lattederafaela's Reviews (364)

O Fim dos Homens by Christina Sweeney-Baird

Off to the Races

Elsie Silver

3.5

lighthearted medium-paced

Fragmentations

Isabella Falconeri

3.5

dark mysterious fast-paced

This could work, but it didn't. The ideas are good, and the concept of really short stories is nice, but it wasn't well executed. It looks like the stories were written for social media and not for a book, with the really short sentences and even shorter paragraphs. The stories were good, but the written was not, at all. Needs some more work.

Kingdom of the Sun

Nero, HP

4.5

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was an interesting read. And fun.

The world-building and magic system is quite interesting, fun to navigate, easy to follow.

The writing, however, annoyed me sometimes. Not the writing itself, but the dividing. Scenes are separated for no apparent reason other than style, which cuts the natural flow of the scene. We're in the middle of a scene and then suddenly a divider between two paragraphs. Why? I don't get it. [*edit to update:* it seems my Kobo version had some issues and these dividres are not supposed to be there. The author kindly reached out to me regarding this issue and it my be because of the file itself.]

*SPOILERS AHEAD*
The pace of the story is good, but I think the romance(s) happened too fast. There was no building, especially with Stygian. One day they meet, the next one they're engulfed in passion and Mira thinks she kinda loves him. With Hiver it's a bit more natural, but still lacks a bit of intimacy. You know, conversations and silence, the things where love blooms. The spicy parts are alright. I do think Mira and Hiver have a lot more sexual tension than Mira and Stygian, but I guess that's the point.

The protagonist is not a Mary Sue - instead, she has depth and dimensions. Yes, she's weak at first, but she works it out. Yes, she's the definition of a hero, but she's not a natural hero. She needs to work her power and learn how to control it. That's lovely. Makes her more human and real.

*END OF SPOILERS*

The beginning was slow, but I do understand why. It needed to give us the background to understand what was to come. The second half, however, was a complete whirlwind. I couldn't put it down.

If this was from a publishing house, I'd give it maybe a three, because it lacks some editing. However, since this is a work entirely independent, where the author had to work on it herself, I'll give it a four. Because, all things considered, it is a good book. Especially considering it's indie.

Content Warnings