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A review by readingwithzaina
Ivory Apples by Lisa Goldstein
2.0
Ivory Apples had great potential to be everything I love in a dark fantasy story.
The setting was ominous, the writing was lyrical and the characters were thrown into challenging situations. The story in itself had a strange contrast where the writing flow seemed very fairytale-esque but the content was dark and mature in themes and nature. I personally, didn’t mind that too much.
Only few authors can make me feel intense, personal feelings towards characters so I was thoroughly impressed when I found myself hating the antagonist of this book with a passion.
That being said, I overall did not enjoy this book.
1. While the writing was beautiful, the book was not written well.. if that makes sense. (It probably doesn’t lol.)
We follow Ivy from age 14 to 18 or 19, and the plot just melded together in a long, laborious prose. There was no structure to the story. It seemed like Ivory Apples hadn’t been reviewed by an editor.
2. The magic system was wonderful and yet, I wanted more structure there as well. Highly interesting concept, but mediocre execution.
3. The characters were not exactly likable. Look, I don’t need the characters I read about in every book to be nice people. In fact, I appreciate unlikable characters. But I also love growth and development of said characters, and it seemed stupid to me that all of them stayed the same throughout the course of 4-5 years.
Final thoughts: The elements individually were fantastic but they were not combined very well.
Rating: 2/5 ★
The setting was ominous, the writing was lyrical and the characters were thrown into challenging situations. The story in itself had a strange contrast where the writing flow seemed very fairytale-esque but the content was dark and mature in themes and nature. I personally, didn’t mind that too much.
Only few authors can make me feel intense, personal feelings towards characters so I was thoroughly impressed when I found myself hating the antagonist of this book with a passion.
That being said, I overall did not enjoy this book.
1. While the writing was beautiful, the book was not written well.. if that makes sense. (It probably doesn’t lol.)
We follow Ivy from age 14 to 18 or 19, and the plot just melded together in a long, laborious prose. There was no structure to the story. It seemed like Ivory Apples hadn’t been reviewed by an editor.
2. The magic system was wonderful and yet, I wanted more structure there as well. Highly interesting concept, but mediocre execution.
3. The characters were not exactly likable. Look, I don’t need the characters I read about in every book to be nice people. In fact, I appreciate unlikable characters. But I also love growth and development of said characters, and it seemed stupid to me that all of them stayed the same throughout the course of 4-5 years.
Final thoughts: The elements individually were fantastic but they were not combined very well.
Rating: 2/5 ★