Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by thewildnorry
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
2.0
This book was overwhelmingly mediocre.
First off, let me begin by saying that the synopsis is ENTIRELY misguiding. I've scratched out parts that are straight up inaccurate and well..
When Annaleighfinds out that her sisters have been sneaking out to attend glittering midnight balls and dance until dawn, she's not sure whether to stop them--or join them. ((Annaleigh and her sisters discover the balls at the same time and go all together.)) And when she begins to see a series of horrific, ghostly visions and more sisters die, she realizes she must solve the mystery((she actually realizes it's a mystery before she starts seeing horrific visions or more sisters die))--with the help of Cassius, a sea captain who knows much more about her than he should ((<< that isn't revealed until like 60% through))--and unravel the Thaumas curse before she descends into madness or . . . it claims her next.
This book could not decide what it wanted to be or what it wanted to focus on. Did it want to be a ghost story? A new mythology with its own pantheon? A love triangle? A re-telling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses? It couldn't decide on a bad guy. It couldn't decide on a mystery. It was a book of wonderful but half-baked ideas.
While everything is tied up nicely in the end, it doesn't feel earned and I left feeling frustrated.
The twists? You couldn't guess them. But that's not a good thing. It was because you literally didn't have any of the pertinent information until right before they were revealed. Rather than making it surprising it felt like a convenient plot device that the author just wrote in.
There was no build up of any of the twists or suspense or pay offs. I mean, for example,
Add in the toxic masculinity and "my hero"-ing, and ugh. This book would not survive a feminist lens reading.
First off, let me begin by saying that the synopsis is ENTIRELY misguiding. I've scratched out parts that are straight up inaccurate and well..
When Annaleigh
This book could not decide what it wanted to be or what it wanted to focus on. Did it want to be a ghost story? A new mythology with its own pantheon? A love triangle? A re-telling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses? It couldn't decide on a bad guy. It couldn't decide on a mystery. It was a book of wonderful but half-baked ideas.
While everything is tied up nicely in the end, it doesn't feel earned and I left feeling frustrated.
The twists? You couldn't guess them. But that's not a good thing. It was because you literally didn't have any of the pertinent information until right before they were revealed. Rather than making it surprising it felt like a convenient plot device that the author just wrote in.
There was no build up of any of the twists or suspense or pay offs. I mean, for example,
Spoiler
a huge antagonist who was a puppet master pulling strings wasn't even revealed to be a character until like 90% through the book.Add in the toxic masculinity and "my hero"-ing, and ugh. This book would not survive a feminist lens reading.