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oriental_muse_0818's reviews
687 reviews
残疾暴君的掌心鱼宠 (The Disabled Tyrant's Pet Palm Fish) by 雪山肥狐
1.5
1.5 ⭐️s.
Ridiculous and completely boring premise with stupid foolish characters, extremely slow-paced and cringe story. The weird shit people pass off as coherent writing is genuinely a whole other level of DISTURBING *shudders*
Ridiculous and completely boring premise with stupid foolish characters, extremely slow-paced and cringe story. The weird shit people pass off as coherent writing is genuinely a whole other level of DISTURBING *shudders*
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
DNF at 52%.
The first quarter or so was very intriguing with a unique exciting premise ! But as an Asian of ethnic minority, the tragic real-life correlation and examples of war/class-difference/racism/genocide that were implied genuinely made me extremely uncomfortable and I lost enjoyment in reading. The plot seemed unnecessarily forced and the pacing was very off.
The first quarter or so was very intriguing with a unique exciting premise ! But as an Asian of ethnic minority, the tragic real-life correlation and examples of war/class-difference/racism/genocide that were implied genuinely made me extremely uncomfortable and I lost enjoyment in reading. The plot seemed unnecessarily forced and the pacing was very off.
To Bleed a Crystal Bloom by Sarah A. Parker
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
1.75 ⭐️s.
Btw this book's only saving grace is the beautiful writing FULL. STOP !!!
Buckle up for a rant, cuz I AM SEETHING AND PISSED AF !!!
There is zero world-building, zero backstory, zero lore.
Characters constantly have conversations referencing objects, rituals, places, people and events we, the readers, have NO knowledge of. But they're being talked about like we know all about them. It's like I was handed a manuscript, but the first 200 pages were missing. And I'm just supposed to be okay with being in the dark about EVERYTHING. There are seriously whole chapters where absolutely NOTHING makes any sense because characters are discussing crap the reader has absolutely zero knowledge about!
Imagine you're reading... I dunno. ACOTAR. And suddenly, Feyre says, "Snarg, flutz, groply borp" and then Rhysand mentions a girl named Boomquifa that he met in a goblat outside some place called Shakado. Only once that chapter's over, YOU NEVER HEAR ABOUT BOOMQUIFA OR HER GROPLY BORPS AGAIN.
Who was she? Why was she important? What was the point of bringing her into this story? What does it all mean?!?! Justice for Boomquifa!
THAT'S WHAT IT'S LIKE READING THIS BOOK.
And the plot is non-existant. It's just pointless scene after pointless scene and nothing goes together. One minute, Orlaith is leading a little lost girl through the tunnels of the keep. Then she's looking at naughty picture books with her fish friend, then she's painting rocks for some reason. Then Baze is telling her about all his dirty trysts with god only knows who. Then there's talk of a ball and a dress fitting. Then there's maybe a cut scene where we're following Rhordyn and he's in the woods being a broody asshole (and maybe killing/dismembering something). Then maybe we'll get a chapter from the fish's perspective going on about how the water's dangerous or something. Oh. And then the FMC goes into heat in the middle of this book because apparently she's a goddamn werewolf????
Was I supposed to like Orlaith? I didn't. She's a whiny, naive, and mostly a jealous, petty, immature, sheltered brat. Ignorant by her own making. Which isn't a good look when she's showing her ass constantly. Girl's 21 acting 12 for most of the damn book.
And that really makes the...spicy???... stuff in here... hella awkward. I don't wanna read about an infantile character being finger fucked as she's "coming into sexual maturity" by the creep who raised her. Or anybody else. It's gross.
She's also a drug addict with PTSD. So. That's fun.
Explain to me how she's got any memory of the night she almost died when she was TWO when it happened? Do any of y'all remember ANYTHING from when you were TWO?
I didn't think so. It's bullshit. If she were 5 or 6, I could perhaps believe she's got CPTSD or something. But TWO? Nah, fam.
Was I supposed to like Rhordyn? Because dude's got the personality of a sack of half-drowned cats. He's grumpy and broody and manipulative and cruel to the FMC. He's also maybe a drug addict, too. I don't think pedophilia is sexy. I don't think watching a grown ass man groom a young girl for 19 years is sexy. I didn't think his relationship with Orlaith is appropriate. And it's weird to see so many people defending him.
Did I care about literally any of the other characters?
No.
There's absolutely nothing to tie me to any of them emotionally. Nothing that makes me care.
The characters suck. All of them. Across the board.
I, quite frankly, could not bring myself to give damn.
The relationships are probably supposed to be all dark because this is a DaRk FaNtAsY RoMaNcE or something. But mostly it's just toxic and gross and hella uncomfortable, tbh gave me the heeby jeebies.
The entire time I was forcing myself to finish and not dnf, my brain was going what the actual fuck am I reading ?!?!
*sigh* nothing but hopeless disappointment...
Btw this book's only saving grace is the beautiful writing FULL. STOP !!!
Buckle up for a rant, cuz I AM SEETHING AND PISSED AF !!!
There is zero world-building, zero backstory, zero lore.
Characters constantly have conversations referencing objects, rituals, places, people and events we, the readers, have NO knowledge of. But they're being talked about like we know all about them. It's like I was handed a manuscript, but the first 200 pages were missing. And I'm just supposed to be okay with being in the dark about EVERYTHING. There are seriously whole chapters where absolutely NOTHING makes any sense because characters are discussing crap the reader has absolutely zero knowledge about!
Imagine you're reading... I dunno. ACOTAR. And suddenly, Feyre says, "Snarg, flutz, groply borp" and then Rhysand mentions a girl named Boomquifa that he met in a goblat outside some place called Shakado. Only once that chapter's over, YOU NEVER HEAR ABOUT BOOMQUIFA OR HER GROPLY BORPS AGAIN.
Who was she? Why was she important? What was the point of bringing her into this story? What does it all mean?!?! Justice for Boomquifa!
THAT'S WHAT IT'S LIKE READING THIS BOOK.
And the plot is non-existant. It's just pointless scene after pointless scene and nothing goes together. One minute, Orlaith is leading a little lost girl through the tunnels of the keep. Then she's looking at naughty picture books with her fish friend, then she's painting rocks for some reason. Then Baze is telling her about all his dirty trysts with god only knows who. Then there's talk of a ball and a dress fitting. Then there's maybe a cut scene where we're following Rhordyn and he's in the woods being a broody asshole (and maybe killing/dismembering something). Then maybe we'll get a chapter from the fish's perspective going on about how the water's dangerous or something. Oh. And then the FMC goes into heat in the middle of this book because apparently she's a goddamn werewolf????
Was I supposed to like Orlaith? I didn't. She's a whiny, naive, and mostly a jealous, petty, immature, sheltered brat. Ignorant by her own making. Which isn't a good look when she's showing her ass constantly. Girl's 21 acting 12 for most of the damn book.
And that really makes the...spicy???... stuff in here... hella awkward. I don't wanna read about an infantile character being finger fucked as she's "coming into sexual maturity" by the creep who raised her. Or anybody else. It's gross.
She's also a drug addict with PTSD. So. That's fun.
Explain to me how she's got any memory of the night she almost died when she was TWO when it happened? Do any of y'all remember ANYTHING from when you were TWO?
I didn't think so. It's bullshit. If she were 5 or 6, I could perhaps believe she's got CPTSD or something. But TWO? Nah, fam.
Was I supposed to like Rhordyn? Because dude's got the personality of a sack of half-drowned cats. He's grumpy and broody and manipulative and cruel to the FMC. He's also maybe a drug addict, too. I don't think pedophilia is sexy. I don't think watching a grown ass man groom a young girl for 19 years is sexy. I didn't think his relationship with Orlaith is appropriate. And it's weird to see so many people defending him.
Did I care about literally any of the other characters?
No.
There's absolutely nothing to tie me to any of them emotionally. Nothing that makes me care.
The characters suck. All of them. Across the board.
I, quite frankly, could not bring myself to give damn.
The relationships are probably supposed to be all dark because this is a DaRk FaNtAsY RoMaNcE or something. But mostly it's just toxic and gross and hella uncomfortable, tbh gave me the heeby jeebies.
The entire time I was forcing myself to finish and not dnf, my brain was going what the actual fuck am I reading ?!?!
*sigh* nothing but hopeless disappointment...
The Ever King by LJ Andrews
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Mercer Curse by Pepper Winters
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
OMG CAN'T WAIT FOR RUBY TEARS, HENRI MERCER AND HIS DELICIOUS FUCKED-UP DEPRAVITY 🔥😍
*WARNING*: not for the faint at heart ! To all the puritanist readers out there that'll be clutching their pearls and running for the hills, don't come crying when you've been given a fair warning in advance.
*WARNING*: not for the faint at heart ! To all the puritanist readers out there that'll be clutching their pearls and running for the hills, don't come crying when you've been given a fair warning in advance.
The Scarlet Veil by Shelby Mahurin
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
DNF at 43%.
The writing and characters in this are so annoying ! There is genuinely no proper plot to speak of and it's just random flowery language and weird dialogues thrown in, what a bore and complete waste of time...
If anyone has GOOD fantasy recs that won't have me rolling my eyes and yawning every 1 min, FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS PLZ SEND THEM MY WAY THANKS 💕
The writing and characters in this are so annoying ! There is genuinely no proper plot to speak of and it's just random flowery language and weird dialogues thrown in, what a bore and complete waste of time...
If anyone has GOOD fantasy recs that won't have me rolling my eyes and yawning every 1 min, FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS PLZ SEND THEM MY WAY THANKS 💕