Breanne

I knew about 50 pages into this book that my reading year was going to be bad because unfortunately the first book I finished (this one) was probably going to be the best book I read all year. I loved it, I thought it was genuinely hilarious and had some very poignant things to say about grief, trauma, and love. I didn't love the ending, I thought it was a little abrupt but I understand that that was definitely the point. But overall really great read, it's definitely being added to my list of favorites. 

This book was awful. The plot was nonsensical, the characters were awful and did not behave like real people, and the content was approached with almost no nuance. The first 150 pages were a slog and last 15 were ridiculously annoying. I'm sorry, I hope the author isn't reading this review but I just really hated this. I thought the concept was interesting but again, wasn't handled with any nuance so it did nothing for me. 

Not gonna lie I was pretty disappointed with this. It's kind of weird to say that a book that was 850 pages long actually would have benefitted from being longer but here we are. I felt like everything was rushed. I don't understand why the Dreadmont erupted (and maybe I wasn't reading close enough but if it was explained it was too brief), all the relationships needed more development, and the passing of time was really difficult to follow. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it but I won't be going back to reread like I know I will with Priory. Also if the next story in the Roots of Chaos isn't a series I'm gonna be upset. 

Edit: I would like to give the highest praise to the world building though. To build a world (mostly) absent of misogyny and completely accepting of all sexualities and gender identities is pretty cool. All the props to her!

It pains me so much to write this review but this book was baaaadddd. The Priory of the Orange Tree is probably my favorite book ever so I figured reading more of Shannon's work would be a good idea. It was not.
This book just fundamentally did not work for me. The reluctant female chosen one is such a tired trope in my opinion (and yes I know this was written in 2013). I felt like there wasn't any nuance in Paige's understanding of Sheol I. Characters like Carl were much more interesting to me but we barely got to see those characters with any depth.
This book was incredibly contradictory, especially Paige herself. I found multiple instances where a character would do something that made absolutely no sense. Some of these choices would have been absolutely impossible for the characters even a few pages before and yet they completely change their minds without any explanation.
And the romance? Probably the worst pacing of romance I've ever read. Of course I'm not stupid so I saw it coming the second they laid eyes on each other but literally nothing changed from the time they met to their first kiss. Paige was just starting to trust this man and suddenly she's making out with him? When she's had almost no sexual experience before?!!
Needless to say I will not be continuing this series. And Samantha if you're reading this, I'm so sorry. But also I'm incredibly proud of how far you've come as an author. I can't even believe this was written by the same person who wrote such beautiful prose and character arcs in Priory. Congrats I guess. 
Edit: Just found out Samantha wrote this when she was 19. That makes complete and total sense. 

I didn't totally enjoy this and I might even go so far as to say it's bad. Every important or serious moment felt like it passed with little to no reflection. Which that being said this was basically a 90s movie retelling so is it fair of me to ask for more? Probably not. It was cute, surface level lesbian romance and that's exactly what I got so I don't think I have room to be upset lol

Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique. 

What an incredible adventure. The more I've sat with this the book the more I realize this duology might be my favorite series of all time. The characters are amazing. As much as some characters made me angry or disgusted, I truly cared for each one. Parker-Chan does an incredible job writing gray characters and making you care for them. 

The first two-thirds of this book was not as good as the first book. I still enjoyed it but not quite as much. But then the last third?? Oh my god. I wish that part of the book could have last another 200 pages. I was so compelled, I couldn't put it down. 

My biggest complaint about this book was that it wasn't longer. There were a couple relationships that I wanted the book to spend more time with, particularly Xu Da and Zhu, the Third Prince and Wang Baoxiang, and Zhu and Ma. The characters and their relationships are what make these books so compelling so I wanted more but I can understand why those potential scenes might not have been included. As well I would have liked to see a little more right at the end. The book ends right at its natural conclusion but I personally wanted an epilogue. However I wouldn't take any points away because it wasn't included. 

In conclusion, this book and this duology rips. Highly recommend. 

This started off promising then slogged A LOT in the middle then actually got good and finally ended with a whimper. I found the protagonist really annoying which is ironic considering that's exactly what the person who wrote the foreword said. And her relationship with a 57 year old man as an 18 year old girl that everyone in their group is just totally fine with? Bizarre and unsettling, even in an apocalypse. Also the fact that the group just elected her their de facto leader when Zahra was right there? And were totally willing to go along with her crazy ass Earthseed? Made no sense to me and doesn't seem how actual humans would react at all in that situation.

Overall very disappointed and will not be returning to Butler's works in the near future. 

This book is interesting, I'll give it that. But it is very difficult to follow and inconclusive. I think this book would have worked better in two parts: as a tear down of Helter Skelter and as an investigation into CIA operations and how that connects to Manson. It kind of is written that way but it all blends together too much and could have used more in depth reporting into both areas.

I understand why O'Neill couldn't go too hard at Bugliosi and I understand why he couldn't frame his own theory about what all happened in the Manson investigation. But I think the book suffers for this and O'Neill purposefully ignores writing a compelling narrative in order to get all the facts he's found on paper. Which is fine but again it makes for a much less interesting read. If you find all of this information that points to a cover up, I wanna know why it needs to be covered up.