My rating of this book goes up each time I read it, but I think having read a book 3 times and loving it every time means it merits a favorThird read:
My rating of this book goes up each time I read it, but I think having read a book 3 times and loving it every time means it merits a favorite position. It’s just that good. I’m obsessed with Jude and her villain origin story. I’m obsessed with these characters across the board. I’m in love with political intrigue. Overall: yes.
SECOND READ IN OCTOBER 2019: Plz. Someone. Bestow upon me The Queen of Nothing. I needs it.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: The hype is real, y'all.
I grabbed this one on a whim, after seeing all the rave reviews EVERYWHERE about it...and I mean, it was good! Really good :D
LIKES: -Okay can we talk about Jude though...because Jude is amazing. I loved how she was so scheming and conniving and brutal and yet still felt pain at all the things she was doing. She did bad stuff, but it still made her sick and made her question what she was doing and she came out stronger on the other end. Agh so good. -Sister relationships! Vivi and Taryn and Jude are so sweet even just as a threesome, and having two sisters myself, I can say that their relationships were actually written very well indeed. Vivi is the oldest and the rebel; Taryn is the middle one who's quiet and who most people ignore; and Jude is the youngest who both wants to rebel AND who wants to fit in. Super well-done. -Cardan was SO COMPLICATED AGH I LOVE GUYS LIKE THIS. -In terms of sheer enjoyability, the plot was excellent. I raced through this book in one day and I loved every minute of it. -The worldbuilding was so well-done. I mean, it's the whole Fey courts thing which is way overdone at this point...but. I feel like when it's done UNIQUELY, it's amazing. -At one point they go to the Maine Mall and ride past the jetport in Maine and AGH I KNOW ALL THESE PLACES AND THAT WAS SUPER COOL. -The Ghost and the Bomb and the Roach were AWESOME. I love cool spy characters. -The plot twists...can we just say WHOA.
DISLIKES: -It got super violent at one point in particular. Like wow. -I didn't get Locke and his role in the story? Ugh. -Some of the writing felt kind of /off/ to me. *shrugs* A couple of phrases that I just didn't get, some sentences that felt out of place...I don't know, I kind of felt like it could have used one more beta-read pass XD (but overall the writing was great so don't place TOO much weight on this.) -All the characters were SO DARK and like...the only person with a heart at all was Oriana. Although I kind of liked that because the difference between Fey and humans was really strongly accented...but at the same time I wished there could have been SOMEBODY less ruthless.
OVERALL: I think I'd give this one 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding it up to 4 because life is short and this book really was excellent just in terms of sheer enjoyability. I'll definitely be picking up the sequel, too!...more
This is Cait's book, and so OBVIOUSLY I've wanted to read it since I heard it was coming out (like a year ago? Wow it's been a long time). The positivThis is Cait's book, and so OBVIOUSLY I've wanted to read it since I heard it was coming out (like a year ago? Wow it's been a long time). The positive reviews have been overwhelming, and I was almost nervous to read it since I tend to go against hype...but then I won it in a giveaway and decided to read it in one sitting once it arrived.
I read this book in TWO HOURS, people. No joke.
There is nothing easy about this book. It gets into the down and dirty of abuse and it's violent and bloody and heartbreaking and I had to look away from the page more than once. I felt such sorrow for Beck and Joey, and I love them both...and August and her unquenchable love for them and the way she never gave up on Beck even when he treated her horribly. He came around, which I appreciated. This book was not sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows in the least.
However, it did have some of the most beautiful scenes I can remember in any book for a while. Cait, as most of her followers know, is the Queen of Cake, and so there genuinely is a scene in this book where August and Beck cut school together to get cake. Which is such a Cait scene and I loved it so much. The band Twice Burgundy sounds amazing (and Cait confirmed that they are based on a combination of the Civil Wars and Imagine Dragons! So that's AWESOME because I love both of those bands).
Then there's the music. My goodness, the music.
I have never read a book that spoke to my musician heart like this before.
Cait is a pianist, and that much is very obvious just from reading this book. Song spills off the page, and I can HEAR the melody in every word. When Beck plays, his songs are real in my ears. His pain, his love-hate relationship with the piano, the fact that although he despises playing it he CANNOT STOP...I have never been FORCED to play the piano, but as someone who does play, I empathized SO MUCH. The love of music is clear in this book. And it's not the music that is the abuse...it's the way it's being used. I love it so so so much.
There were some minor content concerns (some cussing, most of it in German, as well as the inevitable violence of a book about abuse). But overall A Thousand Perfect Notes was a beautiful tribute to music, what family TRULY is, and the classical composers. Absolutely amazing. Well done, Cait. ...more
-Maura don't ever scare me like that again -It's funny...this one and book 2 feel like they're from two different series and I'm not sure why? -GANSEY -Maura don't ever scare me like that again -It's funny...this one and book 2 feel like they're from two different series and I'm not sure why? -GANSEY THOUGH. -It's funny...even though this is technically the story of Gansey's quest the rest of them feel much more like the main characters (except for Noah, who is glorious but definitely a side character.) -I love Adam so much, I just can't -Still not feeling Blue/Gansey though...I don't know, it was cute but I'm not feeling the whole "true love" thing. -Gwen was so creepy beyond words. That whole section with the cave and stuff creeped me out so bad. -The courtroom scene...just YES YES ALL THE YES. -The Gray Man has become so excellent. -Persephone...why -I'm terrified of the next book because I love this series so much and yet I've heard that one is disappointing and I don't know if I want to read it -GANSEY. -AND ADAM -AND NOAH STOP CREEPING ME OUT LIKE THAT ARGH -Ronan was such a side character in this one? Like I wish he'd had more POV because I missed him. XD -And Blue is honestly the flattest one of the bunch (which is okay but I don't know...I don't love her for some reason.) -JESSE DITTLEY. THAT IS ALL. -This was just a really good book okay. ...more
Some thoughts: >RONAN NO. >I like Ronan better now though! He came out so well-developed and I appreciated his depth a whole lot more than the straight-Some thoughts: >RONAN NO. >I like Ronan better now though! He came out so well-developed and I appreciated his depth a whole lot more than the straight-up bad boy thing he had going in the first book. >Adam. My poor sweet Adam. I think he might still be my favorite, honestly. I know a lot of people said they didn't like him in this one, but...MY POOR PRECIOUS CHILD WHO WAS ABUSED AND DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO INTERACT WITH PEOPLE. Yes, he's mean to Ronan and Gansey...but he's also grappling with PTSD and a past that is completely abusive and no one has ever truly loved him. (not to mention the whole thing with Cabeswater...I feel like that would mess anybody up.) >I missed Gansey's quirkiness in this one though. >And I didn't like Blue so much this time around? I didn't feel like she was as interesting in this one as in the past one. And I didn't understand why the heck she couldn't just tell Adam. Like come on. *growls* >Also was Blue and Gansey's attraction based on power of suggestion? Because that was sort of the vibe I was getting. >BUT CABESWATER. >And Persephone also. I loved her in the first one BUT NOW she is the actual best. I really hope she gets her PhD. (Although why did she make the pie? I thought that was Calla's thing.) >The Gray Man was weird >I did NOT like Kavinsky at all. Ugh and no. >Declan's part didn't really make sense to me. Idk why but he doesn't feel like as necessary a character to me. >Matthew was precious and adorable however. >There was a lot more cussing in this one which I wasn't a fan of... >The prose made up for it, though. Like if you want beautiful prose...you read Stiefvater. Some of her description is just absolutely perfect. I'm at a loss as to how people see it as "purple". It's like...just because there's beautiful description DOES NOT MAKE IT PURPLE PROSE! Okay, I'm done, mic drop
4 stars overall...I need the third one pronto because I don't exactly understand the cliffhanger XD...more
Hi so this was perfect and I loved it that is all goodnight
Initial read:
YES.
Smol things to love: -Blue's hair is a mess and her room is a messReread:
Hi so this was perfect and I loved it that is all goodnight
Initial read:
YES.
Smol things to love: -Blue's hair is a mess and her room is a mess and her house is always loud and full of people and I identify on a spiritual level. -Blue has no clothes other than old ratty T-shirts and leggings and honestly that is my life. -SO MUCH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AGH -And it felt so organic too...like this was 100% a character driven novel, but the stakes were super high and I felt like I really got to know them over the course of this book. -Except for Ronan. I'm still not totally feeling him. Sorry. -Adam was precious and one of my favorite character types and POOR BABY. -Also, Gansey and glasses. -Eating pizza and nasty convenience store food (because they're ACTUAL TEENAGERS) -The whole helicopter scene was brilliant and made me laugh really really hard. -Foreshadowing but it's all so vague and non-committal and conflicting that I really don't know anymore? -Dick and Jane (that whole thing was hilarious) -The fact that when something's up with one of Gansey's roomies (being vague here to avoid spoilers) he's like "When did he move in? Does he pay rent?" and I'm like... Gansey honey I know you're rich and all but...WHY IS THIS THE FIRST TIME YOU'VE ASKED THESE QUESTIONS -Gansey, basically. -And Noah was a smol soft precious bean who must be defended at all costs. -(Lemme just say though....the meet-cute at the restaurant was amazing. I laughed out loud.)
Things I didn't love so much: -Kinda creepy at a lot of points? Like yikes. -Lots of language. It was a lot less than I was expecting, to be quite frank...but it was definitely in there (including quite a few f-bombs) and they didn't bother me so much in this one but they were still in there. -The ending felt a little rushed (or maybe that was just that I was reading it really fast? Who can know) -I'm not really crazy about Ronan...we'll see what the Dream Thieves does to cure me of this but at the moment I don't love him. :P
Overall, I really really enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next one (although I may take a break from it this week...savor it, if ya know what I mean ;)) 4 stars and it was amazing!...more
R.F. Gammon
>
Books:
hype-is-real
(5)
Loading...
