3.5 stars out of 5.
In questo libro la trama è offuscata dalla presenza costante di Simon, personaggio che a me non piace molto. Capisco questa scelta, poiché sembra che venga usato come tramite tra i personaggi principali e i vampiri.
Dopo aver letto questo libro rimango dell'idea che la serie sarebbe dovuta finire col terzo libro con un bell'happy ending e tanti saluti, anche se confesso che i collegamenti col libro precedente sono stati ben sfruttati. Spero di cambiare idea col libro successivo.
3.5-3.75
Review to come.
- Oggettivamente un libro da 4 stelle, ben scritto e con ottima caratterizzazione, ma me lo sono goduto come se fosse stato un libro da tre stelle, perchè è stato dato molto spazio ai personaggi che meno mi piacevano o di cui mi importava poco.
actual vote: 4.5 stars
per far quadrare tutte le mie domande, mi sono spoilerata Allegiant. quando sono in modalità “devo-sapere” ho bisogno di risposte e nessuno può fermarmi, a meno che il libro non sia ancora stato pubblicato.
risolti i miei dubbi, è stato un libro bellissimo e assolutamente consigliato. forse è un distopico un po' violento per essere uno YA e per fortuna l'inizio della storia d'amore non ha occupato la trama principale riducendolo a una storia d'amore teen. per me la fase del primo innamoramento è passata, quindi la lettura mi risulterebbe un po'patetica.
se non considero gli spoiler che ho letto, però, al libro manca qualcosina. avrei voluto saperne di più del contesto, di come si arriva alla suddivisione in fazioni.. magari il tutto spiegato in un prologo.
a parte questo, non vedo di leggere Insurgent e le storie brevi su Quattro, perché questo primo libro mi ha risucchiato, mi ha letteralmente drogato :)
2.5 stars.
It has been so hard to finish this one.
I found it boring to death, but for a few moments.
I liked the worldbuilding and some Meg-moments, when she takes care of a puppy for example. But that is due to the fact that I love dogs :D Also her process of integration into the terra indigene society was very appealing and well done.
What I didn't enjoy was the lack of a solid plot, that made the book a bit too long and boring. It was more focused on characterization, putting the basis for the sequels hopefully. In the end it was slacking off too much for my tastes.
3.5-3.75
Even though it has 100 pages, I felt the plot flowing too fast to be fully enjoyed.
Worth for Loids backstory, otherwise the story is loosening its grip for me.
I would love to see more character development and not the same scenes over and over, like anya getting bad notes at school, Anya fighting Damian over whatever, Yuri visiting her sister and start being a psycho, etc.
There's no emotion in this book and I found myself not caring for any character or the story whatsoever, which left me pretty disappointed ☹️
14/03: I have read a short excerpt of this book on epicreads.com and I am excited to read it.
22/03: I got all hyped, but I am not into it anymore. Premise is cool and I still like the story, but characters are flat, story lacks tension, and romance lacks chemistry. The thoughts of the main character are too repetitive.
She thinks of 3 things: how much she misses her relationship with Xavier when they were kids, how bad is her magic, and her guilt for cursing her father.
Unfortunately, I was never invested in the characters or the story to be able to enjoy it. I decided to push myself through it, because the book was short. Otherwise, I would have DNFed. I am so sorry. I wanted to like it so badly.
3.5 stars.
As far as I enjoy the humour and what happens to our character, there's no plot progression nor character development and I start asking myself if there's going to be any.
Quick notes:
- the stakes were so low (the devil is mentioned since book 1, but it's just being mentioned over and over, without many bad feelings about these feelings. No tension, no suspence).
- Cyrus is supposed to be mysterious but there is nothing that made really want to know more about him. Again, lack of tension.
- Kamran and Alozeh were pretty flat.
Overall, nice world and story but they are treated very superficially. the focus seems always to be on the characters.
I liked the premise but I was left disappointed by the execution (characters and plotwise).
It was a cute and cozy romance with a very enjoyable character. What could be improved was the rushed end and more Fredericks backstory.
3 stelle scarse: 2.75 o 2.5.
Review to come.
It was overall a meh read. there were a few points I liked but were treated very superficially to focus more on the romance, which felt shallow, with an immature FMC and toxic side characters.
Glad I have it behind me and I am not sure I want to read about Calladia, which I didn't like, and Astaroth, who was the evil guy.
In terms of plot and pacing, nothing happens, if not towards the end. Many moments are spent around Mariel's mother who is very braggy and toxic and it was totally unnecessary. It just conveys that ridiculous sit-com tone throughout the book that was just cringy. The story was treated very superficially. I was very annoyed by that, because it could have been interesting and more gripping. The book could have been easily 180 pages long to tell the same story without the sitcom episodes with Mariel, her mum and Oz.
Here below a couple of examples:
Diantha took a deep breath, and Ozroth felt a prickle of dread, sensing the arrival of a monologue.
“I suppose I could have gone to the hospital,” she said, “but I wanted Mariel's first moments to be connected to magic, and it's hard to access magic while machines are beeping and a doctor is elbow-deep in your vagina.”
“Please stop talking about your vagina,” Mariel said. Diantha looked at her fondly. “Darling, I don't know how you turned out to be such a prude. We're all adults here, and at least half of us have vaginas. It's the same as talking about an elbow.”
“Is it?” Cynthia asked skeptically.
A messy start. It's difficult to get into the world and story. The mix between magic, politics and religion is very interesting, though.
2.75 stars. I loved the premise of this book, the story and the setting. unfortunately, the characterization suffers a lot here. First of all, a map would have been helpful. A capital and different houses are mentioned, but nothing is explained in more detail. Characters lack personality, I could not connect with them and it becomes difficult to follow the story, too. it feels like the author put too many ingredients in the recipe, creating a wonderful world and story, yet underdeveloped. it's a pity that the book is too short. some more space could have helped to define the characters in more depth. it's not a book I would recommend. If you look for Asian myths, I would suggest to look somewhere else first, like daughter of the moon goddess or six crimson cranes.
Resolutions for 2022
1. Continuing with what I started last year: I decided that I am allowed to buy a new book after I finished reading at least two books, in order to decrease my quite abundant paper tbr-pile (currently standing at 115 books). It worked so far, it just takes long.
2. Concluding the series that I have started and not yet finished, giving priority to books that I own in paper format:
- Midnight Breed (read 11 books out of 18)
- ASOIAF (reading third book - July 2022)
- BDB
- Night huntress
- Kate Daniels
- Legion
- Dresden Files
- Farseer trilogy
- Vampire Empire
- Throne of glass
- The falconer (updated on July 2022)
- Legends of the first empire
- Lotus war
- Mistborn era 2 (finished in December)
- All souls trilogy
- Heartstrikers
- Iron Fey
- Legend of Drizzt
- Daughter of the moon goddess - added on Jan. 2022
- Six cranes duology
- Moonbound clan
- Acotar - added on Feb. 2022, read the first 3 + novella
-Hades saga
I am curious to see my progress on the second point throughout the year. It is unrealistic that I will complete all the listed series, but I would be glad if I will conclude at least three of them. Also, I am a person who needs to change after sticking to the same world (aka, series) for some time.
Per ora non so che voto dargli. È cosi breve che sembra quasi eterea questa novella. In più di quello che racconta mi ha interessato solo la parte iniziale e finale dov'era presente anche il Darkling. La regina poteva essere bella, brutta, antipatica (e lo è) ma non mi ha per niente coinvolto.
4.25 stars.
Un incrocio tra Venom per il concetto e l'atmosfera di Carnival Row.
Il libro è ambientato in quel di Blunder. Purtroppo non sussiste una mappa e non viene nemmeno spiegato cos'è Blunder. Mi sembra di avere capito che sia un regno. Anche se al fine della storia, saperne di più, non avrebbe cambiato molto, mi sarebbe comunque piaciuto avere più informazioni sul setting. Un aspetto a difesa di questa decisione è che contribuisce a gettare un'aura di mistero sull'ambientazione.
E' scritto in prima persona dal punto di vista di Elspeth che, dopo aver contratto un'infezione, convive con un'entità all'interno del suo corpo, con cui dialoga (da qui, il concetto di Venom) ma sa ben poco sul suo conto.
Il sistema magico è basato su delle carte facenti parte di un mazzo (chiamate carte della provvidenza), simile al concetto dei tarocchi. Ogni carta ha un preciso potere magico ma se abusata il potere diventa l'opposto, ad esempio, se la carta fornisce a chi la usa del coraggio, in caso di abuso, fornisce paura. Il sistema magico, descritto nel dettaglio, è il punto forte di questo romanzo.
La trama è di per sé semplice, ma tutto ha un sapore misterioso-gotico, che mi è piaciuto molto, e non manca di suspense. Piccola avvertenza: il libro finisce con un cliffhanger. Nel mio caso, non è stato un grosso problema, in quanto il seguito è già uscito.
Sicuramente consigliato per il periodo di Halloween. Perfetto per una lettura di novembre, hehe :)
Credits for the template below go to Melinda
CHARACTERS