Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by crimsonblue
Lore by Alexandra Bracken
1.25
tw: sexual assault, mention of rape, pedophilia, gore
This book has a lot of mentions of pedophilia, but it was expected from the kind of greek-style society the book takes inspiration from; it also contains a scene where a character almost gets raped, and lots of gore.
If reading about these things bothers you then this is not the right book for you.
The premises were all there: greek mythology with a side of The Hunger Games. But something clearly went wrong.
One thing I noticed since the very first chapter was the absence of pathos. I didn't feel any emotions while reading this book, not from the plot and neither from the characters, especially in the first 70% of the book. Toward the end there were a few plot twists that surprised me and at that point I was positive that the book was finally getting better... nope, I was wrong.
Lore, the main character, is the classic strong and independent young woman that we always appreciate in a YA fantasy book, but not this time. Her reasoning was pretty weird and it often led her to reckless and wrong decisions that slowed the pace, diverting the attention from the main plot. And more often than not those digressions were only a waste of time.
I hoped that by the end of the book I could change my opinion on her, but it wasn't the case, and even if I was moved by her backstory I couldn't bring myself to care about her.
Castor was gorgeous and kind and with a heart of gold, but he was also bland and as flat as a sheet of paper. I truly hoped to see him get mad or even lash out at some point just to spice things up, Spoilerbut of course he, too good for this world, never did.
I almost feel guilty because Castor is the type of character I usually hold close to my heart, the kind that sparks my protective instinct, but not this time.
Wrath is the typical villain, but sometimes the plot wandered so much that it made you completely forget about his existence. I'm not saying that he was a bad villain, but he didn't feel that scary to me even if he was a disgusting and psychotic [insert insult here].
One thing I actually enjoyed was the relationship between two of the side characters.
SpoilerMiles and Van were adorable and there was the right amount of tension between them.
I have to admit that I didn't DNF only because I was curious to know how the author would develop something between them in such a short time. I would love to say that I wasn't disappointed, but I actually was. The build up was slow and good, until she placed an over-the-top scene that completely destroyed my hope for this book. SpoilerHow do you go from them having their first conversation alone to one of them shielding the other with his body the next day? I get that it was subtly hinted that Van was developing a crush for Miles, but from a crush to being ready to die for the other person there's a long way to go!
At least they were cute, and their relationship felt more real and well written than that of our dear main characters. But maybe that's just because I didn't like neither Lore nor Castor.
The flashbacks were really good and they were the only chapters that made me feel a connection to the characters. Too bad that that same connection quickly crumbled to pieces when the plot came back to present times.
The final chapters felt like a fever dream. I can't believe that after all that build up the author decided to end the book like that, it was anticlimatic and quite nonsense. And it explained nothing, I feel like I have more questions now than I did at the beginning of the book!
But at least it ended well, I suppose.
The thing that bothered me the most about was the way the author tried to mix a too simple Percy-Jackson-style kind of plot (and romance) with some pretty detailed and gruesome fighting scenes. I'm not against gore, but in this case it felt a bit ridiculous and out of place.
Overall Lore is not a bad book, the plot makes sense and it's interesting enough and the characters could've been worse, but it lacked something and it inevitably left me unsatisfied.
This book has a lot of mentions of pedophilia, but it was expected from the kind of greek-style society the book takes inspiration from; it also contains a scene where a character almost gets raped, and lots of gore.
If reading about these things bothers you then this is not the right book for you.
The premises were all there: greek mythology with a side of The Hunger Games. But something clearly went wrong.
One thing I noticed since the very first chapter was the absence of pathos. I didn't feel any emotions while reading this book, not from the plot and neither from the characters, especially in the first 70% of the book. Toward the end there were a few plot twists that surprised me and at that point I was positive that the book was finally getting better... nope, I was wrong.
Lore, the main character, is the classic strong and independent young woman that we always appreciate in a YA fantasy book, but not this time. Her reasoning was pretty weird and it often led her to reckless and wrong decisions that slowed the pace, diverting the attention from the main plot. And more often than not those digressions were only a waste of time.
I hoped that by the end of the book I could change my opinion on her, but it wasn't the case, and even if I was moved by her backstory I couldn't bring myself to care about her.
Castor was gorgeous and kind and with a heart of gold, but he was also bland and as flat as a sheet of paper. I truly hoped to see him get mad or even lash out at some point just to spice things up, Spoilerbut of course he, too good for this world, never did.
I almost feel guilty because Castor is the type of character I usually hold close to my heart, the kind that sparks my protective instinct, but not this time.
Wrath is the typical villain, but sometimes the plot wandered so much that it made you completely forget about his existence. I'm not saying that he was a bad villain, but he didn't feel that scary to me even if he was a disgusting and psychotic [insert insult here].
One thing I actually enjoyed was the relationship between two of the side characters.
SpoilerMiles and Van were adorable and there was the right amount of tension between them.
I have to admit that I didn't DNF only because I was curious to know how the author would develop something between them in such a short time. I would love to say that I wasn't disappointed, but I actually was. The build up was slow and good, until she placed an over-the-top scene that completely destroyed my hope for this book. SpoilerHow do you go from them having their first conversation alone to one of them shielding the other with his body the next day? I get that it was subtly hinted that Van was developing a crush for Miles, but from a crush to being ready to die for the other person there's a long way to go!
At least they were cute, and their relationship felt more real and well written than that of our dear main characters. But maybe that's just because I didn't like neither Lore nor Castor.
The flashbacks were really good and they were the only chapters that made me feel a connection to the characters. Too bad that that same connection quickly crumbled to pieces when the plot came back to present times.
The final chapters felt like a fever dream. I can't believe that after all that build up the author decided to end the book like that, it was anticlimatic and quite nonsense. And it explained nothing, I feel like I have more questions now than I did at the beginning of the book!
But at least it ended well, I suppose.
The thing that bothered me the most about was the way the author tried to mix a too simple Percy-Jackson-style kind of plot (and romance) with some pretty detailed and gruesome fighting scenes. I'm not against gore, but in this case it felt a bit ridiculous and out of place.
Overall Lore is not a bad book, the plot makes sense and it's interesting enough and the characters could've been worse, but it lacked something and it inevitably left me unsatisfied.