!! is the most annoying writing choice, and it doesn't make sense either. If the characters suddenly switch to French, what language have they been speaking before? Well, certainly not French. I hate this in every novel, and Lainoff does it constantly. It doesn't have the effect these authors think it does, on the contrary.
The characters are sadly rather flat, too. I couldn't tell you much about any of them other than some surface information, and the author doesn't do much with the actually really interesting background stories of some of them. Our heroine Tania is, sadly, mostly reduced to her being sick, which, as much as I liked the rep, doesn't do her justice. It also sometimes feels kind of painted on, because Tania actually, in the end, manages everything rather perfectly and the illness mostly serves to make other characters feel for her, but I won't really criticize that because I do not suffer from this illness myself. There's also a romantic subplot going on that is just not very engaging, so I didn't care for it. I was much more interested in the (superior and better written) romance between two of Tania's friends.
The plot could have been interesting, but somehow I just... felt bored most of the time. I was never really excited about any of it, the twists were really obvious and I didn't really care about what happened to the characters. Maybe it was also just a case of "reader not fitting the read", but I usually love Musketeer novels and this one just wasn't it.
I can see why many will like this, and I applaud the book for the things it does right. I wish it all the luck and all the readers and hope that more authors choose to make invisible chronic illnesses visible on page with the same dedication Lainoff does. But for me, this was mostly a forgettable read.
2.5 stars
Many thanks to Titan Books and Netgalley for the arc!
The writing is approachable and it's a quick read, there are no pacing issues, it's a well enough crafted novel. The one thing I can criticize about the writing is probably one of my biggest pet peeves ever: This story takes place in France, so naturally, the characters speak French. The novel is written in English though, so naturally, the language on paper is English. Now, randomly throwing in French words in dialogue just to make sure your readers really know that these characters are FRENCH!!! is the most annoying writing choice, and it doesn't make sense either. If the characters suddenly switch to French, what language have they been speaking before? Well, certainly not French. I hate this in every novel, and Lainoff does it constantly. It doesn't have the effect these authors think it does, on the contrary.
The characters are sadly rather flat, too. I couldn't tell you much about any of them other than some surface information, and the author doesn't do much with the actually really interesting background stories of some of them. Our heroine Tania is, sadly, mostly reduced to her being sick, which, as much as I liked the rep, doesn't do her justice. It also sometimes feels kind of painted on, because Tania actually, in the end, manages everything rather perfectly and the illness mostly serves to make other characters feel for her, but I won't really criticize that because I do not suffer from this illness myself. There's also a romantic subplot going on that is just not very engaging, so I didn't care for it. I was much more interested in the (superior and better written) romance between two of Tania's friends.
The plot could have been interesting, but somehow I just... felt bored most of the time. I was never really excited about any of it, the twists were really obvious and I didn't really care about what happened to the characters. Maybe it was also just a case of "reader not fitting the read", but I usually love Musketeer novels and this one just wasn't it.
I can see why many will like this, and I applaud the book for the things it does right. I wish it all the luck and all the readers and hope that more authors choose to make invisible chronic illnesses visible on page with the same dedication Lainoff does. But for me, this was mostly a forgettable read.
2.5 stars
Many thanks to Titan Books and Netgalley for the arc!
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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:
Complicated
1/5
I had high hopes for this book. I love when stories are set in the past but the plot overall felt flat to me.
I had high hopes for this book. I love when stories are set in the past but the plot overall felt flat to me.
I was so disappointed by this one. Why must stories that center around women involve falling in love?
I was told this was a gender-bending [b:The Three Musketeers|7190|The Three Musketeers (The D'Artagnan Romances, #1)|Alexandre Dumas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630475503l/7190._SX50_.jpg|1263212], but it most certainly was not. It lacks the social critique and historical nuance that [a:Alexandre Dumas|4785|Alexandre Dumas|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1279049943p2/4785.jpg] adds to his opus. I kept reading hoping it would get better, but sadly it did not. I should have bailed.
I was told this was a gender-bending [b:The Three Musketeers|7190|The Three Musketeers (The D'Artagnan Romances, #1)|Alexandre Dumas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630475503l/7190._SX50_.jpg|1263212], but it most certainly was not. It lacks the social critique and historical nuance that [a:Alexandre Dumas|4785|Alexandre Dumas|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1279049943p2/4785.jpg] adds to his opus. I kept reading hoping it would get better, but sadly it did not. I should have bailed.
Feeling conflicted on this one. I loved the idea of this story, as it seemed very interesting. The actual execution, though…wasn’t a fan of.
Am I crying in the corner over a Three Musketeers retelling or is because this story is just good soup? Queerness, disabilities shown and sisterhood focused is all it takes for me to go mush...or assassination plots.
I received an ecopy of this book through Netgalley; however, my opinions are my own.
I received an ecopy of this book through Netgalley; however, my opinions are my own.