Take a photo of a barcode or cover
megball21 's review for:
A Sorrow Fierce and Falling
by Jessica Cluess
DID NOT FINISH
DNF @ 26%
I physically cannot read this book anymore. I don’t want to get into it too much because even thinking about this book infuriates me.
My main problem is the relationship between Henrietta and Blackwood. I was never a huge fan of their relationship, especially after book two. This book starts off with them being ~in love~ after being engaged for a couple of months, and you may be wondering: didn’t Henrietta say that she didn’t want to marry Blackwood and that she is only doing so so that she can have magicians at Sorrow-Fell? And you would be right. So how do you think the author explains this drastic change in their relationship? In a one sentence explanation 60 pages into the book saying that they grew closer and fell in love. What?? That’s not how you develop a relationship! I remember starting the second book and thinking that Henrietta and Blackwood were WAY closer than I remember them being, and it was the same in this book. It’s just lazy writing to have these characters develop their relationship offscreen and just expect the readers to accept that.
Another thing I hated about this book is how Blackwood is emotionally abusive to Henrietta and in general a power hungry asshole AND YET it’s never condemned or challenged. There was one scene where he basically orders the QUEEN OF ENGLAND around and Henrietta is like “oh my god he only cares about power and he doesn’t want to share that with anyone” but then she just forgives him! That’s just one instance, but there were countless examples in the first quarter. Honestly anytime Blackwood was in a scene or mentioned I had it highlighted green (how I annotate things I don’t like/hate).
And the final nail in the coffin was when they have sex. I’m not a prude, I think Henrietta should have sex with whoever she wants, but the TIMING!! So many people had just died because of what they did and they decide that the best way to cope with this is to bang. Like ok?? The entire scene made me so uncomfortable that after I finished it I immediately checked the back of the book to make sure that she ends up with Magnus (I spoiled myself in the middle of the second book because I didn’t care anymore), and she does?? So I checked some spoilery Goodreads reviews to see if I wanted to continue since I had not enjoyed a second of what I had read so far. AND APPARENTLY Henrietta gets pregnant and Blackwood calls her a slut (who’s shocked?) and they break off their engagement. Then Blackwood dies? I don’t know how all I know is that it’s lame and nothing is done to redeem him for all his shitty, misogynistic and possessive behavior. And then somehow Henrietta and Magnus get together BECAUSE HER OTHER TWO OPTIONS ARE DEAD?????
Honestly I’m glad I jumped ship. I can’t remember the last time I DNFed a book with no intention of finishing it. I usually push through but I physically can’t, it’s literally so flabbergasting that this is where the story went. The first book was almost a five star book for me! And while I didn’t like the second one as much I really cared about most of the characters! But it’s just too frustrating to read. I had to create a new Goodreads shelf for DNFs! That’s how much I didn’t like this book! I finished A Great and Terrible Beauty!! That’s one of my least favorite books of ALL TIME! And I couldn’t get more than 26% of the way through this! I'm so disappointed, but I don’t care enough to read the rest of the book, and from what I read there’s no way that this would have gotten more than a 2 star rating from me and it doesn’t look like it gets any better. Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I physically cannot read this book anymore. I don’t want to get into it too much because even thinking about this book infuriates me.
My main problem is the relationship between Henrietta and Blackwood. I was never a huge fan of their relationship, especially after book two. This book starts off with them being ~in love~ after being engaged for a couple of months, and you may be wondering: didn’t Henrietta say that she didn’t want to marry Blackwood and that she is only doing so so that she can have magicians at Sorrow-Fell? And you would be right. So how do you think the author explains this drastic change in their relationship? In a one sentence explanation 60 pages into the book saying that they grew closer and fell in love. What?? That’s not how you develop a relationship! I remember starting the second book and thinking that Henrietta and Blackwood were WAY closer than I remember them being, and it was the same in this book. It’s just lazy writing to have these characters develop their relationship offscreen and just expect the readers to accept that.
Another thing I hated about this book is how Blackwood is emotionally abusive to Henrietta and in general a power hungry asshole AND YET it’s never condemned or challenged. There was one scene where he basically orders the QUEEN OF ENGLAND around and Henrietta is like “oh my god he only cares about power and he doesn’t want to share that with anyone” but then she just forgives him! That’s just one instance, but there were countless examples in the first quarter. Honestly anytime Blackwood was in a scene or mentioned I had it highlighted green (how I annotate things I don’t like/hate).
And the final nail in the coffin was when they have sex. I’m not a prude, I think Henrietta should have sex with whoever she wants, but the TIMING!! So many people had just died because of what they did and they decide that the best way to cope with this is to bang. Like ok?? The entire scene made me so uncomfortable that after I finished it I immediately checked the back of the book to make sure that she ends up with Magnus (I spoiled myself in the middle of the second book because I didn’t care anymore), and she does?? So I checked some spoilery Goodreads reviews to see if I wanted to continue since I had not enjoyed a second of what I had read so far. AND APPARENTLY Henrietta gets pregnant and Blackwood calls her a slut (who’s shocked?) and they break off their engagement. Then Blackwood dies? I don’t know how all I know is that it’s lame and nothing is done to redeem him for all his shitty, misogynistic and possessive behavior. And then somehow Henrietta and Magnus get together BECAUSE HER OTHER TWO OPTIONS ARE DEAD?????
Honestly I’m glad I jumped ship. I can’t remember the last time I DNFed a book with no intention of finishing it. I usually push through but I physically can’t, it’s literally so flabbergasting that this is where the story went. The first book was almost a five star book for me! And while I didn’t like the second one as much I really cared about most of the characters! But it’s just too frustrating to read. I had to create a new Goodreads shelf for DNFs! That’s how much I didn’t like this book! I finished A Great and Terrible Beauty!! That’s one of my least favorite books of ALL TIME! And I couldn’t get more than 26% of the way through this! I'm so disappointed, but I don’t care enough to read the rest of the book, and from what I read there’s no way that this would have gotten more than a 2 star rating from me and it doesn’t look like it gets any better. Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯