blewballoon's Reviews (763)

This book certainly affected me. I was unsettled, disturbed, and upset in the end and it stuck with me for a while. Most of the characters apart from Dorothy are almost comically awful, but not comically enough for it not to be distressing. Even during the parts of the book where pleasant things are occurring, there is a constant undercurrent of tension and dread. 

One of the books responsible for getting me back into reading after being in a reading slump for about 10 years. I don't normally even like a sci-fi space setting, but I found the world building easy enough to slip into and understand, I liked the political intrigue, I enjoyed our main characters and several of the side characters, and I really enjoyed the arranged marriage romance. I thought the writing quality was excellent, which felt like icing on the cake since the characters and plot were captivating enough for me.

I could never properly describe how much I love this book. I was very skeptical going into it, I struggled at the beginning and I was going to DNF, but my friend actually offered to read it to me since it was their favorite book and they really wanted me to experience it. It was absolutely amazing. I loved the murder mystery, I loved the different House dynamics, and I absolutely love Gideon herself. She's impulsive, loud mouthed, hilarious, and has the purest heart. There were many other characters I adored, like Camilla and Palamedes, and others that were perfect to loathe, like Ianthe and Silas. Such a fantastic cast of personalities and a creative, interesting setting. I don't know if I'll ever read a book quite like this, but I hope I do. 

I think this book was a little too young for me, but still a good story covering important subjects.

My dad lent me this book, asking me to read it. We are French Canadian and have spent a lot of time visiting our relatives in Quebec, so the setting was immediately interesting. I enjoyed learning about the daily life and diets of the early settlers, but the rest of the book and plot were quite dry.

I hated that the young daughter ended up with that gruff forest man who was like at least 20 years older than her. Definitely a case of values dissonance.

The initial setup of the story sounds sad, and it is, but ultimately this is a fairly lighthearted and funny book. I stayed up late reading it and went through it like a tub of popcorn at a good movie. I do think the romance aspect was maybe the weakest part of the story, but overall this was a fun ride, and I'd recommend for a light easy read.