Ugh, I'm so sorry, but I think I might have to DNF this. It's not necessarily because the stories in here are BAD. Not at all. They just don't...do anUgh, I'm so sorry, but I think I might have to DNF this. It's not necessarily because the stories in here are BAD. Not at all. They just don't...do anything for me. Maybe it's the language and the way they're written that just doesn't capture my attention. Maybe because I don't find the stories themselves to be particularly exciting. I don't know. They were...fine. That's it. It might also have to do with the fact that these are loooong fairy tales. And for how long they are, they'd better catch my undivided attention from beginning to end, which they didn't. I might go back and read more of this, but it feels like it'd be more of a chore than a genuine interest in the fairy tales inside....more
I may go back and polish this review up a bit later on, but here are my initial thoughts thus far after just finishing this book:
I am a huge fan of thI may go back and polish this review up a bit later on, but here are my initial thoughts thus far after just finishing this book:
I am a huge fan of the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer. So when I saw she'd written another fairy tale retelling, this time telling the story of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, I was like, "YES, PLEASE." I wasn't quite sure how I would like it, as I noticed this book had gotten mixed reviews. And while this definitely doesn't have the same complex world-building that the Lunar Chronicles did, I also don't think it needed it, since it's much more a character study of one of literature's most iconic villains and her backstory as we learn how she truly came to be a villain. I honestly love this concept, and overall I really liked it. Especially that ending, though.
Oh, God, that ending.
By the end of the novel, I feel like you really understand Catherine's (the Queen of Hearts') character on a much deeper level. You finally begin to know how she got to that point—her rage, her vengeance, how all her life she felt controlled by others and not allowed her own happiness, the things that were robbed from her, and everything else that drove her to who she eventually came to be. And of course, that final line...
"Off with his head."
Like, YESSS. That was such a satisfying way to end the book and I feel like it closed everything up perfectly, as we all know the rest of the story from there...
Now onto the reason I gave it four stars. Basically, I felt like this book took a long time to get through due to the fact that the plot moved very slowly. It was very whimsical and light, which is fine. But it was just the fact that a large chunk of the book involves courtship and dances and gentry and other elements that don't typically keep you on your toes. Basically it wasn't really until the very end when things started to pick up. Also, this is an extremely mild criticism, but it got to me after a while: the word "twitched" is repeated WAY too many times in this book. "His lips twitched, his face twitched, her mouth twitched." We. Get. It.
I was so torn on whether to give this three or four stars, but I came to the conclusion that I really did like this. But given the time it took me to get through it, would I re-read it? Mm, probably not.
And now I end this review with my favorite quote from the book: "She's the jammiest bit of jam, isn't she?"...more
I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway
Ever since stumbling upon this one day on Goodreads and reading its synopsis, this has beenI received a copy of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway
Ever since stumbling upon this one day on Goodreads and reading its synopsis, this has been a highly anticipated book of mine for a long time, and I was SO excited to read it. I love the stories of fairy tales and folklores, and how magical, enchanting, and oftentimes dark they can be. I thought this book, then, would have these same elements of a dark and twisting, Brothers Grimm-esque fairy tale. And I'm so gutted that I actually didn't end up liking this book as much as I'd hoped and that it turned out to be a different kind of story than I anticipated going in.
When I first read the synopsis of The Hazel Wood, I pictured a story of a girl embarking on a journey into a deep dark wood in search of her mother, as well as to uncover the mysteries of her reclusive grandmother, who she knew only through the fairy tales she wrote. Also, I loved the idea of her being accompanied on this journey by a boy from her school who lives and breathes fairy tales. Everything about this story sounds great, right? Unfortunately, I felt like the synopsis was very misleading. For one, I imagined this story as being more lyrical and having a more fairy tale-inspired atmosphere... but a large chunk of the book takes place in New York and reads more like a contemporary, so this came across as more urban fantasy? So just from that, it wasn't quite what I was expecting and felt myself taken out of the story.
I wasn't much of a fan as the story went on, either, as it becomes much more "magical realism" and Alice-in-Wonderland than fairy tale. I personally like things to be concrete and straight forward. When things just become ambiguous, dreamlike, and nonsensical, I very quickly get pulled out of the story, which is what happened to me with this book. And honestly? At a certain point in the story, I mentally checked out and no longer really cared how the story would end, because it stopped being the story that I was expecting and wanting it to be.
For one, it's about 200 pages in before we even see any woods. That's kind of a long time for a reader to have to wait before they're given that story they were promised, about a dark and mysterious wood, from a book titled The Hazel Wood. So given that fact, the plot moved pretty slow and included a lot of backstory from Alice's life and building up to the Hazel Wood that I honestly thought could've been cut way down. Also, as often as she's mentioned in the story, Alice's grandmother actually doesn't have a huge presence at all. She really only makes one appearance in the entire book, and it turns out that's she's not the loving, wizened grandmother that you think she'll be, so it just ruins all of that build-up and that large portion of the plot that centers around her.
Going into this
[WARNING: SPOILER ALERT]
, I was noooot a fan of how it turned into Alice actually being an escaped story character and having to return to her own story to live it out again from the beginning, and eventually figure out how to escape it. It was a turn in the plot that I just wasn't interested in at all. As soon as I got to that part of the book where it went into Stories and Ex-Stories and refugees, I was immediately like, NOPE, don't care, not the story I signed up for!
I just wanted a simple, folksy story of a girl and her fairy tale-obsessed friend, going on a journey into a magical wood to find her mother and learn more about her reclusive author grandmother. I did not get that story, so unfortunately this is a book that I was pretty let down by right out of the gate into 2018. ...more
i absolutely love the Lunar Chronicles series, so it was really exciting to be able to dive back into this world and reunite with all of the characteri absolutely love the Lunar Chronicles series, so it was really exciting to be able to dive back into this world and reunite with all of the characters again. The plot was a bit slow-going, so it didn't really start to pick up until the end. It was also interesting seeing how each character is illustrated in the graphic novel vs how I imagined them in my mind when I read the books. I always pictured Wolf as more of a Wolverine-type character. I didn't picture him as... you know, an actual, furry wolf. So that was a bit of a surprise. Still, it was fun to return to the world of the Lunar Chronicles series, and that itself is enough to keep me wanting to read more and looking forward to the next volume!...more
I'd been wanting to read this book for so long, and the premise absolutely drew me in: a Peter Pan retelling where Peter Pan is trans. I've heard so mI'd been wanting to read this book for so long, and the premise absolutely drew me in: a Peter Pan retelling where Peter Pan is trans. I've heard so many people rave over how much they adored this book and its reimagining through a queer lens. But honestly? I felt incredibly underwhelmed by this book.
The main thing that kept me from fully enjoying this book was the plot, which for the most part I didn't care for. It mostly involves Peter's return to Neverland after years away and wanting to pick back up right where he started, reuniting with his Lost Boys, tracking down Hook, and getting into mischief and battles purely for his love of picking fights. It just wasn't a plot line that particularly interested me and it sort of dragged on until I just didn't care anymore. On top of that, I ultimately found Peter to be a pretty immature character, even given his years spent away from Neverland, which I guess is the whole point, ya know, the boy who never grows up and all that, yeah, we get it. But still, his character annoyed me and he definitely still came across as very childish and boyish in a way that I didn't always find very endearing.
I will say that I did enjoy the points in the story that acted as a flashback to Peter's younger days as Wendy and his struggle with wanting his family to recognize him as he truly is. I thought those parts were really well done and I definitely thought that was a really creative subplot to build from Wendy's character into who we now know as Peter Pan. I only wish that was a larger part of the story! Yes, the narrative does frequently circle back to that part of Peter's life, but I thought it would've been a much more central plot to the story than what it actually turned out to be, which was unfortunate because I would've much preferred that over reading 140 pages of Peter being a brat and picking fights with Hook.
Segueing into that..! Another detail of the story that I didn't like as much as I thought I would was Peter and Hook's developing relationship. Don't get me wrong, I would've been ALL over that! But something about it just didn't quite...fit. It sort of just felt like I was reading fanfiction. It was all very typical of fanfic writing, definitely times when I grew bored and had to skim read, and it was just, "Meh." Also, the fact that they run away together away from Neverland and spend their lives together in Hook's private cottage is bordering a bit too closely on the sappy happily-ever-after ending.
I guess to sum it all up, I wanted so much more from this story. I was disappointed that Peter's backstory with his family didn't really get any sort of closure, especially with how much he loved his brothers. He sort of just runs off with Hook and that's it, which feels like a cheap ending. Again, I wish Peter's story of his origins and his identity would've taken up so much more space and given the attention it deserves. Instead, we're only given a sliver of that in comparison to the rest of the plot, which is largely just a regurgitation of the original tale....more
I actually ended up reading this after I finished Winter. I'd only heard about this little addition after finishing the last book, so I was so excitedI actually ended up reading this after I finished Winter. I'd only heard about this little addition after finishing the last book, so I was so excited to be able to continue the Lunar Chronicles series for a little while longer. To me, though, the order in which you read this book in relation to the rest of the series doesn't make a huge difference, as this book takes you through the early life of Queen Levana, before the events of Cinder. Aside from a few character cameos, and possibly one very minor spoiler, this book doesn't reveal a whole lot about the rest of the books. That being said, I feel that this is very much an "optional" read. If you don't end up reading this book, I don't feel that you'll be missing a huge piece of the puzzle. Rather, it's just a deeper look into Levana's character, giving her more depth and a backstory beyond her evil-villain persona.
With this, I felt that this book was just "eh," all right. It didn't have that same fantastical feeling, full of adventure, that I so often felt with the other books in the series, nor was I feverishly flipping through to get to the end, but rather just coasting through at a casual pace. It's understandable, though, with how short this book is, at 220 pages. For me, this story was pretty much just about explaining Levana's character and what all brought her to be the villain she is today, all of it revolving around her feeling ashamed of her physical appearance (due to a burning incident), of feeling ugly, and of feeling like no one could ever want her as she looks right now. This leads Levana to develop an attachment to--no, obsession over-- a guard named Evret to the point where she is so deep in her delusion, she simply can't accept that he doesn't love ever, even when he clearly states a number of times that he sees her as only a friend. Her mind twists everything around, forever finding signs that point to the contrary, that he truly does love her, when that's never the case. While I found this part a bit sad (because trust me, I know what it's like to try to find a sign in everything that someone feel the same way about you), this still doesn't completely make me feel remorse for Levana, because let me tell you. She. Is. Crazy. She's like one of those stereotypical "crazy girlfriends" on TV shows who simply can't take no for an answer, looking wide-eyed at their suitors like, "It's okay...You won't admit it, but I know you love me." *cue Psycho theme* Levana takes it to a whole other level, though, **SPOILER**convincing herself that since Evret is still in love with his late wife, she'll glamour herself to look exactly like his wife so that he'll love Levana just as much, if not more. And then they get married and she continues to delude herself into thinking that Evret truly loves her, not his widow's look-alike that she's become. Yeeeah, creepy, right?
With this story being just okay, there were a few details that didn't completely sell it for me. For one, Levana's sister Channary seemed like a pretty flat character. It's never truly revealed why she treats Levana so horribly or why she is the way she is. Because of how neglectful their parents were? Because that's just how older sisters are? Some other reason? I don't know, but to me, there wasn't really an explanation for this. I also couldn't quite connect the dots for how Levana went from being so in love with Evret to being the Levana we know in the books, who is beyond malicious and cruel. Did Levana really just get so wrapped up in being queen and wanting to take control of Earth that she deemed it more important than being in love with Evret? And why does she want so badly to be queen and rule Earth? At first it seemed like she truly did care about being a good ruler who the public would love and adore. But she's clearly not that way in the books. So what changed? What transformed her into a ruthless, merciless leader? I didn't feel that this was ever fully and properly explained.
If you want some insight (emphasis on some) on Queen Levana's character, this is an all right bonus book to read. But again, I definitely don't think this is a crucial read to fully understanding and enjoying the rest of the Lunar Chronicles series....more
**spoiler alert** Finishing this book was so bittersweet because I absolutely loved reading this series, and I just can't believe it's over now. Each **spoiler alert** Finishing this book was so bittersweet because I absolutely loved reading this series, and I just can't believe it's over now. Each of the characters are so memorable, and so it was great that they all had their own resolutions in the end and that they all lived happily ever after, as the book says. This series perfectly blended fairy tale and a sci-fi, and there's so much heart and adventure and action and friendship and love mixed all together throughout this series. This'll definitely be a series that I'll want to revisit and experience again and again <3...more
Ahh, this one was so good!!! I felt there was a lot more suspense in this one, a feeling of not knowing what's going to happen, and it's a sort of jouAhh, this one was so good!!! I felt there was a lot more suspense in this one, a feeling of not knowing what's going to happen, and it's a sort of journey that the book takes you on as the characters find themselves each in their own dire situations. Besides this, there are so many other aspects that make this third book in the series really stand out. I also just love Cress and her whole story. Plus, she's just like this sweet little angel who you want to protect with all your heart ♥ The ending is so good, and now I can't wait to read Winter!!!...more
It took a while for this book to really pick up, and I definitely still prefer reading Cinder's chapters. Scarlet is just... eh. But once things did pIt took a while for this book to really pick up, and I definitely still prefer reading Cinder's chapters. Scarlet is just... eh. But once things did pick up (about the middle of the book) I could NOT stop reading, and now I'm so excited to get my hands on the next one in this series!...more
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