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A review by kazuchuu
A Crown of Hopes and Sorrows by Nicole Bailey
4.0
"You're everything good in the world to me. I shall never love another as I do you." His hands coursed along my arm like he carved me into stone, like he could capture me forever with his touch. "I don't think I'll ever love anyone again. You've ruined me."
This!! Was such a wild ride!! I'm glad to say that I enjoyed this book even more than the last one, and I absolutely adored the development of the characters and their dynamics. Apollo's and Hyacinth's feelings for each other seemed to spill over from the pages. Epiphany's and Valerian's dedication to each other remained unwavering, no matter what happened. Temi's resolve was both terrifying and admirable. The dialogue is easy to follow, clever at times, and all in all just a fun read.
I've said this about the last book, but it's worth mentioning again that this retelling only follows the general idea of the myth of Apollo and Hyacinthus - a lot of mythological elements are changed completely for the sake of the plot, which I can understand, but it was still funny because it caught me off-guard each time.
I'm not sure if it's just me, but I feel like the writing improved a lot in this book. The prose flowed really well. I was not only reading a story, but also watching it unfold in real-time, like I might watch a movie, and those are my favorite type of books.
My only complaint is that a lot of times, I found it difficult to take Zephyrus seriously. He's supposed to be one of the main antagonists and obstacles that comes in between Apollo and Hyacinth, but he felt more like a Disney villain. A lot of his dialogue came off as cartoonish. It would've been great if we could've gotten a backstory as to why he hates Apollo so much (and this hatred goes way back, before Hyacinth, apparently), especially since his brothers seem to have no problem with him. It's a little funny that Boreas is much nicer in comparison, considering the myths paint him as the grumpiest of his family.
Anyway, this was still one joy of a read.
4/5
This!! Was such a wild ride!! I'm glad to say that I enjoyed this book even more than the last one, and I absolutely adored the development of the characters and their dynamics. Apollo's and Hyacinth's feelings for each other seemed to spill over from the pages. Epiphany's and Valerian's dedication to each other remained unwavering, no matter what happened. Temi's resolve was both terrifying and admirable. The dialogue is easy to follow, clever at times, and all in all just a fun read.
I've said this about the last book, but it's worth mentioning again that this retelling only follows the general idea of the myth of Apollo and Hyacinthus - a lot of mythological elements are changed completely for the sake of the plot, which I can understand, but it was still funny because it caught me off-guard each time.
I'm not sure if it's just me, but I feel like the writing improved a lot in this book. The prose flowed really well. I was not only reading a story, but also watching it unfold in real-time, like I might watch a movie, and those are my favorite type of books.
My only complaint is that a lot of times, I found it difficult to take Zephyrus seriously. He's supposed to be one of the main antagonists and obstacles that comes in between Apollo and Hyacinth, but he felt more like a Disney villain. A lot of his dialogue came off as cartoonish. It would've been great if we could've gotten a backstory as to why he hates Apollo so much (and this hatred goes way back, before Hyacinth, apparently), especially since his brothers seem to have no problem with him. It's a little funny that Boreas is much nicer in comparison, considering the myths paint him as the grumpiest of his family.
Anyway, this was still one joy of a read.
Spoiler
Heart-wrenching, too, even though I know the myth and I know how it ends. But the way it was going, things were looking up, and the author had me believing Hyacinth would actually be spared. I guess he was, in a way, but I was definitely not emotionally prepared.4/5