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3.07 AVERAGE
3.07 AVERAGE
I should have DNF’d this book... I was being stubborn.
Characters: 2/5
Narration: 2/5
Concept: 3.5/5
Execution: 1.75/5
Impact: 1/5
This wasn't it. I honestly hated getting into this book and had to force myself to read it after putting it down at one point. All the characters were stereotypical, and it was exactly the type of stereotypical fantasy story I shouldn't have been disappointed to find. Legendborn gave me hope for Arthurian stories. Nonetheless, it was alright to read if you enjoy "the journey" type stories, with multiple story lines, and aren't in it for the characters and instead the plot line. Couldn't be me. Honestly would not recommend this regardless, the plot was nothing special anyway.
Though, I must say, Arthur and Nimue excited me at points, for the absolute nothing they gave, and the problems within their relationships, and the lowkey insta love and weird way the plot forced them together.
Nimue being an icon at points was fun, but for the most part constantly made me shake my head and sigh as she did one stupid thing after another. However, unlike someone I know (Aelin) she actually had to pay the price for her stupidity. Sometimes.
I also hated the ending. Made everything I'd spent all this time and effort reading feel like it was worthless and for nothing. And I read this for the show, watched like two episodes before realizing the show was honestly worse than the book and Shadow and Bone was literally the only exception.
Narration: 2/5
Concept: 3.5/5
Execution: 1.75/5
Impact: 1/5
This wasn't it. I honestly hated getting into this book and had to force myself to read it after putting it down at one point. All the characters were stereotypical, and it was exactly the type of stereotypical fantasy story I shouldn't have been disappointed to find. Legendborn gave me hope for Arthurian stories. Nonetheless, it was alright to read if you enjoy "the journey" type stories, with multiple story lines, and aren't in it for the characters and instead the plot line. Couldn't be me. Honestly would not recommend this regardless, the plot was nothing special anyway.
Though, I must say, Arthur and Nimue excited me at points, for the absolute nothing they gave, and the problems within their relationships, and the lowkey insta love and weird way the plot forced them together.
Nimue being an icon at points was fun, but for the most part constantly made me shake my head and sigh as she did one stupid thing after another. However, unlike someone I know (Aelin) she actually had to pay the price for her stupidity. Sometimes.
I also hated the ending. Made everything I'd spent all this time and effort reading feel like it was worthless and for nothing. And I read this for the show, watched like two episodes before realizing the show was honestly worse than the book and Shadow and Bone was literally the only exception.
A fun, but dark, retelling of the Arthurian saga with Nimue as the main character. She is a druid, able to hear "The Hidden" (voices of nature spirits), and when the Red Paladins attack and burn her village, in their inquisition against anyone not practicing Christianity, her dying mother gives her a sword and tells her to "bring it to Merlin." She has no idea where to find the fabled magician, she only knows him from stories. But wow, when she wields this sword, she feels magically powerful! Maybe even *too* powerful... In her quest she asks for help from Arthur, a young sellsword (knight for hire) and we get to meet his half-sister Morgan, a tavern barmaid. Meanwhile we learn that Merlin is indeed alive, but he's lost all of his magic and is barely hanging on to his position in King Uther's court; he is a drunken advisor without hope or ambition. A lot of the plot hinges on the Fey, who are various tribes of semi-magical folk like the druids, but with more animal-like characteristics: the Moon Wings, Fauns, the Tusks, the Progs, and so forth. They are of course also being killed by the evil Red Paladins, including by the Weeping Monk, who plays a crucial role in the story. There is a lot of plot here, and some fun revelations at the end of character names we know from the familiar King Arthur story. There is also a lot of violence--swords take off heads, hands, etc. (There's also a scene that made me shudder, when someone with a perfectly healthy set of teeth has to have one pulled. OMG! Trigger warning if that bothers you!) Nimue is a great heroine, though, muddling through her magical cues and empowered by the sword as well as by her inner courage. The illustrations are on almost every page, making the book seem a lot like a graphic novel (which of course, Frank Miller is known for, having created Sin City), including some nice color two-page spreads. Most of them are black and white, strong stylized ink drawings that add to the earthy medieval flavor as well as the magical aura of the book. I think there is going to be a sequel, from the ending it seems so--but until then, I'm off to watch the series on Netflix!
I got an ARC of this at a conference and was excited, because Frank Miller was collaborating with an author, and it was already optioned for a Netflix series. Turns out, the author is in fact a screenwriter. This was a planned multimedia project, essentially, and it reads like one. There's zero interest in keeping with any kind of historical period between names, technologies, forms of dress...and the person who gave it to me at the publisher's booth called it a genderbent Arthur story. More accurately, it's a re-telling from Nimue's perspective. Which is cool and unusual, but Arthur is still a dude who's kind of ridiculous in this. There's a lot of violence against women even within the first few chapters. The writing is very simplistic. It's just not great. I have a feeling the show will be on par with Merlin, or any of the many other interchangeable fantasy TV shows that have come out in the past few years.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Raramente, ma capita, il libro non è meglio della sua trasposizione sullo schermo...sarà che la serie tv mi era piaciuta tanto, ma davvero tanto, comunque la lettura non è risultata altrettanto affascinante: la scrittura è lenta e pedante, alcuni passaggi non sono neppure spiegati tanto bene (ho capito dove volessero andare a parare certi dialoghi solo perchè avevo già visto la serie...talvolta saltano di palo in frasca e non comprendi – a meno che tu non abbia visto la serie – come si sia arrivati a certe soluzioni), anche i personaggi sono piuttosto privi di spessore...Nimue è piatta, Artù incolore, Merlino scialbo...una delusione...
***
Rarely, but it happens, the book is not better than its transposition on the screen...maybe it's cause I liked the TV series so much, really very much; however, the reading was not as fascinating: the writing is slow and pedantic, some passages are not even explained very well (I understood where certain dialogues were going to end up just because I had already seen the series ... sometimes they jump from pole to branch and you do not understand - unless you have seen the series - how it came about to certain solutions), even the characters are rather lacking in thickness...Nimue is flat, Arthur colorless, Merlin dull ... great disappointment...
***
Rarely, but it happens, the book is not better than its transposition on the screen...maybe it's cause I liked the TV series so much, really very much; however, the reading was not as fascinating: the writing is slow and pedantic, some passages are not even explained very well (I understood where certain dialogues were going to end up just because I had already seen the series ... sometimes they jump from pole to branch and you do not understand - unless you have seen the series - how it came about to certain solutions), even the characters are rather lacking in thickness...Nimue is flat, Arthur colorless, Merlin dull ... great disappointment...
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
DNF at 41%.
I really wanted to like this. The premise is super interesting and it's a King Arthur retelling, which is something that I don't think I've ever read before so I was very much intrigued. Not only that but this excitement was escalated when I heard that there was a Netflix TV series, so overall I had really high hopes. When actually reading it, I found it really hard to get into. I was confused and there was very little explanation later in the book to explain anything. The magic, the world building. I think I started to get really uneasy was when there was an actual "when their eyes met" insta love scene less than 50 pages into the book. Farther in, the plot started to become more concrete but the events leading up to this realization were not well written in my opinion and I was just really lost. I plan on keeping this for a while and maybe giving it another chance later in the year, but worst case scenario I might watch an episode of the series and unhaul the book to someone who will hopefully like it more than me.
I really wanted to like this. The premise is super interesting and it's a King Arthur retelling, which is something that I don't think I've ever read before so I was very much intrigued. Not only that but this excitement was escalated when I heard that there was a Netflix TV series, so overall I had really high hopes. When actually reading it, I found it really hard to get into. I was confused and there was very little explanation later in the book to explain anything. The magic, the world building. I think I started to get really uneasy was when there was an actual "when their eyes met" insta love scene less than 50 pages into the book. Farther in, the plot started to become more concrete but the events leading up to this realization were not well written in my opinion and I was just really lost. I plan on keeping this for a while and maybe giving it another chance later in the year, but worst case scenario I might watch an episode of the series and unhaul the book to someone who will hopefully like it more than me.