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clairesreading 's review for:
Queen of Myth and Monsters
by Scarlett St. Clair
I'm very happy for the people who enjoyed this book, and by no means do I intend to insult anyone, I understand we all have different perceptions and I usually try to be kinder in my reviews below a 4 stars...However I truly truly hated this book, so if you have read it and enjoyed it, please don't read my review. If you haven't read it and are wondering if the other 1 star to 3 star reviews are right....Well, read on.
First of, I adored book 1, it was fun, a little cringe but just the right amount, smutty and...FUN.
I don't want to repeat what a lot of other reviews have already said, but I'll organise my thoughts in a few bullet points:
- There is a glaring lack of plot, I still don't get what the plot was, it felt like the author was making it up as she went. It has decent bones for a good story, but it was very clear that this was rushed. The author herself admits to writing it in 4 weeks and girl...we absolutely can tell.
- The feminist narrative was done so poorly it made me angry. I love a good feminist protagonist, but Isolde wasn't it. There are random moments of "girl power quotes" that fall flat due to how forced and random they are. Isolde is presented as a savior, for example when she frees a woman from a dungeon....except she is the one who agreed to her being thrown in the dungeon and FORGOT about her for MONTHS, only conveniently remembering because she hears her crying and finds the dungeon. THAT'S INSANELY DUMB.
- The use of SA for shock value disgusted me. For a book that is very much meant to be feminist, again, this is gross. The inclusion of a character mentioning g@ng r@pe, only for that character to be immediately killed and then the whole thing (coupled with a random decision to include child trafficking) is completely forgotten and never mentioned again.
- There is no consistency: Isolde has lost her father, yet spends so little time actually thinking about it that I can tell you exactly which scene she actually mentions it. Other character's reactions to his death are actually more emotional than Isolde ever is, despite mentions that she is TORN about it but CHOOSES not to think about it.
- Wtf is Adrian in this book? Why do they keep fighting, fucking, fighting, fucking...there's nothing to develop their relationship. As others have said, the author relies so heavily on them having had a previous connection, it's laughable. The smut was incredibly stupid as well, I loved Book 1 for the good smut and the decent but flimsy plot, and now this book has thrown out any good smut in favor of randomly dropping quick smut scenes every chapter that feel kind of bland.
- Speaking of plot, the whole flashbacks thing is handled insanely badly. I was listening to it as audiobook, but would have to pick up my paperback constantly to understand how we were switching to flashbacks, and even the paperback shows very little transition, the amount of whiplash this gave me...But also, Isolde doesn't remember everything from her previous life, makes sense, right? Except that we only get random flashbacks for plot convenience, and it feels like the author couldn't come up with a better way to give information than like this.
- The WHIPLASH: within 70 pages, we get two fights and fucking, executions, a battle, Isolde getting bit and Isolde turning into an animal. Which btw is treated like no big deal, everyone acts like no one could have possible found out despite seeing their queen run into the snow with the king following her (NAKED). REALLY? NO ONE NOTICED?
The sheer plot convenience of everything, the way we switched from one scene to the other, felt like such a rough draft, it was a "woop, gotta drop a flashback here to advance the plot" "woop, this villain turns out to be a good guy, woop his hands are cut, woop, he sacrifices himself for the people who maimed him" (this plotline was also dumb af, someone being introduced just to cause a little more conflict, only to then become vanilla boy, only then to be killed off because he has time freezing powers)
There's no way I'll give the next book a chance, and I'm incredibly disappointed. This was obviously rushed, a filler book, and the author wanted to do too much while not giving herself the time to properly introduce and connect all of it. Not only should this have been a duology, but I feel like it's hard for me to know where to stand with Scarlet St Clair. I legit loved her YA book way more than this because at least her YA book had a rounded plot that didn't try to do too much. It feels like I always adore book 1 of her series and get violent whiplash from how drastic the changes are in book 2.
I waited impatiently for this book to come out, only to find reviews that made me wait for a whole other year before giving it a go...and the reviews were right.
First of, I adored book 1, it was fun, a little cringe but just the right amount, smutty and...FUN.
I don't want to repeat what a lot of other reviews have already said, but I'll organise my thoughts in a few bullet points:
- There is a glaring lack of plot, I still don't get what the plot was, it felt like the author was making it up as she went. It has decent bones for a good story, but it was very clear that this was rushed. The author herself admits to writing it in 4 weeks and girl...we absolutely can tell.
- The feminist narrative was done so poorly it made me angry. I love a good feminist protagonist, but Isolde wasn't it. There are random moments of "girl power quotes" that fall flat due to how forced and random they are. Isolde is presented as a savior, for example when she frees a woman from a dungeon....except she is the one who agreed to her being thrown in the dungeon and FORGOT about her for MONTHS, only conveniently remembering because she hears her crying and finds the dungeon. THAT'S INSANELY DUMB.
- The use of SA for shock value disgusted me. For a book that is very much meant to be feminist, again, this is gross. The inclusion of a character mentioning g@ng r@pe, only for that character to be immediately killed and then the whole thing (coupled with a random decision to include child trafficking) is completely forgotten and never mentioned again.
- There is no consistency: Isolde has lost her father, yet spends so little time actually thinking about it that I can tell you exactly which scene she actually mentions it. Other character's reactions to his death are actually more emotional than Isolde ever is, despite mentions that she is TORN about it but CHOOSES not to think about it.
- Wtf is Adrian in this book? Why do they keep fighting, fucking, fighting, fucking...there's nothing to develop their relationship. As others have said, the author relies so heavily on them having had a previous connection, it's laughable. The smut was incredibly stupid as well, I loved Book 1 for the good smut and the decent but flimsy plot, and now this book has thrown out any good smut in favor of randomly dropping quick smut scenes every chapter that feel kind of bland.
- Speaking of plot, the whole flashbacks thing is handled insanely badly. I was listening to it as audiobook, but would have to pick up my paperback constantly to understand how we were switching to flashbacks, and even the paperback shows very little transition, the amount of whiplash this gave me...But also, Isolde doesn't remember everything from her previous life, makes sense, right? Except that we only get random flashbacks for plot convenience, and it feels like the author couldn't come up with a better way to give information than like this.
- The WHIPLASH: within 70 pages, we get two fights and fucking, executions, a battle, Isolde getting bit and Isolde turning into an animal. Which btw is treated like no big deal, everyone acts like no one could have possible found out despite seeing their queen run into the snow with the king following her (NAKED). REALLY? NO ONE NOTICED?
The sheer plot convenience of everything, the way we switched from one scene to the other, felt like such a rough draft, it was a "woop, gotta drop a flashback here to advance the plot" "woop, this villain turns out to be a good guy, woop his hands are cut, woop, he sacrifices himself for the people who maimed him" (this plotline was also dumb af, someone being introduced just to cause a little more conflict, only to then become vanilla boy, only then to be killed off because he has time freezing powers)
There's no way I'll give the next book a chance, and I'm incredibly disappointed. This was obviously rushed, a filler book, and the author wanted to do too much while not giving herself the time to properly introduce and connect all of it. Not only should this have been a duology, but I feel like it's hard for me to know where to stand with Scarlet St Clair. I legit loved her YA book way more than this because at least her YA book had a rounded plot that didn't try to do too much. It feels like I always adore book 1 of her series and get violent whiplash from how drastic the changes are in book 2.
I waited impatiently for this book to come out, only to find reviews that made me wait for a whole other year before giving it a go...and the reviews were right.