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A review by maddy707
The Conference of the Birds by Ransom Riggs
1.0
Pros
- This books takes a turn into more mystical elements with a prophecy as opposed to what I thought this trilogy was going to be about, which was Jacob continuing Abe's legacy. Surprisingly, I didn't hate it. It's probably one of the more thought out elements of this series. That being said, it's still incredibly goofy. I would've preferred an adventure story about finding V. (Even though the twist at the end with V was cheap)
- Jacob as a character is SIGNIFICANTLY LESS insufferable than he was in the previous book. Thank bird.
Cons
- My biggest issue with this book is how Jacob completely disregards his previous feelings for Emma. Although I was not a fan of their romance, Jacob basically ignored his relationship to Emma in this book. Going as far to say "in my experience holding hands with a girl has never been special." as if he wasn't head over heels in love with Emma just a few days ago. I don't mind that Jacob is with Noor now, that relationship, although fast developing, felt more natural/real then Jacob and Emma did. However, I don't appreciate that Riggs has completely thrown away a fairly major part of Jacob. It's like he got to this book, realised he made a mistake putting Emma and Jacob, and instead of fixing it in a logical way, he basically tried to erase it. As if to say "just forget I ever wrote this." It annoyed me to no end. Especially considering this could've given Jacob, and Emma room to grow as characters. But no, it's just written off. It's jarring.
- As whole, this series feels unrefined. Although interesting in concept, Riggs has too much within the story. Too many characters and potential plot lines that leave a lot of this book, and the series overall feeling unrefined. The plot tries to go in a million directions, instead of focusing on one coherent point, which leaves the story telling and writing feeling like a mess. I often found myself going, "wait what?" at multiple points throughout the last 2 books as more useless characters were introduced and plot lines led nowhere. In the end, it leaves the book feeling as if nothing has happened at all. Riggs needs to seriously cut down on the characters he introduces. This book alone had at least 10+ new characters. All of which only stuck around for a chapter or so. By introducing a bunch of characters all the time it leads to none of the main characters getting any development. The time Riggs spends introducing characters could've been used to give dimension to already existing ones. At this point, entire characters have been forgotten. Like Bentham's assistant Kim, Bentham's Grim bear, the conjoined blind twins etc. LILY. WHY DIDN'T NOOR CHECK ON HER? WHY DIDN'T MILLARD ASK ABOUT HER? Ugh.
- An example of a potential plot point that was resolved basically instantly was the Panloopticon going down. It was resolved in like 10 pages. What was the point of it even happening? It added no tension and had no effect on the plot. It was a waste of words.
- "He let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding" omfg what in the 2012 fan fic is that line.
I was originally going to give this book 2 stars, but the more I thought about it, the more I disliked it. 1 star.
- This books takes a turn into more mystical elements with a prophecy as opposed to what I thought this trilogy was going to be about, which was Jacob continuing Abe's legacy. Surprisingly, I didn't hate it. It's probably one of the more thought out elements of this series. That being said, it's still incredibly goofy. I would've preferred an adventure story about finding V. (Even though the twist at the end with V was cheap)
- Jacob as a character is SIGNIFICANTLY LESS insufferable than he was in the previous book. Thank bird.
Cons
- My biggest issue with this book is how Jacob completely disregards his previous feelings for Emma. Although I was not a fan of their romance, Jacob basically ignored his relationship to Emma in this book. Going as far to say "in my experience holding hands with a girl has never been special." as if he wasn't head over heels in love with Emma just a few days ago. I don't mind that Jacob is with Noor now, that relationship, although fast developing, felt more natural/real then Jacob and Emma did. However, I don't appreciate that Riggs has completely thrown away a fairly major part of Jacob. It's like he got to this book, realised he made a mistake putting Emma and Jacob, and instead of fixing it in a logical way, he basically tried to erase it. As if to say "just forget I ever wrote this." It annoyed me to no end. Especially considering this could've given Jacob, and Emma room to grow as characters. But no, it's just written off. It's jarring.
- As whole, this series feels unrefined. Although interesting in concept, Riggs has too much within the story. Too many characters and potential plot lines that leave a lot of this book, and the series overall feeling unrefined. The plot tries to go in a million directions, instead of focusing on one coherent point, which leaves the story telling and writing feeling like a mess. I often found myself going, "wait what?" at multiple points throughout the last 2 books as more useless characters were introduced and plot lines led nowhere. In the end, it leaves the book feeling as if nothing has happened at all. Riggs needs to seriously cut down on the characters he introduces. This book alone had at least 10+ new characters. All of which only stuck around for a chapter or so. By introducing a bunch of characters all the time it leads to none of the main characters getting any development. The time Riggs spends introducing characters could've been used to give dimension to already existing ones. At this point, entire characters have been forgotten. Like Bentham's assistant Kim, Bentham's Grim bear, the conjoined blind twins etc. LILY. WHY DIDN'T NOOR CHECK ON HER? WHY DIDN'T MILLARD ASK ABOUT HER? Ugh.
- An example of a potential plot point that was resolved basically instantly was the Panloopticon going down. It was resolved in like 10 pages. What was the point of it even happening? It added no tension and had no effect on the plot. It was a waste of words.
- "He let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding" omfg what in the 2012 fan fic is that line.
I was originally going to give this book 2 stars, but the more I thought about it, the more I disliked it. 1 star.