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A review by biblioleah
A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
Did not finish book.
TW *incomplete*: violence, gore, blood, murder, death of a parent, grief, police brutality & racism
DNF @200 pages | This book had such promise and intrigue, what with the beautifully incorporated themes of racism and the fear of living in America as a Black person. Those themes paired with the lush and beautiful world could have made for an amazing read, but alas, it was not for me.
The two reasons for this being marked as a did not finish are as follows: the writing and the character relationships.
I can get behind side characters that are flat, or an unlikable main character who’s constantly making horrible decisions. But when the writing itself is so juvenile and just NOT vibing with me at all, I start to loose interest. What really killed this book for me though, were the romances and the friendships.
Alice’s friends suck. Period. She’s not a great friend to them but in the case of that BRAT Courtney, I was always on Alice’s side of things. The other friend? Lol I already forgot his name. He was boring, lame, and flat as hell.
But dude, the romance was a driving force if this book and it SUCKED. I did not give two shits about Hatta. I didn’t love the insta love, and I didn’t love that weird immortal age gap that’s oH sO SeXy apparently. He was just boring and there was so little chemistry there. He was hot and that was IT! Oh, and like, he said “luv” a lot which was annoying as fuck oml. The main plot (which, by the way, only appears half way through the book) only matters IF we as readers think Alice and Hatta matter. I didn’t think they did, so my enjoyment of the story just took a nose dive and Alice was being so obnoxious about her attraction for Hatta that I just couldn’t take it anymore. I mean hun, you BARELY know him!
This is just one of those books that would have THRIVED if not for the romance. GOD. Why couldn’t they have just been friends? Like Alice’s internal conflict with grieving her father and having PTSD over encounters with certain Nightmares could have been so much better explored if it had received HALF as much attention as this lame romance did. I could have easily loved this book if every boy Alice came into contact wasn’t immediately a love interest like GIRL. CHILL WITH THAT HETERO SHIT. Can you not just ~vibe~ with a male guy for once. Please spare me.
In the end I think there are definitely people who could love this book and the romance respectfully, but it just was not my thing whatsoever and I had to put it down.
❝ “It could’ve been me,” she finally said. “It could still be me.
DNF @200 pages | This book had such promise and intrigue, what with the beautifully incorporated themes of racism and the fear of living in America as a Black person. Those themes paired with the lush and beautiful world could have made for an amazing read, but alas, it was not for me.
The two reasons for this being marked as a did not finish are as follows: the writing and the character relationships.
I can get behind side characters that are flat, or an unlikable main character who’s constantly making horrible decisions. But when the writing itself is so juvenile and just NOT vibing with me at all, I start to loose interest. What really killed this book for me though, were the romances and the friendships.
Alice’s friends suck. Period. She’s not a great friend to them but in the case of that BRAT Courtney, I was always on Alice’s side of things. The other friend? Lol I already forgot his name. He was boring, lame, and flat as hell.
But dude, the romance was a driving force if this book and it SUCKED. I did not give two shits about Hatta. I didn’t love the insta love, and I didn’t love that weird immortal age gap that’s oH sO SeXy apparently. He was just boring and there was so little chemistry there. He was hot and that was IT! Oh, and like, he said “luv” a lot which was annoying as fuck oml. The main plot (which, by the way, only appears half way through the book) only matters IF we as readers think Alice and Hatta matter. I didn’t think they did, so my enjoyment of the story just took a nose dive and Alice was being so obnoxious about her attraction for Hatta that I just couldn’t take it anymore. I mean hun, you BARELY know him!
This is just one of those books that would have THRIVED if not for the romance. GOD. Why couldn’t they have just been friends? Like Alice’s internal conflict with grieving her father and having PTSD over encounters with certain Nightmares could have been so much better explored if it had received HALF as much attention as this lame romance did. I could have easily loved this book if every boy Alice came into contact wasn’t immediately a love interest like GIRL. CHILL WITH THAT HETERO SHIT. Can you not just ~vibe~ with a male guy for once. Please spare me.
In the end I think there are definitely people who could love this book and the romance respectfully, but it just was not my thing whatsoever and I had to put it down.