Pre Review holy crap... i so underestimated this book... i think i need some time to digest what i have just read. Actual Review I read this book becausePre Review holy crap... i so underestimated this book... i think i need some time to digest what i have just read. Actual Review I read this book because of this one review I had read. It was a reviewer I followed and well since she had given it 5 stars and written such a good review for it I though i should read it. I was looking for a good romance, after reading so many unreleastic teen romances, I needed characters to have the spark. Even then I didn't expect a lot when I went into the book, much less to come out with my brain fried. Writing the review approximately 2 months after reading it I still get goose bumps thinking about it. Alexandra Monir is a genius. I had wanted to read this book for the romance but I ended up enjoying the whole time travel concept equally. Monir has a different approach to time travel and for that I am glad. I am so fed up with people always complaining about how traveling back in time will change something in the present blah blah blah. But here it's about Michele helping out her ancestors. It's how her help led to the things as they are in the present and that itself is such a unique concept. The way Monir connects everything and brings it all together like a puzzle makes it so unique. There are still some pieces that are missing or don't fit but I guess that's what Timekeeper is for. Moving on to our main character. I loved Michele. I absolutely loved her. I loved how brave she was and how she was willing to let Philip go even seeing how much it hurt me. I really didn't think she would be that strong when I started the book. Like I said before I was vary of the book when I had started reading. But Michele proved to be a lot more than a love sick teenager. She had so much going on and she figured out so many things. I love her for her determination and her will to do the right thing. Now moving on to our love interest, Philip. I am not going to say anything about him. Just 4 words. They should get my point across. I LOVE YOU PHILIP! The ending of the book isn't necessarily like the cliff hanger people make it out to be. It could be viewed as a happy ending were the book a stand alone but if you read the synopsis to the sequel, Timekeeper, that's when the ending becomes a cliff hanger and that's why I cannot freaking wait for the book to be out. I need it so bad because there are so many questions in my mind that need to be answered. ...more
I remember going on for a day about the pretty cover. I mean it has such a pretty knife on it. I was like coddling it and hugging*takes a deep breath*
I remember going on for a day about the pretty cover. I mean it has such a pretty knife on it. I was like coddling it and hugging it and so eager to start it but I wanted to enjoy the anticipation to read it so I decided to not start it just that day but wait until the next.
Gracelings are basically people who have a grace, a grace being a talent, not a normal kind but something that is basically perfected. Katsa’s is the ability to kill people.
Okay so ummm I kind of expected this book to blow my mind away (the cover. It demands me to expect nothing less) but it didn’t. Yes I loved it to bits but it wasn’t the best thing that ever happened to me.
There are some issues with the book which mainly stem from Katsa’s belief about marriage. I see that Cashore is attempting to have a feminist take but it comes out all wrong. It’s like she is shamming marriage, saying it’s bad and that women shouldn’t get married. I see she wants to show Katsa as a person who doesn’t depend on a man and stuff but it didn’t work. Also if she wanted this book to have a better feminist angle, she shouldn’t have had pretty people. Feminism isn’t only about how the personality of a woman, just because she doesn’t like dresses and kicks ass doesn’t mean she is the symbol of feminism, because she isn’t. To show a true opinion, she would have to change the treatment of women in the book, to show them in a way that isn’t shown in most books. In this world, women are looked down upon, leered at, etc. How is that going to give you plus points in the feminist section? Okay I can see this is going to turn into a feminist rant so I am going to move on from this.
This was one of the things that made me cut down a star, the other was that I wasn’t exactly screaming with joy at the ending, I mean sure it was sweet but the author didn’t have to make it end that way, I mean really? It was taking things too far.
Okay so this book has self-discovery, people searching for answers and a nation build on lies.
“….or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away…a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.”
That part made me want to kill people so I could get this book. I mean I LOVE SECRETS. I love discovering things little by little with clues. The actual secret was so umm lame (for the lack of a better word)? I mean it wasn’t what I expected, plus we learn it rather early in the book so there isn’t much room for suspence.
The self-discovery is more about her learning to love and that she isn’t a terrible person and self-acceptance but the whole thing is toned down, it’s going on in the background.
With that said, I am not sure what EXACTLY this book is about but never the less it was a great read. I cannot believe I haven’t mentioned Po yet, the best thing that happened in this book. I mean we know he is going to be the love interest from the summary but I wasn’t sure WHO he was until we learned that he IS indeed the much awaited Prince Po. The summary makes him sound cocky, but he isn’t, he is a nice guy, he jokes but I wouldn’t go as far as calling him cocky. Although when I had started this book I was kind of hoping he was. Cocky princes are always so cute and fun to read about.
Po is an understanding person, I love the patience he has for Katsa, and he realizes she has a lot of issues. He doesn’t push her, he lets her become comfortable in her own skin, waits for her to realize what it is she wants and ACCEPT it. Most of the times during “the waiting” I was resisting the urge to smack Katsa in the head (although I wouldn’t be able to even if I wanted to :/).
All in all this was a good read and if you can over-look the feminist issues (which I lot of people couldn’t, I didn’t do a great job of that either but because the book aside from the issues was great I didn’t mark it down a great deal) you will enjoy the book.
This was the book where things started going downhill for me. I loved Obsidian and Onyx but Opal *This review has also been posted on Tangled in Pages
This was the book where things started going downhill for me. I loved Obsidian and Onyx but Opal just didn't work. I was confused after finishing it. There had been a time where Opal would have made me swoon and giggle but things had changed and I had matured as a reader and Opal just didn't do it for me. It was no longer a book I could have I loved but something that was simply a guilty pleasure, brain candy, something to read on a rainy day.
There were many things that didn't work for me. Aside from the cliff hanger ending, one of the major things that annoyed me would be the situation with Blake. Blake, who isn't meant to be so likable, is actually one of my favorite characters. I can understand him and the decisions he makes. He is not as bad as a guy as Katy makes him out to be. She doesn't even try to step in his shoes and think about what she would have done in the same situation. We all know she would have done the same thing no matter what she tells herself so I cannot comprehend her hate towards him. I have to admit, I am glad that she didn't have any conflicting feelings and no love triangles popped up but so much hate isn't a good thing. Katy really needed to chill a little.
Speaking of Katy, dear god she could be a pain in the ass. Her jealousy. What is up with that? Shouldn't she know better by now? Really? On that note she made some stupid decisions. Somehow in each of these books she ends up being the damsel in distress. You can coat the situations up with her sassy attitude and strong will but she is never doing the rescuing, even when she thinks she is. Why cannot she for once make choices that won't land her in situations that may possibly get her killed?
Daemon of course feeds the 'Damsel in Distress' idea with his over protectiveness. He needs to stop acting like a mother hen and give the poor girl some space. I'd also be happier if his hotness wasn't rubbed into my face all the time.
The romance between the two loses the fun banter of the previous books and instead we find ourselves drowning in cheese. Or at least I did. I do not enjoy cheese and this book was full of it. Gone were the fun, sarcastic conversations of the previous two books and instead there was jealousy and cheesiness.
The plot however was well paced and it was a quick read like all it's predecessors but at this point I find myself wondering if all the other books were like this. Were Onyx and Obsidian not as good as I thought they were? Or was this book actually not that good?
The ending did NOT shock me even if I hadn't seen that coming. The ending was not something I enjoyed and it wasn't even because of the cliff hanger but the situation the characters were put in. We all know that there will be an HEA in the end… unless there isn't one. Now THAT would be interesting. Or perhaps it wouldn't. I like my brain candy too so no I still want an HEA for these characters.
Even with all my anger, I cannot help but feel disappointed that one of my most awaited reads was just not as good as I hoped it would be. I hope that Origin will be better even if I am guessing my feelings towards this book were more of a case of 'it's me not you'. Perhaps the dual POV will bring an interesting enough twist in Origin that I'll like it better. ...more
WOW. when i started reading this book, it didnt exactly drag me in. Still i read on hoping to see how the book went. It started getting to my nerves hWOW. when i started reading this book, it didnt exactly drag me in. Still i read on hoping to see how the book went. It started getting to my nerves how Dashti could act so stupid at times and how Saren was always crying. But then they escaped the tower and from there on the story picked up pace and got better and better. By the time she was facing Lord Khasar i was ready to give this book 4.5 stars. But it was the ending that earned it 5 stars. Both Saren and Dashti changed so much throughout the book, there was so much character development and I too was so proud of Saren by the end of the book. Once again Shannon Hale surprises me with her ways. I love her fairy tales and how they arent just fairy tales but so much more. I really thought this one couldnt be as good as for example Goose girl but this book had me in its clutches. ...more
I read this book for two reasons, the pretty cover and the reviews. The reviews were so good! How could I not read this? I wish I had the ability to I read this book for two reasons, the pretty cover and the reviews. The reviews were so good! How could I not read this? I wish I had the ability to not pick up a book because it has a pretty cover. This book wasn’t meant for me. I disliked it with a passion. I gave it two stars so I didn’t want to burn it but it took me a while to finish it. I paused so many times looking for all sorts of excuses for not having to continue reading this book. I cannot even write the review (or whatever it is) without slacking off.
I mean sure this book has some things going for it but half the time I want to bang my head on the wall because of Mary Sue Meghan, our main character.
Oh my dear god this girl annoys the hell out of me. I wanted to choke her half the time, see what her “lovers” would do then. I feel so bad saying all these things because so many people loved it, I feel like the hipster creep (although being a hipster is cool).
I mean sure the world building deserves to be mentioned. It was absolutely great, hence the reason this book got two stars and not one. The whole idea of how fey came to existence is super unique and even after all the kinds of fey books I’ve read, I haven’t encountered any other ideas as unique as this BUT what use is the world building if half of the time you are resisting the urge to throw the book on the wall because of the characters? She also has great ideas for fey like the iron fey and the seelie and unseelie. Plus the bits of the court politics we are shown are pretty cool.
My favorite character was Grimalkin. A talking cat. He kind of reminds me of the grumpy cat but he is smart and always made me laugh.
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(hehehe I wanted an excuse to post this meme)
Puck always made me laugh as well but I was annoyed by the fact that he fell in love with Meghan. I mean he is damn old faerie, how does a silly teenage girl who he has known for HER whole life change anything? Her life span is merely a fractions compared to his, after the thousands of years he has been alive how does a stupid teenage girl make him go from the cool ass court jester to a love sick fool?
Oh and the insta lust love between our darling Unseelie prince and Meghan. Oh dear god Ash was such a cliché character I was resisting the urge to scream. He is the dark brooding guy who Meghan is intrigued by, her heart starts beating faster when he is around and all the other shit that comes along with insta love. He is unseelie and wants nothing to do with her but he is secretly in love with her as well. *starts crying* It feels like twilight all over again. I cannot think about their romance without having an emotionally break down. It left scars on me.
I did in fact go on to read the rest of the books in the series despite this because, back then, once I started a series I had to finish it. This changed after reading this series, I learned my lesson.
This series made me suffer so much. It ruined all fey books for me. I cannot enjoy a good fey book because of this one and I avoid them like the plague, (at first though I did try to read other ones to fix the damage this book did) it’s okay if they contain fey but do NOT make them about them. The only series I liked that had fey in it was the Fever series (I didn't know it was centered around the Fey until I read it and the Fey are the creepy guys so it's cool) and even THAT didn’t change my mind about fey books in general. Like I said, I have a permanent scar from this book. I think the main reason for my prejudice is because this was my first fey book, I went into it blindly believing that everything would turn out great. It didn’t. I hope no one ever faces the emotional trauma this book caused me. Okay yes I am exaggerating but not about the part where I have disliked all fey books ever since....more
Rashika (is tired)
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