I had some high hopes for SKANDAR, excited at the prospect of reading a middle grade book about carnivorous unicorns (mARC copy
2.5 stars rounded down.
I had some high hopes for SKANDAR, excited at the prospect of reading a middle grade book about carnivorous unicorns (more accurately “alicorns” because they can fly) that had elemental powers. it was a little bit of a let down, and most of my disappointment came from the handling of the storytelling.
light spoilers
first, there is much too much going on at once with this book. there are several holes in key moments of the story that conveniently go unexplained... to save pages, i guess? (which is ironic, because this novel could be at least 30 pages shorter. debut novels just sometimes have way too many words.) over 20 people and unicorns die (recounted and in the BG) and its just okay! nothing to worry about. a powerful protective force is being picked apart at the seams by a single known enemy and everything is fine! go back to training, you have homework due this weekend. bah.
second, there are many high-stakes moments present throughout the story but there are NO consequences at all. as mentioned above, LOTS of people are dying. unicorns are being stolen. wild unicorns are a constant worry. not to mention theres the ever-present threat of being kicked out and becoming a “nomad” from their Unicorn Rider Training School, but its never a real threat to the main character or his companions. and its heavily emphasized.
im having trouble articulating this next thought, so bear with me, but my third gripe is the visualization. there is, simultaneously, a strong and weak emphasis on elemental segregation that relies on visual representation (element pins, color relevance, element.... libraries? etc. ) but none of it is really delved into and explored more. the 30 pages mentioned previously could have probably been better utilized to world building i guess.
lastly, it seems that this novel was written after a long analysis on popular books. it is unique in its concept, but old-hat in its execution. seems to me that Steadman studied what makes titles like Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Avatar the Last Airbender so popular and decided to mash them all together in an ink and paper sandwich. the saying “if it aint broke, dont fix it” does not really apply to literature. you can always fix it. PLEASE fix it.
something i did like was Skandar’s friend group, and wish there was a little more of them and more details about the bonds between rider and unicorn....more
ok, every time i think about this book, i flip-flop on whether i want to give it one star or two. I think it needs to be at 1, because any time i explok, every time i think about this book, i flip-flop on whether i want to give it one star or two. I think it needs to be at 1, because any time i explain the plot to my friends, it sends me into a blind rage. if i could give half a star i would.
i need to preface with this though: i have loved many of Holly Black's books, and i love vampires as a concept, but i HATED this book. absolute fucking loathing.
there are plenty of people in the reviews who share my opinions that do a much better job at explaining exactly what went wrong with this book, but i cant mind my own damn business anymore. i need to get it out of my system before it becomes something i need to talk to a therapist about.
if you want concise reasons for why i think this book sucks ass, read someone else's review. this ones full of piss and vinegar and is almost incomprehensible. to hell with punctuation
--> SPOILERS BELOW in case you still wanted to read this mess: <--
firstly, none of the characters are interesting. literally none of them. not the vampires, not the twins, not the main character... NO ONE. the one interesting character was a random kid with a cool bird that barely has 8 lines the whole however-many-pages. i should have DNF'd this book when i had the chance, but i was determined to find SOMETHING to enjoy out of the 10-odd dollars i spent on it. woe is me- not a single redeeming thing came from getting to the end.
secondly, and probably my biggest complaint: lore. where the fuck is the lore. "oh wow these vampires have integrated themselves into modern society with humans but WATCH OUT!!!! some of them are EVIL and just wanna kill teens and drink blood." okay..... and what else??? "the vampires livestream their cool vampire club parties and they LURE people into the COLDTOWNS where they LIVE to DRINK THEIR BLOOD!!!" okay.... so what is anyone doing about it? "oh, you know, nothing :)"
like... this book starts with a bunch of teens getting murdalized horrifically because of a KNOWN and established problem (they hang garlic and crosses and whatever over windows, make sure doors and windows are locked, know not to be outside after sunset etc etc) and the government and local authorities STILL dont have issues with this? the only actual authority out there "doing" something about the rogue vamps are random vampire hunters that are apparently fucking garbage at their jobs? give me a break.
oh, but there are SECRET vampires that hunt OTHER rogue vampires -- and apparently these sneaky vampire hunting vampires are also fucking shit at their jobs, because it takes one of them literal years to actually finish what he had been set out to do, which is kill the book's antagonist. jesus christ. can one single person get it together
thirdly, apparently this is like an urban fantasy romance novel, and while thats all well and good, literally nothing remotely romantic happens in this fucking book. the main love interests are both nasty creeps and the main character cant get it together enough to actually think about the things shes doing for these two loser creeps. the first time i encountered the term TSTL was through reviews on this particular novel, and let me tell you, its accurate. Tana, our main heroine, is literally Too Stupid To Live, and trusts two skeevy dudes way too much for her own good. the only dude that DOESNT try to take advantage of her stupidity is the aforementioned bird-owning-character, who has probably the smallest part in the book despite his position being pretty fucking invaluable to Tana and her """"friends"""".
dnf. as someone that never read nor watched harry potter, this is so thinly veiled that it took me out of it. i tried! i had to abandon it at chapter dnf. as someone that never read nor watched harry potter, this is so thinly veiled that it took me out of it. i tried! i had to abandon it at chapter 9...more
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