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A review by starryeyedwings
The Healing Power of Sugar by C.L. Stone
4.0
I love these books. Like, I really love them. Ignoring the various typos that I occasionally find in these books (particularly this one, which I was a bit miffed about because I feel authors should be VERY meticulous about these) I like the developing plot - even if it is excruciatingly slow at times and torturous to wait a whole freaking YEAR for the next one to come out - and the uniqueness and (even!) the sometimes-unbelievable-ness of the characters. I feel like it all builds to the story, because that's just the way the story is, rather than taking away from it. I commend Ms. Stone for being able to balance and handle and keep track of basically ten protagonists (the nine boys and Sang) while still remaining in Sang's first person POV.
Now, having said all of that, I did not enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped I would. Honestly I'm very disappointed. I felt like there was so much anticipation building up to this book, more so than the last few for some reason (is that just me?) and the more I read, the more that anticipation and excitement of FINALLY getting to read this next awaited installment sputtered and dwindled down.
SPOILER:
First, let's address that football game. While initially I enjoyed reading about the antics of our favorite Academy boys and learning more about the in-depth dynamics of other Academy and Academy-related folks working together and enjoying themselves on Thanksgiving, the football game D-R-A-G-G-E-D. I feel as if every little detail was explicitly described and thus left nothing to the reader's imagination. Of course, granted since the book is in Sang's POV and it's her first time doing many things she would describe the events in details. But still. In previous books, she manages to reveal just enough to let the reader understand and follow along. Not every action needs to be described in a book, we do have brains. We can tell a character's gonna do bathroom-related activities in a bathroom, unless he/she is not - only then it needs to be described. So things like that I found boring and skipped through during the football game. The game itself also seemed like a filler in some way, even though it did describe what the Academy boys did. But again, perhaps fewer pages would've been more effective.
Second, the whole issue with Luke going off and doing who-knows-what-where. As soon as Kota found out from Sang that Luke went off, and realized he hadn't informed him or Mr. Blackbourne, given their history they should've done something. At least Kota should've contacted Mr. B and told him to confront Luke, and THEN if Luke still didn't want to share only then they should've given him that blind trust they're all trained to do and left him alone.
Finally, WHAT WAS THAT SCENE AT THE END WITH VOLTO????? WHY DIDN'T YOU RED-LINE ANYONE, LUKE?! WHY?????!!!!! And why weren't the other boys more upset/angry over the fact that Luke didn't contact anyone? There was more than enough time while he was listening in to Volto and Sang's conversation. That baffled me.
That said and done, I still want to keep reading of course. And now I have to (once more) wait a WHOLE. DAMN. FREAKING. YEAR for the next book. Sigh. The tortures of reading series. They were SO close to catching Volto! Ugh! I have my suspicions on who it is, of course. So far I've got either Mr. Morris or Karen. Also, Sang's PTSD/fear of the rain & showering seems to be escalating, but no one but Victor knows it yet. What's going to happen there? So many questions!!
Now, having said all of that, I did not enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped I would. Honestly I'm very disappointed. I felt like there was so much anticipation building up to this book, more so than the last few for some reason (is that just me?) and the more I read, the more that anticipation and excitement of FINALLY getting to read this next awaited installment sputtered and dwindled down.
SPOILER:
First, let's address that football game. While initially I enjoyed reading about the antics of our favorite Academy boys and learning more about the in-depth dynamics of other Academy and Academy-related folks working together and enjoying themselves on Thanksgiving, the football game D-R-A-G-G-E-D. I feel as if every little detail was explicitly described and thus left nothing to the reader's imagination. Of course, granted since the book is in Sang's POV and it's her first time doing many things she would describe the events in details. But still. In previous books, she manages to reveal just enough to let the reader understand and follow along. Not every action needs to be described in a book, we do have brains. We can tell a character's gonna do bathroom-related activities in a bathroom, unless he/she is not - only then it needs to be described. So things like that I found boring and skipped through during the football game. The game itself also seemed like a filler in some way, even though it did describe what the Academy boys did. But again, perhaps fewer pages would've been more effective.
Second, the whole issue with Luke going off and doing who-knows-what-where. As soon as Kota found out from Sang that Luke went off, and realized he hadn't informed him or Mr. Blackbourne, given their history they should've done something. At least Kota should've contacted Mr. B and told him to confront Luke, and THEN if Luke still didn't want to share only then they should've given him that blind trust they're all trained to do and left him alone.
Finally, WHAT WAS THAT SCENE AT THE END WITH VOLTO????? WHY DIDN'T YOU RED-LINE ANYONE, LUKE?! WHY?????!!!!! And why weren't the other boys more upset/angry over the fact that Luke didn't contact anyone? There was more than enough time while he was listening in to Volto and Sang's conversation. That baffled me.
That said and done, I still want to keep reading of course. And now I have to (once more) wait a WHOLE. DAMN. FREAKING. YEAR for the next book. Sigh. The tortures of reading series. They were SO close to catching Volto! Ugh! I have my suspicions on who it is, of course. So far I've got either Mr. Morris or Karen. Also, Sang's PTSD/fear of the rain & showering seems to be escalating, but no one but Victor knows it yet. What's going to happen there? So many questions!!