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A review by gabs_myfullbookshelf
Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George
2.0
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If I met Jessica Day George in person, there is a 99% chance that I would freak out; the odds are also high that I would start either crying or incoherently trying to talk about how much I love her books. Perhaps both. She’s one of my favorite authors, so saying that I didn’t like Silver in the Blood really pains me. I was so sure this was going to be my favorite book from her, because it sounds so BEAUTIFUL.
Let me make it clear why I didn’t like this book. I have a chart. Because science.
Now, looking at this pie chart, we can see that the slices of pretty dresses and romance, are extremely disproportionate to the butt kicking slice.
This is a problem.
Yes, my problem was that Dacia and Lou are just terrible at being capable protagonists. Actually, Lou’s okay at it, but Dacia downright sucks. And even though Lou is alright at it, this didn’t completely make sense because she’s supposed to be shy and reserved, so why is the Lou that we meet so powerful and in control and not afraid to put people in their place? I dunno, I dunno. Let’s tackle these problems one at a time, shall we?
First; the dresses. There are so. Many. Dresses. The book takes its time talking about what Lou and Dacia are wearing and I just don’t care. I don’t care what color sash Dacia decided to wear with her gown. I’m all for adding a little detail now and then, but come on. This was not fun.
Second; the romance. Can it even be called that? Because I read the book and I still cannot figure out how Lou and Dacia fell in love with these guys. There was so little of it, but all the sudden in the end it mentions that they are apparently couples. It came out of nowhere; I saw hints, but nothing else, and it seems like any romance in this book was just added because it’s YA and ‘that’s what all the teen girls want nowadays, amiright?’ (NO IT’S NOT JUST STAHP PUBLISHERS PLEASE)
Third; the character of Prince Mihai. Now, there was potential here, I’ll admit. This could have been a wonderful villainous character. But no. First clue that I wasn’t going to like Mihai’s character was when Dacia describes him as smelling “like money and masculinity.” Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure that Old Spice sells that scent. Actually, no. I have no idea what that means. Second, some of the things he says sound like a soap opera. Like if it was a movie, you could hear the organ going “duh duh DUH” in the background. They are just so over-the-top menacing. But the final straw was that
Dacia and Lou were not characters I enjoyed reading about, either. Dacia is just a spoiled brat who whines a lot, and I just couldn’t take it after a while. It’s because of her that there are so many passages about dresses in this darn book. Then there’s Lou. She’s supposed to be shy and easily embarrassed, but aside from other characters thinking this about her, there’s really no evidence. I get it; she’s supposed to have overcome her shyness—but it doesn’t seem like there’s much to overcome if there’s really no signs in the book of her being shy.
Considering that Jessica Day George has written one of my favorite books (Tuesdays in the Castle) I don’t think I will give up on reading her books; I’m just going to consider this a fluke amongst an otherwise wonderful pile of books that I have read by her. Still, I will warn other fans that there is a chance that, like me, you won’t like this as much as the rest of her books.
If I met Jessica Day George in person, there is a 99% chance that I would freak out; the odds are also high that I would start either crying or incoherently trying to talk about how much I love her books. Perhaps both. She’s one of my favorite authors, so saying that I didn’t like Silver in the Blood really pains me. I was so sure this was going to be my favorite book from her, because it sounds so BEAUTIFUL.
Let me make it clear why I didn’t like this book. I have a chart. Because science.
Now, looking at this pie chart, we can see that the slices of pretty dresses and romance, are extremely disproportionate to the butt kicking slice.
This is a problem.
Yes, my problem was that Dacia and Lou are just terrible at being capable protagonists. Actually, Lou’s okay at it, but Dacia downright sucks. And even though Lou is alright at it, this didn’t completely make sense because she’s supposed to be shy and reserved, so why is the Lou that we meet so powerful and in control and not afraid to put people in their place? I dunno, I dunno. Let’s tackle these problems one at a time, shall we?
First; the dresses. There are so. Many. Dresses. The book takes its time talking about what Lou and Dacia are wearing and I just don’t care. I don’t care what color sash Dacia decided to wear with her gown. I’m all for adding a little detail now and then, but come on. This was not fun.
Second; the romance. Can it even be called that? Because I read the book and I still cannot figure out how Lou and Dacia fell in love with these guys. There was so little of it, but all the sudden in the end it mentions that they are apparently couples. It came out of nowhere; I saw hints, but nothing else, and it seems like any romance in this book was just added because it’s YA and ‘that’s what all the teen girls want nowadays, amiright?’ (NO IT’S NOT JUST STAHP PUBLISHERS PLEASE)
Third; the character of Prince Mihai. Now, there was potential here, I’ll admit. This could have been a wonderful villainous character. But no. First clue that I wasn’t going to like Mihai’s character was when Dacia describes him as smelling “like money and masculinity.” Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure that Old Spice sells that scent. Actually, no. I have no idea what that means. Second, some of the things he says sound like a soap opera. Like if it was a movie, you could hear the organ going “duh duh DUH” in the background. They are just so over-the-top menacing. But the final straw was that
Spoiler
he threatens to rape Lou and Dacia while they watch. No, no, no. NO. I’m sorry, but that’s not okay, even if he is the villain.Dacia and Lou were not characters I enjoyed reading about, either. Dacia is just a spoiled brat who whines a lot, and I just couldn’t take it after a while. It’s because of her that there are so many passages about dresses in this darn book. Then there’s Lou. She’s supposed to be shy and easily embarrassed, but aside from other characters thinking this about her, there’s really no evidence. I get it; she’s supposed to have overcome her shyness—but it doesn’t seem like there’s much to overcome if there’s really no signs in the book of her being shy.
Considering that Jessica Day George has written one of my favorite books (Tuesdays in the Castle) I don’t think I will give up on reading her books; I’m just going to consider this a fluke amongst an otherwise wonderful pile of books that I have read by her. Still, I will warn other fans that there is a chance that, like me, you won’t like this as much as the rest of her books.