If you like this book and Kiersten White as an author, stop here.
I hated everything about this book. The only reason I rated All I can say is finally.
If you like this book and Kiersten White as an author, stop here.
I hated everything about this book. The only reason I rated it two stars is because to me, a one star is a book left unfinished; I don't mark those as read here on GoodReads because I didn't really read it now did I? I only finished this book for two reasons: 1.) I preordered it and I have this weird obligation to myself to finish books I preordered. 2.) It was not even 300 pages. That being said, this 290 page book took me TWENTY ONE DAYS TO READ. This page count should have theoretically taken me two days if I'm being generous, but one single day if I'm being serious.
With this lovely introduction finished, let's get into the meat of the book, shall we?
Now this is bad on my part, and I know this. I do not like Kiersten White's writing. I think it is terrible. I chose to ignore this because I like her And I Darken series for the plot, clearly forgetting that each book takes me months to read and ends up putting me in slumps because of her writing. She overuses metaphors to the point where it doesn't make sense and just kind of throws you off. She switches tenses randomly, and for some passages she exclusively writes in simple kindergarten sentences.
Moving on in my rant review. This book was supposed to confuse and intrigue you by giving you little information at the beginning and build on it over time with flashbacks. Well most of these flashbacks were irrelevant and confused me further and by the time things were finally explained I just didn't care anymore. The plot itself was kind of like riding a see-saw. Or going bungee jumping. It was the same three things over and over again with the same tone over the entire story. (So I guess not quite like those examples). In one short list I can explain the only three things that happen in this mess: Looking for Victor, find Victor, lose Victor (repeat). There you go! Now you've read the book.
I genuinely didn't care about a single character in this story. The closest I came to actually liking a character would be Mary but she wasn't even in the story long enough for me to figure that out and then ruined herself. Let us take this character by character. Elizabeth, our title main character: I can't even tell if we were made to like her? I sure didn't. Yes, all of her decisions were based on self preservation and I understand that, that's not what made me not like her. She! Didn't! Have! A! Personality! Don't try to say "Oh it's because she had to change herself so Victor would still like her, blah, blah, blah." No, she didn't have a personality. She was the most monotonous character I've read in a while. The ONLY times where she actually had a personality is when she was faking or flirting to get what she wanted. Victor: We clearly weren't made to like him since we don't even really see him until the end and that is where he gets the most insane, so there's not much there. Justine: I was supposed to like Justine. She was the sweet one whose soul is purer than an angel's. But she was SO BORING because of that. She had zero substance since all she cared about was being nice and taking care of kids. Henry: I don't even know what to say here. He was nice. He was in love with Elizabeth. He was a little scared of Victor. He wanted to be a poet instead of a merchant like his father wanted. Am I missing anything? No? Okay. Mary: The only character with any sense. Called Elizabeth on her bullshit, at all times. Actually had decent plans. The only smart bitch in this house and she was only in this house for like 30 pages in total. And then that cute little epilogue where I renounce any kind-of-like I had for her.
Here come the spoilers:
I hated that ending with a burning passion. We would have been fine without the epilogue, minus the fact that for some reason we're keeping this creature alive? Hello? Yeah, he is technically not this evil monster we all thought he was but that is no reason to keep him alive considering the fact that he is literally an abomination of nature. We also didn't need to bring Elizabeth back to life. That was a good ending. Elizabeth honestly has nothing to live for and never did. Victor finally died and we thought all of his work would too. But nooooo, Mary had to go and drink some of Victor's crazy juice and bring Elizabeth back from the dead. So great, now there are two creatures out in the world that should be dead. I'm gonna make that three because I don't trust Mary's sanity anymore.
This will clearly be my last Kiersten White book, save for Bright We Burn (And I Darken #3) which I still haven't read, but see above. This wasted my time, and if it puts me in a slump I'm going to scream. I hated everything about this. Goodbye....more
Okay so I mostly hated this. The fan fiction writing, the characters, the whole of it. The mystery was decently done and I honestly never would h*2.75
Okay so I mostly hated this. The fan fiction writing, the characters, the whole of it. The mystery was decently done and I honestly never would have guessed the ending but that doesn't really change much of my opinion....more
I really liked this! I normally do not like thrillers/mysteries but I definitely enjoyed this one. And the epilogue was absolutely adorable. I do belieI really liked this! I normally do not like thrillers/mysteries but I definitely enjoyed this one. And the epilogue was absolutely adorable. I do believe I would have liked it better if I had read the original Sherlock Holmes series first, though....more
I absolutely hated the first two books but I suppose because we had such an abrupt change of characters that **spoiler alert** I...... liked this one?
I absolutely hated the first two books but I suppose because we had such an abrupt change of characters that I was able to enjoy the story.
Before, Adam and Juliette were whiny babies. Now, only Adam is a whiny baby and we don’t see him much here which is wonderful.
The ending was a little rushed but it made sense. Unlike in some stories, Juliette had the common sense not to pause and hesitate when she had the opportunity to kill the bad guy. She just did it.
I’m excited to get to Restore Me and see what becomes of the country with the new ruler....more
To be quite honest, when this book was announced, I was a little skeptical. Victoria Schwab writes fantastic adult and young adult books, but I never To be quite honest, when this book was announced, I was a little skeptical. Victoria Schwab writes fantastic adult and young adult books, but I never would have imagined her writing style translating well into middle grade. Luckily, I was so, so wrong.
I loved this book! I normally don't LOVE middle grade books, I can just find an enjoyment in them. However this one was amazing. I loved the concept and the characters had a great beginning and I can't wait to see how they progress in next books. I haven't felt this strongly positive about a middle grade book since I read The School for Good and Evil series by Woman Chainani, and I'm so happy to have met it's match....more
The pacing was fantastic, the character development was infuriatingly real (especially Oh.... my god......
Renegades was good. Archenemies was perfect.
The pacing was fantastic, the character development was infuriatingly real (especially Adrian and Nova's relationship), and I literally didn't breathe for the last like thirty pages.
This was absolutely fantastic. I was very surprised with it because, for one, it’s a book for school, and two, the topic doesn’t interest me. I’m *4.5
This was absolutely fantastic. I was very surprised with it because, for one, it’s a book for school, and two, the topic doesn’t interest me. I’m not a science person. But this reads like a novel, not a biography, and is so well-written, I was so interested in it that the first thing I wanted to do when I woke up each morning while reading this is to get back to it....more
*3.75 I’m gonna be honest, most of the time I was bored. The end and a little bit in the middle I was thoroughly enjoying it, but overall I was bored. *3.75 I’m gonna be honest, most of the time I was bored. The end and a little bit in the middle I was thoroughly enjoying it, but overall I was bored. Interesting and slightly terrifying concept, but it wasn’t done as well as everyone says it was. Wasn’t worth the hype in my personal opinion....more
What a wild rollercoaster, a bittersweet ending. This was the kind of book to leave you wanting more with a deep knowledge of knowing you’ll never getWhat a wild rollercoaster, a bittersweet ending. This was the kind of book to leave you wanting more with a deep knowledge of knowing you’ll never get it. Like you’re missing something that you know you’ll never get. It was more amazing than you could have ever imagined and I’m crying. That’s all, thanks
UPDATE 8/20/23: do you understand how happy I am that I was wrong?? the fact that next month we get a whole new book in a whole new spinoff series is so exciting...more
*3.5 At the beginning, I was obsessed. It was hilarious and the characters worked so well together and I loved the mystery. However towards the middle *3.5 At the beginning, I was obsessed. It was hilarious and the characters worked so well together and I loved the mystery. However towards the middle it started slacking. It got boring and it wasn’t nearly as funny. At the end, Cassie’s character turned into a whiny bitch and I ended up hating her. The ending itself was fine but all the events leading up to it is what lowered my score. ...more
I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t know it was going to be THIS good. I’m honestly so impressed with this story and I’m too tired to make thI knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t know it was going to be THIS good. I’m honestly so impressed with this story and I’m too tired to make this review good....more
Ughhhhhhhh I'm sick of books that do this to me. I hate it for 75% of it and then it finally gets tolerable and I actually want to read the next one. Ughhhhhhhh I'm sick of books that do this to me. I hate it for 75% of it and then it finally gets tolerable and I actually want to read the next one. WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN SO OFTEN TO ME??? WHY CAN'T I JUST ENJOY BOOKS FROM THE BEGINNING AND NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS SO MUCH??...more
it took me forever to read based on the manner of which i read it and honestly i don’t even remember most of it but what i do remember was pretty deceit took me forever to read based on the manner of which i read it and honestly i don’t even remember most of it but what i do remember was pretty decent...more
My slump might have stopped me from devouring this, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying it. This book was even more amazing than the first and who kneMy slump might have stopped me from devouring this, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying it. This book was even more amazing than the first and who knew that was even possible. I absolutely loved everything. I loved that the training scenes were told in short flashbacks because long, drawn out ones are pretty much the most boring thing in existence. I’m already reading the last one and it’s amazing too!
UPDATE 7/16/23: slayyyyyyy I love this series so much omfg...more
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