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squids_can_read's Reviews (706)
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
Selene’s whole life has been dedicated to killing demons. Jules life has been dedicated to the same. However, Selene choose this life and Jules was thrown into it. But when demons start to invade Rome and the tides of the war start turning, Selene and Jules are thrown together to try to save everything they love.
I really wanted to love this book. An alternative history where god came to earth and deamons haunt the streets of Rome. But I think that this book falls into the pitfall that many different romantasy books fall into which is a bad balance of romance and plot. Personally, if a book is high stakes, I would rather focus on the high stakes than a budding romance. This book is also being advertised as a young adult book and I don’t think that this is accurate. This book basically feels like an adult romantasy book except the characters are teenagers which a young adult book that does not make.
I also thought that the world-building was a little sloppy. I think that the world is extensive and that the author tried to include bits and pieces of that but focused on the romance instead. The characterization I think also fell victim to the romance focus. We got almost no characterization for any characters besides Jules and Selene and their characterization was focused on their romance.
Overall, if you romantasy that is really romance heavy, I think you’d like this book. If you want to more about the actual world, I would skip this one.
Selene’s whole life has been dedicated to killing demons. Jules life has been dedicated to the same. However, Selene choose this life and Jules was thrown into it. But when demons start to invade Rome and the tides of the war start turning, Selene and Jules are thrown together to try to save everything they love.
I really wanted to love this book. An alternative history where god came to earth and deamons haunt the streets of Rome. But I think that this book falls into the pitfall that many different romantasy books fall into which is a bad balance of romance and plot. Personally, if a book is high stakes, I would rather focus on the high stakes than a budding romance. This book is also being advertised as a young adult book and I don’t think that this is accurate. This book basically feels like an adult romantasy book except the characters are teenagers which a young adult book that does not make.
I also thought that the world-building was a little sloppy. I think that the world is extensive and that the author tried to include bits and pieces of that but focused on the romance instead. The characterization I think also fell victim to the romance focus. We got almost no characterization for any characters besides Jules and Selene and their characterization was focused on their romance.
Overall, if you romantasy that is really romance heavy, I think you’d like this book. If you want to more about the actual world, I would skip this one.
A small town is rocked by the sudden death of an eleven-year old child. Each person has to deal with their grief in their own ways, even if that way is to run into the forest to die.
This book was okay. I think that some parts of the plot or message got lost in the way that the author was writing, or the translator was translating. It just seemed slightly confusing for no real reason. The characters were interesting and the overall plot was intersting. The characters felt believable and so did their ations. It was really fine overall but I wasn’t really moved by this book. This might also have to do with the fact that I don’t really enjoy realistic fiction but either way.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes realistic fiction or translated works.
This book was okay. I think that some parts of the plot or message got lost in the way that the author was writing, or the translator was translating. It just seemed slightly confusing for no real reason. The characters were interesting and the overall plot was intersting. The characters felt believable and so did their ations. It was really fine overall but I wasn’t really moved by this book. This might also have to do with the fact that I don’t really enjoy realistic fiction but either way.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes realistic fiction or translated works.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
When Benny is asked to make a glass viewing tank, he does what he’s asked because he doesn’t really have a choice. Little does he know that the tank will be used to hold a merman and that this merman will change his life.
The setting was done really well, especially for the time period that this book is set in. The actions of the characters made sense and some of the conflicts stemed from the time period. The reader doesn’t see a lot of New York because most of the story is set in the carnival but that’s okay because the descriptions of the carnival are really lush.
The characters in this book are really good. I enjoyed how different they all were but they were all written really well. All the characters seemed real and their actions seemed to match what the reader knew of them. I also loved the character artwork in this book as it really allows the reader to see the characters.
The plot of the book is where the book falls off a little bit. This book is a little bit vibes not plot because almost nothing happens in the book until the last 100 pages of the book. I mean things do happen and they are important to the ending of the book but it seems like when something happens it didn’t really change anything. There is also a twist in the story that is slightly forshadowed but I felt like it was only forshadowed in the last 100 pages of the book. I don’t know if I’m bad at picking up clues or something. I also thought that the twist wasn’t fully explained. It was lyrically written but I wanted a little bit more of a solid ending because the rest of the story was so solid in telling us what happened.
Overall, this story was really good and really well written. The twist was the only things that I had some issues with. I think anyone who loves fantasy, queer love stories, or historical fiction will love this story.
When Benny is asked to make a glass viewing tank, he does what he’s asked because he doesn’t really have a choice. Little does he know that the tank will be used to hold a merman and that this merman will change his life.
The setting was done really well, especially for the time period that this book is set in. The actions of the characters made sense and some of the conflicts stemed from the time period. The reader doesn’t see a lot of New York because most of the story is set in the carnival but that’s okay because the descriptions of the carnival are really lush.
The characters in this book are really good. I enjoyed how different they all were but they were all written really well. All the characters seemed real and their actions seemed to match what the reader knew of them. I also loved the character artwork in this book as it really allows the reader to see the characters.
The plot of the book is where the book falls off a little bit. This book is a little bit vibes not plot because almost nothing happens in the book until the last 100 pages of the book. I mean things do happen and they are important to the ending of the book but it seems like when something happens it didn’t really change anything. There is also a twist in the story that is slightly forshadowed but I felt like it was only forshadowed in the last 100 pages of the book. I don’t know if I’m bad at picking up clues or something. I also thought that the twist wasn’t fully explained. It was lyrically written but I wanted a little bit more of a solid ending because the rest of the story was so solid in telling us what happened.
Overall, this story was really good and really well written. The twist was the only things that I had some issues with. I think anyone who loves fantasy, queer love stories, or historical fiction will love this story.
