Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

How did you feel about Adelice/Maela's conversation? I thought it was pretty much the only good thing she's done so far. And I understand plot-wise why we can't have more weaving, but it's all I care about right now.

I thought it was an improvement over their previous interactions, but I find Maela to be more comical than anything else. Same with Cormac.

I'm intrigued by Loricel but she hasn't done anything but be cryptic so far.

I KNOW RIGHT? It's the best concept of the whole thing -- so many other elements remind me of other dystopian YA novels. (Girl who hates the system yet still is forced to abide by it? Must be prettified up? and uses her sister as her emotional touchstone? And a main character who is torn between two guys on different sides of the rules/laws [a quiet rebel vs reluctant supporter]? I've never read anything like that before.[/sarcasm]

I want more details on the weaves and how it affects the lives of the citizens. (view spoiler)[Like, how can the Guild use it to override natural conception? There can't be Spinsters overseeing the wombs of EVERY woman in Arras, right? I'm assuming married couples have sex in Arras, so how can they watch every woman all the time? (hide spoiler)]

I'm interested in Cormac and his motivations. At least he seems to have some, unlike Maela. I just can't get past how flatly evil she is.

I think it was Blythe who said the beginning reminded her of Matched, and yeah, without the weaving, they're pretty much the same.

YES! I hadn't even thought of (view spoiler)[contraception. Are Spinsters mass aborting unplanned babies? Or is this one of those dystopians where everyone is conveniently sterile? And how are they assuring that families only have girls or boys? Rip the thread and do-over?

I keep coming back to the fact that Arras, despite obviously being a future America that has regressed to 1950s gender politics, is perfectly square. Can weaving change geology and remap coasts? And doesn't messing with the tectonic plates or the weather cause massive destruction in other places? (hide spoiler)]

Cormac at least has charisma - creepy charisma, but that's far better than Maela's one-dimensional presentation. She is one of my biggest issues with the book. I can root for bad guys, anti-heroes when they're fleshed out and characterized with some skill, but her? No way.

I haven't read Matched, so I can't really comment on that one but now I want to just to compare.

(view spoiler)[and what about the segregated by sex communities? Why are the fathers there? It's not like older men wouldn't prey on innocent girls..... And what happens if they have a son? I need answers!! (hide spoiler)]

That is a great point! I hadn't thought of that one.

Ugh. Stupid iPhone. I have more to say but I an at work and I have to type super surreptitiously! Hold that thought til 6pm lol

Haha, you got it. Are we reading another 3 chapters tonight?

Sure! I can definitely manage that.

I just saw this conversation and I love it! I agree with everything you two have been saying and the more I think about this book, the more I find to dislike about it. (view spoiler)[ Especially the whole idea that Arras is a future America! I love that concept, but how did Spinsters even come to be? Were they genetically modified to have special powers of some kind or is this really supposed to be a fantasy after all? I don't know if I skipped it while reading or it just wasn't mentioned, but how did these Spinsters even come to exist? I didn't think about the abortion or even the geology behind this book either, but those are such good points! (hide spoiler)] Ultimately, I feel as if this has a ridiculous number of plot holes. Plus, just WAIT till you get to the end. I am 98% sure I can predict what's going to happen in Book 2...that's how unoriginal it is! =.= I'm looking forward to reading both your thoughts as you continue on with this novel though! :)

(view spoiler)[Yeah, Danielle's bringing that issue up has me really skeptical about the worldbuilding in general. On the surface, it seems okay but the more one reads, it comes off as very poorly-thought out! I just... am frustrated and disappointed with the lack of effort and originality for a book that has potential for such awesome. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[I guess I could be wrong about it being future America, but that's such a dystopian trope and the talk of books hidden in the walls, and girls weren't always kept pure, and way society mimics ours makes me assume it is. (hide spoiler)]

I'm so disappointed, because everyone I follow loved it! I was sitting around, waiting to be approved for my ARC like the little sister tagging along, while all these 4 star reviews poured in.

@Jessie: I perfectly understand! I was constantly irritated with how much better this book could have been if certain aspects of it had been changed. It was just an okay read for me and not one I'm particularly inclined to continue, to be honest. :/

@Danielle: (view spoiler)[ I don't want to reveal how Crewel came into being, because that was one of the few interesting aspects of this book, but it is rather predictable as well. I'll just say that you're on to something big... ;) (hide spoiler)]

I was so disappointed for this too! I kept getting frustrated since everyone gave this such wonderful ratings and I wanted to read it so badly and then I couldn't figure out if we were all reading the same book... *sigh*

(view spoiler)[(Click on the second spoiler at your own volition. I don't know if you got to that point yet, but I put it in an extra spoiler tag just in case you haven't.) Butting in here, and I agree with all of your points (I just didn't even think of them when reading) but Arras is not a future America. Arras is (view spoiler)[a different planet. (hide spoiler)] I don't know if you got to that reveal yet, so I put it in an extra spoiler tag. (hide spoiler)]

Blythe wrote: "[spoilers removed] I don't know if you got to that reveal yet, so I put it in an extra spoiler tag."

I'm not going to click that, because I'm still at the first ball, but I'm glad to hear it will be explained. I'm still hoping the second half will pick up.

You guys need to reeeevieeeewwww!!!!!! Although I think I got the picture pretty well by now. ;)

I just finished it 20 minutes ago. I'm still caught up in laughing at it, and being very underwhelmed by it. I'll probably work on a review tomorrow because I want to wrap up the last 150 pages of The Lost Prince today.

Seriously, what was up with that line?! I've got a paragraph done, but I'm still at the office so I'm not making much progress writing.

I LAUGHED TOO! I thought I was the only crazy one to do that! (view spoiler)[ Seriously though, how predictable was that ending? They do that in EVERY DYSTOPIAN BOOK! I wanted to smack my head against the wall because they all always go back to Earth! Plus, Erik and Jost as brothers? Gosh, so cliched! And she figured it out by their kissing styles? Pleasee, give me a break! (hide spoiler)] I'm 99% sure I know what's going to happen in the sequel, so I'm seriously so disappointed in this series. Anyway, I can't WAIT for your review, Jessie! :D

Danielle: (view spoiler)[ I DON'T EVEN KNOW. "It's the way you kiss that tells me you're brothers." In what world/reality/layer does that even begin to make sense? A big WTF moment. And I haven't even started mine. I started watching Parks and Rec again because I just could. not. deal with that mess for another minute today. I'll probably write it tomorrow. It will not be pretty. (hide spoiler)]

Keertana: (view spoiler)[I feel bad, because I am laughing at the book and not with it, but are you freaking kidding me?! Predictable, and that line about Jost/Erik was just too much. Who can tell if people are related by how they kiss?! That does not WORK! Uuuugh. Bad book, bad! (hide spoiler)]

Keertana wrote: "I LAUGHED TOO! I thought I was the only crazy one to do that! [spoilers removed] I'm 99% sure I know what's going to happen in the sequel, so I'm seriously so disappointed in this series. Anyway, I..."

(view spoiler)[LOL I completely agree about the lack in logic with her determining they're brothers because they kiss similarly. (hide spoiler)]

Jessie & Blythe: (view spoiler)[ I know right? I laughed so much when she said that! I was a little irritated too because the brother love triangle is easily the most overdone love triangle ever. So much for originality! *sigh* (hide spoiler)]

I think that I gave Crewel such a high rating, a) because I just didn't think of the points you've brought up, and b) I really haven't read many books in the dystopian genre, so everything in this book I truly thought was original. *shrug* I look forward to your review, Jessie!

Blythe, I'm not hating on anyone who loved it - there were parts I thought were truly creative (if unexplained as much as I wanted) and I can easily see why it's so highly rated for others. I hope I don't seem that way! It's just that the writing, plot, and characters did not pull me in, which is a big deal for me.

Blythe wrote: "Keertana wrote: "I LAUGHED TOO! I thought I was the only crazy one to do that! [spoilers removed] I'm 99% sure I know what's going to happen in the sequel, so I'm seriously so disappointed in this ..."

That was just hilarious to me. I don't even know what to do with Adelice's deduction skills.

☆Jessie� (Ageless Pages Reviews) wrote: "Blythe, I'm not hating on anyone who loved it - there were parts I thought were truly creative (if unexplained as much as I wanted) and I can easily see why it's so highly rated for others. I hope ..."

Oh, I definitely know you're not hating on those who loved it. I hope my comment didn't come across like I thought you were, because I'd never think you'd do that.

@Jessie: I know right? Well, it's definitely an innovative way to figure something out...although it couldn't have been a happy revelation for either of them. (view spoiler)[ I mean, who wants to be told that they're similar to their sibling because of their kissing abilities? O.o. I can sense angst in the sequel... (hide spoiler)]

@Blythe: Blythe, I can see why you would like this one so much. I think if I wasn't so familiar with the dystopian genre, I would have wound up liking this one a lot too. But, as Jessie said, the plot and characters just failed to pull me in, although I did think the writing was quite good. For me, characters and originality are always one of those make-it-or-break-it deals for me, so it just didn't work unfortunately. I am really glad you enjoyed it though, so you can let me know if the sequel gets better! :)

Blythe wrote: "☆Jessie� (Ageless Pages Reviews) wrote: "Blythe, I'm not hating on anyone who loved it - there were parts I thought were truly creative (if unexplained as much as I wanted) and I can easily see wh..."

Whew, okay good. Tone can be hard online and I wasn't sure how I was coming across, and I'd hate to offend or alienate one of my favorite GR friends. :)

Likewise. :D

Oh crap! Leanne - I am on my iPhone and accidentally deleted your comment! Please repost it. I'm such a failure on this thing!!

I'm so sorry!

Um, okay. It's a good thing I posted it only twenty minutes ago, or I would have forgotten by now... But no worries, it's alright. :)
--

Uh oh, first Keertana's review and now your negative rating? *Sigh* It's difficult being excited about hyped YA dystopians this year... Anyways, I look forward to your review. :)

I'll be curious to see what you think of this one, Leanne! I'm hoping you like it more than Jessie and I did, but since the three of us seem to share similar ratings for the majority of the novels we read, I'm not so sure. Still, I'm looking out for your status updates once you start this! :)

I'm almost positive you and I will share similar feelings, Keertana! I despise love-triangles, insta-love, sketchy world-building, and basically the whole typical bag of trite cliches in YA dystopian novels... I'll still be reading it though, because I have it for review.

My love for YA dystopian/post-apocalytic books published in the last year or so has been slowly starting to dwindle. With the exception of a few, I've read A LOT of disappointing books in this genre. (view spoiler)[I hate to say it, but... I wasn't a huge fan of What's Left of Me. I know, it's a travesty, with all the gushing reviews! *whimpers* (hide spoiler)]

Yup, I know what you mean. I try to get my review books out of the way first so I don't read too many bad reviews and then not want to read them, but maybe going into this with low expectations will alter your feelings about it.

What's Left of Me? NO! Well, I wish I could say I was surprised Leanne...but I'm not. I want to say I'm surprised! I read Emily May's review and even Rose's review and while both of them liked it, they didn't think it was that great and felt it lacked something, so my excitement for it has died down. I feel as if everything this year is letting me down unless it's a book that was published previously or an original contemporary. I'm not enjoying the books in the re-emerging fantasy genre (Defiance was disappointing), with the exception of Seraphina, and I don't think I've liked any dystopian debuts this year except for Under the Never Sky. It's been very disappointing and while there are some great ones still to be released, I don't have high hopes for them! :/ What rating did you wind up giving What's Left of Me though? 3 Stars at least...right? Or was it worse? *worried*

Keertana wrote: "Yup, I know what you mean. I try to get my review books out of the way first so I don't read too many bad reviews and then not want to read them, but maybe going into this with low expectations wil..."

That's a great tactic, Keertana. :) Unfortunately, I'm not the fastest reader, and I'm generally very spontaneous when it comes to reading. I read what strike my fancy or depending on the mood I am.. Unless, that is, I'm in pressure to read a book for a specific date, or I'm doing a readalong, then I stick to a schedule.

I agree a lot with Emily and Rose's review, along with Beth's. Yup, three stars from me... but just barely (so really, 2.5-3 stars). It had some excellent qualities to it, but they were drastically outweighed by the underwhelming, half-baked world building, underdeveloped secondary characters, and lack of this certain... charisma, pizzazz if you will. Hopefully, I'll have my review up by Sunday. :)

Leanne wrote: "Um, okay. It's a good thing I posted it only twenty minutes ago, or I would have forgotten by now... But no worries, it's alright. :)
--

Uh oh, first Keertana's review and now your negative ratin..."

I tried to hit reply, and got the delete button instead. I swear, I should stay offline when I am on this thing - I'm practically incompetent.

I'm sorry you didnt care for What's Left of Me! If I hadn't been in love with the concept, the lack of any real worldbuilding would've driven me insane. Once I am home I will have to check and see if you've reviewed it yet! I hope once you're approved that Crewel is a better read for you!

@Leanne: Thanks!(: I have to read depending on my mood too, but when it's an ARC I just force myself through it since I become really tense about fitting it into my schedule then. I'm one of those insanely nit-picky people, so it somehow works for me though.

I just read Beth's review and it brings up some excellent points as well. I don't think I'll enjoy it as much after all, so would you recommend just skipping it? I read that it's similar to The Lost Girl, but that The Lost Girl is much better, so I think I'll try that one and I'm not sure whether or not to read What's Left of Me anymore. I'm always torn because there are positive ratings and negative ones and then I need to try it myself and 99% of the time I wind up agreeing with the negative ratings, which is a disappointment. So I'd love to know if you think I should read it or not! :) Plus, I'm definitely going to be looking out for your review! :D

@Jessie: I never use my iPod or Kindle on GoodReads since I can't use either of them at all! If you liked the concept of What's Left of Me though, I heard that it's similar to The Lost Girl which Wendy recently reviewed and loved, so I'm thinking I should just check that one out and skip What's Left of Me...hmm...we'll see! :)

@Jessie, I'm writing my review and another plot hole just popped up. (view spoiler)[What the hell happened to her mom? Erik said she was alive, Ad got all excited, jumped his bones, and then SHE NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT AGAIN. She didn't look for her mom in the research department, just Amie. (hide spoiler)] Did I miss something?

You are so totally right! I completely forgot about that tidbit when I was rushing to the finish line and (view spoiler)[reading about brother kisses. (hide spoiler)] I feel like that's a big detail to leave unexplored...

@Jessie- Haha, I completely understand! So no worries, dear. :) Using my ereader for Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ is impossible, and an iPod or phone can be quite challenging as well. But especially to type it is so frusturating sometimes!

@Keertana- I thought about it, and based on your general reading preferences, I've determined you would *most likely give this book 3-3.5 stars. :) It's worth your time, I guess, but I can't see this being a favourite of yours. I have a feeling that the world- building will annoy you to no ends. ;) True, no love triangles, insta-love, Mary Sue protagonists, etc, etc. Emily said in her review that What's Left of Me was better than 90%
dystopian novels published this year, and I completely agree with her statement. But still.. This book underwhelmed me.

Even though I haven't read The Lost Girl, I read Wendy's review and it sounds wonderful. :) Fingers crossed...

@Danielle and Jessie: I forgot about that too! (view spoiler)[ Gosh, so she just left her mom there and waltzed off to space with two guys? Wonderful Adelice, way to make me like you even more! =.= (hide spoiler)] Wonderful point though, Danielle!

@Leanne: I think I'm just going to skip it. I went through my TBR-Shelf and I took that one out as well as Mystic City and Black City. I think I'll really like The Lost Girl, so I'd rather read that than What's Left of Me and if the sequel is good, then I can always pick it up again. Mystic City is apparently insanely predictable, which will drive me insane, and I read some Black Sheep reviews of Black City and I'm 99.9% sure I'll agree with them. Such a shame too since they all looked so good... *sigh* Thanks for the advice though! With classes starting again, who has time for books that are just mediocre? :/

Hey did you see the short story on Tor.com? It kind of sort of almost answered our questions on conception!

No! I missed that. I've pretty much put this book out of my mind --and still have to write my review! Bad Jessie -- but you've got me curious again.

I didn't think it was very good, and again, left more questions than answers, but at least the author acknowledged that needed clarification?

I'm grasping here. :P

Awwww, that's a pity. The blurb makes it sound so fantastic.

It really does! I was suckered in by the blub and that awesome cover. The book is a mess - a woman-oppressing, unexplained, frustrating mess!

Eh. Maybe I shouldn't read this after all...or I guess I'll give it a chance of fifty pages or so to decide whether to continue.

It's always disappointing, though. Books with an awesome premise that turn out to be trash annoy me more than books that are already trashy from the start.