Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
I'm a sucker for old school, dangerous, horrific fae. And this book has them in spades. So, A+ for that. But the writing was often confusing, the plotting dragged at times, and it tried so hard to be mysterious and goth that it came across as forced.
I'm not saying I didn't like it. It was amusing enough. I just wasn't blown away by it. Plus, I was left with questions. For example, Finn couldn't see the fae for most of her life, didn't even know her sister could. But she sees them just fine in the course of the novel, is shown to have seen them in the past. So, how'd she stay so clueless? Or what was the cause of the insta-attraction between Finn and Jack? Sorry, the little bit we're given didn't convince me at all.
The writing, other than being overly dramatic and unclear at times, was mostly ok. But there were some issue with repeat words that started to feel like nails on a chalkboard. I plan to read the rest of the series, though.
I'm not saying I didn't like it. It was amusing enough. I just wasn't blown away by it. Plus, I was left with questions. For example, Finn couldn't see the fae for most of her life, didn't even know her sister could. But she sees them just fine in the course of the novel, is shown to have seen them in the past. So, how'd she stay so clueless? Or what was the cause of the insta-attraction between Finn and Jack? Sorry, the little bit we're given didn't convince me at all.
The writing, other than being overly dramatic and unclear at times, was mostly ok. But there were some issue with repeat words that started to feel like nails on a chalkboard. I plan to read the rest of the series, though.
I couldn't really figure out what was going on. The constant up and down emotional rollercoaster made me think that these characters are bipolar. Especially the 'fae' characters. I could finish it. Maybe next time.
Took me a bit to get into the story. I loved the characters but the beginning was very twilight-esqe (probably bc a previous review put it in my head) but in the end I really enjoyed it. I wish the beginning of the story had been more original. However I am looking forward to the next book.
Spent most of this book wondering what was going on. I like fantasy as a rule but this one was just not my thing.
Meh. This is the kind of book I'd probably have wrapped tightly in my arms when I was in my early 20s, in college, going to goth clubs for the first time, and hanging out with friends who worked in a metaphysical book shop. But I'm not that person anymore, so unfortunately this book just doesn't work for me.
THORN JACK is a dark and evocative tale full of imagery. Scenes are painted vividly and in full detail. The story has a bit of everything for everyone. There are spooky moments, romantic moments, funny moments; there are twists that surprise you and elements that make you think beyond the book. The characters are likable, foolish and infuriating—just like real people can be. The ending twists you around and astonishes your and warms you heart.
I highly recommend this book for people who like descriptive fiction with lots of imagery and visuals. There are many characters, all carefully described, so, for those fast readers, it could be confusing or frustrating. This book needs to be read slowly, taking time to breath and imagine all that is there.
I highly recommend this book for people who like descriptive fiction with lots of imagery and visuals. There are many characters, all carefully described, so, for those fast readers, it could be confusing or frustrating. This book needs to be read slowly, taking time to breath and imagine all that is there.
I got this book from Barnes and Noble a few months ago on a whim. I had already been buying two other books when the clerk asked if I enjoyed dark fantasy and - truthfully - I just didn't know how to say no thanks. I love fantasy stories, but I don't know if dark fantasy is up my alley. I'm a fan of happy endings and dark fantasy seems like the thing that would end badly.
SPOILERS but it doesn't.
Thorn Jack is a thrilling story to read, something I finished rather quickly once I started reading it. I found Finn to be a funny protagonist and her friends to be funny and charming. I liked her personality, which was partially stubborn and partially inquisitive and partially idiotic. I also liked the setting to be college, which we rarely see in most young adult stories. I even liked Jack, with his cliche hair and his cliche personality, and the kinda weird love at first sight, but still, I did like the two of them as the story went on.
Some things I didn't like were the way her friends were written. Sometimes, they had her back and they worked hard to help her, but other times they forced their way into something with Finn and - in the end - ruined Finn's attempts to do things (see: them sneaking into a party and so Finn has to stop what she's doing to keep them safe). More than once, Finn and her friend's seem to genuinely be heading in the right direction to figure out the Fata's, but then they would just be turned around by a few sentences? I also didn't like how Jack and Finn's romance developed at times because it felt one-sided.
There were also obscure solutions to some things in the story that I couldn't personally understand. I'm unsure whether that's me overlooking something or the book genuinely just not explaining it very well. I'll find out when I reread it next. There was just something about this book that felt off to me, but because I can't say what that is, I won't bother to delve into it.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book. Despite the fact that some of the writing felt choppy or some of the solutions were downright bizarre, I loved the characters and I really loved the universe. I'm not sure if I'll pick up the sequel because I'm actually fond of where it ended, but I'll look into it and decide another time!
SPOILERS but it doesn't.
Thorn Jack is a thrilling story to read, something I finished rather quickly once I started reading it. I found Finn to be a funny protagonist and her friends to be funny and charming. I liked her personality, which was partially stubborn and partially inquisitive and partially idiotic. I also liked the setting to be college, which we rarely see in most young adult stories. I even liked Jack, with his cliche hair and his cliche personality, and the kinda weird love at first sight, but still, I did like the two of them as the story went on.
Some things I didn't like were the way her friends were written. Sometimes, they had her back and they worked hard to help her, but other times they forced their way into something with Finn and - in the end - ruined Finn's attempts to do things (see: them sneaking into a party and so Finn has to stop what she's doing to keep them safe). More than once, Finn and her friend's seem to genuinely be heading in the right direction to figure out the Fata's, but then they would just be turned around by a few sentences? I also didn't like how Jack and Finn's romance developed at times because it felt one-sided.
There were also obscure solutions to some things in the story that I couldn't personally understand. I'm unsure whether that's me overlooking something or the book genuinely just not explaining it very well. I'll find out when I reread it next. There was just something about this book that felt off to me, but because I can't say what that is, I won't bother to delve into it.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book. Despite the fact that some of the writing felt choppy or some of the solutions were downright bizarre, I loved the characters and I really loved the universe. I'm not sure if I'll pick up the sequel because I'm actually fond of where it ended, but I'll look into it and decide another time!
There were plenty of moments in this book where I wasn't sure whether I was totally in love with it or not. Don't get me wrong, I liked it just fine, but I wasn't totally in love with it until I started getting closer and closer to the end. It had a way of pulling me in and I very few books can grab and keep hold of me nowadays.
I'm probably gonna start Briar Queen today.
I'm probably gonna start Briar Queen today.
This was... acceptable, I guess. The thing is, Tam Lin is a story I love and am a teeny tiny bit obsessed with, so I read every novelisation/adaptation of it I can get my hands on. And honestly, this wasn't one of my favourites. There was the (unconvincing) insta-love between Finn and Jack, which is such a tedious and unrealistic trope. I didn't even care that much about Finn who is supposed to be our protagonist, let alone any other characters. I never felt like I got to know her. She's sad because her sister died... there are hints that she has narcolepsy but it's never important and only gets mentioned like four times so I'm not sure why it's there?... and she loves Jack for no apparent reason. It's even worse when we see her through other people's eyes; she's just this frail waifish woman trope. Plus of course she falls in love with the dark mysterious brooding guy, of course. Yawn.
Then the plot is so confused and doesn't entirely make sense.We are told at the end that Reiko always intended for Finn to be the sacrifice, yet this doesn't really add up with her actions in the rest of the book or her attitude towards Jack, whom apparently she loved so much that she grew a heart - yet she's willing to promise to let him go if Finn becomes a willing sacrifice. Does not make sense. And what was the point of the whole thing with Lily Rose? It never comes to anything and there's that weird little epilogue which doesn't seem to have anything to do with the rest of the story ALSO what is that thing at the end where she was allowed to say goodbye to her Da and apparently realised that he would be fine without her just because he happens to be having a nice time with a woman he likes??? No. No. One of his daughters has already died by suicide; he is NOT going to be ok when the second one also dies. God. The plot really seems to be centred around one of those 'plans' where the villain could not possibly allow for or predict all the variables and there's very little likelihood that things would actually happen as they planned yet the author writes it as though it's inevitable. Sigh.
There were some elements I really like. That loving someone makes a fairie grow a heart? Very cool. And the bleeding thing also. I liked the Lily plot threads through the first half of the book; that made it really interesting to me - but sadly they get dropped in the second half in favour of the dry and unconvincing 'romance' between Finn and Jack. This meant that things that you think are going to be important, like ghost Lily giving Finn clues, turn out to be nothing more than convenient plot contrivances to shift things along a bit. There were a couple of characters I was really straining to like - Anna, Angyll, Avaline, Phouka - but ultimately we never got enough of them to really fall for them. And of course I enjoyed a new-ish take on the Tam Lin ballad.
Thorn Jack read to me like a version of Pamela Dean's Tam Lin but super romanticised and with less real characters. Honestly, there are so many parallells, from Finn having a sister called Lily and a father who's a college professor to the faeries loving Shakespeare.
I love the Tam Lin ballad story and I thought the Tam Lin parts of Thorn Jack were, on the whole, well done. The problem a novelisation has is that it must devise a whole story to go on around the first half of the ballad, because like half of it is just the shape-changing scene. Thorn Jack did this by being a bit tricksy with the plot, making it seem like it was one thing in the beginning and something quite different in the end. It's possible to do a good mislead but I don't think that's what this was, or if it was, it was inexpertly done. Instead it reads like the author changed her mind halfway through on what she wanted the story to be about.
I liked the sacrifice switcheroo -that because by attempting suicide Nathan had shown himself to be no longer willing and therefore a new victim would be needed. What I didn't like about this was that... it must have been part of the plan where Reiko wanted Finn to be the sacrifice all along, yet that doesn't make sense because she couldn't have predicted this would happen. which suddenly made the whole tiend thing very personal to Finn (the second switcheroo not so much). I was sad not to have the procession, which is always fun, but liked the party setting for the sacrifice instead. But I was very confused by what happened at the end and how Finn managed to save Jack... why didn't he burn like the others? No reason given, just someone winks and hints that 'things are not as they seem'. Not good enough. .
Ultimately I really wanted to like this, but the characters were so shallow, flat and uninteresting that I didn't feel inclined to forgive the flaws in plot and writing.
Then the plot is so confused and doesn't entirely make sense.
There were some elements I really like. That loving someone makes a fairie grow a heart? Very cool. And the bleeding thing also. I liked the Lily plot threads through the first half of the book; that made it really interesting to me - but sadly they get dropped in the second half in favour of the dry and unconvincing 'romance' between Finn and Jack. This meant that things that you think are going to be important, like ghost Lily giving Finn clues, turn out to be nothing more than convenient plot contrivances to shift things along a bit. There were a couple of characters I was really straining to like - Anna, Angyll, Avaline, Phouka - but ultimately we never got enough of them to really fall for them. And of course I enjoyed a new-ish take on the Tam Lin ballad.
Thorn Jack read to me like a version of Pamela Dean's Tam Lin but super romanticised and with less real characters. Honestly, there are so many parallells, from Finn having a sister called Lily and a father who's a college professor to the faeries loving Shakespeare.
I love the Tam Lin ballad story and I thought the Tam Lin parts of Thorn Jack were, on the whole, well done. The problem a novelisation has is that it must devise a whole story to go on around the first half of the ballad, because like half of it is just the shape-changing scene. Thorn Jack did this by being a bit tricksy with the plot, making it seem like it was one thing in the beginning and something quite different in the end. It's possible to do a good mislead but I don't think that's what this was, or if it was, it was inexpertly done. Instead it reads like the author changed her mind halfway through on what she wanted the story to be about.
I liked the sacrifice switcheroo -
Ultimately I really wanted to like this, but the characters were so shallow, flat and uninteresting that I didn't feel inclined to forgive the flaws in plot and writing.