Jane
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First and foremost, this was an easy and enjoyable read. A welcome change of pace given the last 2 books I read before this.
A lot of the reviews will probably say that this is quite similar to The Boys, and I don’t disagree. I actually picked this up for that very reason. But despite the similarities, it does hit differently. While there is violence here, it is not as gory. There was a lot more focus on getting information and translating that data to something that inconvenience the so-called hero. So, they basically started with petty stuff and then they escalated.
This book was probably the best example of a tell don’t show style of writing. While I didn’t mind it much, there was a part near the end wherein I thought the scene would have been better served if the author showed the characters actually doing the action rather than telling the readers about it.
I rate this as 4 stars because I enjoyed it so much that I pre-ordered the next book when I was half way done with this.
Pet peeve:
The copy I got had print issues. Some pages were off-center so they looked like they had weird margins. It was so distracting.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First and foremost, this was an easy and enjoyable read. A welcome change of pace given the last 2 books I read before this.
A lot of the reviews will probably say that this is quite similar to The Boys, and I don’t disagree. I actually picked this up for that very reason. But despite the similarities, it does hit differently. While there is violence here, it is not as gory. There was a lot more focus on getting information and translating that data to something that inconvenience the so-called hero. So, they basically started with petty stuff and then they escalated.
This book was probably the best example of a tell don’t show style of writing. While I didn’t mind it much, there was a part near the end wherein I thought the scene would have been better served if the author showed the characters actually doing the action rather than telling the readers about it.
I rate this as 4 stars because I enjoyed it so much that I pre-ordered the next book when I was half way done with this.
Pet peeve:
The copy I got had print issues. Some pages were off-center so they looked like they had weird margins. It was so distracting.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was another book I almost DNFed. Why? Because I was well into the middle of the book and I still could not get myself to care about the protagonist or any of the characters.
The summary of the book basically said that Ying went off to the capital to find out why her father was murdered. Uh, we all kind of find out why at chapter 1. The author may not think so but I do. The real question was who was behind the whole thing.
Given how Ying was supposed to be finding out who was behind her father’s murder, there was very little investigating. Sure, she found stuff but it wasn’t because she was intentionally looking for it. For goodness sake, the three 12 yr. old kids in Harry Potter did more investigating than this 18 yr. old. And she didn’t even have to contend with professors or a custodian roaming about the halls looking to give demerits to students. She could have done a lot more which makes me think that she wasn’t all that invested in solving her father’s murder. It came off as if she was more invested in getting into the Guild than finding the real culprit.
But even if she was, I still couldn’t get behind her actions. She wasn’t like Bruce Wayne who was left with no family to care for them, except Alfred. She had a family who probably needed her. You know, since their dad died. The whole thing came off as self serving. Which I could have gotten behind if they were more afront with it. Blind revenge seeking rage is understandable. What Ying had was…not that.
And Ying had weird reactions to things in certain instances.
1. A person is missing from the assembly, Ying was immediately suspicious. It’s the 1st assembly and she doesn’t even know how things work in the Guild. There was no basis for it.
2. A person said something off putting to her benefactor and she was “seething” even when she basically had the same thought as that person.
3. Then she goes on blaming another person for being complicit in her father’s death. In reality that person was as guilty in her father’s death as Martha Wayne was in her and her husband’s death. How dare Martha wear a necklace that caused the mugger to rob and kill them. Yes, I am still going with the Batman references.
Other issues I had with this book were some word/phrase choices that just took me out of the setting because they were so out of place. Below is the list.
- parked (should have used the word “dock”)
- baby’s got an engine issue (sounds modern)
- scrap piece (scrap and piece are the same)
- cute (sounds modern)
- Bullshit! (sounds modern)
- Kid (sounds modern)
- rosary (sounds Western in an East Asian setting)
- restaurants (sounds modern)
- gang (sounds modern)
- tick off (sounds modern given its usage)
- bored (sounds modern)
What saved this book from becoming a 1 star were the flashbacks of her father. Those actually softened my perception of Ying. Whenever those come in, I could understand why she started this whole thing. Another thing that saved it was the ending. Possibly an unpopular opinion but I appreciated the ending given what happened in the plot.
So, was this downright awful? No. Would I recommend it? If the person was young and getting into fantasy, sure.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was another book I almost DNFed. Why? Because I was well into the middle of the book and I still could not get myself to care about the protagonist or any of the characters.
The summary of the book basically said that Ying went off to the capital to find out why her father was murdered. Uh, we all kind of find out why at chapter 1. The author may not think so but I do. The real question was who was behind the whole thing.
Given how Ying was supposed to be finding out who was behind her father’s murder, there was very little investigating. Sure, she found stuff but it wasn’t because she was intentionally looking for it. For goodness sake, the three 12 yr. old kids in Harry Potter did more investigating than this 18 yr. old. And she didn’t even have to contend with professors or a custodian roaming about the halls looking to give demerits to students. She could have done a lot more which makes me think that she wasn’t all that invested in solving her father’s murder. It came off as if she was more invested in getting into the Guild than finding the real culprit.
But even if she was, I still couldn’t get behind her actions. She wasn’t like Bruce Wayne who was left with no family to care for them, except Alfred. She had a family who probably needed her. You know, since their dad died. The whole thing came off as self serving. Which I could have gotten behind if they were more afront with it. Blind revenge seeking rage is understandable. What Ying had was…not that.
And Ying had weird reactions to things in certain instances.
1. A person is missing from the assembly, Ying was immediately suspicious. It’s the 1st assembly and she doesn’t even know how things work in the Guild. There was no basis for it.
2. A person said something off putting to her benefactor and she was “seething” even when she basically had the same thought as that person.
3. Then she goes on blaming another person for being complicit in her father’s death. In reality that person was as guilty in her father’s death as Martha Wayne was in her and her husband’s death. How dare Martha wear a necklace that caused the mugger to rob and kill them. Yes, I am still going with the Batman references.
Other issues I had with this book were some word/phrase choices that just took me out of the setting because they were so out of place. Below is the list.
- parked (should have used the word “dock”)
- baby’s got an engine issue (sounds modern)
- scrap piece (scrap and piece are the same)
- cute (sounds modern)
- Bullshit! (sounds modern)
- Kid (sounds modern)
- rosary (sounds Western in an East Asian setting)
- restaurants (sounds modern)
- gang (sounds modern)
- tick off (sounds modern given its usage)
- bored (sounds modern)
What saved this book from becoming a 1 star were the flashbacks of her father. Those actually softened my perception of Ying. Whenever those come in, I could understand why she started this whole thing. Another thing that saved it was the ending. Possibly an unpopular opinion but I appreciated the ending given what happened in the plot.
So, was this downright awful? No. Would I recommend it? If the person was young and getting into fantasy, sure.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First and foremost, this was an easy and enjoyable read. A welcome change of pace given the last 2 books I read before this.
A lot of the reviews will probably say that this is quite similar to The Boys, and I don’t disagree. I actually picked this up for that very reason. But despite the similarities, it does hit differently. While there is violence here, it is not as gory. There was a lot more focus on getting information and translating that data to something that inconvenience the so-called hero. So, they basically started with petty stuff and then they escalated.
This book was probably the best example of a tell don’t show style of writing. While I didn’t mind it much, there was a part near the end wherein I thought the scene would have been better served if the author showed the characters actually doing the action rather than telling the readers about it.
I rate this as 4 stars because I enjoyed it so much that I pre-ordered the next book when I was half way done with this.
Pet peeve:
The copy I got had print issues. Some pages were off-center so they looked they had weird margins. It was so distracting.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First and foremost, this was an easy and enjoyable read. A welcome change of pace given the last 2 books I read before this.
A lot of the reviews will probably say that this is quite similar to The Boys, and I don’t disagree. I actually picked this up for that very reason. But despite the similarities, it does hit differently. While there is violence here, it is not as gory. There was a lot more focus on getting information and translating that data to something that inconvenience the so-called hero. So, they basically started with petty stuff and then they escalated.
This book was probably the best example of a tell don’t show style of writing. While I didn’t mind it much, there was a part near the end wherein I thought the scene would have been better served if the author showed the characters actually doing the action rather than telling the readers about it.
I rate this as 4 stars because I enjoyed it so much that I pre-ordered the next book when I was half way done with this.
Pet peeve:
The copy I got had print issues. Some pages were off-center so they looked they had weird margins. It was so distracting.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I read this book because it was the pick for the local library’s book club.
Writing style, pacing and all that jazz was fine. But given how I’ve heard so much good things about this author, I was expecting to be wowed. Needless to say, I was not. But that might be because this was not necessarily the genre she’s known for.
When I first started reading this, my first thought was that this was a very well done RPF and self-insert at the same time. It’s almost as if the author imagined what her haters think about her and what they would do if she actually died, and wrote that.
The premise of the story was interesting to me. Mostly because I didn’t really think that someone would think that they can pull off something like this in this day and age or that someone could really think that being a minority would help their writing career. But then again, we just had an author (Kim Crisci) try to do this very thing by saying her name is Kim Chi. Also, let’s not forget the whole Cait Corrain debacle.
From my understanding there were 2 big plot points.
1. The flaws of the publishing world.
2. Are writers allowed to write stories that they themselves have not experienced?
Now while the path the author took was ok but I can’t help but feel that it would have been stronger if instead of the fake author being white, and going mad with the pitfalls of being an imposter, that author should have been another minority.
1. All those scenes, where the fake author was being eaten away with guilt, could have remained.
2. It highlights the publishing world’s tendency to limit their roster of minority authors.
3. It also still hits the point that the fake author, despite being a minority themself, was still far removed from the what happened in the book through experience or even heritage.
Now I rate this as 4 stars because it is still a far better book than the Green Creek series books. But I doubt I’d want to read this again. I don’t even want to own a copy.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I read this book because it was the pick for the local library’s book club.
Writing style, pacing and all that jazz was fine. But given how I’ve heard so much good things about this author, I was expecting to be wowed. Needless to say, I was not. But that might be because this was not necessarily the genre she’s known for.
When I first started reading this, my first thought was that this was a very well done RPF and self-insert at the same time. It’s almost as if the author imagined what her haters think about her and what they would do if she actually died, and wrote that.
The premise of the story was interesting to me. Mostly because I didn’t really think that someone would think that they can pull off something like this in this day and age or that someone could really think that being a minority would help their writing career. But then again, we just had an author (Kim Crisci) try to do this very thing by saying her name is Kim Chi. Also, let’s not forget the whole Cait Corrain debacle.
From my understanding there were 2 big plot points.
1. The flaws of the publishing world.
2. Are writers allowed to write stories that they themselves have not experienced?
Now while the path the author took was ok but I can’t help but feel that it would have been stronger if instead of the fake author being white, and going mad with the pitfalls of being an imposter, that author should have been another minority.
1. All those scenes, where the fake author was being eaten away with guilt, could have remained.
2. It highlights the publishing world’s tendency to limit their roster of minority authors.
3. It also still hits the point that the fake author, despite being a minority themself, was still far removed from the what happened in the book through experience or even heritage.
Now I rate this as 4 stars because it is still a far better book than the Green Creek series books. But I doubt I’d want to read this again. I don’t even want to own a copy.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I loved this book. I loved it so much that I took pictures of certain pages and highlighted the lines that really resonated with me. Heck, I even found myself chuckling while reading this.
What made me love the book?
As an immigrant, a good number of the things tackled here resonated with me. Despite being quite western in a non-western country, I did still face some challenges when I migrated. I found myself being more cautious and hesitant. But at the same time, I felt I had more freedoms with regards to a good number of things. These were things that made me relate to the Expats in the story and even the narrator herself.
I also found myself relating to the Bridges when they broached the topic of the LGBTQ+ and political correctness with the Expats. It’s similar to how, I guess, many of us grapple with discussing the same topics with our elderly relatives.
So, if I loved this book so much, why didn’t I rate it 5 stars?
Well, this book was great but not perfect. There were some details that I did not believe. And yes, this was a sci-fi book so I really should suspend my disbelief. However, I really didn’t think a government agency will just let you walk out of the building after being part of an incident and destroying a very valuable tech.
I also believe that there were certain things that I think were important that weren’t stressed enough or certain things would have been come off stronger if they were tied more closely together. For example, below were 3 things that could have made a stronger impact if they were tied more closely together:
1. Graham found it hard to believe people did so little to help when WW2 was ramping up. The narrator explained that people did the things they did because they were blindly following what they thought were good orders from those up the chain in commend.
2. The narrator inadvertently changed the future by doing something different. She also broke certain protocols.
3. At the end of the book, one of the points made was that we don’t need a time machine to change the course of history. We only just need to do better or be better people.
If those 3 things were tied more closely together, I think the message (that we should do better and not just follow things blindly) would have been stronger.
Now, I’ve read a few other reviews on this book and would like to go over some of them.
Prose:
I am aware that the prose was not necessarily some people’s cup of tea. But, quite frankly, I loved it. It was what separated this book from the other books I’ve read in quite some time. It was this weird mix of formal and flowery.
Some have pointed out that the author had a penchant for using highfalutin words that could have possibly made it harder for readers to digest it. But so, what if the reader had to look up some words? There’s Google. Use it. I think we could all use to broaden our vocabulary.
On top of that, the flowery words were in character of narrator whose specialty was languages.
Marketed as a romance when it’s not:
Honestly, I don’t know how this book was marketed. So, whether the marketing was deceitful, I can’t really tell. But there was romance in it. But it’s probably not the kind of romance folks expect these days in books given its contemporaries.
The romance here was subtle. It was a growing affection brought on by time and familiarity.
From the way Graham was described, we can tell that he was passably attractive. Not drop dead gorgeous or eye catching. He was okay looking. The most striking thing about him was his personality or, as they put it, his temperament. He was quite charming.
But this one line from page 108, really sold to me how magnetic he was to the narrator:
- He filled the room like a horizon
One review mentioned that the romance was quite one-sided. In a way it was. Given how the book was written we can only see the story from the POV of the narrator. We don’t really get much inkling of how it was from Graham’s side because the narrator also didn’t know. And it made sense that the narrator would not have seen obvious signs of interest from Graham given how he’s a man from the late 1800s who had been taught to not be forward towards women he deemed respectable.
There wasn’t much time travel:
I agree that there wasn’t much time travel. But I didn’t go into this book expecting them to be jumping back and forth in time often like it was ‘Back to the Future’. The closest comparison I can make is that this is a reverse Outlander. Or maybe that movie ‘Kate and Leopold’ with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman. The bulk of the story was about how the expats were adjusting to the modern times.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I loved this book. I loved it so much that I took pictures of certain pages and highlighted the lines that really resonated with me. Heck, I even found myself chuckling while reading this.
What made me love the book?
As an immigrant, a good number of the things tackled here resonated with me. Despite being quite western in a non-western country, I did still face some challenges when I migrated. I found myself being more cautious and hesitant. But at the same time, I felt I had more freedoms with regards to a good number of things. These were things that made me relate to the Expats in the story and even the narrator herself.
I also found myself relating to the Bridges when they broached the topic of the LGBTQ+ and political correctness with the Expats. It’s similar to how, I guess, many of us grapple with discussing the same topics with our elderly relatives.
So, if I loved this book so much, why didn’t I rate it 5 stars?
Well, this book was great but not perfect. There were some details that I did not believe. And yes, this was a sci-fi book so I really should suspend my disbelief. However, I really didn’t think a government agency will just let you walk out of the building after being part of an incident and destroying a very valuable tech.
I also believe that there were certain things that I think were important that weren’t stressed enough or certain things would have been come off stronger if they were tied more closely together. For example, below were 3 things that could have made a stronger impact if they were tied more closely together:
1. Graham found it hard to believe people did so little to help when WW2 was ramping up. The narrator explained that people did the things they did because they were blindly following what they thought were good orders from those up the chain in commend.
2. The narrator inadvertently changed the future by doing something different. She also broke certain protocols.
3. At the end of the book, one of the points made was that we don’t need a time machine to change the course of history. We only just need to do better or be better people.
If those 3 things were tied more closely together, I think the message (that we should do better and not just follow things blindly) would have been stronger.
Now, I’ve read a few other reviews on this book and would like to go over some of them.
Prose:
I am aware that the prose was not necessarily some people’s cup of tea. But, quite frankly, I loved it. It was what separated this book from the other books I’ve read in quite some time. It was this weird mix of formal and flowery.
Some have pointed out that the author had a penchant for using highfalutin words that could have possibly made it harder for readers to digest it. But so, what if the reader had to look up some words? There’s Google. Use it. I think we could all use to broaden our vocabulary.
On top of that, the flowery words were in character of narrator whose specialty was languages.
Marketed as a romance when it’s not:
Honestly, I don’t know how this book was marketed. So, whether the marketing was deceitful, I can’t really tell. But there was romance in it. But it’s probably not the kind of romance folks expect these days in books given its contemporaries.
The romance here was subtle. It was a growing affection brought on by time and familiarity.
From the way Graham was described, we can tell that he was passably attractive. Not drop dead gorgeous or eye catching. He was okay looking. The most striking thing about him was his personality or, as they put it, his temperament. He was quite charming.
But this one line from page 108, really sold to me how magnetic he was to the narrator:
- He filled the room like a horizon
One review mentioned that the romance was quite one-sided. In a way it was. Given how the book was written we can only see the story from the POV of the narrator. We don’t really get much inkling of how it was from Graham’s side because the narrator also didn’t know. And it made sense that the narrator would not have seen obvious signs of interest from Graham given how he’s a man from the late 1800s who had been taught to not be forward towards women he deemed respectable.
There wasn’t much time travel:
I agree that there wasn’t much time travel. But I didn’t go into this book expecting them to be jumping back and forth in time often like it was ‘Back to the Future’. The closest comparison I can make is that this is a reverse Outlander. Or maybe that movie ‘Kate and Leopold’ with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman. The bulk of the story was about how the expats were adjusting to the modern times.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a tv series tie-in book, this is a solid read.
Certain main characters of the show made an appearance or were mentioned. Certain side characters of the show were also sprinkled in. But a good number of new characters were introduced.
Pet peeve: Tommy H’s surname is Hagan not Hayes. The book got that wrong.
The story does shed light on how Eddie failed senior year the 1st time around, how he came to live with his uncle, and how he came to be a drug dealer. It also established that how he wasn’t always immune to the taunts on his status as an outsider but changed at the end of the story.
From the show, we already knew Eddie was going to fail. It’s crushing to see him come close to making it out. Especially since we know his ultimate fate. But it was nice to see how he came to be the Eddie we saw.
Did this satisfy my need to know more about Eddie? No. But then again, there’s no real way to do that given how he got killed off in the show. It would be nice if he got mentioned in the other tie-in books though.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a tv series tie-in book, this is a solid read.
Certain main characters of the show made an appearance or were mentioned. Certain side characters of the show were also sprinkled in. But a good number of new characters were introduced.
Pet peeve: Tommy H’s surname is Hagan not Hayes. The book got that wrong.
The story does shed light on how Eddie failed senior year the 1st time around, how he came to live with his uncle, and how he came to be a drug dealer. It also established that how he wasn’t always immune to the taunts on his status as an outsider but changed at the end of the story.
From the show, we already knew Eddie was going to fail. It’s crushing to see him come close to making it out. Especially since we know his ultimate fate. But it was nice to see how he came to be the Eddie we saw.
Did this satisfy my need to know more about Eddie? No. But then again, there’s no real way to do that given how he got killed off in the show. It would be nice if he got mentioned in the other tie-in books though.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Review Edited)
Most of my critiques of Wolfsong, regarding lack of description, apply here as well. However it was a little bit better here. At least now I confirmed that Tanner is white. And while the setting and his name should be a give away, 1 can never be too sure.
I enjoyed reading about Gordo. He’s flawed and unrepentant about it. Good for him.
I sometimes did get confused about how much time had passed because of Thomas. There were times when Thomas seemed like he’s in his late 20s when, in fact, he’s 19. It made me think a lot more time has passed than it actually did.
Thomas was acting far more father like to Gordo than I would expect given that they have just a 6 year difference. This is around the same age difference between Ox and Joe but their dynamic to each other was totally different.
While I don’t begrudge Mark anything I don’t see why Gordo fell for him.
He’s handsome, sure. But beyond that, what is there? He was just this dude who followed Gordo around.
Was he charming? Funny? Witty? Did they have common interests?
No idea.
For a book that was supposed to be a love story, it was devoid of the falling in love build up.
The small bad, Elijah, was very 1 note to me. Sure, an outright zealot does evoke a stronger feeling of hate towards the character but it was just so cliche.
But not all is lost in this book. I did like how the omega plot was handled. The logic behind it is fuzzy to me but then again it’s supposed to be fuzzy. The characters really don’t know anything for certain and just took an educated guess that seemed to be right. On top of that, the concept of their resolution is new to me.
I also appreciated that this book didn’t shy away from doing damage to the main characters. It wouldn’t be realistic if they always came out unscathed or just dead.
Review about how the book looked: Given how the word “blue” was used so much in this book, I’m surprised the book is red. Also, the book is about Gordo and titled “Ravensong”, why is the raven so small in the cover? Yes, the series is about wolves, but making the raven a bit more prominent wouldn’t have taken away from that.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Review Edited)
Most of my critiques of Wolfsong, regarding lack of description, apply here as well. However it was a little bit better here. At least now I confirmed that Tanner is white. And while the setting and his name should be a give away, 1 can never be too sure.
I enjoyed reading about Gordo. He’s flawed and unrepentant about it. Good for him.
I sometimes did get confused about how much time had passed because of Thomas. There were times when Thomas seemed like he’s in his late 20s when, in fact, he’s 19. It made me think a lot more time has passed than it actually did.
Thomas was acting far more father like to Gordo than I would expect given that they have just a 6 year difference. This is around the same age difference between Ox and Joe but their dynamic to each other was totally different.
While I don’t begrudge Mark anything I don’t see why Gordo fell for him.
He’s handsome, sure. But beyond that, what is there? He was just this dude who followed Gordo around.
Was he charming? Funny? Witty? Did they have common interests?
No idea.
For a book that was supposed to be a love story, it was devoid of the falling in love build up.
The small bad, Elijah, was very 1 note to me. Sure, an outright zealot does evoke a stronger feeling of hate towards the character but it was just so cliche.
But not all is lost in this book. I did like how the omega plot was handled. The logic behind it is fuzzy to me but then again it’s supposed to be fuzzy. The characters really don’t know anything for certain and just took an educated guess that seemed to be right. On top of that, the concept of their resolution is new to me.
I also appreciated that this book didn’t shy away from doing damage to the main characters. It wouldn’t be realistic if they always came out unscathed or just dead.
Review about how the book looked: Given how the word “blue” was used so much in this book, I’m surprised the book is red. Also, the book is about Gordo and titled “Ravensong”, why is the raven so small in the cover? Yes, the series is about wolves, but making the raven a bit more prominent wouldn’t have taken away from that.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Review Edited)
I decided to start reading books again and started with this book.
While I did like the plot, characters, flow, and writing style, I was not quite satisfied.
Maybe this is because I’ve been reading fanfic more than books these past few years, but I had difficulty picturing the characters. Sure, there were descriptions but it wasn’t specific enough for me. Or the descriptions were given but not repeated enough to stick in my head as I read. I honestly cannot remember much of how Ox looks like beyond the fact that he’s big. And he’s the lead character. Rico stuck out because of how he talks but Tanner and Chris…I can’t tell much. Carter and Kelly could be the Bobbsey twins, for all I know, given how they’re essentially just described as blonde and blue eyed.
The thing is, repetition was used in the book to hammer down certain things like how Ox feels like he’s nothing. That was heavily repeated to the point where it was getting tedious.
I also had issues with the pack dynamics. Here, the alpha’s 2nd was just the enforcer. The witch acted as the advisor. But not all packs have a witch. So does that mean no one is keeping the alpha in check? And sure, that set up may just be what happened to Joe and crew due to circumstances but they would have not wasted so much time if someone in that group just had the strength of character to say “no” and stuck to their guns or claws.
Oh and I found 2 mistakes in the book. Both seem to be typos where the author meant to use 1 word but mistakenly used another word.
But despite my notes above, I did enjoy the book and just had to read the next books in the series.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Review Edited)
I decided to start reading books again and started with this book.
While I did like the plot, characters, flow, and writing style, I was not quite satisfied.
Maybe this is because I’ve been reading fanfic more than books these past few years, but I had difficulty picturing the characters. Sure, there were descriptions but it wasn’t specific enough for me. Or the descriptions were given but not repeated enough to stick in my head as I read. I honestly cannot remember much of how Ox looks like beyond the fact that he’s big. And he’s the lead character. Rico stuck out because of how he talks but Tanner and Chris…I can’t tell much. Carter and Kelly could be the Bobbsey twins, for all I know, given how they’re essentially just described as blonde and blue eyed.
The thing is, repetition was used in the book to hammer down certain things like how Ox feels like he’s nothing. That was heavily repeated to the point where it was getting tedious.
I also had issues with the pack dynamics. Here, the alpha’s 2nd was just the enforcer. The witch acted as the advisor. But not all packs have a witch. So does that mean no one is keeping the alpha in check? And sure, that set up may just be what happened to Joe and crew due to circumstances but they would have not wasted so much time if someone in that group just had the strength of character to say “no” and stuck to their guns or claws.
Oh and I found 2 mistakes in the book. Both seem to be typos where the author meant to use 1 word but mistakenly used another word.
But despite my notes above, I did enjoy the book and just had to read the next books in the series.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was an easy enough book to read. I would have been able to finish this faster had I not been struggling to finish reading another book.
The pacing of the story is good. It started off in the middle of something but, as a reader, it didn’t feel like I was dropped in a confusing situation where a lot of things were happening at once. The plot followed a certain flow. There’s a BIG GOAL. But on the way to the BIG GOAL, smaller goals were set. So, the story didn’t feel dragging or not exciting for large stretches of time.
There are spots in the plot where it seems like it’s what’s happening just seems too convenient. However, I forgive those just because it keeps it from adding too many characters or complications.
The author was also not afraid to kill off characters. Sure, they are minor ones. But given how the last book I read had a ‘Big battle’ where only one person from the protagonist’s side got killed, I appreciated this.
There were enough instances of twists that made me doubt if they will succeed in their goal or at least doubt if they were going achieve it without losing something along the way.
There were romance and what folks these days call “spice”. Personally, I didn’t think the plot needed it. Or if the author really wanted it to have it, they could have just upped the ‘will they or won’t they’ factor rather than have it happen without showing us the building tension.
The end was open ended which gives the author leeway to write more.
Overall, it’s a solid read. Is it the best thing I’ve read or wowed me? No. But I wouldn’t discourage people from reading it.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was an easy enough book to read. I would have been able to finish this faster had I not been struggling to finish reading another book.
The pacing of the story is good. It started off in the middle of something but, as a reader, it didn’t feel like I was dropped in a confusing situation where a lot of things were happening at once. The plot followed a certain flow. There’s a BIG GOAL. But on the way to the BIG GOAL, smaller goals were set. So, the story didn’t feel dragging or not exciting for large stretches of time.
There are spots in the plot where it seems like it’s what’s happening just seems too convenient. However, I forgive those just because it keeps it from adding too many characters or complications.
The author was also not afraid to kill off characters. Sure, they are minor ones. But given how the last book I read had a ‘Big battle’ where only one person from the protagonist’s side got killed, I appreciated this.
There were enough instances of twists that made me doubt if they will succeed in their goal or at least doubt if they were going achieve it without losing something along the way.
There were romance and what folks these days call “spice”. Personally, I didn’t think the plot needed it. Or if the author really wanted it to have it, they could have just upped the ‘will they or won’t they’ factor rather than have it happen without showing us the building tension.
The end was open ended which gives the author leeway to write more.
Overall, it’s a solid read. Is it the best thing I’ve read or wowed me? No. But I wouldn’t discourage people from reading it.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Review Edited)
I’ll go ahead and start this review by saying I almost DNFed this book.
Which sucks because it was the 1 book in the series that had a lot of scenes how the main pair developed their romantic relationship. Wolfsong did give us a lot of scenes how Joe and Ox developed their relationship however that relationship was primarily a friendship because Joe was a minor for most of Wolfsong.
I almost DNFed this because I got frustrated about a lot of things.
1. Why didn’t Livingstone just off Carter when they were in the middle of the woods? He knew Carter was there. He had time, opportunity, the strength. There was no good reason for him not to just kill Carter right there and then other than the fact it would have cut the story very short.
2. Why did Carter have so many hang ups about having a guy as his mate? It was mentioned in 1 of the books that same sex pairings were not only not taboo but a pretty common occurrence. So, it shouldn’t have surprised Carter at all despite his clear preference towards women before.
In addition to that, it also struck me as odd that Carter kept on saying he really has no idea how to go about having gay “relations”. He grew up in a culture where gay relationships are not uncommon, people are ok with a lot of nudity, and has family in gay relationships. But he still had no idea how that works?
Huh?
3. I had the same feeling about the final battle here as I did about the battle in Heartsong. It was underwhelming.
I mean, how scary is Livingstone supposed to be when a regular Beta wolf like Elizabeth can break another wolf’s neck with a bite but Livingstone, who is described as a “beast”, can’t effectively crush Rico’s spine when he caught him? Yes, he killed a human but the whole battle only 1 human was killed?
Then there was that scene with the doors which confused me because they were battling it out in the town and then that doors scene and then all of a sudden they were in front of the blue house. How did that happen?
4. The book went back and forth between glorifying Thomas and then have scenes where people would discuss how Thomas was wrong. I get people would go back and forth about how they feel about people they loved despite knowing that those same people messed up. But I feel that they should have emphasized that Thomas was not that great at all. He tried his best but he wasn’t really that great.
In the books, it was always mentioned that Thomas would take Joe to teach him to become the “Alpha of All”. But was he really? Joe left his nuclear pack and his responsibilities of being the “Alpha of All”. And when he came back, he was struggling with the responsibilities of juggling his duties with his nuclear pack and Caswell. So really, how good was Thomas at preparing Joe? Not that much, it seems like.
And how Thomas prepared Joe is so different from how Livingstone, Grandpa Abel and Thomas prepared Gordo for his life as the next witch for the Bennett pack. Gordo got his whole arms tattooed at a young age. That was horrifying. And that was just to be a witch and not an “Alpha to All”.
On top of that Thomas kept secrets that kept on biting them back in the end. Him and Grandpa Abel. And he didn’t tell anyone about these secrets/mistakes to at least warn them. He wrote letters to the future mates of his sons but he couldn’t write letters to his family warning them about the issues he caused? REALLY?!!
5. It grates my nerves that in the end they renamed the garage from “Gordo’s” to “Bennetts”.
In the books they kept on saying that the Bennetts were special but after reading all 4 books, I have come to the conclusion that this family is not so great or special. They actually messed up. A lot. Who saved their bacon? Ox and Gordo.
If anyone should be honored at the end of this series, it is my opinion that it should be those 2.
Some positives, I was glad that characters were finally discussing how Thomas has made mistakes. I also very much liked how that Carter, Kelly, and Joe had heart to heart conversations. I was especially moved when Joe confessed his feelings of being left out.
My views on this book is a culmination of frustrations with the whole series rather than this book in particular. But as the last book in the series, I expected more.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Review Edited)
I’ll go ahead and start this review by saying I almost DNFed this book.
Which sucks because it was the 1 book in the series that had a lot of scenes how the main pair developed their romantic relationship. Wolfsong did give us a lot of scenes how Joe and Ox developed their relationship however that relationship was primarily a friendship because Joe was a minor for most of Wolfsong.
I almost DNFed this because I got frustrated about a lot of things.
1. Why didn’t Livingstone just off Carter when they were in the middle of the woods? He knew Carter was there. He had time, opportunity, the strength. There was no good reason for him not to just kill Carter right there and then other than the fact it would have cut the story very short.
2. Why did Carter have so many hang ups about having a guy as his mate? It was mentioned in 1 of the books that same sex pairings were not only not taboo but a pretty common occurrence. So, it shouldn’t have surprised Carter at all despite his clear preference towards women before.
In addition to that, it also struck me as odd that Carter kept on saying he really has no idea how to go about having gay “relations”. He grew up in a culture where gay relationships are not uncommon, people are ok with a lot of nudity, and has family in gay relationships. But he still had no idea how that works?
Huh?
3. I had the same feeling about the final battle here as I did about the battle in Heartsong. It was underwhelming.
I mean, how scary is Livingstone supposed to be when a regular Beta wolf like Elizabeth can break another wolf’s neck with a bite but Livingstone, who is described as a “beast”, can’t effectively crush Rico’s spine when he caught him? Yes, he killed a human but the whole battle only 1 human was killed?
Then there was that scene with the doors which confused me because they were battling it out in the town and then that doors scene and then all of a sudden they were in front of the blue house. How did that happen?
4. The book went back and forth between glorifying Thomas and then have scenes where people would discuss how Thomas was wrong. I get people would go back and forth about how they feel about people they loved despite knowing that those same people messed up. But I feel that they should have emphasized that Thomas was not that great at all. He tried his best but he wasn’t really that great.
In the books, it was always mentioned that Thomas would take Joe to teach him to become the “Alpha of All”. But was he really? Joe left his nuclear pack and his responsibilities of being the “Alpha of All”. And when he came back, he was struggling with the responsibilities of juggling his duties with his nuclear pack and Caswell. So really, how good was Thomas at preparing Joe? Not that much, it seems like.
And how Thomas prepared Joe is so different from how Livingstone, Grandpa Abel and Thomas prepared Gordo for his life as the next witch for the Bennett pack. Gordo got his whole arms tattooed at a young age. That was horrifying. And that was just to be a witch and not an “Alpha to All”.
On top of that Thomas kept secrets that kept on biting them back in the end. Him and Grandpa Abel. And he didn’t tell anyone about these secrets/mistakes to at least warn them. He wrote letters to the future mates of his sons but he couldn’t write letters to his family warning them about the issues he caused? REALLY?!!
5. It grates my nerves that in the end they renamed the garage from “Gordo’s” to “Bennetts”.
In the books they kept on saying that the Bennetts were special but after reading all 4 books, I have come to the conclusion that this family is not so great or special. They actually messed up. A lot. Who saved their bacon? Ox and Gordo.
If anyone should be honored at the end of this series, it is my opinion that it should be those 2.
Some positives, I was glad that characters were finally discussing how Thomas has made mistakes. I also very much liked how that Carter, Kelly, and Joe had heart to heart conversations. I was especially moved when Joe confessed his feelings of being left out.
My views on this book is a culmination of frustrations with the whole series rather than this book in particular. But as the last book in the series, I expected more.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wrote this review after I have read Brothersong so my views may be colored from that.
This book started off quite confusing. I wasn’t quite sure if I was reading Robbie before meeting the Bennets or if he moved back for some reason. It was sort of the latter.
I actually didn’t mind this so much. What did bother me was that this book was kind of boring. There was a lot of back and forth about what happened but it was going in circles, in my opinion.
I did like that we learned more about Robbie. I also liked that despite Kelly being Ace, there was more scenes about how Robbie and Kelly build up their relationship as compared to Gordo and Mark in Ravensong.
There are things in this book that just made me scratch my head in frustration:
1. Why were the former humans panicking when Kelly got sick with the cold? They were humans until recently. They should have recognized a cold for what it was.
2. It was said in the 1st and 2nd book that wolves recognize their mates. They get that feeling and then they know that person is their mate. So why didn’t Kelly immediately know that Robbie was his mate? In Wolfsong, Kelly was giving Robbie puzzled looks when Robbie was trying to get close to him. Also, Robbie didn’t immediately recognize Kelly as his mate. He said Kelly was cute though. But it wasn’t how it was with Joe and Mark.
It could be argued that recognition of one’s mate is different from wolf to wolf. However, they made such a big deal of it in Wolfsong that this whole thing feels like they are retconning the whole sentiment.
3. The argument in point 2 applies to Carter and the wolf (Gavin). Also they made Carter seem very dumb. He wasn’t like that previously so what’s up.
The book does have a “big” battle near the end. But it wasn’t really that big. They were basically fighting a bunch of feral children, Michelle, Dale, and Livingstone. It didn’t really give me the sense that the odds were against them or that the fight would be close. The story tried to make it seem that way, but I wasn’t really buying it.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wrote this review after I have read Brothersong so my views may be colored from that.
This book started off quite confusing. I wasn’t quite sure if I was reading Robbie before meeting the Bennets or if he moved back for some reason. It was sort of the latter.
I actually didn’t mind this so much. What did bother me was that this book was kind of boring. There was a lot of back and forth about what happened but it was going in circles, in my opinion.
I did like that we learned more about Robbie. I also liked that despite Kelly being Ace, there was more scenes about how Robbie and Kelly build up their relationship as compared to Gordo and Mark in Ravensong.
There are things in this book that just made me scratch my head in frustration:
1. Why were the former humans panicking when Kelly got sick with the cold? They were humans until recently. They should have recognized a cold for what it was.
2. It was said in the 1st and 2nd book that wolves recognize their mates. They get that feeling and then they know that person is their mate. So why didn’t Kelly immediately know that Robbie was his mate? In Wolfsong, Kelly was giving Robbie puzzled looks when Robbie was trying to get close to him. Also, Robbie didn’t immediately recognize Kelly as his mate. He said Kelly was cute though. But it wasn’t how it was with Joe and Mark.
It could be argued that recognition of one’s mate is different from wolf to wolf. However, they made such a big deal of it in Wolfsong that this whole thing feels like they are retconning the whole sentiment.
3. The argument in point 2 applies to Carter and the wolf (Gavin). Also they made Carter seem very dumb. He wasn’t like that previously so what’s up.
The book does have a “big” battle near the end. But it wasn’t really that big. They were basically fighting a bunch of feral children, Michelle, Dale, and Livingstone. It didn’t really give me the sense that the odds were against them or that the fight would be close. The story tried to make it seem that way, but I wasn’t really buying it.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most of my critiques of Wolfsong, regarding lack of description, apply here as well. However it was a little bit better here. At least now I confirmed that Tanner is white. And while the setting and his name should be a give away, 1 can never be too sure.
I enjoyed reading about Gordo. He’s flawed and unrepentant about it. Good for him.
I sometimes did get confused about how much time had passed because of Thomas. There were times when Thomas seemed like he’s in his late 20s when, in fact, he’s 19. It made me think a lot more time has passed than it actually did.
Thomas was acting far more father like to Gordo than I would expect given that they have just a 6 year difference. This is around the same age difference between Ox and Joe but their dynamic to each other was totally different.
While I don’t begrudge Mark anything I don’t see why Gordo fell for him.
He’s handsome, sure. But beyond that, what is there? He was just this dude who followed Gordo around.
Was he charming? Funny? Witty? Did they have common interests?
No idea.
For a book that was supposed to be a love story, it was devoid of the falling in love build up.
The small bad, Elijah, was very 1 note to me. Sure, an outright zealot does evoke a stronger feeling of hate towards the character but it was just so cliche.
But not all is lost in this book. I did like how the omega plot was handled. The logic behind it is fuzzy to me but then again it’s supposed to be fuzzy. The characters really don’t know anything for certain and just took an educated guess that seemed to be right. On top of that, the concept of their resolution is new to me.
I also appreciated that this book didn’t shy away from doing damage to the main characters. It wouldn’t be realistic if they always came out unscathed or just dead.
Review about how the book looked: Given how the word “blue” was used so much in this book, I’m surprised the book is red. Also, the book is about Gordo and titled “Ravensong”, why is the raven so small in the cover? Yes, the series is about wolves, but making the raven a bit more prominent wouldn’t have taken away from that.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most of my critiques of Wolfsong, regarding lack of description, apply here as well. However it was a little bit better here. At least now I confirmed that Tanner is white. And while the setting and his name should be a give away, 1 can never be too sure.
I enjoyed reading about Gordo. He’s flawed and unrepentant about it. Good for him.
I sometimes did get confused about how much time had passed because of Thomas. There were times when Thomas seemed like he’s in his late 20s when, in fact, he’s 19. It made me think a lot more time has passed than it actually did.
Thomas was acting far more father like to Gordo than I would expect given that they have just a 6 year difference. This is around the same age difference between Ox and Joe but their dynamic to each other was totally different.
While I don’t begrudge Mark anything I don’t see why Gordo fell for him.
He’s handsome, sure. But beyond that, what is there? He was just this dude who followed Gordo around.
Was he charming? Funny? Witty? Did they have common interests?
No idea.
For a book that was supposed to be a love story, it was devoid of the falling in love build up.
The small bad, Elijah, was very 1 note to me. Sure, an outright zealot does evoke a stronger feeling of hate towards the character but it was just so cliche.
But not all is lost in this book. I did like how the omega plot was handled. The logic behind it is fuzzy to me but then again it’s supposed to be fuzzy. The characters really don’t know anything for certain and just took an educated guess that seemed to be right. On top of that, the concept of their resolution is new to me.
I also appreciated that this book didn’t shy away from doing damage to the main characters. It wouldn’t be realistic if they always came out unscathed or just dead.
Review about how the book looked: Given how the word “blue” was used so much in this book, I’m surprised the book is red. Also, the book is about Gordo and titled “Ravensong”, why is the raven so small in the cover? Yes, the series is about wolves, but making the raven a bit more prominent wouldn’t have taken away from that.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Review Edited)
I decided to start reading books again and started with this book.
While I did like the plot, characters, flow, and writing style, I was not quite satisfied.
Maybe this is because I’ve been reading fanfic more than books these past few years, but I had difficulty picturing the characters. Sure, there were descriptions but it wasn’t specific enough for me. Or the descriptions were given but not repeated enough to stick in my head as I read. I honestly cannot remember much of how Ox looks like beyond the fact that he’s big. And he’s the lead character. Rico stuck out because of how he talks but Tanner and Chris…I can’t tell much. Carter and Kelly could be the Bobbsey twins, for all I know, given how they’re essentially just described as blonde and blue eyed.
The thing is, repetition was used in the book to hammer down certain things like how Ox feels like he’s nothing. That was heavily repeated to the point where it was getting tedious.
I also had issues with the pack dynamics. Here, the alpha’s 2nd was just the enforcer. The witch acted as the advisor. But not all packs have a witch. So does that mean no one is keeping the alpha in check? And sure, that set up may just be what happened to Joe and crew due to circumstances but they would have not wasted so much time if someone in that group just had the strength of character to say “no” and stuck to their guns or claws.
Oh and I found 2 mistakes in the book. Both seem to be typos where the author meant to use 1 word but mistakenly used another word.
But despite my notes above, I did enjoy the book and just had to read the next books in the series.
Rating Description:
1.0 - DNF/Despise
1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had
2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring
2.5 - Alright with lots of notes
3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it
3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it
4.0 - Love but with notes
4.5 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book but still with notes
5.0 - Love it so much I want to highlight the book and notes are very positive
I don't round up if half stars are not allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Review Edited)
I decided to start reading books again and started with this book.
While I did like the plot, characters, flow, and writing style, I was not quite satisfied.
Maybe this is because I’ve been reading fanfic more than books these past few years, but I had difficulty picturing the characters. Sure, there were descriptions but it wasn’t specific enough for me. Or the descriptions were given but not repeated enough to stick in my head as I read. I honestly cannot remember much of how Ox looks like beyond the fact that he’s big. And he’s the lead character. Rico stuck out because of how he talks but Tanner and Chris…I can’t tell much. Carter and Kelly could be the Bobbsey twins, for all I know, given how they’re essentially just described as blonde and blue eyed.
The thing is, repetition was used in the book to hammer down certain things like how Ox feels like he’s nothing. That was heavily repeated to the point where it was getting tedious.
I also had issues with the pack dynamics. Here, the alpha’s 2nd was just the enforcer. The witch acted as the advisor. But not all packs have a witch. So does that mean no one is keeping the alpha in check? And sure, that set up may just be what happened to Joe and crew due to circumstances but they would have not wasted so much time if someone in that group just had the strength of character to say “no” and stuck to their guns or claws.
Oh and I found 2 mistakes in the book. Both seem to be typos where the author meant to use 1 word but mistakenly used another word.
But despite my notes above, I did enjoy the book and just had to read the next books in the series.
This was an easy enough book to read. I would have been able to finish this faster had I not been struggling to finish reading another book.
The pacing of the story is good. It started off in the middle of something but, as a reader, it didn’t feel like I was dropped in a confusing situation where a lot of things were happening at once. The plot followed a certain flow. There’s a BIG GOAL. But on the way to the BIG GOAL, smaller goals were set. So, the story didn’t feel dragging or not exciting for large stretches of time.
There are spots in the plot where it seems like it’s what’s happening just seems too convenient. However, I forgive those just because it keeps it from adding too many characters or complications.
The author was also not afraid to kill off characters. Sure, they are minor ones. But given how the last book I read had a ‘Big battle’ where only one person from the protagonist’s side got killed, I appreciated this.
There were enough instances of twists that made me doubt if they will succeed in their goal or at least doubt if they were going achieve it without losing something along the way.
There were romance and what folks these days call “spice”. Personally, I didn’t think the plot needed it. Or if the author really wanted it to have it, they could have just upped the ‘will they or won’t they’ factor rather than have it happen without showing us the building tension.
The end was open ended which gives the author leeway to write more.
Overall, it’s a solid read. Is it the best thing I’ve read or wowed me? No. But I wouldn’t discourage people from reading it.
This was an easy enough book to read. I would have been able to finish this faster had I not been struggling to finish reading another book.
The pacing of the story is good. It started off in the middle of something but, as a reader, it didn’t feel like I was dropped in a confusing situation where a lot of things were happening at once. The plot followed a certain flow. There’s a BIG GOAL. But on the way to the BIG GOAL, smaller goals were set. So, the story didn’t feel dragging or not exciting for large stretches of time.
There are spots in the plot where it seems like it’s what’s happening just seems too convenient. However, I forgive those just because it keeps it from adding too many characters or complications.
The author was also not afraid to kill off characters. Sure, they are minor ones. But given how the last book I read had a ‘Big battle’ where only one person from the protagonist’s side got killed, I appreciated this.
There were enough instances of twists that made me doubt if they will succeed in their goal or at least doubt if they were going achieve it without losing something along the way.
There were romance and what folks these days call “spice”. Personally, I didn’t think the plot needed it. Or if the author really wanted it to have it, they could have just upped the ‘will they or won’t they’ factor rather than have it happen without showing us the building tension.
The end was open ended which gives the author leeway to write more.
Overall, it’s a solid read. Is it the best thing I’ve read or wowed me? No. But I wouldn’t discourage people from reading it.
As a tv series tie-in book, this is a solid read.
Certain main characters of the show made an appearance or were mentioned. Certain side characters of the show were also sprinkled in. But a good number of new characters were introduced.
Pet peeve: Tommy H’s surname is Hagan not Hayes. The book got that wrong.
The story does shed light on how Eddie failed senior year the 1st time around, how he came to live with his uncle, and how he came to be a drug dealer. It also established that how he wasn’t always immune to the taunts on his status as an outsider but changed at the end of the story.
From the show, we already knew Eddie was going to fail. It’s crushing to see him come close to making it out. Especially since we know his ultimate fate. But it was nice to see how he came to be the Eddie we saw.
Did this satisfy my need to know more about Eddie? No. But then again, there’s no real way to do that given how he got killed off in the show. It would be nice if he got mentioned in the other tie-in books though.
As a tv series tie-in book, this is a solid read.
Certain main characters of the show made an appearance or were mentioned. Certain side characters of the show were also sprinkled in. But a good number of new characters were introduced.
Pet peeve: Tommy H’s surname is Hagan not Hayes. The book got that wrong.
The story does shed light on how Eddie failed senior year the 1st time around, how he came to live with his uncle, and how he came to be a drug dealer. It also established that how he wasn’t always immune to the taunts on his status as an outsider but changed at the end of the story.
From the show, we already knew Eddie was going to fail. It’s crushing to see him come close to making it out. Especially since we know his ultimate fate. But it was nice to see how he came to be the Eddie we saw.
Did this satisfy my need to know more about Eddie? No. But then again, there’s no real way to do that given how he got killed off in the show. It would be nice if he got mentioned in the other tie-in books though.
I decided to start reading books again and started with this book.
While I did like the plot, characters, flow, and writing style, I was not quite satisfied.
Maybe this is because I’ve been reading fanfic more than books these past few years, but I had difficulty picturing the characters. Sure, there were descriptions but it wasn’t specific enough for me. Or the descriptions were given but not repeated enough to stick in my head as I read. I honestly cannot remember much of how Ox looks like beyond the fact that he’s big. And he’s the lead character. Rico stuck out because of how he talks but Tanner and Chris…I can’t tell much. Carter and Kelly could be the Bobbsey twins, for all I know, given how they’re essentially just described as blonde and blue eyed.
The thing is, repetition was used in the book to hammer down certain things like how Ox feels like he’s nothing. That was heavily repeated to the point where it was getting tedious.
I also had issues with the pack dynamics. Here, the alpha’s 2nd was just the enforcer. The witch acted as the advisor. But not all packs have a witch. So does that mean no one is keeping the alpha in check? And sure, that set up may just be what happened to Joe and crew due to circumstances but they would have not wasted so much time if someone in that group just had the strength of character to say “no” and stuck to their guns or claws.
Oh and I found 2 mistakes in the book. Both seem to be typos where the author meant to use 1 word but mistakenly used another word.
But despite my notes above, I did enjoy the book and just had to read the next books in the series.
I decided to start reading books again and started with this book.
While I did like the plot, characters, flow, and writing style, I was not quite satisfied.
Maybe this is because I’ve been reading fanfic more than books these past few years, but I had difficulty picturing the characters. Sure, there were descriptions but it wasn’t specific enough for me. Or the descriptions were given but not repeated enough to stick in my head as I read. I honestly cannot remember much of how Ox looks like beyond the fact that he’s big. And he’s the lead character. Rico stuck out because of how he talks but Tanner and Chris…I can’t tell much. Carter and Kelly could be the Bobbsey twins, for all I know, given how they’re essentially just described as blonde and blue eyed.
The thing is, repetition was used in the book to hammer down certain things like how Ox feels like he’s nothing. That was heavily repeated to the point where it was getting tedious.
I also had issues with the pack dynamics. Here, the alpha’s 2nd was just the enforcer. The witch acted as the advisor. But not all packs have a witch. So does that mean no one is keeping the alpha in check? And sure, that set up may just be what happened to Joe and crew due to circumstances but they would have not wasted so much time if someone in that group just had the strength of character to say “no” and stuck to their guns or claws.
Oh and I found 2 mistakes in the book. Both seem to be typos where the author meant to use 1 word but mistakenly used another word.
But despite my notes above, I did enjoy the book and just had to read the next books in the series.
Most of my critiques of Wolfsong, regarding lack of description, apply here as well. However it was a little bit better here. At least now I confirmed that Tanner is white. And while the setting and his name should be a give away, 1 can never be too sure.
I enjoyed reading about Gordo. He’s flawed and unrepentant about it. Good for him.
I sometimes did get confused about how much time had passed because of Thomas. There were times when Thomas seemed like he’s in his late 20s when, in fact, he’s 19. It made me think a lot more time has passed than it actually did.
Thomas was acting far more father like to Gordo than I would expect given that they have just a 6 year difference. This is around the same age difference between Ox and Joe but their dynamic to each other was totally different.
While I don’t begrudge Mark anything I don’t see why Gordo fell for him.
He’s handsome, sure. But beyond that, what is there? He was just this dude who followed Gordo around.
Was he charming? Funny? Witty? Did they have common interests?
No idea.
For a book that was supposed to be a love story, it was devoid of the falling in love build up.
The small bad, Elijah, was very 1 note to me. Sure, an outright zealot does evoke a stronger feeling of hate towards the character but it was just so cliche.
But not all is lost in this book. I did like how the omega plot was handled. The logic behind it is fuzzy to me but then again it’s supposed to be fuzzy. The characters really don’t know anything for certain and just took an educated guess that seemed to be right. On top of that, the concept of their resolution is new to me.
I also appreciated that this book didn’t shy away from doing damage to the main characters. It wouldn’t be realistic if they always came out unscathed or just dead.
Review about how the book looked: Given how the word “blue” was used so much in this book, I’m surprised the book is red. Also, the book is about Gordo and titled “Ravensong”, why is the raven so small in the cover? Yes, the series is about wolves, but making the raven a bit more prominent wouldn’t have taken away from that.
Most of my critiques of Wolfsong, regarding lack of description, apply here as well. However it was a little bit better here. At least now I confirmed that Tanner is white. And while the setting and his name should be a give away, 1 can never be too sure.
I enjoyed reading about Gordo. He’s flawed and unrepentant about it. Good for him.
I sometimes did get confused about how much time had passed because of Thomas. There were times when Thomas seemed like he’s in his late 20s when, in fact, he’s 19. It made me think a lot more time has passed than it actually did.
Thomas was acting far more father like to Gordo than I would expect given that they have just a 6 year difference. This is around the same age difference between Ox and Joe but their dynamic to each other was totally different.
While I don’t begrudge Mark anything I don’t see why Gordo fell for him.
He’s handsome, sure. But beyond that, what is there? He was just this dude who followed Gordo around.
Was he charming? Funny? Witty? Did they have common interests?
No idea.
For a book that was supposed to be a love story, it was devoid of the falling in love build up.
The small bad, Elijah, was very 1 note to me. Sure, an outright zealot does evoke a stronger feeling of hate towards the character but it was just so cliche.
But not all is lost in this book. I did like how the omega plot was handled. The logic behind it is fuzzy to me but then again it’s supposed to be fuzzy. The characters really don’t know anything for certain and just took an educated guess that seemed to be right. On top of that, the concept of their resolution is new to me.
I also appreciated that this book didn’t shy away from doing damage to the main characters. It wouldn’t be realistic if they always came out unscathed or just dead.
Review about how the book looked: Given how the word “blue” was used so much in this book, I’m surprised the book is red. Also, the book is about Gordo and titled “Ravensong”, why is the raven so small in the cover? Yes, the series is about wolves, but making the raven a bit more prominent wouldn’t have taken away from that.
I’ll go ahead and start this review by saying I almost DNFed this book.
Which sucks because it was the 1 book in the series that had a lot of scenes how the main pair developed their romantic relationship. Wolfsong did give us a lot of scenes how Joe and Ox developed their relationship however that relationship was primarily a friendship because Joe was a minor for most of Wolfsong.
I almost DNFed this because I got frustrated about a lot of things.
1. Why didn’t Livingstone just off Carter when they were in the middle of the woods? He knew Carter was there. He had time, opportunity, the strength. There was no good reason for him not to just kill Carter right there and then other than the fact it would have cut the story very short.
2. Why did Carter have so many hang ups about having a guy as his mate? It was mentioned in 1 of the books that same sex pairings were not only not taboo but a pretty common occurrence. So, it shouldn’t have surprised Carter at all despite his clear preference towards women before.
In addition to that, it also struck me as odd that Carter kept on saying he really has no idea how to go about having gay “relations”. He grew up in a culture where gay relationships are not uncommon, people are ok with a lot of nudity, and has family in gay relationships. But he still had no idea how that works?
Huh?
3. I had the same feeling about the final battle here as I did about the battle in Heartsong. It was underwhelming.
I mean, how scary is Livingstone supposed to be when a regular Beta wolf like Elizabeth can break another wolf’s neck with a bite but Livingstone, who is described as a “beast”, can’t effectively crush Rico’s spine when he caught him? Yes, he killed a human but the whole battle only 1 human was killed?
Then there was that scene with the doors which confused me because they were battling it out in the town and then that doors scene and then all of a sudden they were in front of the blue house. How did that happen?
4. The book went back and forth between glorifying Thomas and then have scenes where people would discuss how Thomas was wrong. I get people would go back and forth about how they feel about people they loved despite knowing that those same people messed up. But I feel that they should have emphasized that Thomas was not that great at all. He tried his best but he wasn’t really that great.
In the books, it was always mentioned that Thomas would take Joe to teach him to become the “Alpha of All”. But was he really? Joe left his nuclear pack and his responsibilities of being the “Alpha of All”. And when he came back, he was struggling with the responsibilities of juggling his duties with his nuclear pack and Caswell. So really, how good was Thomas at preparing Joe? Not that much, it seems like.
And how Thomas prepared Joe is so different from how Livingstone, Grandpa Abel and Thomas prepared Gordo for his life as the next witch for the Bennett pack. Gordo got his whole arms tattooed at a young age. That was horrifying. And that was just to be a witch and not an “Alpha to All”.
On top of that Thomas kept secrets that kept on biting them back in the end. Him and Grandpa Abel. And he didn’t tell anyone about these secrets/mistakes to at least warn them. He wrote letters to the future mates of his sons but he couldn’t write letters to his family warning them about the issues he caused? REALLY?!!
5. It grates my nerves that in the end they renamed the garage from “Gordo’s” to “Bennetts”.
In the books they kept on saying that the Bennetts were special but after reading all 4 books, I have come to the conclusion that this family is not so great or special. They actually messed up. A lot. Who saved their bacon? Ox and Gordo.
If anyone should be honored at the end of this series, it is my opinion that it should be those 2.
Not to say that I hated this book. As I said, I was glad that characters were finally discussing how Thomas has made mistakes. I also very much liked how that Carter, Kelly, and Joe had heart to heart conversations. I was especially moved when Joe confessed his feelings of being left out.
The book is not bad and my views on this book is most likely a culmination of frustrations with the whole series rather than this book in particular. But as the last book in the series, I expected more.
I’ll go ahead and start this review by saying I almost DNFed this book.
Which sucks because it was the 1 book in the series that had a lot of scenes how the main pair developed their romantic relationship. Wolfsong did give us a lot of scenes how Joe and Ox developed their relationship however that relationship was primarily a friendship because Joe was a minor for most of Wolfsong.
I almost DNFed this because I got frustrated about a lot of things.
1. Why didn’t Livingstone just off Carter when they were in the middle of the woods? He knew Carter was there. He had time, opportunity, the strength. There was no good reason for him not to just kill Carter right there and then other than the fact it would have cut the story very short.
2. Why did Carter have so many hang ups about having a guy as his mate? It was mentioned in 1 of the books that same sex pairings were not only not taboo but a pretty common occurrence. So, it shouldn’t have surprised Carter at all despite his clear preference towards women before.
In addition to that, it also struck me as odd that Carter kept on saying he really has no idea how to go about having gay “relations”. He grew up in a culture where gay relationships are not uncommon, people are ok with a lot of nudity, and has family in gay relationships. But he still had no idea how that works?
Huh?
3. I had the same feeling about the final battle here as I did about the battle in Heartsong. It was underwhelming.
I mean, how scary is Livingstone supposed to be when a regular Beta wolf like Elizabeth can break another wolf’s neck with a bite but Livingstone, who is described as a “beast”, can’t effectively crush Rico’s spine when he caught him? Yes, he killed a human but the whole battle only 1 human was killed?
Then there was that scene with the doors which confused me because they were battling it out in the town and then that doors scene and then all of a sudden they were in front of the blue house. How did that happen?
4. The book went back and forth between glorifying Thomas and then have scenes where people would discuss how Thomas was wrong. I get people would go back and forth about how they feel about people they loved despite knowing that those same people messed up. But I feel that they should have emphasized that Thomas was not that great at all. He tried his best but he wasn’t really that great.
In the books, it was always mentioned that Thomas would take Joe to teach him to become the “Alpha of All”. But was he really? Joe left his nuclear pack and his responsibilities of being the “Alpha of All”. And when he came back, he was struggling with the responsibilities of juggling his duties with his nuclear pack and Caswell. So really, how good was Thomas at preparing Joe? Not that much, it seems like.
And how Thomas prepared Joe is so different from how Livingstone, Grandpa Abel and Thomas prepared Gordo for his life as the next witch for the Bennett pack. Gordo got his whole arms tattooed at a young age. That was horrifying. And that was just to be a witch and not an “Alpha to All”.
On top of that Thomas kept secrets that kept on biting them back in the end. Him and Grandpa Abel. And he didn’t tell anyone about these secrets/mistakes to at least warn them. He wrote letters to the future mates of his sons but he couldn’t write letters to his family warning them about the issues he caused? REALLY?!!
5. It grates my nerves that in the end they renamed the garage from “Gordo’s” to “Bennetts”.
In the books they kept on saying that the Bennetts were special but after reading all 4 books, I have come to the conclusion that this family is not so great or special. They actually messed up. A lot. Who saved their bacon? Ox and Gordo.
If anyone should be honored at the end of this series, it is my opinion that it should be those 2.
Not to say that I hated this book. As I said, I was glad that characters were finally discussing how Thomas has made mistakes. I also very much liked how that Carter, Kelly, and Joe had heart to heart conversations. I was especially moved when Joe confessed his feelings of being left out.
The book is not bad and my views on this book is most likely a culmination of frustrations with the whole series rather than this book in particular. But as the last book in the series, I expected more.