bibilly's Reviews (336)

in terms of paranormal romance, there's nothing excruciatingly bad about this book. the writing is on point; the protagonist is a sensible, efficient and humane woman with her grain of uniqueness, bc, you know, she's the main character; and the hero is her exceptionally handsome reward (or would be if she didn't play the 'im not like the other girls' card) after hundreds of pages fighting for the life she has built. fair enough. but. the efficiency of the plot didn't make it exciting, the mix of magic and modern world didn't work for me, and i didn't connect enough with the characters to want to read the sequel. actually, the cold slash damaged hero (which is totally my brand) wasn't well established as a character: i didn't feel very sympathetic or attracted towards him bc there wasn't any real glimpse of the man behind the mass murder. he didn't show any vulnerability (not even regarding the heroine), and the only excuse for him to hunt down the bad guy -- the safety of his cousin's son -- wasn't convincing, bc the boy was never mentioned, except in the prologue and the epilogue with the lame plot twist. so, given his cardboard personality, i didn't feel the sexual tension that made the mc all horny. i know there are two more books for character development, but that lack of flavor, along with the boredom detective stories always give me, made this one too long and not that fun. so much for plot without porn.

to the Capri fans out there, C.S. Pacat is trying to reach a larger audience this time around, and it shows. almost all the elements of her first trilogy appear here, but in ya form, unfortunately. the first half makes you wonder if it's really a Pacat's book, but then even a collar shows up. so the good news is that Pacat still knows how to write an enemies-to-lovers; the bad is that Capri readers won't be surprised by any of the twists (not that the revelations in Capri are exactly unpredictable) and might end up facing some disappointments. 

first of all, be ready to cry over the lack of chapters under the blonde antagonist's pov, especially because most of the time there's no one as remarkable as him leading the narration, and, unlike Laurent, James is seldom on page. 

and when he's off page the writing is extensively explanatory, providing reminders of the same things over and over again, to the point of becoming too digestible even for a ya book (and making this first volume unnecessarily long). i don't know if this was intended as a resource to shift the reader's attention and contrast with things that come later on, or just the author testing the waters of a new genre, but i found it very weird. even without the knowledge of Capri's prose, you can see from some scenes in this book alone (like the unicorn chapter and James' appearances) that Pacat knows how to build atmosphere, smart dialogue and compelling characters. 

another thing the writing fails at (unsurprisingly) is the multi pov. Will eventually gained my respect, although he only seemed to access his intelligence and personality when close to James. however, considering Violet's backstory and personal struggles, as well as her role as a lead character, her chapters should've been more impactful and her reasons, more convincing (i liked Katherine’s couple of chapters way better, and she’s literally a dumb bitch). on top of that, i didn't see or feel the progression of their friendship, nor of their training with the stewards, even though the first half of the book lasted literally months. i also didn't care about the stewards and their sacred fight: in the grand scheme of things, they serve a purpose, but their order was just suspicious and boring to me, not intriguing. 

which leads us to the world-building. the two sides of the same coin also resemble Capri now that i think about it, but how many times was i supposed to read the words "dark king" and "final flame" without cringing? i felt like the narrator wanted me to be as amazed and terrified at everything as the characters, but i was.. not. the external plot is high-stakes from the beginning, yet it doesn't feel like it. things get real only when Pacat plays with the characters’ personal and inner conflicts, which is, ultimately, what makes the last chapter so fucking good: not the upcoming apocalypse, but what two boys carrying the burden of men want and cannot have. here, too, a character keeps a secret from the other while sharing it with the reader; however, what both of them do in this situation has a slight difference that will be crucial to the development of the story in the next books. 

so, despite everything, the ship has sailed. the sexy interactions, the hard-hitting dialogue, the strong connection, the power dynamics —it’s all there. the last sentence is haunting and opens a lot of (juicy) possibilities. actually, considering the reincarnation theme, what the characters supposedly did in their past lives and the current course of things, i wonder why the story was planned as a ya series in the first place. there's a collar of rubies at stake and you want me to believe these "teenagers" won't do anything about it? we'll see about that.

pensei muitos pensamentos - nota 10, ou fiquei com todo o trabalho - nota 0? de todo modo, veja essas 3 estrelas como 4 em termos de recomendação. outra dica: leia sabendo apenas que é mais gay do que demian. única outra info que procurei foi sobre a natureza do final, se é triste ou feliz, por uma questão pessoal. com um conhecimento maior, a leitura não teria sido tão marcante ou surpreendentemente. mas, no final das contas, os únicos defeitos desse livro são a falta de uma slow burn, que fica ainda mais óbvia na adaptação (é uma bosta, não se dê ao trabalho), e a falta de uma justificativa para a mudança repentina de um dos personagens (que é preenchida pela adaptação, mas não sei se vale a pena corromper a leitura só para vê-la). a segunda, em um livro que se esforça tanto em explorar conflitos internos, parece muito contraditória, apesar de desencadear acontecimentos e discussões importantes. no campo das representações de romance m/m, o fato de o protagonista ser um típico burguês safado e simplório, assim como o final, é mais motivo de elogio que de crítica, mas acabou me impedindo de simpatizar com ele em boa parte do tempo. ainda assim, é impossível não sentir ou se identificar com sua solidão. no geral, foi uma verdadeira experiência de leitura, com destaque para a vibe dark academia, a nuance das caracterizações, a sempre presente questão de classe and the gayness of it all.

putting this on hold @ 37%

the crew leader is giving me walmart kaz brekker vibes, and fable's turning out to be the type of heroine who gets out of character by making silly mistakes just to push the plot/let everyone know how special she is. and although her relationship with her father intrigues me for its potential for something darker than most ya's, im not feeling the main cast's dynamics in general, and this is supposed to be a found family story. besides, i only started this book bc i was planning to pick up the standalone that is set in the same world and comes out next week. but now i don't know if i'd like that one much more than/without finishing this duology.. 

tessa bailey you had one job. i don't even know why i mentally rated this about 3 stars when i started it. or why i finished reading it in the first place. i guess it was doing ok as a pastime read but then it became unbearable?? like,, everything about it???? not that i expect much of contemporary romances featuring straight couples (why do they always have to be more than 300 pages long and feel like they could be 150 pages less without the shitty plot lines and self help book writing), and i only read them when im looking for a specific trope or concept, but damn . this was bad 🥴

rtc. talvez (ignorei trabalhos atrasados pra ler isso). mas não ironicamente 10/10 pra fanfic, é disso que o povo gosta.

por mais escritores que tirem a paz do Lovecraft no túmulo. 

a escrita tem umas finalizações ou às vezes vai por caminhos que enfraquecem o que ela mesma constrói (como aquele último diálogo e sua amostra de arrependimento); e achei que as relações do Tommy com o pai e principalmente o amigo foram pouco exploradas. mas podemos por isso na conta da preferência (porque pra mim, em termos de escrita, menos é sempre mais) e do formato (há um limite do que se pode esperar de uma novela). o que realmente importa é o comentário social, o arco do Tommy Tester/Black Tom e a caracterização do detetive Malone, que tornaram horror cósmico e o universo lovecraftiano minimamente atrativos pra mim, apesar de em nenhum momento eu ter ficado tão assustada/maravilhada quanto os personagens frente a esse terror em específico. de qualquer forma, este livro é superior a tudo que já li do Lovecraft*, e seu breve Cthulhu, muito mais icônico.


*único conto dele que realmente gostei até agora foi A Cor que Caiu do Céu.

so me obriguei a terminar outro Lovecraft porque pretendo ler a releitura do LaValle. mas pra quem ainda tem amor próprio e nunca se sujeitou a isso, segue um resumo de basicamente todo conto dele (com exceção talvez de A Cor Que Caiu do Céu): "foi tão horrível e arrepiante e decadente que não ouso contar aqui o que presenciei naquela babel de sons e sujeira. o discernimento de tal ironia cósmica é reservado apenas a sábios de olhos claros com múltiplos senhores de escravos na árvore genealógica, então a minha grandiosa história não se deixaria ler. mas confia, foi HORRIPILANTE ver tantos elementos escuros e de olhos puxados num lugar só."