(1) Alright, I have been warned about, again, a horny adult fantasy book being marketed and sold to teenagers as YA fantasy by the 1 to 2 stars reviews...Personally, I skipped all those NC-17 scenes because life is too short for this BS...*sighs* ......and....What is this book doing in the Young Adult corner of the public library anyway!?
(2) My problem with the story so far: Emilia gets to marry the Devil and become the Queen of Hell/Queen of the Wickeds, with barely any drawback! Does it sound like much of a hardship to you? A heroine who doesn't go through hardship to get their HEA is so boring!
(3) As for the question about the death of Emilia's twin and the curse of the First Witch.......I am at page 12, so far I still cannot see there is much development with these issues. Haven't we been dealing with the same two issues for two whole books already?
(4) The world-building in this book is the most boring and unimaginative thing I have seen in recent years.
(5) So there is barely anything going on between Emilia and Wrath in this book, no conflict and issue for the couple to overcome, no misunderstanding or miscommunication to resolve, zero effort in building any understanding and meaningful relationship which isn't related to their ridiculous sex drive and fuckings. Don't get me wrong, a healthy sex life is good for any romantic relationship, but shouldn't they have more things going on in said relationship than just mind-blowing sex!?
(4) Then...the conflict...or THE TOTAL LACK OF IT: The curse is dealt with rather easily because clues just dropped onto Emilia's lap whenever she opened her mouth and asked some questions! Everyone just handed the answers to her willingly! The conflict between the witches and the demons is still there but in front of Emilia and Wrath's all-mighty power and tru luv the witches just don't stand a chance! Emilia seemingly gave up nothing to get her man and a HEA! I am so pissed.
(5) The thing with (view spoiler)[ Emilia's twin, (hide spoiler)] again it becomes a non-issue by the end of this book. Supposedly this character should be raining down revenge and mayhem on both the demons and the witches but in the end she did barely a thing!
(6) And the witches........don't make me laugh, I can't even believe such useless creatures have been going toe-to-toe with the demons in their supernatural battles.
(7) The demons are not any better than the witches because as a bunch of supposedly ageless, merciless demonic nobles, I barely see any of them doing anything remotely scary, wicked and heartless. And their demonic kingdom so goddamn boring, 3 books went by and it still hasn't improved!
(8) Some of the demonic princes are actually halfway interesting but as a whole, they are too mild I cannot believe these are a group of immortal creatures with tons of knowledge, experience, and power to do evil.
(9) Some of the plot twists aren't bad at all, in fact those twists can be quite impressive and clever if only the author could have managed and delivered them better.
(10) To sum up, one HELL of a disappointment!...more
Pre-review: I walked into this book fully aware of the horror stories about the writing, the same-old, same-old 'new girl in a new school' setting, thPre-review: I walked into this book fully aware of the horror stories about the writing, the same-old, same-old 'new girl in a new school' setting, the insta-love and the Twilight vibe. Perhaps I was just asking for punishment.
Updated@18/11/2021:DNF-ed at page 122, returned to the library.
I innocently thought things can't get any worse, any more juvenile and more meaningless than Twilight, but I was wrong.
I can endure a lot of things for the sake of reading a story about vampires (for free!), but not this.
I mean, even the Vampire's Kisses series isn't so unreadable and pointless.
At one point I did want to rant about how the heroine Grace is a dull stupid cow and how the love interest Jaxon is just an Edward Cullen knockoff, but spending any effort on these paper-thinned characters seems to be a waste of time.
Guess what, I even did my best to skim to pg. 200 but still..........nothing happens except all the YA version of living in a boarding school dull shit. Then I learned from other reviewers that the supernatural aspects of this boarding school isn't even discussed among the characters till pg. 300 and there is only a bit of action at the very end...I decided to call it a day. Life is short, y'know....more
I feel a lot of things have been missing from this novel, for example I didn't get to see how the heroine died, and her death is supposed to be very iI feel a lot of things have been missing from this novel, for example I didn't get to see how the heroine died, and her death is supposed to be very important to the story. Plus there is way too many ¡°tell not show¡± in the story telling.
I read through this novel in total indifference. The last 30 or so pages are okay, but the rest, not so much....more
I mean, the evil gods in the Lovecraftian world won't bother to bargain and play games with a mere human girl, THEY ARE TOO POWERFUL than this.
And Caitlin Kittredge tells us The Great Older Ones are neither good and evil? I mean, come on.
Just don't get me started with how The King in Yellow becomes one hell of a lame villain, it's just too insulting.
Last but not least, the heroine is a selfish cow who based her every action on her boyfriend and she is willing to sacrifice everything (e.g. the world and humanity) for the boy.
I won't bother even to rant about this book, reading it had wasted enough of my time, I don't intend to waste even more....more
My thoughts after reading The Retribution of Mara Dyer@06/12/2016:
Fxxk you, Mara Dyer. Fxxk your special snowflake romance with this jerk Noah andMy thoughts after reading The Retribution of Mara Dyer@06/12/2016:
Fxxk you, Mara Dyer. Fxxk your special snowflake romance with this jerk Noah and your bullshit story. Fxxk you for bullshiting me throughout three whole books and wasting my time.
Michelle Hodkin, for the sake of literature and saving some innocent trees from dying to provide paper to print your ridiculous books, I hope you will never get published again.
This trilogy has so much potential, but all is lost because of the poorly written romance, the Mary Sue heroine and the confusing story lines. At this point I'm beyond being polite and respectful toward this trilogy and its creator.
Rating: one of the worst books I've ever read in my life 20 negative stars.
Theoretically, the Mara Dyer trilogy comes with a nice package which I'd usually adore and praise to no end, such as:
(1) Psychological thriller.
(2) Spooky events and happenings.
(3) People dying left and right, with hardly any reason.
(4) A heroine with destructive power to harm and kill people, and she uses it.
(5) Shadowy, evil scientists and human experiments!
(6) The heroine mentioned above at the verge of losing her sanity, and she keeps seeing crazy delusion of all sorts.
Seriously, for a person who loves to read dark fantasy and other crazy stuff as much as I do, what is not to love here?
Newsflashes: I'm wrong, I am so wrong; and Ms. Hodkin has done absolutely nothing to change my view throughout three whole books.
Let's do a breakdown:
The good stuff: Mara's escape with Jamie and Stella, and the scenes with them together.
And Noah is nowhere in sight in those Mara/Jamie/Stella scenes!
The bad stuff:
(1) Mara Dyer is a Mary Sue
Well....when Mara is with Jaime and Stella, she really isn't so bad........but I swear I did throw up a little in my mouth when Ms. Hodkin spends the last 30 or so pages to praise Mara, through the mouths of Noah, his daddy and Mara's grandmother, for being a super special snowflake that she is!
Well.........one of the biggest sign of her being a Mary Sue is that she has done bad things, killed or harmed people, but as readers, we are not supposed to blame her for what had happened, because (view spoiler)[it is the human experiment which is responsible for what she had become (hide spoiler)], oh really?
To be fair, in this book Mara does show tiny signs of her owning up to her action, but her attempts still look more on the 'woe is me' side.
Mara wants you to believe she is a badass, unapologetic heroine; but the sad thing is, she isn't. At the end of the day, she is only a boy-crazed teenage girl.
(2) The awful YA romance
A flawed character or a Mary Sue, that much I can deal with, but a romance as awful as Mara and Noah's, that I can't tolerate.
Other reviewers had pointed out how selfish they are in their love, like (view spoiler)[how Noah can heal people and do other great good, but he gives it all up to be with Mara anyway. (hide spoiler)] I also want to point out, Mara doesn't seem to have much purpose or desire outside of Noah......okay, the girl cares for her family too, but outside of Noah and her family, she doesn't seem to have anything in her mind. Even Jamie and Stella do not look like they have much importance to her, and from time to time she doesn't seem all that interest in finding out the truth about her and her friends' ordeals, or the truth of her power.
(3) The total lack of logic and realism in the story
So, Mara and Co. escaped from the mysterious group which kept them as prisoners, lied to their parents and did horrible experiments on them! The teenagers are now on the run and Mara tells us there are people chasing them! So you think you are going to see some action scenes or breathtaking chasing scenes? Well, you are wrong!
Throughout the whole book, we see the total of three villains (there are some nameless, faceless guards here and there, but they play little to no role in the story), and I have a hard time believing such a massive evil scheme that needs so much manpower and wealth to support would only involve so little people!
Also, by the end of the story, we have two corpses in the room and one teenager being soaked with blood also in the same room, but the next thing we know the cops just let said teenager go!? What the actual fuck?
And in the end the super evil bad guy (view spoiler)[Noah's daddy (hide spoiler)] just disappears into the thin air and everyone is off enjoying their happy ever after. No kidding, that really is what happens in the ending part. I swear, I was going to give this book 2 stars because the opening part isn't all that bad, but the last 20 or so pages of this book totally ruin everything for me.
(4) The Most Ridiculous Sex Scene Ever, by the end of the story
Please don't get me started with this, just don't. Basically it is just super special Mara and super special Noah having their super special first time sex. ARGH!
[image] (Link: )
The Final Words: This trilogy is so full of bullshits, so it is only logical for me to blacklist its author, end of the story.
Heir of Fire, I can't, I just can't ever. I won't even write a proper review for this piece of crap.
(1) The MC spent too much time on feeling sorry foHeir of Fire, I can't, I just can't ever. I won't even write a proper review for this piece of crap.
(1) The MC spent too much time on feeling sorry for herself. I mean, (view spoiler)[her best friend's dying wish is for her to stand up and fight for the people but for most of the book she hasn't done this! (hide spoiler)]
(2) The MC's reason for going into hiding and abandoning the long suffering people to face the Evil King alone is fucking pathetic. (view spoiler)[ Her wet nurse died protecting her, so she is worse than those killing and torturing soldiers who killed her wet nurse and her whole fucking family and countless other citizens. And oh, she isn't worthy! (hide spoiler)]
(3) The book spends most of the screen time on training, training and more training.
(4) Woman on woman hating! Only the MC's mom is a good woman, all the other older women in the story are bitches! (view spoiler)[And the powerful Faerie Queen is of course evil! (hide spoiler)]
(5) And everyone just has to be beautiful! If you aren't beautiful you must be evil or insignificant!
(6) Some of the ideas and plot points are good, but they are too few and their sparkles too dim.
(7) Manon the Witch and her crew is the only reason I finished reading this book.
(8) The male characters: don't care about them, I know they are in the story and they do stuffs but I have no interest in what they are doing. I feel like they are only in the story to move the plots onward, that's it.
(9) You just can't escape from Mary Sue. Seriously, you just can't.
(10) Isn't the MC supposed to assassin a certain someone? (view spoiler)[It doesn't even happen! (hide spoiler)]
Final Words: no need to read further into this series....more
For starter, now I can confidentially say I've finally encountered a book which can make Cassandra Cla20 'one of the worst books ever' Negative-Stars.
For starter, now I can confidentially say I've finally encountered a book which can make Cassandra Clare's, Stephenie Meyer and Marie Lu's novels look like decent literature, and this book is My Blood Approves, by Amanda Hocking.
So you ask what has gone wrong in this book...? Oh let's me think about it.......just where should I begin?
Warning: F-words here and there, don't like don't read.
(1) The story is a Twilight's doppelganger
Plain Jane main girl meets mysterious handsome boy who saves her from danger? Checks. Endless details of the boring daily life of the Plain Jane main girl? Checks. Vampire boy finds the girl irresistible because her blood is 'special'? Checks. Vampire boy has a rich adoptive family of attractive older vampires? Checks. All of the vampires in the boy's family are sexy and hot-as-fuck? Checks. Plain Jane main girl eagerly wants to ditch being human and embrace vampirism without a backward glance at her mortal family? Checks.
Need I go on?
(2) Meets Alice, an irredeemable spoiled brat and a Mary Sue who can put Bella Swan into total shame
Before I started reading this book, I just couldn't believe how irritating and hateful our Plain Jane main girl, namely Alice, can get. Now it's official: comparing with Alice, Bella Swan from Twilight suddenly looks like a decent and thoughtful character. Plus only Clarissa Fray from City of Bones can outdo Alice at being a completely hateful spoiled brat. Oh boy, how sad.
For example, Alice and her younger brother Milo are raised by a single mother. Said mother has been working 12 hours per-day, 70-plus hours per-week to make ends meet,but has the 17 years old Alice ever thought about getting a part time job to help her family? No. Never. The thought has never crossed her mind.
Plus, instead of looking after her 14 years old younger brother Milo when their mother is absent, Alice allows Milo to take charge of housekeeping duties. So Milo has to cook and wash FOR BOTH OF THEM whilst Alice is out wandering around streets and clubs at night, hanging out with her BFF and hooking up the hot guy Jack, whom she had just met.
To make things even better, Alice doesn't care about her own education, she refuses to do homework even when her brother Milo has to step in to remind her. Look, see. Alice even thinks (view spoiler)[immortality and being a vampire is far more important than continuing her education. (hide spoiler)]
*sighs* Because we all understand making out with your hot, perfect undead boyfriend is far more important than learning and going to school. Totally makes sense.
By the end of the book, Alice's mother is mad with her for being away from home *all night* without even one phone call, and instead of apologizing Alice runs away from home and goes stay with her rich, hot vampire boyfriend.
Not to mention, Alice is...to be frank, stupid. Even though I fully understand we can't expect every single 17 years old kid to be mature and smart, still how stupid must you be to step into the car of a total stranger in the middle of the night, especially right after you had just narrowly escaped being harmed/gang-raped? How stupid must you be to trust a guy who messed with your phone when you passed out? How stupid and thoughtless must you be to throw perfectly fine vegetables away just because you accidentally cut your finger (especially when your family isn't so well-off)? Just how stupid must you be to remain entirely carefree when hanging out with...blood-drinking VAMPIRES who are struggling not to eat you for dinner? I truly have no word.
(3) Creepy relationships gets disguised as romance, creepy guys get disguised as sexy love interests
Since the story is a photocopy of Twilight, so I am not the one bit surprised that Jack, the vampire, is attracted to Alice because her blood is special and irresistible. 'I want you, I love you because you smell so good I want to EAT you!' How romantic.
Trust me, I'm a huge vampire fan but all the talks about the vampire guys get excited by the sound of the girl's pulsing and the smell of her blood is just so fucking goddamn creepy, and gross. If a guy talked like this to me I swear I will tear him apart.
Plus, Jack also inserted his own phone number into Alice's cell *without consent* while the girl passed out. I have no word.
As to love interest number 2, we get Peter, who is a even bigger creeper than Jack, his 'younger brother' (alright, alright, so instead of a werewolf as the third wheel, we get a vampire one). I don't have many things to say about him aside from the fact he toys with Alice in a 'hot and cold' way, like a cat would toy with a mice it is about to kill. And at the very end the guy finally (view spoiler)[drinks Alice half to death (hide spoiler)], but Alice still lusts after him anyway! Again, just how fucking romantic.
(4) Alice is the most annoying narrator ever.
It is not easy to hear the thoughts of a 17 years old kid for an entire book, it is nearly unbearable to hear Alice's monologues (which make her sound like a dull eight years old) and her endless complaints about...well, everything and everyone.
(5) Many things in the story are just ridiculous.
Jack is a 20-something man who is jobless and out of school, he also lives off his older brother, but he is still considered by everyone (especially Alice) as a dreamboat.
Everyone--- and I do mean everyone, wants to jump Jack's bones. Alice wants him, her brother Milo wants him, their mother wants to push him to the floor and do him then and there. To tell the truth it really is embarrassing.
[image] (Link: )
Just as embarrassing is the fact that 100 pages into the story, we get two hot male vampires interest with our Plain Jane main girl Alice already.
Since this book is a photocopy of Twilight, therefore all of the vampires that show up have to be unbelievably hot and attractive.
The story and the writing itself is so immature that it reminds me of an eight years old little girl playing Princess Game with her Barbie dolls while daydreaming about hot undead boyfriends. And you are telling me books like this get printed and people actually pay to read them? How sad.
(6)Where is the plot? Where is the story?
200 pages into the story, I realize this book is one big fat fucking piece of NOTHINGNESS. Things happens but there is barely a story, there is no development, no character's growth, no revelation, no plot twist, no moral lesson, no climax, NOTHING. All we get is a Mary Sue drooling over hot guys.
Reading this book felt like a fucking chore, I nearly gave up for many times before I crawled my way to the ending...which mocks me and laughs at me right in my face with its absolute POINTLESSNESS. So here is the final insult: I'd wasted my time for NOTHING.
Final words: with this fucking piece of crap (which I decline to call it a 'novel'), Amanda Hocking successfully wins the honor of being a worse author than Stephenie Meyer and Cassandra Clare. Good job, Ms. Hocking. Good job.
Pre-review below:
09/07/2016: Today I found sitting in the library's shelf. So, free book! Free badly written romance! Free jokes! Here I go!
PS: and I honestly have no idea whether this simplified Chinese translation got any permission from the original publisher or not...
Edited@17/07/2016:
70 pages into the story, I am told that everyone loves the male lead, namely Jack, and I do mean everyone: the Main Girl Alice loves him, her younger brother has a crush on him, their mother wants to jump the guy's bones since the first time she meets him.
That is getting ridiculous, and embarrassing.
Edited@24/07/2016: Thoughts before finish reading the whole book:
I've read 150+ pages into My Blood Approves but absolutely nothing has happened, all I've gotten so far is the Plain Jane main girl Alice's monologues which bored me into tear (who wants to read a teenager girl's monologues when the thoughts in her mind makes her sound like a dull 8 years old?) and the long, useless description of the irresistible male vampires and their irresistible perfection.
So far I can tell you this book is even worse than the infamous Twilight, but I shouldn't be so surprised because bad writing like this can also be found in the Trylle series by the same author. The story and the writing is so immature that it reminds me of an 8 years old girl playing Princess Game with her Barbie dolls while day-dreaming about a handful of hot guys drooling over her.
And you are telling me books like this got printed and people have been actually paying their hard earned money to read them? How sad.
This review and this particular paragraph concludes my feeling to this book so beautifully:
This book is annoyingly TOO similar to Twilight, it could be it's awful cousin Martin. Where Twilight sucked, this one sucked even WORSE. At least Twilight was an original idea (with Bella and Edward's undying [pathetic] romance and the sparkling, and etc, etc, etc) but My Blood Approves was just...no. I see why the author self-published the book, because she knew she sucked so bad that no publishing company would allow such crap (although her Troll series, or whatever it's called, is getting published, but I didn't read those yet and it's beside the point).
Note: I am fully aware of the fact that Harry Potter is NOT the first ever YA fantasy series with 'a boy goes to a magical school' setting in it, but Note: I am fully aware of the fact that Harry Potter is NOT the first ever YA fantasy series with 'a boy goes to a magical school' setting in it, but The Iron Trial is still a Harry Potter ripoff. It's clear as day.
And no, I'm not a Harry Potter fan, so kindly put your 'angry Harry Potter fangirl' comments on hold.
Ms. Holly Black, I'm so disappointed in you, I know you can do better than messing about with the likes of Cassandra Clare.
And believe me...being a Harry Potter ripoff is not even the worst problem of this book.
What I don't like about this book, a simple checklist:
(1) Really obvious Harry Potter ripoff
I know, authors need to pay rent too, but can they be a bit less lazy and working on their own ideas instead of ripping J K. Rowling off?
Here're the details:
5 pages into the story, we are treated with a bunch of people being murdered by the Enemy of Death and a little boy is the only survivor...his mother also died protecting him...
Hello, The Boy Who Lives?
Plus, like Harry this little boy just also has to be so very famous, he is known among his peers, even the mayor knows who he is, even the teachers from the magical school know who he is, even the bad guys are aware of him. Ugh huh, I have no comment here.
There's more...three kids, two boys and one girl (an outstandingly smart girl, mind you) working as a team for the school year and they also has a mentor who seems to know more about the boy's identity and the secrets from the past than he let on...again, no comment.
Just look at the book cover and the name 'The Enemy of Death'...are you really going to tell me these fail to remind you of a certain You Know Who?
And don't even get me started with how (view spoiler)[the Arch Villain's soul is inside the little boy's body! (hide spoiler)] I mean, if you must rip J K. Rowling off, couldn't you have done it in a little bit more subtle way!?
For too many times the main characters said things which are supposed to be smart and humorous, but they always fall flat.
Sounding familiar, isn't it? It reminds me of all those supposedly 'brave, sassy, funny and strong' characters from Clare's Shadowhunters books which are actually unlikable brats and assholes.
Not to mention, the smart girl in the crew is an unlikable Know-It-All, whilst one of the MCs turns out to be a walking stereotype for a Golden Boy. Plus two of those MCs gave another MC silent treatment for three weeks after he messed up in practice. How charming.
Guess what? At least in Harry Potter, the kids used to behave in a somewhat likable and reasonable way, and they protected their friends when said friends got into trouble with their teachers. Sadly I hadn't seen the kids in The Iron Trial did the same.
I know, at least this book actually includes POC (people of colors) as the main characters, this much I can appreciate, but still.
(3) the Mages-teachers who are stupid and horrible educators
In this book, the mages in this magical school are terrible as educators and these mages also suck totally at fighting the evil Chaos-ridden too. I wonder why after so many years the bad guys still haven't managed to defeat those stupid mages.
Here're a few examples:
At the very beginning, these mages are wrenching a 12 years old boy from his father and they were going to keep the boy *without his father's consent*, and you are telling me those mages are supposed to be the good guys!? And it's supposed to happen in the alternative modern America (which is supposed to be quite similar with our world)!?
Also, students are requested to try moving the sand with their will power for five whole weeks (or five months, can't recall which), and I suppose nothing else can motivate 12 years old kids to learn about magic than this?
Also, those mages have lied to the kids and their parents when they lured them to their magical school with fake invitation letters which were supposedly sent by ballet schools and other schools of talents! Many of the kids' parents have not the slightest idea that they are sending their kids off to apply for a magical school which is going to train them to be magical warriors of some sort and also to fight with some deadly and evil Chaos-ridden, aka monsters and murderers! What The Hell!?
I told you, those mages are terrible people.
(view spoiler)[Alright, then those mages found their precious Maker--their only chance to defeat the Enemy of Death! So let's tell everyone this great discovery! Because the Enemy would NEVER dream of snaking into the magical school and kill the young Maker before he/she comes of age! (hide spoiler)]
(4) The most boring and senseless magical school and magic training ever
Fire wants to burn Water wants to flow Air wants to raise Earth wants to bind Chaos wants to devour
These must be one of the most unimaginative and unmagical description I've ever heard about magic.
However, I would admit the idea of mages and their counterweights is a decent one, but it isn't like we have never seen this idea coming into play before.
(5) the world building...or the lack of it
In the world of The Iron Trial, for some reasons mages are allowed to war against each other on a regular basis, but why? Isn't this story taken place in the freaking MODERN WORLD? Why would the government allow this?
Plus, why must the existence of mages and magic be hidden in secret when the mages must live among humans and there are also untrained 'gifted' children walking among the general public unintentionally summoning/using their magical power? I mean, there have been freaking wars among the mages and the rest of the world is still in the dark! Why aren't these mages running the governments and running businesses *since they have power that normal people don't have?* How freaking believable!
And I'd already informed you those mages can keep a 12 years old boy despite the lack of parental consent. Again, I have no word.
Am I going to read the next book in the future? I am not even sure....more
There is one word I think is the most suitable for this supposed Alice in Wonderland retelling, and this word is ridiculous.
(1) Calling this book an Alice-retelling is equated to lying. All of the Alice-references are so poorly done and senseless (a bunch of teenagers throwing a regular beer-and-disco-music party is equated to the Mad Tea Party, great isn't it?) it feels more like an insult to the original text than a respectful homage.
(2) This book is more about stupid teenage high school drama and over-the-top love triangles than Alice. I'm not kidding.
(3) The heroine Alice (aka Ali) spends a lot of time drooling over the masculine bad boy love interest Cole and fantasizing about making out with him (again I'm not kidding) than grieving over her dead family and worrying about the crisis of zombies going around eating people for dinner.
[image] (Link: )
(4) As to the zombies....they only have spiritual forms and they are 'eating' the goodness in people then in turn making them zombies too. Why would they do this? Because they are evil. Not because they are hungry or need human flesh to keep their bodies functional.
Zombies with no physical forms? Zombies who eat people because they are evil!? Then why would those creatures be zombies at all? Why don't call those creatures 'phantoms' or 'wraiths' instead? Is the author so eager to ride the success of the recent zombie hyper, e.g. The Walking Dead and all those zombie movies out there?
(5) All the bullshit about Christianity and God and Good vs. Evil
I know, the heroine and her family are Christians, but must she keep talking nonsense about God so very often? I mean, do real-life Christians talk like this? It's so annoying.
To make thing worse, even Christian rock bands get mentions here and there. *facepalms*
And the nonsense about how the war between zombies and people who can 'see' them is the epic Good vs. Evil battle is also annoying as hell.
(6) The basic concepts about man-eating monsters and people who fought them could have worked out just fine if the author actually has some basic writing skill and style to save her life. But she doesn't, so the entire story turns out to be very flat, toneless and fake. The heroine lost her entire family? Monsters stalking her and wanting to eat people? I never felt worry about her and her friends, the writing is just that bad.
(7) Last but not least, the heroine's dear dead mother taught her teenage daughter that her virginity is a gift when the good woman was alive.
Okay, I'm alright with the 'don't do it when you are not ready and certain' message, but what the actual fuck about this 'virginity is a gift/valuable' BS? It's just downright backward and sexist. Have you ever heard a guy's virginity is a gift before? No? Like never? Now can you see what I mean?...more
If you had read the first three books of the Hush, Hush series, you will know the author, Becca Fitzpatrick, has nothing new to offer; she did nothingIf you had read the first three books of the Hush, Hush series, you will know the author, Becca Fitzpatrick, has nothing new to offer; she did nothing to redeem her creation, she made no attempt to make anything in her story better.
In short, it's one hell of an uninspiring, boring, dull book, stuffed with bad YA romance, Mary Sue heroine, cardboard cutout sexy bad boy love interest, villains who are as badly written as the good guys, charmless and toneless *utterly boring* writing, and nonexistent tension and suspense. In fact this book is just so dull, its characters so utterly stupid and unrealistic (but they think they're all so smart and complicated!) to a point I find it difficult to write a proper review about it.
In other news, this final book demonstrates Ms. Fitzpatrick knows not a damn thing about world building, about writing battle scenes, writing characters with personalities and depth. Plus it also demonstrates she cannot handle writing anything with a slightly more complicated angles than a simple cliched love triangle and stupid teenage dramas, that's it.
One more thing, I find it really stupid for the male lead (an angel who has been around for unmemorable time) to act like a horny teenager all the time. It's also stupid for fallen angels to travel from one place to another by *driving in cars*.
And it's super stupid for the heroine, Nora Grey to care more about whether her boyfriend is cheating on her or not than about a war which is going on around her and her people. *sighs*...more
The whole thing is so dumb, so unnecessary, so stupid, so counter-productive that it undid everything the first book had ever established. I won't eveThe whole thing is so dumb, so unnecessary, so stupid, so counter-productive that it undid everything the first book had ever established. I won't even write a review (nor a rant, for the same matter) for this book because it doesn't worth my effort, it's that bad.
I feel very sorry for the poor trees that got killed to provide paper to print the copies of this book. So I put this book to my One-Of-The-Worst-Books-Ever shelf. ...more
This book is a living proof that Japanese publishers DO manage to publish God-awful, poorly written books and somehoZero star. Awful in so many ways.
This book is a living proof that Japanese publishers DO manage to publish God-awful, poorly written books and somehow get them selling like crazy and being made into movies/manga despite of the quality.
What a fucking joke, characters keep having personality shifts. They go from being sweet to cruel, from being bitchy to love-sicked, from being selfish to self-sacrificing, as quickly as turning pages. That's bad writing, that's awful character building, that's lazy story telling, that's pathetic....more
I once thought if nothing else, the cover of A Temptation of Angels is very pretty, but then I read this review and learnt how unoriginal it really isI once thought if nothing else, the cover of A Temptation of Angels is very pretty, but then I read this review and learnt how unoriginal it really is.
*sighs*
Note: It's more like a summary of my thoughts about this novel than an actual review:
Warning: F-words here and there, don't like don't read.
(1)The heroine is a useless dead-weight. She needs the guys to save her all the time, she can't do anything but somehow still manages to save the day, she is beautiful but doesn't know it. In short, she's a big fat fucking Mary Sue. She is also Too Stupid To Live, refusing to listen to warnings and choosing to be stubborn when it can cost her and her friends their lives.
(2) Four novels into her career as a professional author, Michelle Zink shows barely any sign of improvement in writing skill, world building, research and characters' development.
(3) All of the characters are cardboard cutouts.
(4) Zink can't write any descent combat scene to save her life.
(5) The love triangle is fucking ridiculous: (view spoiler)[the heroine falls for a dude who had ordered her own parents and many other innocent families to be killed. (hide spoiler)]
(6) The story supposedly takes place in the Victorian London, but Zink did an absolutely shit job to describe this 'Victorian London'. In fact she didn't even bother to throw in much historical details to make her story a bit more believable.
(7) The writing is slightly better than Twilight, but it still doesn't say much.
(8) The story as a whole is one hell of an unconvincing make-believe.
(9) Lots and lots of Fuck-ery, for example: (view spoiler)[The MC talks her friends into entrusting their lives and the safety of the entire world to a known traitor and murderer. (hide spoiler)]
(10) The mythology is a total mess.
(11) The good guys, the villains, the world, the mythology, the tone, the atmosphere, the action scenes are all painfully flat, bland and underdeveloped.
(12) Last but not least, the heroine reacts quite coolly when an old man who had selflessly helped her, is found murdered by the bad guys.
I had just finished this book today and it ends horribly---horrible in every single way imaginable. What a letdown to see the supposedly epic final baI had just finished this book today and it ends horribly---horrible in every single way imaginable. What a letdown to see the supposedly epic final battle between Fate Hunters and the cruel, cunning vampires and the entire human race's struggle for survival all turning out to be such an EPIC FAIL.
I am so disappointed that I wouldn't write a review for it, it doesn't worth my time....more
The following picture shows how I feel about A Discovery of Witches as a whole:
[image] (Link: )
I want to like tThe following picture shows how I feel about A Discovery of Witches as a whole:
[image] (Link: )
I want to like this book, the concepts and the magic system are bold, refreshing and awesome, but sadly awesome concepts cannot save a book from:
(1) Mary Sue main characters. And I'm talking about a Mary Sue who can easily put Bella Swan from Twilight into total shame...
Meet Diana Bishop, a history professor and leading expert of ancient texts, she was born to a pair of powerful witches, both of her late parents were from respectful witch families with long history tagging behind. At young age, she showed promises to become as powerful a witch as her late mother, and she was also much smarter than the other kids her age.
All of these details are told to us from a first person's POV, at the first 10 pages of the book. The Mary Sue alarm bells were ringing nonstop when I read those 10 pages.
And Matthew, the love interest and Diana's boyfriend/husband in the later parts of the book, is an ageless vampire. Not only he's drop dead gorgeous, he is rich, he is ages older than the heroine, he is also well learned and irresistible to all the ladies...does he sound just like someone else we'd already met before? Oh yes...Edward Cullen. How could I forget...
(2) Dull storytelling. And the book is overly long.
I read the first 200 pages of the book, and believe me, nothing happens.
I'm serious, instead of actual plot development , the book is filled with descriptions of every meal Diana had, every trip to the library, her excise routines, her dinner date with the vampire, her yoga classes. Thing got so bad to a point I wrote the following complaint in my reading progress: "if the author talks once more time about what the MC has for dinner and if she wrote one more of the MC's trip to the fucking library (and I swear I love libraries), I will throw the book away!
Talking about yoga, in this book vampires, witches and demons are doing yoga in the same workshop. Can thing get even more boring than this!?
Call me narrow-minded, but I just can't live with this vampires+witches+demons yoga scene haunting my mind, especially when this yoga workshop is supposed to be such a great spiritual experience and a gesture of peace among supernatural creatures. *groans*
(3) Vampires, witches and demons are sworn enemies, just because of reasons. You know, reasons.
Why those supernatural creatures hate each other so much? We never know, no background story whatsoever. But seriously, if they didn't happen to hate each other so much, there would be no 'forbidden' romance between Diana the witch and Matthew the vampire. Plain and simple.
(4) Badly written 'forbidden' romance between a vampire and a witch, a romance which is as good and 'romantic' as watching two pieces of wood banging against each other.
If Matthew liked Diana to Roman Goddess Diana just one more time, I swear I'm going to lose it.
Not to mention, a vampire bossing a woman around in the name of 'I'm protecting you', grasping her and refusing to let go even after she had already told him to stop, is not romantic.
(5) The villains being flat and they have no personality and motive other than being evil...for reasons. You know, reasons.
(6) The 'good guys' are good due to reasons. You know, reasons!
Sometime, the good guys also do a lot of dull things. For more than a few times, I just can't believe Matthew, a 1000+ years old vampire would handle the crisis the way he did.
(7) Had I mentioned not only the heroine is a massive Mary Sue, she is also an ignorant, arrogant cow; and she's also the perfect example of Too Stupid To Live?
I told you Diana is a powerful witch, right? I'm sure you won't ever forget this fact because the author had been very in-your-face about Diana being the most powerful witch alive throughout the book. So what had Diana done with her power? Had she learnt to control her magic and tried to do good with it?
Nap. Instead she sat on her butt and refused to learn how to use her magic, even when her auntie was more than willing to teach her. All because Diana's parents died in a failed magical ritual.
I'm sorry? Isn't it more a reason to learn how to keep your magic under control?
Plus, Diana also chose to be ignorant about the history of her own kind and the world of supernatural creatures. She chose not to listen when her auntie tried to teach her. I'm sorry? But what kind of idiot would do this when she lived in a world where vampires, witches and demons are hiding among human society in an uneasy peace? Why is such ignorance ever be allowed among supernatural creatures? I can't think of anything more dangerous than an untrained but powerful witch walking around when she is fully capable of unconsciously attracting lighting and burning a hole on the carpet. What would happen if her magic went out of control? People may get hurt, you know. But in this book, no one seems to care.
(8) Had I mentioned not only the vampires don't have fangs, they have hardly killed anyone *on screen*?
Don't even get me started with the vampires in this book, I think Mathew's mother is the only respectable vampire in the story, mostly because she actually hunts to get herself fed and when she lost her husband, she went after her husband's killers instead of crying and moaning like a weakling.
(9) The ending is one of the worst endings I've read in the recent years.
(view spoiler)[They travel back in time so Diana can learn how to be a powerful witch by learning from all those great witches in the past!!!! (hide spoiler)] What kind of ending is that!?
(10) The plot is messy, and is weighted down by far too many randomly thrown in backstories.
I admit it's nice for us to finally say goodbye to Diana's trips to the library and her enjoyment with eating and drinking, by the second part of the book. However, in replace of Diana's daily activities, we are treated with other characters' seemingly endless backstories. You see? They are immortals right? So of course each of them has a life story to share!
(11) Many of my GR friends are aware of my undying hatred toward the godawful Tiger's Saga (by Collen Houck), and I can tell you guys A Discovery of Witches is just as awful as Tiger's Saga, but in a totally different way.
This book is filled with endless references on history, myth and culture, mixing with pseudo-science and pseudo-history. All of these are fine with me, if only the story itself isn't so mind-breakingly boring and the main characters aren't so dull and the romance isn't so annoying.
(12) Some people say this book is 'Twilight for adults'
Well...in a sense, this book is Twilight for adults, if adults enjoyed stupid romances and lusting after picture-perfect male vampires....more
Rating: Actually it should be a negative-20 stars, but Goodread wouldn't allow this rating so I made do with one star. It's easily one of the worst boRating: Actually it should be a negative-20 stars, but Goodread wouldn't allow this rating so I made do with one star. It's easily one of the worst books I've ever read in my life.
Warning: F-words flying from all directions, don't like don't read.
To: Dear Colleen Houck From: Mizuki
Hello, Colleen Houck.
I'd decided to skip those 'dear this' and 'dear that' because to be frank, I have no respect toward you as an 'author' and I don't really think you deserve to be called one. Still for the sake of both literature and humanity, I would like to suggest you to do a couple of things: (1) Next time, when you write books about foreign cultures and societies, DO YOUR FXXKING RESEARCH. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
(2) Next time, when you include Eastern mythologies in your books, DO NOT insert an ignorant White Girl who knows nothing about said mythologies and let said White Girl become the savior of all creatures. It's goddamn offensive.
(3) Take a goddamn writing lesson before you start writing anything else again. Pretty, please.
(4) DO NOT mix different cultures and mythical creatures from different mythologies together like they're one great big fucking happy family, for no explanation and no good reason.
(5) DO NOT insert a White Skinned Mary Sue, who is even bigger a Mary Sue than Bella freaking Swan from Twilight, into your story.
(6) Myths and history ARE NOT THE SAME THING. Get it!?
(7) For God's sake, BE RESPECTFUL to other people's cultures and traditions. DON'T MAKE THINGS UP, JUST DON'T. Okay?
(8) If you really, really need to make things up, CREATE YOUR OWN MYTH, BUILD YOUR OWN FANTASY WORLD instead of inserting your make-believe bullshit into someone else's myths and cultures. No one needs to have their cultures shitted all over like what you had done with Hindus/Chinese myths and history.
None of the above is so very difficult to do, right?
Right now, all I can say about Tiger's Destiny is: The only thing which is worse than the first 300 pages of this book, is the last 100 pages of this book.
When I was in the middle of the book, I kept telling myself "Colleen Houck had already done her worst in the previous books, I'm NOT going to get angry because of this last book and its stupidity. I'm not going to throw a bitch fit over the stupidity, I'm not going to throw a bitch fit over the FUCKING STUPIDITY!!!"
But in the ending, I was very, very angry and I did throw my bitch fit, because the ending part of Tight's Destiny is just ridiculously, eye-poppingly, outrageously BAD.
And here's my feeling to this so-called Tiger Saga as a whole... [image] (LINK: )
Pre-Review:
In my Tiger's Voyage review (), I made comments how Colleen Houck failed to mention realistic details about Indian's society, such as:
(1) Houck did not mention seeing any poor people, or one single beggar on the street. Instead she made it sound like every single person who lived in India was rich or at the very least, middle class.
(2) It's barely noted that how hot the weather can be, with all the rain and stuff...
(3) Not once did she mention anything about the social/cultural barriers between Indian men and women, nor did any of her characters seem to notice romantic relationship and marriage are being viewed in ways which are quite different from American/Western societies.
Now I have something to add:
(4) Houck did not mention anything about cows, monkeys or other animals wandering on the streets. Yes, since India is still partly an rural society, plus cows and a handful of other animals are being viewed as holy, so animals DO wandering on the streets, even in the largest cities.
Well, I think these are things that you would have paid your attention to.
(5) Not once did she mention the untidiness in some parts of the cities/towns/villages/places her characters had visited. Instead Houck made it sound like the environment in India doesn't have much difference with America.
Oh well, those Bollywood movies always want to have you believed that India is ALL MIDDLE CLASS, ALL WESTERNIZED, ALL CLEAN AND MODERN. But, it really isn't the whole picture.
Houck, I have to wonder how can you fail in so many ways.
[image]
I won't keep my hope up.
Update of reading progress:
First I want to talk about Houck's 'poems'. Yes, she added at least two poems of hers into the book.
And here's my suggestion for all authors and wannabe-authors out there: If you were going to quote Lord Tennyson's and Edgar Allan Poe's poems in your book, then DO NOT add your own crappy poems in the same book! It only makes your bad poems look even worse when we compare your crappy poems with Lord Tennyson's and Poe's!
Secondly, about 50 pages into the book, I am faced with Colleen Houck screwing up Chinese history *again*.
We're told that supposedly, the villain was the bastard son of an emperor of the ancient Chinese Shu kingdom (also known as Shu Han ), and his mother was supposed to be an Indian slave girl. The time of the villain's birth was probably somewhere between 221 AD to 263 AD.
I will not even bother to tell you there's no historical record for that supposed bastard son between the Shu Emperor and an Indian slave (a royal bastard went unnoticed? how likely can it be?). I wouldn't even bother. Still, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to inform you that at the time of the Three Kingdoms era, China was a much smaller country than its current self, and I would also like to show you a map of China from the Three Kingdoms era.
[image] (Note: the map is taken from Wiki)
So you can see the Kingdom of Shu on the map, you can also see its two warring neighbors: Kingdom of Wei and Kingdom of Wu, you can also see Korea and Taiwan on the map, but can you see India?
Well, of course you can't see India anywhere near Kingdom of Shu, because geographically these two kingdoms were so far, far apart! You can imagine how difficult it would be to transport Indian slaves all the way to the Shu realm.
Then, would somebody tells me how did Shu Emperor import Indian slaves?
[image]
At around page. 60, Kelsey needed to learn more things about the birth of Goddess Durga, so she went to read some books---not that I have any objection on her doing some research; but then the next thing we know, Kelsey was lecturing the Durga myth to both Ren and Kishan. I AM SORRY? Shouldn't these two Indian princes know the Durga myth by heart!? For crying out loud, Durga is one of the most popular goddesses in India and her many myths are well known. So why must two Indians learn about their own mythology from the White Girl? Colleen Houck, you must be kidding.
I need to tell you I have serious issues with the ending of Tiger's Destiny. I was enraged when Houck basically tells us through out the centuries, all Indians have gotten the Durga Myths all wrong, (view spoiler)[Goddess Durga actually didn't defeat the great bull demon by herself, instead the bull demon was taken down by a White Girl Who Has The Power Of A Goddess!? (hide spoiler)]
Words can't describe how angry I felt when I read this bullshit.
Updated@22/07/2014:
*facepalms* and now it's confirmed that Houck has never visited India *at all*. [image] (LINK: )
I have been wondering forever why everyone else seems to love this series so much. For god's sake, Clara is a Mary Sue and she's too airheaPre-review:
I have been wondering forever why everyone else seems to love this series so much. For god's sake, Clara is a Mary Sue and she's too airhead not to be annoying; the love triangle is ridiculous, the bad guys are laughing stocks at best, and there's nothing new or angelic about those holier-than-thou angel-bloods (half-angels).
A friend of mine stated that most people who gave four or five stars rates/reviews to this book because: (1) they had just suffered the horror of Hush, Hush, Halo or Fallen; (2) the supposedly 'good' writing (okay, I admit it really is better than Fallen, etc) tricked them into overlooking all the flaws: the cliches, the lack of action, the annoying love triangle and the Mary Sue main character. And goodness, the writing isn't that good nor interesting to me anyway.
Edited@13/01/2016
I am half way through the book now, and I found something really hateful and ugly in the story:
For the second time in this series, the author tells me a certain young girl's one true and sacred purpose in life is to get herself knocked up and give birth to a....you guessed it! a male infant!
Holy mother fucker. The first time shits like this happen is when the author reveals (view spoiler)[Clara's mother's one true and sacred purpose in life is to get herself knocked up and give birth to Clara. (hide spoiler)] I can't even.
Secondly, another young woman predictably turns out to be a villain because....you just know that having tattoos on her skin, dressing in revealing outfits and having an open attitude toward guys usually signals that she is a bad female.
Actual review starts here
I almost wanted to give Boundless two stars, but after taking the slut shaming, the Mary Sue heroine, the extremely poorly done mythology, the plot holes, the insufferable conservative messages and the anticlimactic ending into consideration, I decided nothing more than 1 star should be given.
Let's do a breakdown here:
(1) the Mary Sue heroine: she is beautiful, she is good at everything she does, she hasn't even gotten ill in her life, she has two hot boys drooling over hear, her father is (view spoiler)[Arch Angel Micheal, for crying out loud (hide spoiler)], she has power which hardly anyone else can wield, even her mother told her how special she is.
I want to throw up.
(2) the paper-thinned mythology: we are just supposed to accept that God and angels and demons exist, and the whole Christian mythology about heaven and hell is true. The God/angels are good and the demons are just bad and evil. We should just swallow it all down, no question asked. Hardly anything gets an explanation.
In this book, Hell/underworld is mentioned, but once again we learn barely anything about it and the description of angels/demons/Hell is mind-breakingly flat and unimaginative and down right boringgggggg.
(3) the holier-and-better-than-thou-lowly-humans-angels/half angels: Not only the angels and their offspring are beautiful, smart and good at everything they do, and they can't even get sick! Plus each of them has a special, God-given holy 'purpose' they need to fulfill.
What are those holy purposes? Ending world hunger? Bringing peace to the world? Protecting humans? Nap. From what I can see their purposes directed them to hook up (God obviously loves match-making a lot) and have babies together, or to be a good citizen to their community.
Yes...very holy, special and important purposes indeed. Not to mention female half-angels' purpose in life are to hook up with guys so they can make babies together!
(4) The slut shaming: As mentioned above, wearing revealing clothes makes you a bad female.
(5) The Love Triangle: Oh yes the love triangle......and this time Love Interest No. 2 Tucker is out of the picture for most time.
(6) The lack of explanation: Why would the arch villain (view spoiler)[wants Angela's baby so much and go into such length to catch him? (hide spoiler)] It isn't even explained!
(7) The insufferable conservatism: 3 books go by, and I can't remember seeing one black angel or an Asian one (Okay, I could happen to overlook them, because the main crew is...white?). Not only this, I can't remember seeing an angel/half-angel who is anything less than middle classed. None of them do grass-root job for a living, no one lives in a poor community. I mean, screw all the 'staying with the poor and the weak' dogmas!
(8) ...and the heroine just let her 16 years old brother live by himself? I mean, they are now without parents! Their mother (view spoiler)[had just freaking died! (hide spoiler)] But Clara the heroine just up and goes to college and let her troubled and sad younger brother live by himself and drop out of school!?
I don't think this is an awful book, it is only an awfully forgettable and unimaginative YA paranormal book about a Super Special Mary Sue, A Bad Love Triangle, A Bunch Of Very Special White Middle Class PeopleAngels and Villains Who Hardly Do Anything Scary.
Starting from the very beginning, I know the world building in the Delirium series is bullshit, the setting that love is now being treated by a dysptoStarting from the very beginning, I know the world building in the Delirium series is bullshit, the setting that love is now being treated by a dysptoian American government as an illness is bullshit, I also know that the story is more about a teenage love triangle among Alex/Lena/Julian than the long-suffering citizens fighting the evil government, I also know that the characters are only "Meh" at best.
So why was I still reading? It's because the second book of the series is quite okay-ish and I was hoping the final book would redeem the series for me, but it doesn't!
Requiem sucks on so many levels. I would have ranted on and on about all the messed up little details and failure which pissed me off and made me go "What. The. Fuck?" when reading the book. But I soon realized this book doesn't deserve that much of my time and effort.
I can tell you that: Sever, the finale of The Chemical Garden trilogy, despite of all its failure in world building, weak heroine and other flaws, the author of that book actually managed to wrap things up, whilst as Lauren Oliver doesn't seem to be able to do so.
I will do a break down here:
(1) Lena, make up your damn mind on whom you want to be with!
(2) (view spoiler)[Alex! You're an asshole! Lena thought you were dead and what did you expect her to do? Grieving over you for the rest of her life!? (hide spoiler)]
(3) The love triangle is unnecessary, who has time for this shit when they are on the run for their lives and the soldiers all have an 'search and destroy' order when it comes to the Invalids?
(4) The author doesn't bother to wrap up all the loosen ends. What happens to Lena's older sister, her uncle and aunt? Who does Lena choose in the end? (view spoiler)[(It's hinted that she chose Alex, but still) (hide spoiler)] Who had made it out of the battle alive and who hadn't? What happens to the rest of the America? What is going to happen to all the 'cured' citizens? No answer at all.
(5) Everything feels very rushed, and the emotion isn't built up properly, not at all.
You know what!? I would actually like a dystopian novel with "people fought, people died fighting, the rebels took down the evil government, and they finally saw the beginning of a new world" as its ending and conclusion, I suspect Ms. Oliver was trying to end her book with something similar.
However, the ending of Requiem fails to work because everything is too rushed, the emotion isn't built up finely, so many things are left unexplained or unsolved, so many supporting characters just vanish without any mention, and there're too little fighting for the story's heroine. Ms. Oliver, that isn't how this story should end....more
In my reviews for the first two books of the Dark Heart trilogy, I stated that both of those books are highly forgettable and there's nothing to make In my reviews for the first two books of the Dark Heart trilogy, I stated that both of those books are highly forgettable and there's nothing to make them stand out among the countless other YA paranormal romance novels which flooded the YA book market.
But I'd never expected this final book, Dark Heart Surrender, would turn out to be even worse, not only it's just as unremarkable and forgettable like the first two books, but it's also awfully, deadly boring.
Let's do a breakdown:
(1)There're two plot lines in the story, but they are both so thin and barely-there that the whole novel looks very pointless.
(2) The villains totally suck at being evil and frightening: instead they come off like a pair of mean-spirited boyfriend-stealer/girlfriend stealer. Said villains are also supposed to be so very evil, but we never see them actually doing anything awful in the story. Most of the bad things they did are done off-screen, what a disappointment.
(3) Plus said villains are targeting the main couple and their families and friends for one of the lamest reasons I've ever seen: so Luca's family (his grandparents or great-grandparents? Don't remember) had banished the villains' ancestors from the otherworldly realm, and now said villains are going to seek revenge for something that happened before they were even born?! Goodness!
(4) The romance between the main couple is painful to endure.
(5) The author just wouldn't shut up about how awesome and special Jane (the heroine) is, and how much Luca (the werewolf boyfriend) loves her.
(6) To be fair the last 30 or so pages are less boring, but it's still unable to redeem the whole novel. Plus, I appreciated that Jane (the heroine) is the one who's actually using her brain when she faced difficult situations---I'm not saying she's so very bright (she isn't), but sadly no one else in the book has ever done the same.
(7) Last but not least, for the longest of time nothing happens in the book, not a single supernatural thing has taken place.
Stay away from this book if you don't want to be bored out of your mind.
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