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rozarka's reviews
773 reviews
Tadek and the Princess by Alexandra Rowland
5.0
It was worth it reading almost 600 pages of TOGAI to get to this. And it's not even a romance.
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
I don't know how to rate this book. It was OK as a romance, even though it took me a while to understand charaters' personalities and motivations (and I still find it funny that the proclaimed bodyguard/protector lost almost all his fights). The main problem of the book is that there are so many plot holes it resembles a swiss cheese. I'd actually prefer if there was less plot, less action, less conspiracies if what was left made more sense. You can't have characters fleeing a mission they fucked up and then discussing their sex lives instead of, you know, informing people in charge about what they discovered. Or saying "the villain knows where we hide, it could be a problem" and not addressing it ever again (and not moving locations, wtf). I don't need a complicated plot in my romance, but it has to make sense.
I'm still going to read the sequel. Tadek was a gem and he made the latter half of the book much more enjoyable.
I'm still going to read the sequel. Tadek was a gem and he made the latter half of the book much more enjoyable.
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
4.0
I was warned to expect a "romcom anime" kind of a book and that's exactly what I got. Too bad it was also a YA, not my favorite age range (in comparison: Tress of the Emerald Sea read more like a middle grade, so it didn't bother me as much there). Main characters were as annoying as was expected from angsty teenagers, but kudos to the author for writing Painter as the biggest loser of all his protagonists across cosmere, that was quite refreshing to read.
All this aside, it would be a five star read if it weren't for two things. Firstly, the pacing. The very beggining was interesting (worldbuilding etc.), but the closer I got to a halfway point, the more boring it got. I wanted to move the plot, not watch the characters going shopping. If the book weren't so short, I would have dnf-ed it. Thankfully, the plot picked up again soon after that.
And secondly, I am not a biggest fan of an omniscient narrator who has to explain things to you. I love Hoid and his comments, but here he had to clarify a lot of worldbuilding at the end, otherwise the reader would not understand what was happening and why. It felt like lazy writing. I want to put pieces of worldbuilding together by watching characters act, not have it infodumped at me.
All this aside, it would be a five star read if it weren't for two things. Firstly, the pacing. The very beggining was interesting (worldbuilding etc.), but the closer I got to a halfway point, the more boring it got. I wanted to move the plot, not watch the characters going shopping. If the book weren't so short, I would have dnf-ed it. Thankfully, the plot picked up again soon after that.
And secondly, I am not a biggest fan of an omniscient narrator who has to explain things to you. I love Hoid and his comments, but here he had to clarify a lot of worldbuilding at the end, otherwise the reader would not understand what was happening and why. It felt like lazy writing. I want to put pieces of worldbuilding together by watching characters act, not have it infodumped at me.
Ascension of the Orc King by Lionel Hart
3.0
Oh no, there was a plot! I was hoping for more coziness tbh. The epilog was cute, though.
Blood of the Orc Prince by Lionel Hart
4.0
I feel like I should complain about the book. It has a weird pacing where absolutely nothing happens for 100 pages and then we have a plot and a cliffhanger, and both characters behave very young, especially the MC who is bored and irritable and doesn't think ahead. But somehow I didn't care about any of that? It was cosy, in some ways it felt more realistic that other books with more competent protagonists, and I just chilled out.