Scan barcode
mmetacarpals's reviews
186 reviews
All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace
2.0
I found this book enjoyable and fun to read. It's been a bit since I've read a young adult fantasy, and this was a good reintroduction to the genre with its adventurous nature, charming love interest, and complex teenaged lead.
Amora was an endearing main character, and though she was a bit melodramatic at times, I understood it. I remember what it was like to turn 18 and suddenly be trusted with the responsibilities of an adult. Her magic and the way she wields it was the most interesting part of this world's magic system.
Speaking of--- I feel kind of conflicted/confused by the magic system here. The soul magic and curse magic was compelling, and I liked the somewhat gorey nature of that kind of magic. (I just really love magic channeled through bodies: blood, bones, and teeth.) However, the division of magic users by island doesn't quite make sense to me. As you read, it becomes apparent that power isn't something one is born with or inherit but something they choose and learn. And yet there is a strict segregation of people by the type of magic they use. So a person born to water magic users on Valuka could choose to learn time magic and be made to live on Kerost? But why would they?
It would make far more sense if people were born with a specific kind of magic regardless of their island, and if that magic were different than their family's, they would be forcibly relocated. This would makeCato's curse and the hatred the islands have for the king make far more sense. I am hoping the next book does more work fleshing out the politics of Visidia and the unrest on the islands because I feel like there is a lot of potential there that, as of book one, is underdeveloped.
I also want more Bastian character work. He has a lot of interesting stuff going on, and I don't know if this is just because of the close first person narration, but I felt like he did not get the characterization and fleshing out he deserved.
Overall it was a fun romp, but sometimes underwhelming. I like the bones of what we have so far--- the magic, the curses, the characters, the political unrest--- and I hope to see more of it in the sequel!
Amora was an endearing main character, and though she was a bit melodramatic at times, I understood it. I remember what it was like to turn 18 and suddenly be trusted with the responsibilities of an adult. Her magic and the way she wields it was the most interesting part of this world's magic system.
Speaking of--- I feel kind of conflicted/confused by the magic system here. The soul magic and curse magic was compelling, and I liked the somewhat gorey nature of that kind of magic. (I just really love magic channeled through bodies: blood, bones, and teeth.) However, the division of magic users by island doesn't quite make sense to me. As you read, it becomes apparent that power isn't something one is born with or inherit but something they choose and learn. And yet there is a strict segregation of people by the type of magic they use. So a person born to water magic users on Valuka could choose to learn time magic and be made to live on Kerost? But why would they?
It would make far more sense if people were born with a specific kind of magic regardless of their island, and if that magic were different than their family's, they would be forcibly relocated. This would make
I also want more Bastian character work. He has a lot of interesting stuff going on, and I don't know if this is just because of the close first person narration, but I felt like he did not get the characterization and fleshing out he deserved.
Overall it was a fun romp, but sometimes underwhelming. I like the bones of what we have so far--- the magic, the curses, the characters, the political unrest--- and I hope to see more of it in the sequel!
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
1.25
Ok, so it's my new year's resolution to actually write reviews for the books I read. Here goes nothing:
This book made little to no sense. The world was poorly thought out and hardly explained. (What are Webs? How do Jewels work? How is the world structured? What even is Witch? Multiple realms?? Hell?? The demon-dead v the regular dead??) The events of the book were confusing and none of the character motivations made any sense.
Daemon was "sexy" and boring. Saetan was a little bit fun if you pictured an eternally exasperated old man with little half-moon glasses at the end of his nose. Janelle was supposedly the main character, but every interesting thing she does is told to us after the fact by the men. And Lucivar? He was there for maybe ten pages, and in one of them he bit a woman's clitoris off? That's interesting, I guess.
I had been told that this book was dark, but I felt like all the so-called mature content or dark moments were so poorly written that I didn't even feel the emotional shock that Bishop was attempting to give her audience. Things like sexual violence and slavery were very poorly handled. I felt as though Bishop was trying to say that those things are bad (duh) and that they were so ingrained into this evil society which is why Witch is supposedly going to fix it, but I might just be making that up. As I said, there was little to no world-building, so I can only guess at what she was trying to do.
HOWEVER I could not stop reading. It was like a car crash that I just couldn't look away from. All the little bits of family fluff where Janelle was actually as charming as everyone claimed she was were really fun to read. I cannot in good faith recommend that anyone read this, but I might continue on with the series--- partly because I bought the trilogy bind up (second hand) and partly just to see if there any answers to the many questions I was left with. I've heard that this is the inspiration for Sarah J Maas's books, so I suppose I'm glad I've avoided those.
This book made little to no sense. The world was poorly thought out and hardly explained. (What are Webs? How do Jewels work? How is the world structured? What even is Witch? Multiple realms?? Hell?? The demon-dead v the regular dead??) The events of the book were confusing and none of the character motivations made any sense.
Daemon was "sexy" and boring. Saetan was a little bit fun if you pictured an eternally exasperated old man with little half-moon glasses at the end of his nose. Janelle was supposedly the main character, but every interesting thing she does is told to us after the fact by the men. And Lucivar? He was there for maybe ten pages, and in one of them he bit a woman's clitoris off? That's interesting, I guess.
I had been told that this book was dark, but I felt like all the so-called mature content or dark moments were so poorly written that I didn't even feel the emotional shock that Bishop was attempting to give her audience. Things like sexual violence and slavery were very poorly handled. I felt as though Bishop was trying to say that those things are bad (duh) and that they were so ingrained into this evil society which is why Witch is supposedly going to fix it, but I might just be making that up. As I said, there was little to no world-building, so I can only guess at what she was trying to do.
HOWEVER I could not stop reading. It was like a car crash that I just couldn't look away from. All the little bits of family fluff where Janelle was actually as charming as everyone claimed she was were really fun to read. I cannot in good faith recommend that anyone read this, but I might continue on with the series--- partly because I bought the trilogy bind up (second hand) and partly just to see if there any answers to the many questions I was left with. I've heard that this is the inspiration for Sarah J Maas's books, so I suppose I'm glad I've avoided those.
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.
I'm not in the mood for urban fantasy rn, but maybe I'll pick this up again later