Take a photo of a barcode or cover
coralinejones's Reviews (556)
How pleasantly strange. A little flat, but atmospheric and beautifully horrific. Mary Shelley you have moved mountains.
I will admit there are many flaws within his novel; often was my interest swaying from REALLY loving A Botanical Daughter to simply finding it okay at best. (At one point, I loved where I thought this novel was going, more than what was actually occurring). Despite the awkward pacing, unsatisfying conclusion, and some of the off-putting character developments, I thoroughly enjoyed this!
I will admit there are many flaws within his novel; often was my interest swaying from REALLY loving A Botanical Daughter to simply finding it okay at best. (At one point, I loved where I thought this novel was going, more than what was actually occurring). Despite the awkward pacing, unsatisfying conclusion, and some of the off-putting character developments, I thoroughly enjoyed this!
Despite the unexpected middle grade tone, I had fun, and I'm willing to continue to book two. I'm someone who doesn't mind an adolescent genre read here and there, as they most often give me the same feeling as watching a film such as Monster House or Coraline. These are nice palette cleansers. Books friendly enough to give you the vibe of the genre you're reading without having to worry about some of the heavier, adult, topics that may trigger some unwanted emotion in you. That said...
The Sunbearer Trials is marketed as a YA fantasy. I've read enough YA novels to tell the difference in writing style for the author's intended audience; I think this fell a little short. I understand the comparisons to Percy Jackson, and the tone matched that perfectly aside from the random, out of place swearing sprinkled throughout the novel, but not so much the one for The Hunger Games? I'm about to rant a bit here so feel free to move onto the next paragraph but, everybody wants to bite off The Hunger Games but not everyone can be The Hunger Games! I'm sick of YA novels being marketed as "Like The Hunger Games" when all they mean is some sort of battle royale-esq plotline with no stakes as high as Suzanne Collins' masterpiece! These are stories that can lead to anywhere. THG did not invent the narrative genre. I don't care how popular it is! Stop saying a book is like THG when it isn't!
Anyway. The stakes were a bit too low for THG comparison.
The world-building is WEAK. Enjoyable! But nothing to rave about. Again, comparing this to Percy Jackson, at least we know that's a low-fantasy novel that takes place within our own, contemporary, world just with superhuman / supernatural / mythological beings roaming around. The difference between that and this novel is... They're supposed to be in a completely different world from what I understand? New politics, animals that don't exist in our world, etc, but then had many pop culture references that felt out of place and odd? Like the faux-titles for social media and "furry" mentions. Not my thing, not my age range. I can't acknowledge that. Still didn't like it.
Rants aside, the book is genuinely very fun and I think a younger audience would get a KICK out of this. I even wrote in my notes how if I was fifteen I would've ate this up like The Raven Cycle all over again. I'd probably join the fandom and do everything in my power to campaign for this book. But as a 25 year old who reads anything, I will simply pass this onto the youngins with a smile on my face.
There's good representation, a bit of humor, fast pace action scenes that have impact, and genuine character dynamics that didn't feel faulty or forced.
The Sunbearer Trials is marketed as a YA fantasy. I've read enough YA novels to tell the difference in writing style for the author's intended audience; I think this fell a little short. I understand the comparisons to Percy Jackson, and the tone matched that perfectly aside from the random, out of place swearing sprinkled throughout the novel, but not so much the one for The Hunger Games? I'm about to rant a bit here so feel free to move onto the next paragraph but, everybody wants to bite off The Hunger Games but not everyone can be The Hunger Games! I'm sick of YA novels being marketed as "Like The Hunger Games" when all they mean is some sort of battle royale-esq plotline with no stakes as high as Suzanne Collins' masterpiece! These are stories that can lead to anywhere. THG did not invent the narrative genre. I don't care how popular it is! Stop saying a book is like THG when it isn't!
Anyway. The stakes were a bit too low for THG comparison.
The world-building is WEAK. Enjoyable! But nothing to rave about. Again, comparing this to Percy Jackson, at least we know that's a low-fantasy novel that takes place within our own, contemporary, world just with superhuman / supernatural / mythological beings roaming around. The difference between that and this novel is... They're supposed to be in a completely different world from what I understand? New politics, animals that don't exist in our world, etc, but then had many pop culture references that felt out of place and odd? Like the faux-titles for social media and "furry" mentions. Not my thing, not my age range. I can't acknowledge that. Still didn't like it.
Rants aside, the book is genuinely very fun and I think a younger audience would get a KICK out of this. I even wrote in my notes how if I was fifteen I would've ate this up like The Raven Cycle all over again. I'd probably join the fandom and do everything in my power to campaign for this book. But as a 25 year old who reads anything, I will simply pass this onto the youngins with a smile on my face.
There's good representation, a bit of humor, fast pace action scenes that have impact, and genuine character dynamics that didn't feel faulty or forced.
Repitive. Poorly written. Not scary or horrific in any capacity. Terrible characters. Terrible dynamic between Felix and Fae. Fae is written as stereotypical as it gets. Entire story is written in a "tell not show" style that gets boring quickly.
The author wrote a white savior garbage fest that uses Native folklore to tell a story not worth reading
The author wrote a white savior garbage fest that uses Native folklore to tell a story not worth reading
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There were moments I found the story dragging a bit but that honestly doesn't take away how enjoyable this novel was. I love this author's take on these characters. I would read more from them.
Not really a fan of the art. This does a pretty good job at faithfully adapting the novel, but, as a huge fan of the original book, it's just too bland of it's original mood and detail to even compare. I understand that this happens when converting mediums, and I'm sure this is great for younger Dune fans, or those wanting to understand the story and context but may be intimated by Herbert's writing and the length of the first novel. I still recommend.
Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest To Track Down The Last Remaining Lesbian Bars In America
DID NOT FINISH: 12%
The author is so fucking judgy of other queer people it's frustrating the fuck out of me. I could tell from when this began that there would be less about actual lesbian bars and more about the author's unnecessary opinions on... EVERYTHING. I don't care enough about her white, millennial, buzzfeed-like humor to slog through this.
I read other low-rated reviews and I agree with all of them; I learned what to expect from the rest of this and I'm not looking forward to it so DNF.
I would LOVE a book like this from someone else who actually has insight on journalism and interviewing.
I read other low-rated reviews and I agree with all of them; I learned what to expect from the rest of this and I'm not looking forward to it so DNF.
I would LOVE a book like this from someone else who actually has insight on journalism and interviewing.
This book is kind of a mess.
I wrote several notes during the duration of this novel which started of fairly positive and got negative by the end. I actually disliked the way The Weaver and the Witch Queen began and considered DNF-ing it after chapter three or four. However, in an attempt to finish everything I read for the rest of the year, I decided to push on and see what Gornichec had to offer... I wish I hadn't.
Truthfully, this isn't that bad. I think this makes for an interesting and atmospheric read. I don't know how culturally accurate some of the set pieces are, if you will, but I know the dialogue was a tad bit modern for my personal taste. I'm not pretentious over historical accuracy, for one this book has LGBT rep that's slid over and not reprimanded in anyway, which I didn't mind and have no complaints over, but the way these characters spoke to one another took me out of the immersion more than once.
Then there's the repetition. I'm personally so over historical fantasy novels unnecessarily mentioning menstruation and using arbitrary ways to describe birthdays, regardless of how accurate that may be. "Haven't bled since 4 moons ago." "She looks about 3 moons old." "I haven't seen them in several moons past." Shut up. Shut up. Please. God. I hate it.
AND the romance ruined the plot for me. I actually wasn't expecting romance this time and it negatively surprised me when it appeared, lol. I can usually assume when an author will force a romance plot and she got me this time!!
The last half of the book is pretty rushed too. This is a huge problem for me because the pacing sucks as is. You're slogging through a little over 500 pages of some interesting scenes and then a bunch of nothing waiting for the big climax and it all comes, very conveniently, and very quickly to wrap up the story. I could've easilyyyy seen this novel turned into 2 or 3 books which, probably, would've eliminated this issue entirely.
Spoilers ahead: Note I copy and pasted this from another review because it explains my sentiments exactly, why I had strong distaste for how this novel was wrapped up at the end. Gunnhild's brothers are introduced, she conveniently uses magic to discover where Signy is, her brothers conveniently go get her, the trans Viking is Eirik's kin and they fight, Oddny argues with Gunnhild and runs off to find Signy on her own, she kills the Viking who led the raid on her village because they beg her to, Oddny conveniently runs into Signy with Gunnhild's brothers in a random town on the way to the place where she's told she'll find her, there's a battle out of nowhere for whatever reason and with no build up, and the big bad turns out to be some side character who meant nothing the whole time.
Hm. I don't know. It's fun. There's an audience for it. This isn't high fantasy or romantasy or anything like that so I think it's enjoyable for the right person, just not me!
I wrote several notes during the duration of this novel which started of fairly positive and got negative by the end. I actually disliked the way The Weaver and the Witch Queen began and considered DNF-ing it after chapter three or four. However, in an attempt to finish everything I read for the rest of the year, I decided to push on and see what Gornichec had to offer... I wish I hadn't.
Truthfully, this isn't that bad. I think this makes for an interesting and atmospheric read. I don't know how culturally accurate some of the set pieces are, if you will, but I know the dialogue was a tad bit modern for my personal taste. I'm not pretentious over historical accuracy, for one this book has LGBT rep that's slid over and not reprimanded in anyway, which I didn't mind and have no complaints over, but the way these characters spoke to one another took me out of the immersion more than once.
Then there's the repetition. I'm personally so over historical fantasy novels unnecessarily mentioning menstruation and using arbitrary ways to describe birthdays, regardless of how accurate that may be. "Haven't bled since 4 moons ago." "She looks about 3 moons old." "I haven't seen them in several moons past." Shut up. Shut up. Please. God. I hate it.
AND the romance ruined the plot for me. I actually wasn't expecting romance this time and it negatively surprised me when it appeared, lol. I can usually assume when an author will force a romance plot and she got me this time!!
The last half of the book is pretty rushed too. This is a huge problem for me because the pacing sucks as is. You're slogging through a little over 500 pages of some interesting scenes and then a bunch of nothing waiting for the big climax and it all comes, very conveniently, and very quickly to wrap up the story. I could've easilyyyy seen this novel turned into 2 or 3 books which, probably, would've eliminated this issue entirely.
Spoilers ahead: Note I copy and pasted this from another review because it explains my sentiments exactly, why I had strong distaste for how this novel was wrapped up at the end.
Hm. I don't know. It's fun. There's an audience for it. This isn't high fantasy or romantasy or anything like that so I think it's enjoyable for the right person, just not me!
I wanted to like this more than I did. I wrote more previously but my computer froze and I lost what I had written. I'll list some bullet points that express my distaste for this novel.
— Not a YA novel, from my understanding, but still very adolescent in nature. A coming-of-age story for sure.
— The writing isn’t very good. Quite basic and all over the place.
— The book starts with lots of action and atmospheric scenery. Then this changes into a historical romance drama? Then it’s something of a mystery? I couldn’t keep up.
— Many characters are introduced but never utilized, ultimately being pointless in the long run.
— Unlike many others, I actually preferred the first half of the novel than the second, however, there is a lot more action in the second half of you’re into that.
— Not a YA novel, from my understanding, but still very adolescent in nature. A coming-of-age story for sure.
— The writing isn’t very good. Quite basic and all over the place.
— The book starts with lots of action and atmospheric scenery. Then this changes into a historical romance drama? Then it’s something of a mystery? I couldn’t keep up.
— Many characters are introduced but never utilized, ultimately being pointless in the long run.
— Unlike many others, I actually preferred the first half of the novel than the second, however, there is a lot more action in the second half of you’re into that.
