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flutterbylife's Reviews (308)
Slightly disappointing. It's got all of the elements to make a really good books, with a lot of fun tropes that I love to read. However, I didn't think the execution was really good.
The characters are slightly flat, and fall dangerously into Mary Sue territory at times. For over half the book, it seemed to me like Hawke's only traits were a) he's good at sex, b) he's good at killing, oh and c) he's rather nice to Poppy. And that's it.
The beginning had interesting premises, and it was a promising world. However, the further I read into the book, the more cliché and unbelievable it felt to me.
Therefore, I'm rating this 2.5 - 3 stars because I did enjoy some parts of it, and I probably will read the sequel, but it's definitely not one of my favourite books.
The characters are slightly flat, and fall dangerously into Mary Sue territory at times. For over half the book, it seemed to me like Hawke's only traits were a) he's good at sex, b) he's good at killing, oh and c) he's rather nice to Poppy. And that's it.
The beginning had interesting premises, and it was a promising world. However, the further I read into the book, the more cliché and unbelievable it felt to me.
Therefore, I'm rating this 2.5 - 3 stars because I did enjoy some parts of it, and I probably will read the sequel, but it's definitely not one of my favourite books.
Actual rating: 1.5
I quite enjoyed the said purple prose of this novel, as it definitely added a tad of mystery and a certain poetry to a YA novel, which usually doesn't have that. The execution isn't the best, and sometimes the words just seem really strange, but I truly believe that it's one of the better parts of the novel.
However, the all other points of the novel fell flat for me. The characters are extremely boring. Nothing ever happens, they're quite passive, and all Mary Sues or Gary Sues. Juliette was somewhat interesting, and her trauma was (in my opinion) well-portrayed in the beginning but fell flat in the end. I also believe that her recovery was quite glossed over. The first part of the novel really insists on her trauma, and the writing and events lead me to believe that she was going to have severe trouble over-coming all that she had suffered. And yet, barely thirty pages later, she seems to be completely fine. Yes, she is physically a prisoner, but then again, she has this cute guard she can flirt with so it's all fine. The romance was deeply disturbing for me because of that. She simply jumped into the romance without a second thought in a most awkward manner (writing-wise).
Which leads me onto my next point: the plot. I thought the plot was extremely... off? Not a lot happened, and when it did I was really confused. The pacing was extremely wrong for the entire book, it was at the same time far too slow, and much too quick. Moments of tension fell flat for me and I just couldn't feel it build up.
So while I did enjoy this new sort of writing, the rest was just not my cup of tea, and I'm not sure I'm going to read the sequel.
I quite enjoyed the said purple prose of this novel, as it definitely added a tad of mystery and a certain poetry to a YA novel, which usually doesn't have that. The execution isn't the best, and sometimes the words just seem really strange, but I truly believe that it's one of the better parts of the novel.
However, the all other points of the novel fell flat for me. The characters are extremely boring. Nothing ever happens, they're quite passive, and all Mary Sues or Gary Sues. Juliette was somewhat interesting, and her trauma was (in my opinion) well-portrayed in the beginning but fell flat in the end. I also believe that her recovery was quite glossed over. The first part of the novel really insists on her trauma, and the writing and events lead me to believe that she was going to have severe trouble over-coming all that she had suffered. And yet, barely thirty pages later, she seems to be completely fine. Yes, she is physically a prisoner, but then again, she has this cute guard she can flirt with so it's all fine. The romance was deeply disturbing for me because of that. She simply jumped into the romance without a second thought in a most awkward manner (writing-wise).
Which leads me onto my next point: the plot. I thought the plot was extremely... off? Not a lot happened, and when it did I was really confused. The pacing was extremely wrong for the entire book, it was at the same time far too slow, and much too quick. Moments of tension fell flat for me and I just couldn't feel it build up.
So while I did enjoy this new sort of writing, the rest was just not my cup of tea, and I'm not sure I'm going to read the sequel.
