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| 0063021420
| 9780063021426
| 0063021420
| 4.16
| 364,852
| Aug 23, 2022
| Aug 23, 2022
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I read the beginning part of the novel (the Chinese translated version) for free-- and I would only read this book when it's for free, and here are a
I read the beginning part of the novel (the Chinese translated version) for free-- and I would only read this book when it's for free, and here are a few things that I noticed. (1) The white-skinned evil professor guy, he was so mean-spirited and evil that when he entered a district in a Cantonese town where most of the residents had already died due to plague, the professor still didn’t bother to even cover his nose and mouth with a mere handkerchief. I don’t know, maybe his super-evil-superior-whiteness and the sliver magic were protecting him from the disease, but it hasn’t been made clear. (2) This same white-skinned evil professor guy, he was so mean-spirited and evil that instead of faking kindness to win the orphaned Robin over, he must act like a jerk around the boy ever since Day 1. Sometimes people can be smart at the same time when they are being evil, right? Right? (3) And Robin, we never know his Cantonese/Chinese name because the author never bothered to show it in the narrative. It is mentioned in passing that his mother gave him a Cantonese/Chinese name, but it’s ridiculous that Robin didn’t even refer himself by that name even in his own head. (4) Then, let’s talk about Robin’s family, shall we? First, we are told that Robin and his mother lived in a town somewhere in Canton, his family was not wealthy, but they had a white woman as a nanny and the nanny taught him English. Robin also improved his English by visiting the foreign sailors and talking to them around the port. There are already some holes in this backstory: Robin, as a mixed-blooded boy living in the Victorian era/Qing Dystnasy, who had no father as a protector, would have been singled out as a bastard by his neighbors throughout his childhood. Historically, mix-raced children were discriminated even during and after WWII, so don't tell me racist discrimination was not an issue among the Chinese community back then. Robin’s mother, as a Cantonese woman raising a mixed-blood child on her own without a husband, would have been labeled by the community as a whore. The household of Robin’s mother, which was made up of a single mother and a white nanny and with not a single man/husband as a protector and no family wealth to sheath them from the malice and gossip from the local community, the entire household would probably have been labeled as a whore house already. Plus, it really doesn’t help that Robin was chatting with the sailors on the port to learn English, because in the view of the then-Chinese/Cantonese society, sailors (both the foreign and the local ones) were not so much better than criminals. Does all this discrimination and classism sound ugly and awful to you? Yes, they do to me too. However, it is the harsh reality of the world from 200-300 years ago, in which most countries are racist, sexist, classist and discriminative to the boots. Other empires like China and India etc had done their fair share of enslaving other weaker groups at the height of their power. But I found none of those historical realities in R.F. Kuang’s writing. So, if Ms. Kuang is aiming to create a historical fantasy world where racism and discrimination are solely a white man’s problem, then I will get myself the hell out of here now. More to come, or maybe not, because life is too short. ...more |
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1
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not set
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not set
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Mar 30, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 0735269939
| 9780735269934
| 0735269939
| 4.04
| 100,403
| Sep 21, 2021
| Sep 21, 2021
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Pre-review: The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lur Pre-review: The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn't matter that the girls often die from the mental strain. I am curious but is that part sounding like the relationship between the humanoid Fatimas (mostly female) and the Headliners (or the cavalier, mostly male) from Mamoru Nagano's , who have to co-pilot giant robots known as the Mortar Heads? I know, not many people had heard of The Five Star Stories these days, still... Plus the main characters are called Zetian (the heroine) and Li Shimin (the male lead, or at least one of them, I guess)? Well, aren't it quite a dead giveaway that these characters are Honestly, it isn't the first time something like this happens (I am looking straight at you, Ken Liu and your 'The Grace of Kings' book) but I'm still shocked. Can't people just come up with original names for their own supposedly-original-characters in their supposedly-original-Sci-Fi-series?! As to the name of the country Huaxia. Holy shit, in Chinese it is , the most overused alternative name for China. A bit of originality won't hurt anyone, right? Edited@13/01/2022: after reading some 2-3 stars reviews, here are my finding about the story and its plots: (1) The heroine's sister was intentionally murdered by her co-pilot out of the blue, but there is zero explanation for why the guy did that. (2) Instead of the heroine killing a few dudes, turns out she killed just one single male pilot and then her power is recognized by everyone and made into a big deal in a society that goes out of its way to suppress women. (3) Said heroine lusts after her sister's murderer. (4) Said heroine killed a bunch of other people with no remorse and self-doubt. (5) They are fighting against some random aliens, again zero explanation. If you wanted to read books about the one and only, ass-kicking female emperor in the history of China, the infamous Empress Wu Zetian, here are a few good choices: (1)Empress, by Shan Sa. (2), by 王者覺仁 (non-fictional) (3)Wu: The Chinese Empress Who Schemed, Seduced and Murdered Her Way to Become a Living God by Jonathan Clements (non-fictional) more to come. ...more |
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0
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not set
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not set
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Apr 30, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 125014227X
| 9781250142276
| B07C25Z679
| 4.15
| 222,046
| Jan 29, 2019
| Jan 29, 2019
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it was ok
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(1) I remember in the first book of this Grisha series, the king and queen of the kingdom were constantly referred to as the tsar and the tsarina (or
(1) I remember in the first book of this Grisha series, the king and queen of the kingdom were constantly referred to as the tsar and the tsarina (or something similar to that), but in this book, it is completely dropped and Nikolai is referred to as 'king' all the freaking times. You know what, a bit of consistency won't hurt anyone. (2) I had stopped noticing Bardugo's language problems altogether because whenever there are non-English words popping up in the text I just simply ignore it and I simply expect every 'foreign-sounding words' in her books to be incorrect and make-up out of thin air and disrespectful to the actually-existing languages because the woman seemingly wouldn't bother to use Google-Translator. But then Nastassja's Review informs me that 'Korol Rezni' from Russian means King of Massacre, not King of Scars (and I used Google Translator and it didn't take me more than one minute to find 'Korol Rezni' means 'King of Massacre' in Russian, and you know what I don't even know more than five words in Russian damn it). I'm still a bit shocked.....I mean, what kind of author can't get the correct Russian for her book title and her main character? (3) I'd gone through most of the book, I found this kind of story and characters have been done to death and done a lot better by countless Japanese adventure mangas before, I am not impressed. (4) Guess what? If you wanted to court a foreign noble girl, bothering her with poems which she had known all her life, is the right way to go, not trying to impress her by showing her sights only can be found in your own country or doing activities together. (5) Not to mention, said foreign noble girl mentioned at #4 came from a water-downed version of imperial China (or Mongolia), it's so water-downed that it looks really fake and forced. (6) Things are still predictable in King of Scars, so this guy turns out to be a traitor? But hasn't he been like, (view spoiler)["I worship the Darkling and think he is a saint" (hide spoiler)] ever since day one!? (7) You know what? It's completely possible to be strong and kind at the same time. Cruelty and aloofness don't make you strong; plus being nice actually can help winning people to your side. But as usual, YA authors mistook mean girls with awful attitudes for the strong ones, and Zoya actually wants you to believe 'nice girls' are equated to 'weaklings'. I mean, can she just shove this back up her ass? (8) Don't get me wrong, I actually like Zoya better than that annoying Mary-Sue Alina both as a character and as Nikolai's love interest. (9) To be honest, I skipped all of the Nina's chapters (except maybe the first and the second chapter) I don't care about her development, I don't care, I just don't care. Her chapters are all deadweight. (10) As to the characters, I admit I am happy to see how Zoya, David and Genya are doing a few years later but as for Nikolai he and his struggling with his own demon and trying to save his country is just so damn boring. (11) To be honest, the last 30 or so pages are somewhat decent, but this good part of the story comes 'too little, too late', to a point that I only skimmed my way to the ending without bothering to read it word to word. (12) To sum up, it is a completely forgettable cookie-cutter YA novel with badly-put-together fantasy elements and paper-thinned characters trying to be oh-so-funny-and-witty all the damn time. Won't recommend to anyone. (12) Last but not least, bringing up the Darkling all the fucking times is so fucking tiring. All you Darkling fangirls out there, I hope you are happy, but it really weights the story down. ...more |
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1
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Sep 15, 2019
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Dec 10, 2019
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Sep 15, 2019
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Kindle Edition
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| B0117K9N3Q
| 4.58
| 722,234
| Sep 27, 2016
| Sep 27, 2016
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it was ok
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Review for book 1: /review/show... Melissa Stacy's review for Six Of Crows which points out plenty of things which I failed to Review for book 1: /review/show... Melissa Stacy's review for Six Of Crows which points out plenty of things which I failed to notice before. Rating: 2 stars. Again I think this story would have worked out great as a TV series, but as a novel, the story falls increasingly flat and the plot just drags on and on and on.
That, has to be worst thing I've seen in a YA book in the recent years. @page 307: Is something wrong with me for finding this Migos' music video about some rappers dressing up as gangsters to be more entertaining than this book? With the most badass line ever: Time to go to sleep! Watch out! [image] (Link: ) Music video: Full on rant starts here, don't like don't read: One day, I looked back at Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn novels, then I suddenly remembered why I got so annoyed by Leigh Bardugo so called 'high fantasy novels' and 'amazing plot twits'; because comparing to what Sanderson can write within 450 pages, this 500+ pages Crooked Kingdom feels hopelessly long-winded and tiring, and its characters flat, shapeless and damn boring. Let's do a breakdown! ***Warning: both marked and unmarked plot spoilers below!*** (1) Too fucking much flashbacks and backstories that weighen the whole story down: Now, this one is the biggest flaw of this book in my eyes. As much as I like learning about characters' backstories and where they came from, still as with Six of Crows, the flashbacks and backstories in Crooked Kingdom are all so very 'in-your-face' that whatever subtly of characterization is lost entirely. Everyone has a sob story, even Jesper's mom and dad get one too so it is simply getting ridiculous; plus these sob stories are badly inserted into the storyline and Bardugo seems to have a thing about inserting backstories when important events are about to go down or in the middle of an action scene, I don't know why she would think it's a good idea. I had seen on Youtube talks about what she thinks about the flashbacks in Six of Crows: "Well, I don't know you that well, we are not that close, I don't need to know it yet" and I feel the same. (2) The heist is not as exciting nor clever as everyone and their mothers had been telling you: Basically they just (view spoiler)[make up a false plague panic and pretend to shoot a character to death then everything is good again. Plus the bad guys didn't even check the boy's corpse personally to make sure he is really deader than dead, how pathetic. I mean, I do like the false plague alarm but the rest of the heist...not so much. (hide spoiler)] Some of you probably want to know how Kaz managed to defeat Pekka Rollins, right? Let me tell you what went down: (view spoiler)[Kaz threatened Rollins with his son's life, which would have been fine and clever enough, but the problem is, Kaz had never ever kidnapped Rollins' son before he made this threat, in fact he had never laid eyes on Rollins' son in his life! Kaz simply fished out a toy lion and waved it in front of Rollins then the older man instantly believed Kaz had really kidnapped his son and is ready to go down on his knees to beg for his son's life! (hide spoiler)] How pathetic! Bottom line: I would have respect it if Kaz actually (view spoiler)[kidnapped Rollins' son and threatened the latter with the boy's life, but Kaz managing to threaten Rollins without even having to kidnap the boy first and Rollins actually buying his shit? (hide spoiler)] That's just down right insulting. Not to mention, no matter how difficult and impossible the situations had turned out to be, Kaz always had a way to work things out nicely! Nothing could ever go wrong! It would have been okay if only thing like this only happen a few times, but a whole 500+ pages book with this same shit being repeated over and over again? That's too much. (3) Shitty justification of 'the bad things done by the villains are bad, but the bad things done by the main characters are excusable': 55 pages into the story, I've already gotten tired of the shitty justification that 'the bad things done by the bad guys are bad, but the bad things done by the main characters are excusable'. Killing someone just because he is in your way and then justifying the murder with some lame excuse about (view spoiler)[ the murdered victim being a blackmailer (hide spoiler)]? That sucks, that is so uncool. (4) Poor explanation for way too many things in the story: @page 176: 'Per Haskell was still the leader of the Dregs'? You said, Kaz? Come on, that setting about the internal power structure of the Dregs makes no sense to me, what kind of gang leader (in this case, Per Haskell) would allow his 'lieutenant' to take a major job (The Ice Court job from SoC) without letting him know any of the significant details, without keeping track of his minors' where about, without any other noticeable lieutenants to balance the power within the gang, and even without one single bodyguard to watch his back? In a realistic world, this kind of gang leader won't last even a year. @page 224: we are also supposed to believe an evil father would hire some killers to do away his unwanted teenage son even before said evil father's pregnant wife could safely deliver a healthy baby to him first. Does this guy know women and babies tend to die at childbirth in the era this story is supposed to take place? Hahaha! Plus, for a story so filled with gangsters and lower class labors and residents from a slum, hardly anyone has ever sworn, the most I can see is a 'bastard' or two here and there. By the way, I call bullshit when in one scene, Kaz throws acid to form a circle around himself in order to collapse the wooden floor so he and Wylan (I'm not 100% sure it is Wylan in this scene) can make an instant escape through the hole. Well...I think the MythBusters had already busted this myth with the first Underworld movie, right? (5) The characters: Where should I ever start? Kaz: With this book, we are in this 'All hail Kaz and his awesomeness' circus all over again. Then I was gasping in shock and anger when Kaz simply allowed someone who had betrayed him to live which makes no sense to me (what kind of self-respecting gangster would allow someone who had betrayed him to live, without some good reason!?) Plus the more I read, the more I realized he is a sorry excuse for a representative of disable people when his disability is only mentioned whenever his creator remembered to put it in the story like adding a footnote. To add insult to injury, Kaz managed to carry an injured woman in book 1 and a character with two healthy legs has to walk faster to catch up with him and he successfully faces down a bunch of gangsters with nothing but his cane in book 2. I know, I know disable people can do amazing things and doing all kind of sports when they are well trained for that, but running long distance while carrying a woman (no matter how smallish and light she is supposed to be) is really getting unrealistic. Inej: First thing, I like Inej but sadly she is getting lame and undeveloped in this book, I don't learn one single new thing about her throughout this book. In book 1, I was told over, and over, and over again how Inej is the greatest and most feared assassin in town, but in this book she just......simply isn't anymore? Suddenly she is just some girl learning how to fight from Kaz and from some street fights within the length of one full year? Are you kidding me? Then there comes Dunyasha, the white, merciless, deadly mirror image to Inej's Wraith persona. The hostility between Inej and Dunyasha could have been awesome but unluckily Dunyasha comes into the picture way too late so she never gets a chance to become a worthy and full-formed foe to Inej, instead Dunyasha seems to be used by Bardugo as an excuse for Inej to do soul-searching and think about which direction her life is taking her. Character doing soul-searching is great, but in Inej's case, I don't like how it is done. Also, considering all the abuse Inej had suffered and the long line of men who had used her as an object in the whore house, I have no idea why would Inej develop any romantic feeling toward Kaz and how can she manage to see the supposed 'hidden kindness' within Kaz? I can understand she respects him for his capability, or she feels obligated to him because he had bothered to save her from the whore house and gave her a place to stay , but...LOVE? I just don't understand! Wylan: It is great that Special Education Needs/learning disorder and how ignorance and prejudice makes SEN children's lives miserable is addressed in the story. I truly appreciate that but I'm a bit letdown by the cliche that whilst Wylan can't read, he turns out to be a genius on chemistry, that really makes me feel like Wylan is getting a consolation award for having learning disorder. Then in the end, Kaz manages to make Wylan (view spoiler)[read from a document by the help of music and tunes? What is that? I know music can very much help you memorize things and words, but I am still skeptical. According to my highly limited knowledge, it most likely can't help you magically becoming able to read when you happen to have reading disorder. (hide spoiler)] Jesper: In this book, the major point about his character is the fact that he is gay and his relationship with some other boys (sorry to say that, but I have zero interest with this guy's love life). Even the appearance of his father and the revelation that (view spoiler)[he is in fact a Grisha (hide spoiler)] can't redeem his flat characterization, how sad. Plus, just what kind of fool would think of gambling in the middle of a mission!? Nina: Okay, she is an okay character in this book, her reasoning, her attitude and her romance with Matthias actually makes sense. Matthias: He barely has any new development since he pretty much had made peace with his past and his romantic relationship with Nina is settled already, but because of Nina he also appearing to be an okay character to me. Kuwei Yul-Bo: For the first half of the book he is barely in the story---because he pretty much got replaced by another character in the first half---therefore I rarely see anything which can reveal his personality, then for the rest of the story he is just this trophy person who is fought over by everyone like a prized object, just like this Asian Keymaker guy in Matrix Reloaded. That's it. The villains: When supposedly there are three nations in total all going after our MCs, and the city's own armed guards are looking up and down for those MCs, the main villains in the story seem utterly underwhelming, (view spoiler)[the Shu Han people and their mutant soldiers barely have any feature to be spoken of, Pekka Rollins is barely in the story and his final defeat is kind of pathetic. Van Eck, Wylan's father, seems scary enough when he kidnapped Inej and toyed with her but soon after even Van Eck looks kind of lame. Plus a lot of things we learnt about these villains are revealed in a 'Tell, not Show' manner. Featureless villains like this really makes Kaz's victory look kind of...too easy? (hide spoiler)] (6) The romance: Ever since the first book, I have no interest in the 'will they, won't they?' thingy between Kaz and Inej, For most of the 2 books Kaz constantly puts Inej down with his words and making her believe her only worth is her ability to finish her tasks and I found this kind of attitude truly hateful and I was actually glad Inej eventually decided she had done waiting for Kaz and wanting to leave and chase her dreams by the end of book 1. So imagine my disappointment when I found like every other YA girl, Inej (view spoiler)[ decided to wait for Kaz to come around once more by the end of book 2? I just can't deal with it. Even when Kaz really did make up with Inej in the very end but it's already too late. (hide spoiler)] The only saving grace about the romance between Kaz and Inej is that they didn't just simply fall into each other's arms by the end, because...given all the shits these two had been endured, these two damaged persons just couldn't be healed magically by the almighty power of true love, plus they seem to both realize they actually have better things to do with their lives than pinning after each other; I view it as a somewhat good message for the teenage readers. Not to mention it is rather annoying to have ever main characters to be paired off when most of these pairings are just as romantic as a piece of wood (Nina's relationship with Matthias being the exculsion). Talking about romance, I have to move on to Point #7.... (7) Uninteresting gay romances and trophy LGTB/People of Colors characters make me yawn: Perhaps I have been spoiled by too many yaoi manga/novels and fictions which always have boy/boy romance or yaoi relationships front and center therefore I have zero interest in the awkwardly written, bland and flavorless gay romance in both SoC or CK. I know gay romance getting mentioned in YA novels is a good thing, still I had read LGTB romances from a few other YA novels which are far hotter than this one so......sorry to be harsh, this whole Jesper/Wylan business is bloodless at best, embarrassing at worst. Plus people just won't shut up about how there are many People of Colors (e.g. Inej, Jesper, etc) in the story, but whenever I think more closely about this, the presence of those POC characters feel more like trophies than anything. (8) It literally takes forever to get to the exciting parts: The same thing happened in SoC, and thanks again to the endless flashbacks and romances, I had to crawl through a lot of dull chapters and paragraphs before anything exciting can takes place. The final words:The ending of this book seems to be hinting at further developments for some of the characters or even upcoming sequels, but at this point I would like to say: 'Thanks, but no thanks.' ...more |
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2
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Jan 19, 2018
not set
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Mar 30, 2018
not set
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Jan 19, 2018
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Kindle Edition
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| 0399549781
| 9780399549786
| 0399549781
| 3.73
| 16,730
| Jan 02, 2018
| Jan 02, 2018
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did not like it
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Rating: 1-angry-this-is-not-my-Batman-star.
The existence of this book is quite an insult to Batman and this book reads like it was written by som
Rating: 1-angry-this-is-not-my-Batman-star.
The existence of this book is quite an insult to Batman and this book reads like it was written by some third-ranked comic-script-writer who doesn't know enough of a thing about Batman and what he stands for. I have a feeling that if Bruce Wayne's parents were killed by a young pretty girl, this version of Bruce would have forgiven her too. How insulting. [image] I just won't forgive Marie Lu or whoever else is responsible for reducing Bruce Wayne into a hapless young man who thinks with his dick instead of his brain (I know he is only 18 years old in this story, but it is still unforgivable), and the whole mother fucking nonsense about people doing community service in the fucking Arkham Asylum. [image] Plus, if the whole Bruce/Madeleine thingy is supposed to be a nod to Silence Of the Lambs then double shame on you, Marie Lu. [image] Honestly, if you wanted some decent Batman's origin story, try Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. It's for your own good. edited@08/05/2019: Guess what........I've been soaking myself in Batman online fanfics for months and I swear to the BatGod that I'd read plenty of better written, closer-to-canon-fanfics with better-constructed characters, better-plotted romances and much deeper understanding to the characters' mentalities than this... and those good fanfic writers have never charged me anything for their good works. edited@08/11/2018: *angry rant* ONLY STUPID PEOPLE WOULD BELIEVE BRUCE WAYNE BEING SENTENCED TO DO COMMUNITY SERVICE IN *ARKHAM ASYLUM* IS A REALISTIC, BELIEVABLE IDEA! THAT'S JUST STUPID, STUPID! [image] Plus it turns out the girl (view spoiler)[didn't kill those people it is her evil older brother who did these? (hide spoiler)] How convenient! Pre-review: Sorry about this, Marie Lu. But I just don't believe you can outdo and outshine Frank Miller, Jeph Loeb, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, etc. Plus, the mother freaking Arkham Asylum is an asylum for the criminally insane, not somewhere for a young rich deviant to do mother freaking community service in. Please don't insult the readers. People doing community service in the goddamn Arkham Asylum? Does it even make sense? For me, a reader who began her serious Bat-reading with Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth , it feels like a mother freaking slap in the face. Can we have some good-old 'grim and gritty' B-man instead of a YA one? [image] And here is some more good-old Batman/Black Canry's down and dirty...'action' scene: PS: Frank Miller's All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder series is just so full of 'Goddamn Batman' and funny meme-worthy panels! LOL PSS: I can't spam this 'I'm the Goddamn Batman' joke enough: [image] PSSS: Sorry to be harsh, but i'd just heard rumors about an upcoming Nightwing book, so...would someone please keep Nightwing and his nice butt away from this Marie Lu person? PSSSS: a review by fellow comic fan Chad: /review/show... ...more |
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1
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Oct 28, 2018
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Nov 11, 2018
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Jul 28, 2017
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Hardcover
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| 0385738315
| 9780385738316
| 0385738315
| 3.67
| 1,499
| Feb 14, 2012
| Feb 14, 2012
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did not like it
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1.5 stars. I so desperately want to like this book, I want so desperately for the story to improve, but what I get from Caitlin Kittredge is a big fat
1.5 stars. I so desperately want to like this book, I want so desperately for the story to improve, but what I get from Caitlin Kittredge is a big fat 'Screw You!' and a middle finger. How sad, how frustrating. Oh, I'm always willing to give any Lovecraftian novels/movies/anime/manga the benefit of doubt, I'm more than willing to be patient with any Lovecraft-related material, but sometime, enough is enough. [image] Note: I read the Chinese translation of this book, so I don't know how good/how bad the original writing is, things can get lost in translation and I would be none the wiser. The Good: (1) the Lovecraftian references: but there are fewer and fewer of them in the narration of the story. (2) the idea that a girl with super awesome power for destruction, and she uses it for her own reason, and (for most parts) not feeling guilty about it. (3) the adventure: not among the best, but it's agreeable. The Bad: (1) The romance: glad to know the love triangle is now broken off, but the main couple..........they are just...........meh at best, annoying and shallow at worst. (2) The poorly written characters: the only emotion they can show seems to be anger, said emotion being expressed through yelling at each other, being impatient to one and other, characters losing their temper at the drop of a hat, etc. (3) The poorly written heroine: (i) Throughout two books, mysterious figures show up here and there and tell her to do this thing and that thing, and she just listens to what those mysterious figures/creatures says and does what they want her to do anyway? (ii) Did I mention the heroine has awesome destructive power and she uses it? So did I also mention she used it with all the wrong and poorly constructed reasons? (view spoiler)[e.g. a fae told her to open the Gate between human world and the world of faes! She did it, and at least half of a city had been destructed! A mysterious figure in her dream told her to look for a Nightmare Clock, she looked for it and as a result she released the Older Ones, enabling them to return and fuck up both the human world and world of faes some more. She lets the Older Ones in to fuck up the worlds, just in order to get her mother back. What a selfish cow. I mean, I don't mind a heroine who sets out to destroy the world, but I want her to have a better, more thoughtfully constructed reason to do this! I have a strong feeling she will do something equally senseless and foolish in exchange for her dead boyfriend to come back to life, in the third book. (hide spoiler)] (4) Lovecraftian monsters and evil deities and the myths of fae don't really merge together well. I am getting sick of all these faes in the story, I want more Lovecraftian monsters and evil deities, who won't bother reason with humans or play games but only drop right in TO DESTROY YOUR SOULS AND SANITY AND THE WORLD. (5) The few new characters: I don't care for any of them. I could have gone on, but I've decided this book doesn't worth my effort. Will I read the third book? Sadly, yes. Just to see how the ending will turn out. My review for the 1st book: /review/show... In the very end....anyone...? [image] ...more |
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1
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Apr 12, 2017
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Jun 20, 2017
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Mar 30, 2017
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Hardcover
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| B0DT172F4H
| 4.64
| 2,811,210
| May 03, 2016
| May 03, 2016
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did not like it
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Pre-review: I'm positive that there will be a love triangle in this sequel. And here we are, a very spot-on review: /review/sh Pre-review: I'm positive that there will be a love triangle in this sequel. And here we are, a very spot-on review: /review/show... 44 pages into the story, and I found this review to be far more entertaining than the book itself. Note: in the upcoming review, I will continue to use photos from Jean Cocteau's movies, not because Sarah J. Maas' creation deserves to be put in the same place with Cocteau's grand works of art, but because Cocteau's movies deserve more viewing. Information: Edited@15/01/2017 Important Note 1: Be alerted Cassandra Clare! Your position as the mighty Queen of Inconsistency and Creator of Terrible Romance and Unlikable Mary Sues is now threatened by a worthy challenger! And the name of this worthy challenger is Sarah J. Maas! Important Note 2: I don't have many good things to say about Leigh Bardugo's YA novels and her writing, but I feel bad for her book Crooked Kingdom for losing the 2016 Best YA Fantasy Award to A Court of Mist and Fury, because I honestly can't see how Bardugo can do a worse job than SJM here. Important Note 3: Okay guys. The [image] (Link: ) Important Note 4: Be alerted that this review contents unmarked spoilers for the ending of the first book and this book itself! Important Note 5: I felt my hope to humanity DYING after Wilde reminded me of THIS:
There really is no righteousness in this world and I really, really hate to see Catwoman having a go with Batman and all the other hot guys in the Batman comic series. I will definitely hate it. [image] (Link: ) Edited@08/01/2017: I can hardly believe it. In my review for the previous book of this series, I'd mentioned the last 100+ pages of ACOTAR is the good part of the story (the first 290 pages are bad), but now........within the first 130 pages of ACOMAF, Ms. Maas has already managed to undo the good things she created in those last 100+ pages in the prequel: [image] (Link: ) Remember Beauty and the Beast? In this fable, the Beauty got to look beyond the Beast's ugly and frightening appearance, and saw the man within who is still wroth redeeming and loving. Turns out, THIS does not happen in Feyre's relationship with Tamlin. Turns out Feyre doesn't know Tamlin very well, she hasn't seen anything outside of the High Lord's masked face and his beautiful male flesh. Talking about beautiful male flesh, we actually have some here: [image] (Link: ) Turns out there isn't much in their relationship outside of raging sex drive and lust. In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast finally puts his selfishness aside, becomes willing to sacrifice himself in exchange for the Beauty's happiness. Turns out, THIS does not happen to Tamlin, because Ms. Maas decided to give him a 180 degree personality shift, undoing the sacrifice he made at the end of ACOTAR, leaving his choice of letting Feyre go to be accounted for nothing. Turns out, Tamlin also doesn't know much about Feyre, he never acknowledges or respects her strength and personality, and it sucks. It sucks so much. Oh, so you think now I'm Team Rhysand? No, because Rhys has become so much of a boring, 'can-do-no-wrong' saint in this book that I can't stand him. Not to mention, it's okay for Rhys to drug Feyre, having her dancing half naked in front of everyone, unable to resist anything that was done to her or control her body in the previous book. No big deal, really, because Rhys is hot. And no, in Ms. Maas's mind, there is no such thing as 'the heroine staying single and getting on with her life independently'. No, nap. Nada. I have a feeling this novel will be such a feast of Fuck-ery. My review for the prequel Actual review starts here: Let's do a quick breakdown, first let's start with the characters : Feyre: Who the hell are you? This MC we get to see in ACOMAF isn't the same person whom I got to know in ACOTAR. First, the Feyre from ACOTAR wouldn't have spent so much time to whine about herself being 'bad' and 'broken', she also wouldn't have tolerated half of the craps she had been subjected to, nor would she have allowed Tamlin to tell her what to do. Secondly, it really is off-putting to see the MC becoming such a massive Mary Sue that now she has the power of seven courts, she becomes desirable by two powerful High Lords, and she also has become so, so flawlessly beautiful. [image] (Link: ) I want to puke. Rhysand: Again, who the hell are you? Gone is the mysterious, half-villainous, interesting High Lord of the Night Court from the first book, in his place we get this boring, love-sicked, 'can-do-no-wrong' Perfect Boyfriend who is so loving, so selfless, so open-minded, so 'feminist' that he literally is a saint reincarnated. Plus his awesomeness is never explained. I mean, why would all the High Lords be narrowed minded and stupid but only Rhys alone is the wisest and the most powerful of them all? Oh really? [image] (Link: ) Tamlin: I have never been a fan of Tamlin and I HATE to defend him and his behaviors in this book. However, I also truly HATE how SJM had treated him here. Tamlin barely gets any chance to explain himself whilst Rhys can explain himself in great length and his every mistakes and errors in the past are pardoned. It is just so unfair and manipulative. For example: On Tamlin and Feyre's wedding day, Tamlin just acts (view spoiler)["okay you can take her" to Rhys IN FRONT OF EVERYONE? Without even trying to beat Rhys into a bloody mess first for trying to take his bride away from him? (hide spoiler)] It goes against everything I know about Tamlin from book 1! Talking about Out Of Character (OOC-ness for short), it takes the cake! Also, according to Feyre/SJM--it is difficult to tell them apart because the more I read, the more I feel they are one and the same, Tamlin doing bad things out of jealousy is bad and unforgivable, but Rhysand doing bad things out of jealousy (e.g. drugging Feyre and parading her around, threatening both Tamlin and Feyre in ACOTAR) is...excusable? The double standards of this simply leave me gagging. And don't you tell me Rhys had done all these with good intention, Tamlin's behaviors in ACOMAF can also be justified in the same way! Lucien: Once again, who the hell are you? Gone is the loyal Fae warrior with a leveled head and quick wits, who used to be my favorite character. Now he is only a ghost of himself, now he is a wimp who doesn't dare to do anything against Tamlin's order. In fact, in this book, this guy has done NOTHING. Rhysand's Inner Circle: Oh, they are the fun, exciting 'cool' kids whom Feyre befriended. I have absolutely no interest in them. Like Rhys, their open-mindedness and awesomeness is unexplained. Plus I also have a hard time believing 500+ years old, supposedly seasoned Fae warriors like them failed to foresee or at least guess at The King of Hybern's scheme and the betrayal of some certain people. Feyre's sisters: Actually their scenes are the more interesting parts of the story! Almost makes me wish that this story is about them instead of Feyre and Rhys! The King of Hybern and his army: Who cares about them, who!? The plots about the King and his evil scheme to invade the human world and the land of faeries are so vague that they are entirely overshadowed by Feyre's romantic dramas and the entire mate business. As to the romance ...oh the romance... [image] (Link: ) Can any one tell me had this 'bonding' and 'mate' business ever been mentioned in ACOTAR? What is the point of the romance in ACOTAR if everything could be easily canceled out and excused in the name of 'he/she is my mate'!? I need to remind you once more I have never been a fan of Tamlin/Feyre, but if they needed a change of heart then I at least had expected this change of heart and change of partner to be done in a somewhat realistic and meaningful way! Not this SJM's 'but he/she is my mate' treatment! Did I mention there isn't even a love triangle in this story? What SJM had done is simply shoving the old boyfriend (Tamlin) aside to make way for the new love interest (Rhysand). And it's so, so cheap. Later, Feyre finds out Rhys has every reason to hate Tamlin and his people ((view spoiler)[Tamlin seemingly has a hand in the murder of Rhys' mother and sister (hide spoiler)]), but she still doesn't second guess Rhys' motive of being nice to her?! Instead she decides within the next heartbeat that Tamlin must be the bad guy while Rhys is the noble one. I must admit I can't quite see her logic. Remember by the end of ACOTAR, Feyre had made a bargain with Rhys so she must stay in the Night Court for a whole week in each month for the rest of her life? Originally I was very curious to see how this bargain will play out, I want to see Feyre making new discoveries at the infamous, nightmarish Night Court and getting to know the Court and its people, I want to see how she balances her separated lives in both the Spring Court and the Night Court. But no, SJM cheated me of all these by getting Feyre to (view spoiler)[to stay in the Night Court full time within the first 100 pages! (hide spoiler)] So what is the point of this bargain!? What is the point? As to Rhys/Feyre, if Ryhsand constantly saying lame one-liners and Feyre constantly calling Rhys 'Pig' or other names is supposed to be a romantic development. I'm out of here. Last but not least, it isn't like Feyre is such a mature person when relationship is concerned, in the first book her relationship with Tamlin is clearly based more on lust than understanding; then when Tamlin starts showing flaws in personality and behaviors, it doesn't take long for Feyre to dumb him (and she only write a crappy letter to inform the guy she isn't going back MONTHS after disappearing, she can't even do a face-to-face break up like a grown up). In this book, Feyre seems to lust after Rhys because HE IS PERFECT, but when Rhys so much as keeping *one* secret from her, then she blew up right in his face. Some other reviewers had already pointed out Feyre doesn't love neither Tamlin nor Rhys despite their flaws, she is attracted to them only when they are seemingly perfect to her and giving her everything (e.g. sense of security, material comforts, freedom, etc) she wants. That's it. And the world building ...there isn't much logic beyond the world building, a lot of things just simply are, because of magic. You know? MAGIC. Magic can do so much wonder and explain away so many things that like for example, (view spoiler)[Rhys could conveniently hide an entire city and its people from Amarantha and The King's notice, and wiped everyone's memories about this city. I'm talking about an entire city here! (hide spoiler)] Comparing Brandon Sanderson with SJM feels like a huge insult to Mr. Sanderson. Because honestly, when authors such as Mr. Sanderson, N. K. Jemisin and Robin Hobb working their fingers into bones to create their complicated high fantasy worlds, SJM wasn't even trying when world building is concerned! For example, there isn't much religion and mythology in her faerie society aside from a few mentions about a Mother goddess, some priestesses and that...magical thing which supposedly created the world. Just as convenient is that Rhys (view spoiler)[has two Courts instead of just one, and all the bad things he and the Court of Nightmare had done are only a cover for the noble, good-natural Court of Dreams. (hide spoiler)] Talking about blenching Rhys to make him look like a good guy and canceling out all his bad reputation! To put insult to injure, all of the characters talk like they live in the modern world instead of some mythical faerie realm, these faeries even swear the same way we modern readers do with 'Fuck' and other swear words. It's quite worth mentioning that although there is no love lost among me, Karen Marie Moning and her Fever series (I gave her books mostly 1 or 2 stars), yet I honestly think KMM has a better imagination and world building than SJM. Plus is it just me, or is it Feyre being able to sense The Book of Breathing looks very similar to how Mac can sense the evil Book in Fever series? Also, let me talk about the lack of logic and common sense in this story in general: In ACOMAF, Rhysand reveals that he has a (view spoiler)[hidden city within the Night Court, which has stayed hidden for thousands of years. Not only this, Amarantha also failed to catch wind about this city for a long 50 years because of magic, of course. Yet, said hidden city has always been wealthy and awesome when everyone else were suffering under Amarantha's thumb. Why are they wealthy, you ask? SJM tells us they are rich because the city has been doing TRADES with other people. What other people, you ask? We never know. Because even when there are magic and wands to wipe travelers' memories about this hidden city, they have still managed to find their way back to said city and do trades with them and keep them rich. (hide spoiler)] Don't ask me where is the logic of all these, just don't. By around page 40 or 50, Rhys reveals that he wants Tamlin's association so they can join force to face down The King of Hybern's upcoming invasion. OMFG this sounds like a joke coming from Ryhs' mouth! Seriously, who would threat the person who is an potential ally with his girlfriend's life? Who would order said potential ally to kneel and bow? Who would (view spoiler)[spirit his potential ally's bride away from him, right in front of everyone (hide spoiler)] ? What is the logic of all these? *kills self* [image] (Link: ) Plus The King of Hybern---this guy is so evil that he doesn't even have a name, not to mention he is also one of the few unpretty characters in the book because, you know, evil people must be bad looking! Anyway, The King, who rules his smaller island kingdom, still plans to conquer the seven faerie Courts AND the mortal realm which are larger in size and theoretically have more manpower at their dispose. Somehow, The King's scheme reminds me so much of how the Japanese Empire trying to conquer China back in World War II, and we all know where the Japanese's ambitious plan had led them to. Okay...China had endured eight years of bloody battles against the Japanese invaders before they were eventually driven off but...I think you get my message here, right? Now, let's talk about the sex : First thing: I'm disgusted to see so much *in detail* sex within in this book which is marketed as a Young Adult novel, it sickens me not because I think teenagers shouldn't read about sex in a YA book, but because the sex in this book is highly romanticized, unrealistic and there is no concern over protection or the real consequences of sex. Basically, SJM has just penned down some crappy sex scenes you can find in badly written romance novels (for adults) and sold it to sexually curious teenagers (namely 12 years old and above teens, mind you) without a care. I mean, even Kresley Cole, who tends to write a few CHAPTERS of sex scenes for each of her adult paranormal romance novels, has the decency to tone down the sex in her YA paranormal books! I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out 'selling smuts to teenagers=money' is such a 'sure win' formula, and I'm sure SJM and her publisher are no fools. Therefore I'm really shocked to see some reviewers actually think what SJM is doing here is about 'sexual freedom' and/or 'feminism'! My ass! If SJM cared one bit about feminism, she wouldn't have put that crappy 'a woman invited a man to have sex = she is an evil woman' (this slut-shaming things happens around pg. 236, check this out yourself) shit in her own book! I have read my share of paranormal novel/paranormal romance novels too, but the sex description in this book is so crappy that I needed to roll my eyes at this:
[image] (Link: ) That is garbage. Plain and simple. Further more: do I want to see the MC having a man's fingers inside of her or she stroking the male lead's rock hard cock in a YA? The answer to this question is 'No', and I'm sick to my stomach. Last but not least, our heroine's vagina has been described as 'glowing' during one of the sex scenes. Don't laugh, guys. So after the glowing vampires from Twilight....we now have...glowing vaginas. Don't laugh. Finally...let's talk about the ending ... Well...there isn't much to be said about the ending, because nothing but crappy romance/love triangle has taken place during the first 500 pages of the book, the threat of the Evil King only resurfaces in the last 100 or so pages, and the Evil King just..........(view spoiler)[lets everyone escape in the last minute? He doesn't even kill Feyre's sisters off on the spot just to hurt Feyre? (hide spoiler)] OMFG! That Evil King is just so very, very scary! I mean it! [image] (Link: ) The Final Words: I desperately need more Jean Cocteau related 'people shooting themselves in the heads' gifs for this review because that's how I feel about this book. But since there aren't enough gifs, let's make do with this one: [image] (Link: ) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 2017
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Jan 27, 2017
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Nov 13, 2016
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Kindle Edition
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| 1250095255
| 9781250095251
| 1250095255
| 3.97
| 745,247
| Sep 29, 2016
| Jan 31, 2017
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did not like it
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I picked up Caraval by Stephanie Garber from the library merely because the pretty book cover and the hype on GR and free copy from library! Nothing t
I picked up Caraval by Stephanie Garber from the library merely because the pretty book cover and the hype on GR and free copy from library! Nothing too bad can happen, right? Right? Then around page 140, this happens: Imagine: you are a teenage girl, you are desperately searching for your missing younger sister, and here is a fortune teller, who offers to answer a few questions from you. What will you do? (1) First and foremost, ask said fortune teller where to find your sister. (2) Putting the issue of your missing sister aside, you ask the fortune teller about your future husband and how he is as a person. If you chose (1), good for you! You are a normal and sensible person. So, guess which option had our heroine Scarlett chosen? [image] (Link: ) DNF-ed at page 208 I feel sad that this book ever manages to become a best seller and getting praised by all those other up-and-coming YA authors (e.g. authors of Shatter Me and An Ember in the Ashes, etc) Shit....these people are some big fat lairs. Well, this book promises MAGIC and DANGER with its premise, and so many characters from within the story had beat me over the head with how DANGEROUS and ENCHANTING this Caraval is supposed to be. But......just where the hell are these promised danger and wonders and magic? After crawling my way through 200+ pages, I still can't find them! Forgive me for being harsh, but I really feel the existence of this book is an offense toward qualified writing and Young Adult Fantasy as a genre. Therefore I would like to talk about some of the most offensive things in this book: No, I'm not saying this book has obvious racism or sexism in it, but the lack of quality itself is offensive enough! My reaction... [image] (Link: ) (1.) the total toneless-ness of the story: I know Stephanie Garber is a newbie author, but must she write her stuff with zero style, zero significant tone and zero special fragrant? (2.) the total shapelessness in world building: Here we go again: tell, not show, and in a story which is supposed to be filled with magical locations and shocking wonders, I found the author's imaginary to be highly limited and unimpressive. (3.) the total absence of mystery and sense of urgency: The heroine's younger sister is missing! Her father is an asshole who wants to trap her in an unwanted marriage! Said heroine also needs to decide where her life should be going! Tension should be building up, right? We should be worried for the heroine, right? Sadly, thanks to the author's flat writing, we never feel the urgency of the situation. (4.) the author's very poor attempt at character building: The heroine is as interesting as a piece of rock, she also has hardly any insight to offer because she is just so freaking stupid and unfortunately we are doomed to read this story mostly through her POV. (5.) the annoying insta-love and the repeated mention of the male love interest's hotness: I was beat over the head repeatedly by the male lead's hotness and to make matter worse, I can't get over the fact that the heroine is mooning over a guy who had just put his hands up beneath her younger sister's skirt mere days ago. Gross. [image] (Link: ) Plus, not only the romance is an insta-love, it is also one of the most flat, lifeless, meaningless relationships I'd read in a YA novel. To be very honest, if you wanted to experience magic and wonders through YA books, please try Daughter of Smoke and Bones or The Raven Cycle instead. ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Dec 09, 2017
not set
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Jan 25, 2018
not set
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Jul 14, 2016
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Hardcover
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| 9869170900
| 9789869170901
| 9869170900
| 3.96
| 3,160,773
| Jan 13, 2015
| Aug 2015
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liked it
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Note: I read the Chinese translation of this book, and I honestly believe I'd have DNF-ed it if I read it in English. The Girl on the Train...where sho Note: I read the Chinese translation of this book, and I honestly believe I'd have DNF-ed it if I read it in English. The Girl on the Train...where should I begin? A lot of people compare it with Gone Girl but I haven't read the latter so I can't say much about it. Since I'm reading the translated version of the book then I can't say much about the writing neither--the writing looks decent to me, but not very outstanding; the story itself is a fast paced time-killer and the situations described by the author are suspenseful and realistic enough (at least to me) for me to get into the story. However, most of the fun is ruined by the pathetic, unlikable main characters and the ending is a bit on the predicable side. I'm not going to lie and tell you I can figure out all of the answers at the beginning, still the foreshadowing done by the author seems to be a bit obvious therefore it isn't difficult for readers to pick up the hints. If you were familiar with thrillers and mysteries, you most likely would not be too impressed by the plot twists. And the characters.......seriously just where the hell should I start?! The story is told by the POVs of three different women: Rachel, Anna and Megan. We see Rachel the most often, the first thing you need to know about her is that she is a drunk and a lair, and she pretty much created most of the troubles she faces in the book: she can't bear child so she just has to ruin her life with drinking? What is the logic of that!? And stalking your ex-husband's new family is never a smart move. Secondly Rachel thinks if you are not pretty and you can't bear child, then as a woman you are worthless. Come on! I would have understood this if Rachel lives in the 1950s but no, this story takes place in the current time so I was basically breathing fire when I saw this shit. Plus, I'm not a huge fan of using Rachel's missing memories as a plot device to drive the mysteries onward. This plot device isn't excised well enough to cover up how forced and inorganic it is. Also, I rolled my eyes when Rachel's flatmate Cathy simply forgives her for messing up her flat. If my flatmate messed up my flat like Rachel had done to Cathy's I would just kick her out with no second chance. Therefore Cathy's reaction isn't realistic at all. As to Megan, (view spoiler)[the missing woman (hide spoiler)], whenever she shows up she acts and thinks in a way that shows her she is nut. Although her backstory is a sad one but I can't muster up too much pity for her from start to end. The same with Rachel, I can't really be sympathetic with a character when they are ruining their lives because of a sob story or two they had in the past. Anna, the new wife of Rachel's ex and an anxious mother who hates Rachel very much (with good reason), I don't have too many complaints against her but she turns out not very likable as well. Nearly forgotten to mention, all of the men in the story are craps, they are lairs and/or creeps through and through. *sighs* I had read my share of thrillers before and this book kept me entertained for a few hours, but it doesn't take me by surprise nor impress me with its trickiness, not at all. It isn't like I have not read similar books before. So 3.3 stars. A one star review which I pretty much agree with. PS: I'm not sure I want to read more of Hawkins' books, I have seen other authors dealing with similar themes and doing it better than what she had managed, with better written female characters too. For example: Cornell Woolrich. (/author/show...) ...more |
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1
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Apr 21, 2016
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Jul 04, 2016
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Apr 21, 2016
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Paperback
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| 4.24
| 325,746
| Apr 28, 2015
| Apr 28, 2015
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it was ok
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Note: the only reason I read this book is I've kept seeing it popping up everywhere on 欧宝娱乐.com for over a year. So when I saw it on the library'
Note: the only reason I read this book is I've kept seeing it popping up everywhere on 欧宝娱乐.com for over a year. So when I saw it on the library's bookshelf, I picked it up and borrowed it, I read it with zero expectation, I can see potentials in the story but in the end, I'm underwhelmed. I'm utterly underwhelmed. What I like: (1) the author's willingness to expose readers to violence and the harsh reality of a Rome-inspired slaves-and-masters society. Rape? Murder? Raid? lower casted citizens being suppressed and mercilessly crushed down by their overlords? The author mentioned them all. (2) the world building isn't so bad. I mean, it is far from being good, but at least it isn't eye-poppingly bad. (3) the story is okay-ish enough and entirely readable for me to read to the end in a relatively short time. (4) the idea of masked deadly warriors is kind of good. What I don't like: (1) the story as a whole is a big fat case of 'been there, done before' to me. Some other reviewers pointed out the all too familiar sister-saving-her-sibling scenario, teenagers-being-ordered-to-fight-to-the-death, boarding school setting, the Main Characters' fates being tied to some foretelling (You are the Chosen One, blah blah blah), rebellion and the suppressing society, and the all too familiar The Hunger Games vibe. To tell the truth I'm not so bothered by these similarities, but honestly An Ember in the Ashes brings nothing new to the table. (2) the all evil teenage love-square. Come on! There's an rebellion and a deadly contest going on! Ain't nobody got time for teenage romance angst! [image] (3) the wooden characters Now, here is the real deal-breaker. Elias: our male lead is a supposedly awesomely skilled young masked warrior who had been set to join a deadly contest in order to win the position of Emperor. But for most of the time, I can only see him moaning and ranting about his mommy issues and his love troubles. Plus Elias is an asshole to his best friend, and it bothers me Elias didn't act, think and talk like someone who had been through hard training and had to be on guard for nearly his entire life. Laia: a young girl who lost her entire family to the Empire and its soldiers. In order to save her brother, she accepted a mission to go to the training school for the Empire's masked warriors (who killed her family) and spied on the most dangerous person in the Empire. You think Laia would take her mission seriously, use her wit and pretend to be an obedient slave to get her mission done? You had guessed wrongly! Despite of the dangerous situation she was in, Laia still managed to act out in front of her overlords, she just opened her mouth and talked without caring about whether there might be spies among the slaves, she snaked out to meet with the rebels without seemingly cared about being followed, she danced with a stranger and enjoyed a Festival when a slave supposedly shouldn't take part in said Festival. She makes her mission looks like it is a cakewalk. Even a rebel told her: "You don't know the first thing about spying." Good grief, how true. I don't like heroines who have special power which they did nothing to earn, but a useless heroine like Laia is no better; for too long she just kept telling herself she is weak and useless, and I'm like: "Girl, get over it already! Tough up! Your life and your brother's life depend on it!" Last but not lest, for most of the book Laia's life mostly revolves around saving her brother and Elias, the hot guy. Helene: probably the only female character whom I like to a degree, but sadly her existence still revolves around Elias. (4) women can only be victims, obedient bystanders or evil bitches in this world. Although I'm actually glad that the author didn't shy away from mentioning rape and rape in slavery, but in this case rape has been repeatedly mentioned for too many times and somehow Laia, our heroine is saved from the threat of it, because Elias swung in and saved her from being raped. I don't know about you, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. (5) Talking about evil bitches, the only woman in this book who is in power is an abusive evil bitch. And it is nothing new. Because in the realm of YA, if you were a woman and you also happened to want power and/or in the position of having power, then you must be a bad woman. (6) the characters talk like they live in the modern America. I'm not kidding, the characters talk like they are citizens of the modern United States of America, not some Rome-inspired fantasy world. (7) the world building is thin and far in between. After reading this 400+ book, I still don't know much about this fictional Empire and why said Empire became what it now is. (8) (view spoiler)[the rebels turn out not the good guys (hide spoiler)] It looks like the same-old, same-old The Hunger Games cliche. (9) the ending is quite stupid. To be fair, it is not the worst ending ever, but I rolled my eyes at how convenient many things had turned out. I'd forgotten to mention, I also can't take the idea that people would just select four teenagers and let them fight to the death in a contest so the winner would become the new Emperor seriously. It may sound like I hate this book, I don't. This book just sort of bored me. Still, I'm going to read the sequel if I could get it for free. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 29, 2016
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Mar 20, 2016
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Feb 29, 2016
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Hardcover
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| 0545522250
| 9780545522250
| 0545522250
| 3.96
| 79,822
| Sep 09, 2014
| Sep 09, 2014
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did not like it
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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, 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!? If you want even more details, check out LillyCat's review (2) Mary Sue and unlikable characters 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
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 |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 04, 2015
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Dec 24, 2015
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Dec 04, 2015
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1627792120
| 9781627792127
| 1627792120
| 4.47
| 1,076,972
| Sep 29, 2015
| Sep 29, 2015
|
it was ok
|
Rating: 2.5 'this book has been dragging on for too long', not-able-to-give-too-much-of-a-damn, unimpressive stars. Six of Crows as a whole: story soak Rating: 2.5 'this book has been dragging on for too long', not-able-to-give-too-much-of-a-damn, unimpressive stars. Six of Crows as a whole: story soaked too thoroughly in boredom, too much half baked romance, too many forced sassy dialogues, decent writing but with hardly any emotion beyond it, too much European-sounding words that make little to no sense, nonexistent tension, the sparkles and excitement has been stretched too far and few in between throughout the story. Between this book and The Lies of Locke Lamora, I can't tell which one of them annoys me more. Honestly, I think this story would work out great as a TV series, but as a novel.......it doesn't work out........it falls short. Let's do a breakdown: (1) The book design is gorgeous: big clapping for the designer! Like many other YA books out there, the one good thing about Six of Crows is its cover, and damn it is indeed gorgeous and tasteful. (2) Leigh Bardugo's improvement in writing and plots are obvious: thanks God so we don't have to suffer the same disaster like we did with the Grisha trilogy. Bardugo's writing has indeed improved and matured.........however, there isn't much emotion beyond her writing, she also has yet to master the skill of holding her readers captive and breathless when reading her story. And despite all her improvement, Bardugo still managed to dish out the worst prologue (with little to none introduction or world building in it) I'd ever read in the recent years and some of the most boring first 100 pages. (3) Most of the characters aren't very fleshed out: perhaps except Inej or maybe Kaz? To say the least, I agree most of the characters are reasonable and their motivations are logical and realistic enough, and that alone is making them better than many other Yong Adult characters, still.... Nina: she is an okay character, her conflicted feelings toward her duties to her country and her need to rescue Mattias is interesting enough to read, but after a while she becomes kind of boring. PLUS I rolled my eyes when Nina reveals her reason of (view spoiler)[framing Matthias as a slave trader is that she cannot expose the local Rakva's spy network? (hide spoiler)] She has to do this to Matthias instead of finding another way? My reaction to this is a loud and clear "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?" Matthias: This guy is walking German-stereotypes: No sense of humor, care too much about being punctual, care too much about keeping everything and every details in order, tall, well built body, blond haired, outstandingly handsome. How can anyone from Germany stand this kind of BS? Jesper: I don't see much of anything about him outside of his sassy speeches and his great passion for gambling. Plus it's rather embarrassing to see Jesper--a skilled sharpshooter no less--crying out for a medic when one of his fellow gangsters gets shot. I mean, a hardened criminal just wouldn't react like this! Kaz: for most of the time I can't take him seriously. He has been called a monster but has he done a monstrous thing or two to justify this title? Nada. "When everyone knows you're a monster, you needn't waste time doing every monstrous thing." How......monstrous! Not to mention as a gangster, you utter a death threat, then you must carry it out no matter what! You don't just *pretend* you are going to kill your enemy's beloved when said enemy is holding a fucking gun at you! You threaten them, and you threaten them for real! Oh yes, Kaz later cut out the eye of one of his enemies, that I have no complaint against. Inej: I'm actually glad People of Colors like her are included in the story, I do think she is a better written characters than the rest and I like the moment of revaluation she has in the story, but very sadly....an asskicking girl still has to be stereotyped into having a cliched traumatic past like enslavement and prostitution. Wylan: Okay, the setting he has isn't bad at all, but for most of the time I simply forget he is here. The bad guy: he is called (view spoiler)[Pekka Rollins (hide spoiler)] and he is also supposed to be the most infamous crime boss in the fictional Ketterdam, but thanks to his name and his nearly nonexistent action, I can't take him very seriously. (4) Kaz Brekker--the MC whom everyone is hypering about---is the male version of Alina Starkov (from the Grisha trilogy)---a better constructed and less useless male version of her, but the same like Alina is a super special Mary Sue, Kaz is a super special Gray Stu, no kidding. Inej mentioned Kaz built a myth around himself and I feel Kaz's supposed awesomeness is just this: a myth. Through out the story I have problems buying into the other characters' constant praising for Kaz, nor can I accept the claim that he is 'a criminal prodigy' like Bardugo and *every character in the book* are spoon-feeding me. Not to mention, a level-headed criminal just wouldn't abandon his mission in the middle of the action in order to go after an enemy! And Kaz basically does just that in the middle of the book! He does it to a group of acquaintances who are counting on him to get them to safety! There is just no excuse for this sort of impulsive behavior. Sorry to say this, guys; but Kaz Brekker ruins at least half of this book for me. (5) Bardugo's writing fails to radiate the tension, excitement and emotion to me. Throughout the whole book I care for none of those characters, nor can I share their emotions. I never feel I am right there with the characters when they are running their supposedly dangerous operations. (6) And you just have to suppress your disbelief a bit quite often. For example: Inej, the Suli girl who came from a family of acrobats, was kidnapped when she was 14 years old, then she was sold to be a prostitute and trapped in a whore house for a year, then Kaz bought her freedom and then..................he trained her into the most feared assassin/thief/spy in the city, all within the length of ONE WHOLE YEAR!? So, in this Ketterdam, the most feared assassin is a 16 years old girl. Huh, totally believable. If you wondered, how could a 17 years old teenager (Kaz) manage to run a gang, gather up supporters and took control of a district worth of underground economy in the city? To a point that older, more experienced gangsters have to fear him and a bigshot merchant also turns to him for help? Don't ask, we are only supposed to swallow it down and accept whatever make-believe Bardugo has dished out for us. Don't ask, be ready to suppress your disbelief, throw your common sense away. You ask: why would the main characters' age be a problem? Allow me to use Batman as an example here. Can you believe Bruce Wayne is able to take on Batman's full crime-fighting duties at the tender age of 17? Are you willing to buy the idea that a 16 years old Selina Kyle being the top thief Catwoman of the Gotham city? Can you convince yourself The Joker can establish himself as The Clown Prince of Crime at age 18? Color me unconvinced. Okay, okay. I know in a harsh environment, children would grow up and harden up fast and (sadly) there are teenagers who actually are skillful thieves, spies and assassins (child soldiers do exist, after all), but a group of teens who act as crime bosses who can run their own underground enterprise, their influence and importance is acknowledged by not only by other older, more experienced criminals, but also a bigshot-merchant in the city? It feels like a joke. Plus, if people kept insisting a 16 years old girl can become the most feared and most deadly assassin/spy in the city after one full year of training, I would simply start laughing, right in this second. To add insult to injury, this supposedly fearsome assassin simply leaves her boss (Kaz) in the middle of the night on an empty street *alone* when she should be protecting him? Wow, some assassin. Therefore, if you can't talk yourself into buying the concept of a bunch of 17 or so years old top-game criminals, then I suggest you not to bother yourself with this book. Not to mention it's stupid for Kaz to let Nina walk into a prison break *blind*, not knowing what to expect only to have her wasting precious time arguing instead of getting her job done. Kaz, communication is a key to success. Why you act like you don't know it? To think about it more carefully, the bigshot merchant just has to wear his large ruby and wave it in front of a criminal when making a deal with him! How very clever! Also, am I really supposed to believe the authority would allow paid guests to enter a high level prison to watch the prisoners fighting? On a regular basis? What about the security measure? And excuse me? What kind of top-game crime boss (view spoiler)[namely, Pekka Rollins (hide spoiler)] in the city would leave his home base for a dangerous operation *in a foreign country* instead of ORDERING HIS MEN TO DO IT FOR HIM? And excuse me? What kind of top-game crime boss (view spoiler)[namely, Pekka Rollins (hide spoiler)] in the city would *personally* go up and trick an insignificant piece of land out of two farm boys' hands INSTEAD OF LETTING HIS MEN DO IT FOR HIM? Doesn't he have eviler and more important things to handle? (7) The book drags on and on. The premise of this book and all the glowing reviews are promising this: [image] Or at least this: [image] Not to mention this: [image] But in the end, I got this: [image] (LINK: ) The first exciting event/plot twist takes place at around page 108, the first truly awesome turn of event takes place nearly the end of the story, my patience is wearing thin. And why would anyone think it's a good idea to INSERT FLASHBACKS IN THE MIDDLE OF ACTION SCENES?! (8) The ending is decent enough but I'd been expecting more. Book, too many flashbacks and people walking right into obvious traps are your downfall. Plus I haven't seen anything other authors hadn't done before and done better, when the ending is concerned. (9) Honestly, Bardugo needs to make up her mind about whether her story takes place in an old-fashioned-Europe-lookalike-fantasy-world, or in the modern days America, otherwise how can we explain why her characters are talking like some airhead American teenagers? It is really off putting to see words like "you guys", "Well," and "kid" keep showing up in a supposedly 'high fantasy' novel. (10) You just have to deal with a lot of nationality-stereotypes which isn't funny. The Ravka kingdom: Oh mostly they are magic users but so what? At least they don't get bashed like the other kingdoms! The people of The people of Fjera: the Fjerans seem like a freakish, witch-hunting, backward and stereotyped version of the Germans, they seem to have a kink on details and time-keeping and have no sense of humor! The Shu Han kingdom: I don't know whether this kingdom is supposed to be Mongolia or China. But the Shu people are barbaric! Warlike! Violent! They can't speak foreign language without thick accent! They also seem to be drug users too! And a name like 'Kuwei Yul Bo'? Seriously? (11) Too many failed attempts at letting the characters talk tough.
I'm sorry to say this, but it doesn't sound very badass to me.
Hey, is that one ripped from Point Break? (12) Last but not least, the old problem of made up words and misused languages: It is now confirmed: Leigh Bardugo simply isn't able to rid herself of throwing badly-put-together 'foreign' (here I mean non-American and British) languages into her writing, nor can she put more effort on her researches on 'foreign' (here I mean non-American and non-British) cultures. Therefore, aside of your willingness to suppress disbelief, the levels of your enjoyment with Bardugo's books also pretty much depends on your willingness and ability to turn a blind eye at poor research on 'foreign' (I mean, non-American and non-British) countries, badly used and/or misused European-sounding words & made up words (e.g. Stadwatch, the Dregs, jurda) and ridiculous sounding 'foreign' (I mean, non-American and non-British) names and/or made up names. I know not one single Dutch word, but thankfully Yasmin gave her permission for me to quote her reading progress in this pre-review of mine:
People with modern sounding names in a 'high fantasy' novel? Okay...
Okay...sound just like all Bardugo's Russian languages mistakes (including but not limited to naming a character 'why the fuck') from Shadow and Bones all over again. Recently Yasmin finished her own review, and it's splendid. I know, not everyone is familiar with Russian or Dutch and obviously a lot of people do not care about cultural inaccuracy or language mistakes as long as the novel is labeled as 'high fantasy' and a lot of people actually think authors can do whatever the freak they want with actually existing cultures and languages, but I still want to point this out when no one else other than Yasmin seems to notice it. Later, I had learnt from Jen's review that the setting/city in this book is actually named 'Ketterdam', which, is an obvious, dead giveaway ripoff of Amsterdam, a city I had once visited and admired. I suggest you to read Jen's review, she listed out the many details of Bardugo's cultural inaccuracy and the reasons why it is annoying and off putting. Now it's official: Leigh Bardugo, you and your playing around with actually existing cultures, names and languages leave a back taste in my mouth. PS: I'm really puzzled by why Bardugo (an established author with a bestseller series under her belt no less) can't get herself an editor who actually know Dutch to edit the 'Dutch words' in her novel. Suggestion: Borrow this book, don't buy. Review for book 2: /review/show... ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 27, 2016
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Oct 18, 2016
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Oct 27, 2015
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 3.98
| 568,895
| Jun 17, 2014
| Jun 17, 2014
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it was ok
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review for book 2 of the trilogy
Note: I read the Chinese translation of this book. Rating: 'mediocre' is the word to describe this final book 2 sta review for book 2 of the trilogy Note: I read the Chinese translation of this book. Rating: 'mediocre' is the word to describe this final book 2 stars. More importantly, I decided to blacklist Leigh Bardugo, if she doesn't bother to do sound research for her books and she has nothing outstanding to offer in the departments of plots and character development, then I can't see why should I bother with her creations. Ruin and Rising isn't terrible, but it isn't remarkable neither, this book is among the thousand YA books with little creativity, mediocre fantasy setting, mediocre characters, mediocre plots and mediocre writing. Entirely forgettable and 'Meh'. The saddest thing about this book is, it actually has a tiny bit of potential to be outstanding and awesome, but it doesn't live up to any of its promise. actual review starts here: The beginning part of this book can easily win 4 stars, because for the first time, our MCs and their friends seem to know what they're doing and they are doing things with a plan. Our heroine, Alina shows a bit of a backbone and manages to keep the shadowy Apparat at check; the supporting characters are doing great, even Mal, Love Interest No.1, proves himself to be a capable fighter and a loyal, supportive friend instead a jealous little boy who stomps his feet when his favorite toy gets stolen by this other boy. (Yes, that's how I see his reaction toward Alina after she gets the attention of Love Interest No.3, Nikolai) You might ask, what can go wrong with this book? Well, a handful of things have managed to go wrong after this promising beginning: (1) Alina: We have already established that Alina isn't all that smart, she doesn't have much of a backbone to be spoken of neither, to make things worse she has a strange determination to be as unimportant and invisible as she can get and of course she is uncomfortable with her power because you know, a *normal* girl can't enjoy or at least be comfortable with having power, a *normal* girl can't dream of having anything outside of a boyfriend/husband and a bunch of kids. Dear Lord, I'm so sick of YA girls who are afraid of being powerful/using their power. It's like the authors are telling us: normal girls cannot have power, if you happened to have power and/or enjoyed being powerful, then you are a freak, or a bad woman, or a crazy woman, or all of the above. Plus. Alina also has the gut to whine about how difficult her life has become when the Kingdom is in some deep shit and everyone else is also suffering and/or having their own problems. Girl, get over yourself. To be fair, Alina isn't as awful as she had been in book 1 and book 2 (finally the girl is making some decisions for herself!) But all in all, she isn't a terribly interesting character, I'm more interested in what David, Genya and Zoya are up to than I'm with Alina. (2) Everyone is none the wiser The characters fail to (view spoiler)[figure out one of their 'friends' is a traitor (hide spoiler)] when it's just so obvious, no wonder The Darkling, a.k.a Love Interest No. 2, manages to outsmart them for so many times. Talking about The Darkling, a.k.a Love Interest No. 2, in my opinion he isn't all that great even since book 1, but in this book he is as anticlimactic as an arch villain as he can get. (3) Author wrapped everything up with a pretty ribbon and then called it a day In the end everything has been wrapped up *too nicely*, so it loses whatever bittersweet effect it might have on the readers. I mean, (view spoiler)[Mal is dead for a second, but then barely 2 pages latter he's alive and well again. *groans* In my opinion, it would have been better if Mal winded up dead and left Alina to deal with the aftermath alone. (hide spoiler)] (4) The 'final plot twist' is not convincing. I mean, really? Really? (view spoiler)[The author doesn't even have the gut to kill Mal off and instead she let him 'die' for two pages and then be revived shortly afterward? (hide spoiler)] ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 08, 2015
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Aug 17, 2015
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Aug 08, 2015
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Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||||
| 0385341679
| 9780385341677
| 0385341679
| 4.39
| 111,543
| Jan 18, 2011
| Jan 18, 2011
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it was ok
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I am finished with this book and this series, and here're the major things that pissed me off: (1) By the end of this book, half of the human populatio I am finished with this book and this series, and here're the major things that pissed me off: (1) By the end of this book, half of the human population is killed by the Unseelie Faes, but have we managed to feel the future of human race is grim? Have we seen humans being slaughtered on the streets or in their homes left and right? Have we seen refugees running for their lives? Have we seen riots breaking out and people killing one another for food? No. Instead humans are still going to club and doing Fae drugs. (2) Dani, a 14 years old girl, is envious of Mac, the MC, for getting the attention from one rapist after another. (3) The nonstop romance melodramas between Mac and What's His Name. You think these two would have better and more meaningful things to discus when they're in such a grave situation? No, you're wrong. (4) What's His Name and his crews (a bunch of supposedly ageless, powerful immortals) talk like they are a bunch of feeble, complaining old bitches. To spice things up, What's His Name has been bitching nonstop about Mac making out/flirting with other guys. Hey, What's His Name! So what if Mac (view spoiler)['betrayed' you (hide spoiler)] and kissed another guy? As an immortal I thought you would be a less of a drama queen about these things. In short, you're one of the most annoying and uncool supposedly Dangerous Powerful Alpha Males I have ever seen. (5) The death of Mac's sister doesn't break her, the death of billion innocent people doesn't break her, but (view spoiler)[What's His Name's death (hide spoiler)] breaks her!? I can't even... (6) Must every single man in this story be 'dangerous sexy'? Even Christian's uncles have to be dangerous sexy middle age men too! Just...what's so wrong with ordinary guys? (7) Mac found out (view spoiler)[What's His Name has been watching her every move ever since their first meeting, (hide spoiler)]and that makes she think it means he loves her? Oh, please. [image] (LINK: ) I'm very sick of all these typical bullshits you can find in every single cheap romance novel, I actually rolled my eyes when Mac kids herself about how her sister's true love and a freaking baby might have changed an ageless immortal for the better. Great, go try change your grandfather's behaviors and see how many months, if not years will it take before you start with a hundreds thousands years old immortal. (8) Characters being forgotten for the longest of time, then being brought back to the storyline in a hurry to drive the plots onward. (9) The ending is as anticlimactic as you can imagine. Great battle between the Unseelie Faes and humans? Final showdown between the MCs and the villains? Shocking revealing of hidden truth? Mac finally womans-up and saves the day? No, we get none. (view spoiler)[Instead the (10) The pacing of this book is truly awful. It feels like the author had to tie up too many loosed ends within the space of one book---well in my opinion she should have long started tying up some of those ends in the previous books instead of rushing things in the final book, and she messed this up. (11) If Dani said 'feck' and 'dude' one more fucking time, I'm fucking ready to destroy her. (12) But still...I'm going to read Iced, because...guess what...KMM is still leaving some more loosed ends out in the open for the sequel. In the end, Shadowfever is worthy of 2.5 stars and I'm not going to give it anything more. At least it isn't as awful as some of the prequels before it, Mac is a few shades less stupid and annoying and selfish, the concepts and the setting about Fae are both great, still...the entire book comes off feeling very ill-handled to me. If only KMM had made up her mind about whether she wanted her book to be a typical romance or a badass-ed, all-out paranormal urban fantasy novel, this final book of the Fever series would have done so, so much better. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 27, 2015
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Jul 15, 2015
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Jun 27, 2015
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0399256768
| 9780399256769
| 0399256768
| 4.22
| 274,900
| Jan 29, 2013
| Jan 29, 2013
|
it was ok
|
Things you need to know before reading my review: (1) I'd read Legend last year, it's my first ever Marie Lu's book, and right after reading I've decid Things you need to know before reading my review: (1) I'd read Legend last year, it's my first ever Marie Lu's book, and right after reading I've decided to blacklist this author and her books. However, after finding a copy of the Chinese translation of Prodigy in the library, I'd decided, despite of my lack of enjoyment with the first book, to give this series a second chance, hoping Marie Lu would prove me wrong. (2) I can appreciate Marie Lu for trying to deliver some political messages and trying to work her way up to decent writing and decent plots. I can at least appreciate her effort, if not the ending result. (3) I read from the Author's Introduction that Legend is supposed to be inspired by Les Misérables (the relationship between the police official and the criminal) and one of my GR friends informed me about Marie Lu supposedly mentioned as an inspiration/reference. Well, all I can say is I'm glad authors are actually still giving a damn about real-life tragedies around the world, but I still hope authors can write better books when they got their inspiration from/based their books on real-life tragedies. Then, actual review here: 1.5 'I'm not impressed' stars. In the end, I found I don't care enough about this book to do a full review, so let me do it in points-form: (1) I notice the writing (or at least the translated version of it) and the attempt at world building are actually decent, still it probably doesn't say much. (2) The Main Characters, Day and June, they are supposed to be prodigies, but in the story not only they acted stupid and I simply cannot find one single reason to root for them. (3) I can always appreciate a story about teenagers rebelling against a suppressing evil government, but not when the supposedly heroic Main Characters are so shallow and poorly written. (4) I simply cannot believe people from over the entire nation are fangirling/fanboying over Day and June and are looking up to them as heroes. (5) I see no reason for the citizens to give a damn about Day and June when for most of the time they only care about their own families and loved ones, and they hardly lift a finger to help the people who're in need. (6) Politicians and rebel leaders (Think: V from V For Vendetta, Che Guevara) have to give speeches and send out tons of propaganda to gain support from the citizens (aside from actual fighting that is...), neither Day and June have to do any of these but already the citizens are all over them. It's unrealistic. Goodness, why would anyone care about these two? Especially when they're plagued by wars and virus? (7) The speech given by Day at the end of the story is a joke, (view spoiler)[ you just can't stand in front of a bunch of angry citizens and tell them they should put their anger aside and trust the new Elector? (hide spoiler)] It is not how things are done, it isn't. (8) Marie Lu fails to write a charismatic rebel even when Day is supposed to be one (I don't even want to be bothered by June, she is as charismatic as a piece of wood), according to Lu, you would believe a sexy body, a handsome face, a bad boy attitude are all it takes to make a charismatic rebel. (9) The love triangle among Day, June and Tess is annoying. (10) Not to mention, the handsome new Elector, the most powerful man in the country, is hand over heels for June. *roll eyes* (11) Not to mention, I am very sick of Day's “ I am poor, but she is a rich girl, I'm not good enough for her...” BS. (12) (view spoiler)[Day suddenly decided he didn't want to follow through the rebels' plan to assassinate the Elector because he chose to trust June, instead of seeking revenge for his family and saving his brother?! (hide spoiler)] Fucking Bullshit! (13) In the end, the war between the Republic and the colonies is just the matter of State Dictatorship vs State Capitalism? huh....I honestly am not that impressed. (14) (view spoiler)[In the end, it's the same-old, same-old "both the government and the rebels are bad" unoriginal plot twist all over again, (hide spoiler)] just like The Hunger Games. (15) As a whole this book isn't as awful as I'd feared, but it still can't message up to be a good book. (16) But at least the author admits gay people exist... (17) Had I mentioned that both MCs are supposed to be superhumans or some unrealistic Mary Sue characters from badly written Japanese manga? Oh yes, and they are both drop dead gorgeous too, it's just like manga! (18) Finally, I'm not impressed by the notion that "As citizens, we should unify...and trust the 'good' politicians to do the right things." Miss Lu, if it's the insight you want to share with us, I'm out of here. (19) The one word which can sum up this book is 'mediocre'. It is not awful enough to hate but not good enough to leave much impression in my mind. Review for book 3: /review/show... ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 04, 2015
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Jun 06, 2015
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Jun 04, 2015
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Hardcover
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| 0765376458
| 9780765376459
| 0765376458
| 4.04
| 405,252
| Feb 24, 2015
| Feb 24, 2015
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liked it
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Rating: 2.75 stars to 3 stars. Honestly, A Darker Shade of Magic is a well written novel Honestly, A Darker Shade of Magic is a well written novel Edited@31/05/2018: Okay...I had just noticed this book is supposed to be a fantasy for adult audience instead of a YA, but no matter, the MCs are as juvenile as those we can find in YA novels (to be fair, these characters look like they are in a New Adult novel, at best). The only thing I found to be 'adult' about the story is the violence scenes and the F bombs. If you were looking for mature characters and complicated, fully developed fantasy world building, please look somewhere else. I think most of the problem begins with the main characters: Kell Maresh: he is the male lead and goodness! I don't care about him. He seems to be kind and with good intentions which is fine with me, but his angst issue really doesn't endear him to me. I mean...poor Kell it is so bad he is different from other people! Plus he got adapted by the royal family of the Red London and the king and queen are, you know, actually nice to him and Prince Rhy actually looks on him as a brother! Plus when the city is under attack, Kell does nothing to warn the royal family, OMG what is he doing? Delilah "Lila" Bard: Lila is a thief surviving on the streets of Grey London (which doesn't have magic) and she has a reward on her head! But guess what? She tells her full name to two complete strangers within the same day, plus for most of the time she sounds like an annoying poser who is trying too damn hard to sound tough and badass which she isn't. Prince Rhy: he seems to be a nice and loving enough fellow but OMG what is he doing accepting a 'gift' from a foreign 'ambassador' who he should have no particular reason to trust!? Hey! Just because the guy is handsome and he is flirting with you isn't an excuse! Holland Vosijk: the bad guy, and he is actually more interesting than the two MCs. Astrid Dane and Athos Dane: the evil twin who rule White London, and it is a shame that they only show up for a few chapters because they are so damn cooooooool....(view spoiler)[plus it is a damn shame these two wind up dead so easily in the ending part. I can't take this!!! (hide spoiler)] Natalie actually wrote an awesome 'fake blurb' for the twin and Holland and it's totally mind-blowing! Aside from the characters, the problem also rests on how a lot of things just...conveniently happen in the story: I mean...Lila, an untrained and uninformed girl from the 'magicless' Grey London, who had only heard about the existence of magic and the other Londons just yesterday, can manage to conveniently travel between different worlds with ease, when supposedly only Kell and Holland (the only two surviving blood magicians) can travel between worlds whilst everyone else simply can't. Plus...supposedly the magical stone from Black London is deadly and dangerous to people (we witness someone getting possessed and eventually killed just because he came near the stone), but......Lila, as untrained and uninformed as she is, still manages to hold the stone for a long time and wield its magic without once getting affected. *sighs* Thirdly, Kell, as someone who is chosen to be the Red London's ambassador to travel between worlds under the order of his king and queen, still has it in him to ignore and break the rule of NOT taking anything from the other worlds from time to time. Actually, Kell has made it his past-time job to smuggle items from one world to another. Why would he do it when he is a member of the royal family and wants for nothing? Well...because angst , get it? Furthermore, after a while even the excitement of four different Londons starts to fade: Come on, although four Londons and four different magical worlds is highly attractive in theory, but after a while when we only gets to see Red London for most of the time, and some tiny bits and pieces of the other Londons here and there with no further information being added, the excitement fades away quite fast. Thankfully, the ending is nice, that is why this book gets a 3 stars rating and I'm going to read the next book. Review for book 2: /review/show... ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 12, 2018
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Jun 2018
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May 29, 2015
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Hardcover
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| 9571049786
| 9789571049786
| 9571049786
| 3.00
| 10
| Mar 28, 2012
| Oct 2012
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did not like it
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The fifth book of The King's Game series...what can I say about this book? The concept and some of the ideas are refreshing and interesting enough, an
The fifth book of The King's Game series...what can I say about this book? The concept and some of the ideas are refreshing and interesting enough, and it's always nice to see the lives of all the high school students from the entire Japan being in danger, guess what? There's some Battle Royale look-alike survival game style of students turning against each other and mass killing in the name of survival too! So entertaining! I'm not going to lie, I enjoy reading this book, the same way you enjoy eating fast food which can do no good to your body. The King's Game is a fast read and a page-tuner and it can easily keep you entertained enough to finish the whole thing in one go. However, there's still no denying that the writing and the quality of this book is trashy no matter how you look at it: (1) The Arch Villain is killing people and using The King's Game to threat to overturn the whole society because (view spoiler)[her parents never loved her enough to pay for her heart operation? (hide spoiler)] My goodness...someone please tell me I'm reading a fanfiction instead of a published novel... (2) The explanation for the origin of The King's Game: yeah, finally we have some explanation for this King's Game thingy, but in the end it turns out (view spoiler)[The King's Game is the mixture of computer virus and actual virus? (hide spoiler)] And it's supposed to explain away why students from all over Japan is getting weird messages from their cell phones and if they failed to obey what those messages tell them to do (e.g. kill other people, kill their parents or schoolmates, etc), they would die in different terrible ways? Are you joking? (3) The main characters are all cardboard-cutouts and they are also the perfect examples of walking, breathing cliches. I don't even want to go into details about it...let's just say one of the MCs suddenly decides to trust a girl whom he had just met (mind you, said MC had survived a round of students killing each other ordeal), then falls in love with her (view spoiler)[even after he found out she is the mastermind behind The King's Game (hide spoiler)]. (4) The ending: basically it's just a Big Sign of "READ THE SEQUEL!!!" (5) At one point, 1,500,000 Japanese students failed to obey the King's order and they were punished...by bleeding to death... and those kids all know they're going to die if they failed. You think the society is going to turn into a living Hell? No. There're some killing and robbing...but the craziness and hopelessness of the situation is never driven home. (6) The rules and setting of The King's Game seems confusing and the rules seems to be always changeable: for a few times, the rules of The King's Game changes all of a sudden---just to create more loopholes for certain characters to die/survive and other BS. Am I going to read the sequels? Sadly I think I am, just because this book isn't as bad as some of the installments in the series and hell, you just need to eat fast food once in a while. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 27, 2015
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May 28, 2015
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May 27, 2015
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Paperback
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| 1606840762
| 9781606840764
| 1606840762
| 3.71
| 1,632
| Jan 01, 2012
| Jul 10, 2012
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did not like it
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Note: I read this book only for the sake of getting this trilogy over with, not because I like it or something like that. 1.5 stars, the 0.5 star is gi Note: I read this book only for the sake of getting this trilogy over with, not because I like it or something like that. 1.5 stars, the 0.5 star is given merely because I don't find this book offensive (but those who take the Siren myth seriously might be offended by the Sirens in the story), still I am not going to recommend Dark Water nor its author to anyone. What you should expect when you open this book: paper-thinned and angst-filled romance between a love sicked girl and her handsome love interest, half-baked and 'barely there' plot, flat characters who you aren't going to give a shit about, a villain who is 'coming out of nowhere' and is only placed in the story to create (nonexistent) tension and threats, said villain coming up with a highly predicable wicked scheme,and last but not least, a silly ending. So don't bother yourself with this book. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 29, 2015
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May 02, 2015
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Apr 29, 2015
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 9881681049
| 9789881681041
| 9881681049
| 4.25
| 20
| Feb 27, 2014
| Feb 27, 2014
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it was ok
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Do Not Finish at page 130. a few thoughts after reading: I am being kind by giving this book 2 stars. To tell the true, this book gives me a headache. Do Not Finish at page 130. a few thoughts after reading: I am being kind by giving this book 2 stars. To tell the true, this book gives me a headache. The author mixed too many contradicting ideas, concepts and facts together in his narration, and the 'theory' he is trying to build is not well developed at all, instead so many things are jumping all over the place in this book. I can also confidently tell you when someone like ME can see through the loopholes and logic failures in the author's theory, then said theory really isn't up for testing. Furthermore, the author also used too much subjective and biased opinions when he expressed his opinions about Hong Kong history and the social/political issues we are facing. Plus his overly subjective views/criticism on the personalities/behaviors/motives of certain local politicians/worker unions/leftist groups/mainland China immigrants really, really makes this book become unpleasant to me. I mean, I am all in for criticism, but criticizing people and groups are not the same with lashing out on them. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 26, 2015
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Jul 06, 2015
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Mar 26, 2015
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Paperback
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| 0440242177
| 9780440242178
| 0440242177
| 4.12
| 34,541
| Dec 01, 1999
| Dec 01, 1999
|
it was ok
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It's a highly forgettable romance with the Highlander setting. This book doesn't work for me because... The characters are paper-thinned. The story is j It's a highly forgettable romance with the Highlander setting. This book doesn't work for me because... The characters are paper-thinned. The story is just a run-of-the-mill romance. Nothing special. Some of the scenes are comical and light-hearted enough, but the story as a whole does nothing to me. Sexy Dangerous Mysterious Bad Boy With a Dark Past? No, I don't find this sexy, it's so overused, it isn't even interesting. There's a sweet and good-nature Boy Next Door type male character, but of course he isn't going to get the girl. Also, I don't find sexy. [image] Call me narrow minded, but I just don't understand the appeal. Still, I give this book 2.5 stars because unlike Darkfever, I don't hate the characters in this book. ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Mar 03, 2015
Jul 30, 2022
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Mar 05, 2015
not set
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Mar 03, 2015
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Mass Market Paperback
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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 4.16
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not set
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Mar 30, 2024
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| 4.04
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not set
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Apr 30, 2021
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| 4.15
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it was ok
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Dec 10, 2019
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Sep 15, 2019
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| 4.58
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it was ok
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Mar 30, 2018
not set
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Jan 19, 2018
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| 3.73
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did not like it
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Nov 11, 2018
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Jul 28, 2017
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| 3.67
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did not like it
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Jun 20, 2017
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Mar 30, 2017
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| 4.64
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did not like it
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Jan 27, 2017
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Nov 13, 2016
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| 3.97
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did not like it
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Jan 25, 2018
not set
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Jul 14, 2016
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| 3.96
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liked it
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Jul 04, 2016
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Apr 21, 2016
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|||||
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| 4.24
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it was ok
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Mar 20, 2016
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Feb 29, 2016
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| 3.96
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did not like it
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Dec 24, 2015
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Dec 04, 2015
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| 4.47
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it was ok
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Oct 18, 2016
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Oct 27, 2015
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| 3.98
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it was ok
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Aug 17, 2015
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Aug 08, 2015
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|||||
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| 4.39
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it was ok
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Jul 15, 2015
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Jun 27, 2015
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|||||
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| 4.22
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it was ok
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Jun 06, 2015
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Jun 04, 2015
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|||||
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| 4.04
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liked it
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Jun 2018
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May 29, 2015
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|||||
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| 3.00
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did not like it
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May 28, 2015
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May 27, 2015
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|||||
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| 3.71
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did not like it
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May 02, 2015
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Apr 29, 2015
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|||||
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| 4.25
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it was ok
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Jul 06, 2015
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Mar 26, 2015
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| 4.12
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it was ok
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Mar 05, 2015
not set
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Mar 03, 2015
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