overtsentio's reviews
43 reviews

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Short summary of my thought on this book: good beginning, meh middle part, thrilling-but-rushed ending.

I like the beginning. It immediately grasped my attention. However, the middle part was quite boring. I really couldn't care any less about anything happening in Martha's and Henry's chapters. It got more exciting and exhilarating towards the ending, I could finally stand reading Martha's and Henry's chapters. I quite like the ending, albeit I feel like it was somewhat rushed.

I think the concept of the story was good, but it was definitely could have been executed better. I also feel that some parts of the story were not even significant to the plot. The middle part felt like it was just stalling the ending of the book, while the ending felt rushed to keep the book from being too long. Well, so it could do with cutting all those jibber jabber in the middle and actually add something that will be more important to the plot (or just eliminate it completely). I would prefer if there was more of Opaline especially, after the whole shenanigans.

There is also quite a chunk of missing information/part. Although if you are okay or actually prefer some mysteries left even after the story ends, you would at least be okay with the ending. I personally like closed ending, which (apparently) also means I don't like any mystery left after the ending. I like my book's ending definite, leaving little to no room for ambiguity. I feel like there was still so much left unexplained with this book, which is why I think the ending was rushed.

The concept of the magic in the bookshop was also not explained, it was writen as if everything happening in the bookshop was mere imagination and Opaline hearing and imagining things. In fact, none of the magic system were given any explanation. Martha's ability was just hereditary, 0 explanations of how and what was happening exactly in Martha's room (yes, I'm aware books were appearing and there was a growing tree), whatever it was with Madam Bowden.

Content Warnings