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btwnprintedpgs's Reviews (1.3k)
Overall, I thought this book was good. It wasn’t underwhelming or overwhelming, but it was good.
The prologue was not something I enjoyed reading. It was riddled with repetition and it tried too hard to sound fantastical. It also didn’t really gel with any of the voices in the book. As your first impression of the book, it isn’t a good one. Honestly, if I were you, I’d skim it and then try again after you’ve read at least five chapters of the book. Totally different voice from the rest of the novel, but it is necessary to get a gist of the story’s history.
This book is the first of a series and it was very much a book that sets that stage for something more. The Lords of Valdeon is packed with a lot of description and world/character building. Every chapter contains more and more chunks of the places these characters reside and their situations and it’s definitely interesting getting to know them. Something I really enjoyed was that each character had their own aspect of the world to talk about, and each one generally had their own voice and I also like the women in the story. All of them are quite fierce and strong characters, though I wish they had a larger role in the story itself. With that being said, I felt that within each chapter, the characters voices blurred. All the men and boys sound similar in Seth’s chapters, while all the Lords maintain a formal tone. While these help with world building, and allowing readers to get an idea of the pleasantries and conversations appropriate to each setting, I wish there was more to each character, and not just the plot propelling the story along.
On that note, the plot is quite intricate and interesting. These gods are supposedly cut and dry characters at the beginning, the Jalora seen as good, while the Sarcion is seen as evil. This pretense is tested throughout the novel as each reveals different facets of their own personalities and it really adds colour to the story. It’s interesting to watch each characters’ journey against each other and with one or the other godly being. I particularly like Seth’s thread within all of this, as his character is more exploratory and deals more with self discovery throughout the novel. Although it was slow going at first, the plot really makes the book addicting as the story moves forward and the action begins!
On writing, the author is quite skilled at creating worlds, but I found the most challenging part of this book was the writing. Many aspects just fall short for me. There’s a lot of repetition, and often a lot more telling than showing. Although I really enjoyed the novel as a whole, certain aspects just didn’t do it for me.
Overall, this book is like the Night Circus in its extensive descriptions, mixed with Star Wars’ family feud, with a hint of fantasy and mystery mixed in. I think this is an amazing start to the series, and my expectations are high for the next book!
Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World Building: 4.5/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Cover: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.25/5
Ebook obtained via Roger Charlie in exchange for an honest review.
The prologue was not something I enjoyed reading. It was riddled with repetition and it tried too hard to sound fantastical. It also didn’t really gel with any of the voices in the book. As your first impression of the book, it isn’t a good one. Honestly, if I were you, I’d skim it and then try again after you’ve read at least five chapters of the book. Totally different voice from the rest of the novel, but it is necessary to get a gist of the story’s history.
This book is the first of a series and it was very much a book that sets that stage for something more. The Lords of Valdeon is packed with a lot of description and world/character building. Every chapter contains more and more chunks of the places these characters reside and their situations and it’s definitely interesting getting to know them. Something I really enjoyed was that each character had their own aspect of the world to talk about, and each one generally had their own voice and I also like the women in the story. All of them are quite fierce and strong characters, though I wish they had a larger role in the story itself. With that being said, I felt that within each chapter, the characters voices blurred. All the men and boys sound similar in Seth’s chapters, while all the Lords maintain a formal tone. While these help with world building, and allowing readers to get an idea of the pleasantries and conversations appropriate to each setting, I wish there was more to each character, and not just the plot propelling the story along.
On that note, the plot is quite intricate and interesting. These gods are supposedly cut and dry characters at the beginning, the Jalora seen as good, while the Sarcion is seen as evil. This pretense is tested throughout the novel as each reveals different facets of their own personalities and it really adds colour to the story. It’s interesting to watch each characters’ journey against each other and with one or the other godly being. I particularly like Seth’s thread within all of this, as his character is more exploratory and deals more with self discovery throughout the novel. Although it was slow going at first, the plot really makes the book addicting as the story moves forward and the action begins!
On writing, the author is quite skilled at creating worlds, but I found the most challenging part of this book was the writing. Many aspects just fall short for me. There’s a lot of repetition, and often a lot more telling than showing. Although I really enjoyed the novel as a whole, certain aspects just didn’t do it for me.
Overall, this book is like the Night Circus in its extensive descriptions, mixed with Star Wars’ family feud, with a hint of fantasy and mystery mixed in. I think this is an amazing start to the series, and my expectations are high for the next book!
Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World Building: 4.5/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Cover: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.25/5
Ebook obtained via Roger Charlie in exchange for an honest review.
I just... NOPE.
I've seen rave reviews about this book and... I don't understand...
Ever heard of Boys Over Flowers? Hana Yori Dango? It's like that, except extremely idiotic.
Alike to the manga/string of dramas, there's this poor girl who receives a scholarship to this extremely elite school where rich people from around the world get their education. At the top of this college food chain is Nixon, Chase, Tex, and then Phoenix. Nixon is the leader of his little group (ahem, Domyouji), Chase is the second guys who's JUST nice enough to her that he seems like a relatively humane person (Rui), and then Tex is a cool guy but is barely ever there, and then Phoenix is just a douche. ENTER TRACE. This girl defies The Elect (-coughF4cough-), and she doesn't dress in designer clothes, and she doesn't think Nixon is some hot guy that she should be falling for. (I would compare her to Makino, but let's face it, Trace is just a whiny girl who can't stand up for herself, and is just ... no.)
Is it just 'cause I know of HYD that I found this less appealing than other people? Maybe, but let me get down to the nitty gritty details.
Trace. Trace was annoying. She had no backbone (and if she did, it was liquid). She sucked at standing up for herself when it actually matters, she literally just sat around and contributed nothing to society. She's also not that smart to be honest. She knows The Elite partially hates her, what does she do? Walks right into their schemes setting herself up for stuff that she can't handle, because by gods she's a weakling. She cried more than she spoke, and when she spoke, half the time she was asking a question. In addition to all that, her thoughts during times of duress are pulled from the gutter. Girl, you have a bajillion and one problems, do you REALLY have time to be thinking about that NOW?
For example, there's this one scene where stuff happens to her and she's like bawling her eyes out and then OH LOOK AT HIM. HE LOOKS LIKE CHANNING TATUM. LIKE LOOK AT HIM *A*
UM. NO.
Also, she says things like "it literally..." and "seriously, this happened..." A LOT. As a reader, I don't need those because I wanna say that what the narrator (MC or third person perspective) says is what they see and what's actually happening. When they say that though, I feel like the credibility of the narrator gets lost 'cause then if they don't say it, did it REALLY happen?
Along those lines, I felt like the author told us what happened more than she showed us. An example of this was when Trace was being moody (again) and she snapped at someone, she said:
Clearly I was dealing with a lot of emotions right now.
Honey, if it was clear, you wouldn't have to state that.
I also found that a number of things were unrealistic. I could see the bullying fine, the mafia stuff fine, kay, whatever. But people chanting some guy's name in the hallway. You just hit crazy on the weird scale.
As per most books these days, this book had that insta-love-hate thing going on. For the most part, she spends the beginning just like NIXONNNN UGHHHHH and then every now and then just like HOLY HELL THIS MALE SPECIMEN IS SO ATTRACTIVE. -3.5 seconds later- I IS IN LUV ~~
UM. NO.
I'm so tired of this insta-love garbage. Love has to stop being such a superficial emotion in books. It downplays the emotion, and makes something beautiful almost meaningless. I don't know why authors think it's acceptable to just toss it out there. I feel like it takes down the book with it because it just shows how much the author was willing to put into the connection between the characters and their back stories.
The last thing that bothered me throughout the book was that the author spent a lot of time setting up for jokes. They weren't subtle things, or just blunt statements that would cause me to laugh, no she would orchestrate a full conversation between characters to get her jokes out, and often times it made me want to facepalm more than laugh.
This book was a huge miss for me. While I didn't mind the overall story, the characters, and the over dramatic everything drove me up the wall. It was the little things - the set up jokes, stating the obvious, telling instead of showing - they all just added up into a novel that I just couldn't bring myself to like. Definitely not on my top ten for this year.
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing: 1/5
World Building: 2/5
Cover: 3/5
Overall: 2/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.25/5
eCopy obtained via Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley
-review by Between Printed Pages
I've seen rave reviews about this book and... I don't understand...
Ever heard of Boys Over Flowers? Hana Yori Dango? It's like that, except extremely idiotic.
Alike to the manga/string of dramas, there's this poor girl who receives a scholarship to this extremely elite school where rich people from around the world get their education. At the top of this college food chain is Nixon, Chase, Tex, and then Phoenix. Nixon is the leader of his little group (ahem, Domyouji), Chase is the second guys who's JUST nice enough to her that he seems like a relatively humane person (Rui), and then Tex is a cool guy but is barely ever there, and then Phoenix is just a douche. ENTER TRACE. This girl defies The Elect (-coughF4cough-), and she doesn't dress in designer clothes, and she doesn't think Nixon is some hot guy that she should be falling for. (I would compare her to Makino, but let's face it, Trace is just a whiny girl who can't stand up for herself, and is just ... no.)
Is it just 'cause I know of HYD that I found this less appealing than other people? Maybe, but let me get down to the nitty gritty details.
Trace. Trace was annoying. She had no backbone (and if she did, it was liquid). She sucked at standing up for herself when it actually matters, she literally just sat around and contributed nothing to society. She's also not that smart to be honest. She knows The Elite partially hates her, what does she do? Walks right into their schemes setting herself up for stuff that she can't handle, because by gods she's a weakling. She cried more than she spoke, and when she spoke, half the time she was asking a question. In addition to all that, her thoughts during times of duress are pulled from the gutter. Girl, you have a bajillion and one problems, do you REALLY have time to be thinking about that NOW?
For example, there's this one scene where stuff happens to her and she's like bawling her eyes out and then OH LOOK AT HIM. HE LOOKS LIKE CHANNING TATUM. LIKE LOOK AT HIM *A*
UM. NO.
Also, she says things like "it literally..." and "seriously, this happened..." A LOT. As a reader, I don't need those because I wanna say that what the narrator (MC or third person perspective) says is what they see and what's actually happening. When they say that though, I feel like the credibility of the narrator gets lost 'cause then if they don't say it, did it REALLY happen?
Along those lines, I felt like the author told us what happened more than she showed us. An example of this was when Trace was being moody (again) and she snapped at someone, she said:
Clearly I was dealing with a lot of emotions right now.
Honey, if it was clear, you wouldn't have to state that.
I also found that a number of things were unrealistic. I could see the bullying fine, the mafia stuff fine, kay, whatever. But people chanting some guy's name in the hallway. You just hit crazy on the weird scale.
As per most books these days, this book had that insta-love-hate thing going on. For the most part, she spends the beginning just like NIXONNNN UGHHHHH and then every now and then just like HOLY HELL THIS MALE SPECIMEN IS SO ATTRACTIVE. -3.5 seconds later- I IS IN LUV ~~
UM. NO.
I'm so tired of this insta-love garbage. Love has to stop being such a superficial emotion in books. It downplays the emotion, and makes something beautiful almost meaningless. I don't know why authors think it's acceptable to just toss it out there. I feel like it takes down the book with it because it just shows how much the author was willing to put into the connection between the characters and their back stories.
The last thing that bothered me throughout the book was that the author spent a lot of time setting up for jokes. They weren't subtle things, or just blunt statements that would cause me to laugh, no she would orchestrate a full conversation between characters to get her jokes out, and often times it made me want to facepalm more than laugh.
This book was a huge miss for me. While I didn't mind the overall story, the characters, and the over dramatic everything drove me up the wall. It was the little things - the set up jokes, stating the obvious, telling instead of showing - they all just added up into a novel that I just couldn't bring myself to like. Definitely not on my top ten for this year.
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing: 1/5
World Building: 2/5
Cover: 3/5
Overall: 2/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.25/5
eCopy obtained via Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley
-review by Between Printed Pages
Not Quite So Stories was one of the oddest books I've ever read, in the best possible way.
Let me try to break it down for you - have you ever seen those twitter trends where tweets take a twist in the 140 characters allowed? Well this book is like that except with short stories. Each story was unique, and each story had me absolutely confounded by the end - some due to awe at how deep the short story got, some due to absolute confusion as to why it was even a thing, and some due to annoyance 'cause I really wanted an explanation to why it was a thing (even though the synopsis states clearly that that's literally the reason why is was written).
I enjoyed about 90% of the stories in this books, the other 10% were okay, but just didn't appeal to me. Something that was hard to work out for me was taking the work as it was. Often times, I'd flip back pages to figure out if I missed something, when I didn't, it's just that the "weird" part of it all wasn't explained. This both added and detracted from my reading experience.
On one had it was really interesting to read the stories and think, "Hey, that's really weird and funny" or "I see what you did there, interesting", while other times I'd be like, "What??", and then re-read the story from the beginning - leaving it no less confused than when I had read it the first time.
Overall, definitely would recommend. The stories get you thinking about everyday life, as well as get your spirits up. This isn't a book you have to sit down for a while to read either - each story gives you a dose of happy! My top three stories talk about rolling oranges, toilet paper, and disappearing houses, haha. Check it out - I think there's something in this book for everyone!
Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 4/5
World Building: 4.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Cover: 3/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.48/5
eBook obtained via Roger Charlie in exchange for an honest review.
Let me try to break it down for you - have you ever seen those twitter trends where tweets take a twist in the 140 characters allowed? Well this book is like that except with short stories. Each story was unique, and each story had me absolutely confounded by the end - some due to awe at how deep the short story got, some due to absolute confusion as to why it was even a thing, and some due to annoyance 'cause I really wanted an explanation to why it was a thing (even though the synopsis states clearly that that's literally the reason why is was written).
I enjoyed about 90% of the stories in this books, the other 10% were okay, but just didn't appeal to me. Something that was hard to work out for me was taking the work as it was. Often times, I'd flip back pages to figure out if I missed something, when I didn't, it's just that the "weird" part of it all wasn't explained. This both added and detracted from my reading experience.
On one had it was really interesting to read the stories and think, "Hey, that's really weird and funny" or "I see what you did there, interesting", while other times I'd be like, "What??", and then re-read the story from the beginning - leaving it no less confused than when I had read it the first time.
Overall, definitely would recommend. The stories get you thinking about everyday life, as well as get your spirits up. This isn't a book you have to sit down for a while to read either - each story gives you a dose of happy! My top three stories talk about rolling oranges, toilet paper, and disappearing houses, haha. Check it out - I think there's something in this book for everyone!
Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 4/5
World Building: 4.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Cover: 3/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.48/5
eBook obtained via Roger Charlie in exchange for an honest review.
