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abbieday01 's review for:
And I Darken
by Kiersten White
I hate giving low scores. This books is a 2.5 for me in all reality. Not the worst ever, but certainly not the best ever. In fact, I am not even sure what to say about it, except I am glad I opted to get it on kindle for considerably cheaper than the print version because I would have been upset to have paid $15.99 for it - I will not be reading it again.
I found the beginning to drag on and on and on. With an over emphasis on explaining how very ugly Lada is - I mean I get it. She was ugly, and in turn she was super vicious, but apparently later she developed a chest that got her noticed a lot more than she wanted to be noticed. While she was ugly her brother was beautiful in a feminine sort of way that in doubt set the stage for the character to have a crisis of gender identity in a religious and cultural setting where such was not acceptable behaviour.
Lada marries her best friend in secret at the age of 12 or 13 then he is removed from the story, but was it true love?
Radu struggles with sexual identity, and becoming a strong man. So - does it automatically mean that you're gay if you cry a lot, are beautiful? Just asking because this seems a bit stereotypical and maybe not entirely accurate. Maybe I feel a feminist urge to say that this boy could have been strong and still beautiful and still struggled with this issue. Although both seem to work themselves out in the end.
Mahmed - yeah, hmmmm, well not sure what to think of him.
Huma - have to admire a woman that is pointed in explaining there are more ways then might and strength to gain the power of an entire empire and control the throne. That thrones can be taken by sword and might but also by waiting and the use of feminine sexuality and persuasion. Rather a sneaky tactic that women have been employing to ensnare men for centuries - you'd think they'd learn to protect themselves. From the harem she can control a kingdom - interesting concept. Made me think of all the wives that influenced their husbands in the Biblical accounts of 1/2 Kings and 1/2 Chronicles, as well as other historical accounts.
I honestly don't know how to best review this book. It's so dry at times, reading like a dry, very long account of growing up. To me it does not become interesting until almost 2/3's of the way in and then I started actually having feelings for the characters and caring about how it ended. Believe me this almost ended up on my DNF shelf more than one time. Now the type A personality in me is debating on whether I should suck it up and finish the entire series rather than leave it undone and just cutting it loose.
I found the beginning to drag on and on and on. With an over emphasis on explaining how very ugly Lada is - I mean I get it. She was ugly, and in turn she was super vicious, but apparently later she developed a chest that got her noticed a lot more than she wanted to be noticed. While she was ugly her brother was beautiful in a feminine sort of way that in doubt set the stage for the character to have a crisis of gender identity in a religious and cultural setting where such was not acceptable behaviour.
Lada marries her best friend in secret at the age of 12 or 13 then he is removed from the story, but was it true love?
Radu struggles with sexual identity, and becoming a strong man. So - does it automatically mean that you're gay if you cry a lot, are beautiful? Just asking because this seems a bit stereotypical and maybe not entirely accurate. Maybe I feel a feminist urge to say that this boy could have been strong and still beautiful and still struggled with this issue. Although both seem to work themselves out in the end.
Mahmed - yeah, hmmmm, well not sure what to think of him.
Huma - have to admire a woman that is pointed in explaining there are more ways then might and strength to gain the power of an entire empire and control the throne. That thrones can be taken by sword and might but also by waiting and the use of feminine sexuality and persuasion. Rather a sneaky tactic that women have been employing to ensnare men for centuries - you'd think they'd learn to protect themselves. From the harem she can control a kingdom - interesting concept. Made me think of all the wives that influenced their husbands in the Biblical accounts of 1/2 Kings and 1/2 Chronicles, as well as other historical accounts.
I honestly don't know how to best review this book. It's so dry at times, reading like a dry, very long account of growing up. To me it does not become interesting until almost 2/3's of the way in and then I started actually having feelings for the characters and caring about how it ended. Believe me this almost ended up on my DNF shelf more than one time. Now the type A personality in me is debating on whether I should suck it up and finish the entire series rather than leave it undone and just cutting it loose.