How can so much have happened in this book and yet… literally nothing happened💀 Elektra was completely unlikable for the entirety of the book, Clytemnestra was only slightly better, and Cassandra served literally no purpose. The book would have been the same without her.
The pacing was so off. So many characters were insignificant and yes, while I respect they were there to hold true to the original myths, I propose a better idea — don’t rewrite myths if you are going to make them only more boring. Lots of them are fine just the way they were!

Elektra was okay! Good enough for a weekend but glad I didn’t spend any longer on it💋Really had no substance and the writing was only slightly more than mediocre for about two sentences at a time. Cute cover though!

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

That ending? So yes. I predicted the main twist for a while leading up to it but it was really satisfying when it came together and all the foreshadowing made sense. I think the writing was a little mediocre and the story felt like it didn’t have much direction until about the last 150 pages, but it was still a fun read! For having read it in a day I really can’t complain; I didn’t waste a long time on it and the ending made me eager for the release of the next book💋

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Yes. Yes. So yes. I read this in a day probably fuelled solely by the,,, glowing lighthouse references. SO INCREDIBLY YES

Daniel Arlington💋 that’s all

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Too much exposition in the first few chapters, for me. While it helped me understand everything quickly, it took me out of the story. The whole grandma-tells-grandchildren-age-old-story-revealing-all-necessary-info-to-the-reader technique just isn’t what I expected to see in a book like this considering a more tactful release of the information would’ve made it sooo much more fun. Still, maybe it was important that that happened considering Vittoria’s death comes so early on — basically the whole story/world building DID have to be done before that for it to make sense. But still. By the time I’d reached her death I’d forgotten everything I read before it.

It also just felt a little like the author, before writing, frantically googled every Italian stereotypical name, food and tradition, and jammed it all into the first few pages. (Antonia, Domenico, Maria…😶)

I started writing this review when I started the book, and at this point I thought I’d be able to lead into the positives, but my optimism really got ahead of itself😻

I didn’t know this book was set in the 1800s until I googled the author out of interest and came upon a description of this book. How on earth did we go through so much surface-level world building all at once but it was never explicitly stated when this was set? Or even alluded to?😭 the characters give no indication of being from the 19th century and I have no idea who is dealing Emilia her ‘steamy romances’ but can they please get back in their Delorean and return to the present bc their Wattpad fans are definitely missing them🥸

The writing really wasn’t anything special and there were just one too many of the ‘xyz was its own type of magic’ comments for my liking. Okay, the food and the books are great, but please find another way to say this!

The whole thing just felt like an unpolished, awkward draft. The dialogue suffered most for this and I felt like I was cringing at it on every other page.

(‘When I finally kill you, you will be begging for the sweet release of death, Antonio.’ … Well okay, but I doubt that, because how much begging can he be doing when you’ve already killed him??)

I’d say this book was a waste of time but it did get me to my book goal for the year, so maybe it does have one single purpose after all😚

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fiinch's reviews 99 reviews

fiinch's reviews
99 reviews