aliciaclarereads's Reviews (1.25k)

How to write a Rick Riordan book:

1. A bunch of teenagers with really impressive skills

2. No adults to supervise or help or anything

3. Impossible seeming task

4. Realllllllly limited time to complete this task (like a week or 5 days)

5. A lot of mythology backstory that is really dumbed down (but I am a bit over the target age range)

6. A lot of random tasks that showcase each hero's individual awesome skills that are so unique and different

7. One last big task that everyone is involved in and they all work together and everything is happy and they win

8. SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS AND CLIFFHANGER BAM NOW YOU HAVE TO GO READ THE NEXT ONE EVEN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO

Fuck you, Riordan.

This was very fun. I the surprise ending... wasn't very surprising, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Rather sad, but I think it made Adri seem slightly more human. I was almost more sympathetic with her than with Cinder.

I'm bouncing back between 3 and 4 stars. It was an incredibly quick read and I loved the premise. Unfortunately the book went several different directions, and I wished we had spent more time discovering this new land. Although my dissatisfaction is probably because I'm a bit older than the novels target audience.

Libba Bray I just really like your writing. Also Evie O'Neill is so much better than Gemma Doyle.