Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by michelle_boucher
Between Life and Death by Jaclyn Kot
2.0
First and foremost I want to thank Jaclyn for the Arc of this book, I really wish I could have loved it. If I had not received an arc I honestly would have DNF'd this book about 40% of the way through. While I know the tiktok videos made me feel like this would be a hit, it was a massive mess. Lets start with what I liked about it though:
- The side characters are quite interesting, I really enjoyed Ezra in the beginning and her batty behavior's. I also adored the relationship between Harper and Lyra, I wish we could have heard more about it, I think it would make a good prequel novella.
- The people with magic being thought of as cursed and having to hide rather than being at the top of the hierarchy was a nice change from the more common alternative.
- The names in the book being more common and quick to pronounce made getting into the story a lot easier than other books.
What I didn't like:
- The is a severe lack of world building and the magic system is not thoroughly explained, this is partly because even the FMC has no idea what is happening.
- The MMC is supposed to come off as arrogant and seductive, immediately purring dirty things into the FMC's ear. However he comes off as cringy.
-The FMC and MMC are in insta love, part of this is because the MMC has some sort of history with her but she has no idea. The insta love doesn't make sense with the story, they seriously barely speak before she says she has feelings for him for no reason.
-The FMC is just awful. She does not question anything. She doesn't piece anything together even when other characters are basically spelling them out for her. She gets pushed into a mist and almost dies then gets told that there's some big stuff she needs to know and she just decides to go home and not ask anything. She also gets told by the MMC that they are bonded, she once again doesn't ask any questions or think twice about it. Since we are following her story, it also means the readers have no insight into anything.
-The plot is oddly paced and all over the place, its like a bunch of decent ideas are strung together with no detail and the story just ends up being boring. Everything is glossed over, no intricacy.
I think if this book was split in two, giving more of a proper world building intro and letting the characters gain some actual chemistry and time together it would really have been a good story. There is hundreds of pages of details and plot points that could have been explained. The FMC needs an overhaul, she is completely clueless and has no personality. The writing itself is not terrible, though it does read very immature for an adult book. I do think the series has promise if the story can become more defined. Overall its not a terrible book by any means, but I do fear some of the videos ive seen are making it out to be something that its not. I would give Jaclyn Kot another chance and perhaps I will love the next book she writes.
- The side characters are quite interesting, I really enjoyed Ezra in the beginning and her batty behavior's. I also adored the relationship between Harper and Lyra, I wish we could have heard more about it, I think it would make a good prequel novella.
- The people with magic being thought of as cursed and having to hide rather than being at the top of the hierarchy was a nice change from the more common alternative.
- The names in the book being more common and quick to pronounce made getting into the story a lot easier than other books.
What I didn't like:
- The is a severe lack of world building and the magic system is not thoroughly explained, this is partly because even the FMC has no idea what is happening.
- The MMC is supposed to come off as arrogant and seductive, immediately purring dirty things into the FMC's ear. However he comes off as cringy.
-The FMC and MMC are in insta love, part of this is because the MMC has some sort of history with her but she has no idea. The insta love doesn't make sense with the story, they seriously barely speak before she says she has feelings for him for no reason.
-The FMC is just awful. She does not question anything. She doesn't piece anything together even when other characters are basically spelling them out for her. She gets pushed into a mist and almost dies then gets told that there's some big stuff she needs to know and she just decides to go home and not ask anything. She also gets told by the MMC that they are bonded, she once again doesn't ask any questions or think twice about it. Since we are following her story, it also means the readers have no insight into anything.
-The plot is oddly paced and all over the place, its like a bunch of decent ideas are strung together with no detail and the story just ends up being boring. Everything is glossed over, no intricacy.
I think if this book was split in two, giving more of a proper world building intro and letting the characters gain some actual chemistry and time together it would really have been a good story. There is hundreds of pages of details and plot points that could have been explained. The FMC needs an overhaul, she is completely clueless and has no personality. The writing itself is not terrible, though it does read very immature for an adult book. I do think the series has promise if the story can become more defined. Overall its not a terrible book by any means, but I do fear some of the videos ive seen are making it out to be something that its not. I would give Jaclyn Kot another chance and perhaps I will love the next book she writes.