Start with a love story, add in some ghosts, swirl in a pinch of gothic, and serve with your traditional happy ending. I've read a lNot great. Not bad.
Start with a love story, add in some ghosts, swirl in a pinch of gothic, and serve with your traditional happy ending. I've read a lot from Kelley Armstrong, and I have to say the writing took a bit of a back step here. Her other works are far superior. Especially the Cainsville series.
A good bit of fluff to pump up my reading stats for the year. Which are very very poor....more
Not great. Story and writing was very cliche. Story took three quarters of the book to get going, and then rushed at the end. It seemed pretty simple Not great. Story and writing was very cliche. Story took three quarters of the book to get going, and then rushed at the end. It seemed pretty simple in the end. Was thinking of giving up half way, but I persisted.
Also, I paid for the book, and then at the end there is note that says if I want to see the missing chapters, I have to subscribe to the author's newsletter? Nope, don't like that....more
The world building, the characters, the lore *chef's kiss*
Didn't hit me in the chest like a run away steam train like the first one didMost excellent.
The world building, the characters, the lore *chef's kiss*
Didn't hit me in the chest like a run away steam train like the first one did. But that doesn't mean this was not fantastic. I love the different themes; trust in religion and ultimately being damned by the god you serve, the difference between real life and the songs sung about you after the blood of battle has dried.
The writing is magnificent. The illustrations perfect.
I found out something about myself during this book.
That I am a Rhys fan.
And still not so much a Feyre fan.
Now this series is no Throne of Glass. Not I found out something about myself during this book.
That I am a Rhys fan.
And still not so much a Feyre fan.
Now this series is no Throne of Glass. Not at all. But it's fun and easy and I found myself really wanting to read and see what happens.
My only qualm (which is kind of a major issue), but the second act was much too big and the third act was over before it had begun. There was so much to happen in those last 50 pages I felt like I was coming down off a sugar rush. I wish we had more time to be in the moment, to really understand the implications of what was happening, and to sit with it instead of moving onto the next tragedy.
Funny how quick Tamiln went from love interest to villain. But I can see it. It happens. And it makes me a tad bit more interesting to me. Although I still didn't really like him from the start. Rhys is better. More Rhys....more
An underwhelming finale to an underwhelming series.
Maybe it's due to Throne of Glass being so good that this one didn't seem up to snuff.
For starters,An underwhelming finale to an underwhelming series.
Maybe it's due to Throne of Glass being so good that this one didn't seem up to snuff.
For starters, the main antagonist, the Darkling, probably the most interesting part of all of the books, barely had any page time. We saw him through Alina's visions, and then once at the end. Relegated to normal 'bad guy,' when he was so much more than that in the first book. While the series could have been focused on the line between good and evil, with Alina struggling with her new powers to control the shadows (which is bad guy territory), this could have been so poignant.
Instead, we focus on the love triangle between Alina, Mal, and the new King of Ravka. There was so much uncertainty regarding what they were going to do they changed track about 10 times to the point that I'm not even sure what direction the author wanted them to go, but lets skip past it all and go straight to the end game. Alina's powers, which she lost at the end of the second book, came back right at the start, so there goes any tension and inner turmoil.
My biggest bug bear was Mal's complete and total 180 in regards to Alina and her powers. He spent the first two books hating what she had become and wanting her to go back to the docile girl that was waiting for him while he was a jerk, to believing in her powers and wanting to find her the third amplifier so she can be stronger than ever because he loves her the way she is. Nope. Not having it.
(view spoiler)[And then in the end she loses her powers anyway, so she can be what Mal always wanted her to be. She lost the thing that made her stand above the rest to come down to the level that the man of the book demanded. At least the Darkling wanted her to be the best version of herself....true he wanted it for his own gain, but he never told Alina she was less than. Mal did, until the very end.(view spoiler)[
Then the ending goes all Buffy when all the slayers in the world woke to their powers, and then that's it. I mean, this series is classified as Young Adult, so what do I expect. But there are so many better YA series out there in my opinion. Ones that have a lot more to say rather than being reduced to a love story in a fantasy setting. So many unexplored and ignored threads.....
Anyway, I'm interested to read Crooked Kingdom and Six of Crows, as I've heard a lot of people say the duology is better than the actual series it was based on. So we shall see how we go. But I don't see Shadow and Bone taking up too much of my headspace going forward. (hide spoiler)](hide spoiler)]...more
Beth The Vampire
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