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daniela1207 's review for:
Onyx Storm
by Rebecca Yarros
**2.25
I don't know how long this will be but I have a lot to say.
Let me start with what I liked: The concept for this series is fascinating and nothing can take that away. I love Violet's dragons and her relationship with them. I really like the dialogue in these books and found myself actually chuckling at a few characters. Xaden and Violet (at their best) are a really solid couple that I genuinely root for. I would also say, all things considered, I am pretty invested! I had my moments where I was feeling for these characters and cared about how things were going.
That being said, I did not like this book! The question now is... where did we go wrong? I gave book #1 five stars... something obviously changed. I realized main shift (for me) was probably how unnecessarily confusing it all got. Full disclosure, I did not re read any of the books since I had first read them 1-2 years ago, but I'm still confident that this was an issue for other people because I took my confused ass to reddit around chapter 8 to figure some things out, only to realize everyone else seemed to be as confused as I was. There is no reason for keeping the reader in the dark about several aspects of the plot/ characters for the majority of a 700+ page book.
It begs the question... did the author even have the answers? And if she did, there are better ways for creating tension for the reader than gatekeeping information that is needed to understand what is going on. I felt like I was getting info dump after info dump in the first 150 pages and yet... none of the info was stuff that I knew how to contextualize or understand because there were much bigger gaps in information. I should have to get a PhD in your books lore in order to be able to grasp it!
I found myself cackling at how ridiculous some plot points felt. I was reminded of how I felt in House of Flame and Shadow with the way the twists seemed to come out of nowhere and just conveniently fall in to place dramatically. The end of the book felt like it was specifically written just to get the reader to want to pick up the next book, because everything was left so ridiculously unresolved. We don't even really know what happened at the end of the book and realistically won't know until the next book comes out. And unfortunately for me, I think this tactic worked because I really DO want to know what happens next.
Once again, Violet pissed me off in this book, although she was less frustrating than she was in Iron Flame. I was tired of her point of view and the way she talks circles in her internal monologue. I read the same thoughts over and over and over again. I'll also add here that I don't particularly enjoy her writing style but I was able to overlook that after book #1. I could never picture what she was describing... this might be a me problem but I have such a hard time visualizing any of her descriptions they just don't make sense in my brain and it made it hard to enjoy. Sadly, there were less redeemable qualities in this one to justify a higher rating based off entertainment. I wanted it to be over so bad.
OH! AND XADEN WAS GIVING ME THE ICK FOR A LOT OF THIS BOOK WHICH WAS A HARD LOSS! IF I CAN'T EVEN ENJOY THE MAIN BROODING LOVE INTEREST THERE! IS! A! PROBLEM! The jealousy trope will kill us all....
Anyways... this was long but mostly for me to process what I just read. But if you happen to be someone deciding whether or not to read this series... my main question would be: how much are you willing to overlook/ ignore? If the answer is a lot then yeah its probably worth the read.
Maybe I'll see ya'll here when the next book comes out if I still haven't learned to protect my peace!
I don't know how long this will be but I have a lot to say.
Let me start with what I liked: The concept for this series is fascinating and nothing can take that away. I love Violet's dragons and her relationship with them. I really like the dialogue in these books and found myself actually chuckling at a few characters. Xaden and Violet (at their best) are a really solid couple that I genuinely root for. I would also say, all things considered, I am pretty invested! I had my moments where I was feeling for these characters and cared about how things were going.
That being said, I did not like this book! The question now is... where did we go wrong? I gave book #1 five stars... something obviously changed. I realized main shift (for me) was probably how unnecessarily confusing it all got. Full disclosure, I did not re read any of the books since I had first read them 1-2 years ago, but I'm still confident that this was an issue for other people because I took my confused ass to reddit around chapter 8 to figure some things out, only to realize everyone else seemed to be as confused as I was. There is no reason for keeping the reader in the dark about several aspects of the plot/ characters for the majority of a 700+ page book.
It begs the question... did the author even have the answers? And if she did, there are better ways for creating tension for the reader than gatekeeping information that is needed to understand what is going on. I felt like I was getting info dump after info dump in the first 150 pages and yet... none of the info was stuff that I knew how to contextualize or understand because there were much bigger gaps in information. I should have to get a PhD in your books lore in order to be able to grasp it!
I found myself cackling at how ridiculous some plot points felt. I was reminded of how I felt in House of Flame and Shadow with the way the twists seemed to come out of nowhere and just conveniently fall in to place dramatically. The end of the book felt like it was specifically written just to get the reader to want to pick up the next book, because everything was left so ridiculously unresolved. We don't even really know what happened at the end of the book and realistically won't know until the next book comes out. And unfortunately for me, I think this tactic worked because I really DO want to know what happens next.
Once again, Violet pissed me off in this book, although she was less frustrating than she was in Iron Flame. I was tired of her point of view and the way she talks circles in her internal monologue. I read the same thoughts over and over and over again. I'll also add here that I don't particularly enjoy her writing style but I was able to overlook that after book #1. I could never picture what she was describing... this might be a me problem but I have such a hard time visualizing any of her descriptions they just don't make sense in my brain and it made it hard to enjoy. Sadly, there were less redeemable qualities in this one to justify a higher rating based off entertainment. I wanted it to be over so bad.
OH! AND XADEN WAS GIVING ME THE ICK FOR A LOT OF THIS BOOK WHICH WAS A HARD LOSS! IF I CAN'T EVEN ENJOY THE MAIN BROODING LOVE INTEREST THERE! IS! A! PROBLEM! The jealousy trope will kill us all....
Anyways... this was long but mostly for me to process what I just read. But if you happen to be someone deciding whether or not to read this series... my main question would be: how much are you willing to overlook/ ignore? If the answer is a lot then yeah its probably worth the read.
Maybe I'll see ya'll here when the next book comes out if I still haven't learned to protect my peace!