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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really want to like this book but I found the audiobook really hard to follow. I will definitely have to try again eventually.
One of the best adult fantasy novels I've read in awhile. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy. The wood and the whole mythology behind it is wonderful, it's probably my favorite part.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I found this book to be very mediocre on average which is a real shame because I love Novik's Temeraire series, its up there with my favourite books of all time but this stand alone novel was just not well done in my opinion.
The one thing I did like was the setting and mystery of the woods. I genuinely think that was appropriately creepy and intriguing, well, that is up until the craziness towards the end of the book at least. I did like the history we got told about the origins and I would have loved to have spent more time in there exploring the lost villages that had been overtaken by the woods, or time in the village that was battling the encroachment of the woods.
Sadly what we did spend time with was the typical fantasy trope of old creep and teenage girl get the hots for each other. The 'Dragon' is a wizard old enough to be our main characters grandfather, possibly several times over but he doesn't look old so its fine and not predatory I guess. He's also a bastard, constantly shouting at her, being critical and unhappy with everyone and everything but I guess like all fictional guys of this type, all they need is a plucky young girl to talk back to them and suddenly its love, or so books like this would have you believe.
Our main character Agneiska is a 17 year old wunderkind. She get's chosen to go to the tower because she has magical talent and wouldn't you know it, she unlocks a special old magic that no one else has used for a long time, is the only one who can work it and within a few short months she is able to deal with the threat of the woods that has eluded magicians for centuries.
Also I thought the magic is this book was pretty naff. You don't need to have any training or any understanding of what you're doing, just say the word and if you have magical ability it'll work. And if you slur the wording you'll get a downgraded result. And Agneiska's magic is some weird intuitive thing that made no sense at all.
Needless to say I didn't enjoy the first half of the book that was spent in the tower, but I liked even less the time spent in the capital city. It seemed so undeveloped and pointless as to why they really needed to go their in the first place. Agnesika was left alone with no guidance of where to go and what to do even though she had been sent to the city so the initial chapters are just her fumbling around being taken advanage of by courtly types.
Eventually a very rushed chain of events is unleashed with all hell breaking loose and a mad dash to the ending of the book. The body count soars but in that pointless way where so many people are dying to raise the stakes of the books, but they're all people you don't care about or don't even know so it doesn't add anything and is just ridiculous.
Some of the stuff I hated I wouldn't have minded if the book didn't cram it all in to a short time period. Agneiska is meant to be in the tower for 10 years, so could not several years have passed with her learning? Could not more time have been spent in the city giving it and its characters more life so you actually gave a damn about some of them?
That being said I was glad when the book was over so maybe it spending more time would only have annoyed me more.
I didn't think this was a YA novel but it very much feels like one. I was going to read Deadly Education after this which is a YA novel, and I'm having doubts now.
The one thing I did like was the setting and mystery of the woods. I genuinely think that was appropriately creepy and intriguing, well, that is up until the craziness towards the end of the book at least. I did like the history we got told about the origins and I would have loved to have spent more time in there exploring the lost villages that had been overtaken by the woods, or time in the village that was battling the encroachment of the woods.
Sadly what we did spend time with was the typical fantasy trope of old creep and teenage girl get the hots for each other. The 'Dragon' is a wizard old enough to be our main characters grandfather, possibly several times over but he doesn't look old so its fine and not predatory I guess. He's also a bastard, constantly shouting at her, being critical and unhappy with everyone and everything but I guess like all fictional guys of this type, all they need is a plucky young girl to talk back to them and suddenly its love, or so books like this would have you believe.
Our main character Agneiska is a 17 year old wunderkind. She get's chosen to go to the tower because she has magical talent and wouldn't you know it, she unlocks a special old magic that no one else has used for a long time, is the only one who can work it and within a few short months she is able to deal with the threat of the woods that has eluded magicians for centuries.
Also I thought the magic is this book was pretty naff. You don't need to have any training or any understanding of what you're doing, just say the word and if you have magical ability it'll work. And if you slur the wording you'll get a downgraded result. And Agneiska's magic is some weird intuitive thing that made no sense at all.
Needless to say I didn't enjoy the first half of the book that was spent in the tower, but I liked even less the time spent in the capital city. It seemed so undeveloped and pointless as to why they really needed to go their in the first place. Agnesika was left alone with no guidance of where to go and what to do even though she had been sent to the city so the initial chapters are just her fumbling around being taken advanage of by courtly types.
Eventually a very rushed chain of events is unleashed with all hell breaking loose and a mad dash to the ending of the book. The body count soars but in that pointless way where so many people are dying to raise the stakes of the books, but they're all people you don't care about or don't even know so it doesn't add anything and is just ridiculous.
Some of the stuff I hated I wouldn't have minded if the book didn't cram it all in to a short time period. Agneiska is meant to be in the tower for 10 years, so could not several years have passed with her learning? Could not more time have been spent in the city giving it and its characters more life so you actually gave a damn about some of them?
That being said I was glad when the book was over so maybe it spending more time would only have annoyed me more.
I didn't think this was a YA novel but it very much feels like one. I was going to read Deadly Education after this which is a YA novel, and I'm having doubts now.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
I think it's time to admit defeat and move this to my DNFed shelf. I'm not rating it because I think it would be unfair considering that I didn't even read 20% of the book, but it was enough for me to know that I'm not going to enjoy it, which pisses me off because I had HOPES for this.
idk. i’m just not feeling it. i finished two other books so i should be feeling the motivation to read and i’m just not. i choose to not pick it up/put it back down
I loved this one so much that it basically launched me into spending the better part of this year reading romantasy, so, yeah, I'd say it's pretty good, but I did find the ending a bit underwhelming.
Yes, the protagonist is a Mary Sue - but if you can get past that, you have a compelling, at times scary page-turner ahead of you. I had some issues with this story, but its saving grace is that it's so folkloric. Agnieszka's Clumsy Girl Mary Sue issues, the Dragon's incessantly stony demeanour, and the supporting cast's 2-dimensionality become archetypes, and the somewhat opaque international relations become abstract fantasy kingdoms at war. I did feel like I was reading a different book for the entire middle, which was jarring and made me feel a little disappointed, and the ending didn't feel satisfying for some reason - perhaps too much exposition too late to feel justified. Overall, though, I haven't stayed up FAR too late several nights in a row to read a book for YEARS, so thank you Naomi Novik for that.
Fast paced in Novik's style that I've grown accustomed to since Temeraire. A nice balance of darker folk-tale imagery while not being too dire. The protagonist is not a Mary Sue though shallowly some might call her that, but she messes up too often and her lack of knowledge makes her panic palpable. It was a quick read as Novik hits event after event, but it was fun seeing the plot twist and turn itself deeper as the world unfolds more and more.
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No