dbguide2's Reviews (863)

 Going Dark is certainly more than what it appears to be on the surface. At first it speaks of a simple relationship between two people who seem to lead simple lives – and dating each other in what also seems to be a simple act. What you get from their relationship looks easy and happy, or so it seems. And I really enjoyed that – seeing how it changes from looking like an easy relationship to something much more.

I’ll be honest, I was not that interested in Amelia from the beginning. I didn’t like how she was written or how she acted. But then as the story progressed more and more things started to come out about her and she became more likeable. But only a bit because I still found her actions and the path she took not the best one for her, Did I understand why? Yes. Did I like any of it? Not so much. Of course I’m not going to sit here and say “here’s what I’d do differently” because I haven’t lived her life, I haven’t gone through what she’s gone through. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, though.

I think that’s why I rated it 4 and not 5 stars – because I wasn’t a fan of her actions and the reasons behind them. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book. I don’t know if my rating would change if either her actions were different or if I could understand them more. 

The characters were interesting to get to know and I liked everything we learnt about them. I am most certainly not interested in influencers – even if they push the narrative that they’re down-to-earth and don’t put on a farce for the camera. For me when you start to gain a large following you’re inevitably going to make the decision to pull back a bit – show less of your life, keep some activities private because they mean a lot to you. You might even take a few classes or courses surrounding anything social media marketing. So all of Amelia’s pushing to show that’s super down-to-earth and doesn’t really care about her following – I didn’t buy it at all, any of her personality. Maybe de la Cruz purposefully wrote her that way, maybe it was just my personal feelings.

Josh was an interesting case as I originally did like him. That also changed as the book carried on. I actually thought I as I liked him less I would like Amelia more – but that didn’t happen, which was interesting to me. I can’t say much without spoiling the book but I liked seeing how he dealt with Amelia going missing and everything that came from that.

We get some flashbacks of another girl who went missing two years ago who never received the attention that Amelia Ashley received. Of course a good reason (for that) is because Amelia is very famous and has other famous connections. I found it interesting the connection the one character (Harper Delgado – whom I really liked and wanted to know more of) made between the two. Both pretty girls, both this and that, but the previous girl had nothing done for her the way Amelia had. It really shows the truth about any missing case, really. That some missing people aren’t deemed as important as others for various reasons – popularity, money, mental state, even race as a reason as to why they are missing – even though the ‘reason’ is lack of evidence. 

I definitely want to revisit the book now having read everything so I can see if there are any puzzle pieces to be found before the big reveal. Probably will wait to see if it’ll get an audiobook and reread it that way. I have read a mixed media book as an audiobook before (These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall) so I know that I’ll like another one.

I love mixed media in a book and while I liked what we got I also would have been very happy with even more. Amelia Ashley is an influencer and I felt like there should’ve have been more focus on her posts and her journey as an influencer. Especially as we got more into the story, I would’ve loved to have seen more time dedicated to that. 

 It’s quite funny because the previous book I read that was said to be “inspired by The Hunger Games” was Lightlark, which quite possibly wins the award for worst book I’ve ever read. (review still to come, NaNoWriMo is kicking my behind). But then I read this book and it’s so so much better at executing the prompt/inspiration and making it truly its own idea. 

Trial of the Sun Queen understands that The Hunger Games was more than the romance, there’s reasons for the games and why they need to occur and so on. What Trial and THG have in common is that the focus shouldn’t be on the romance that might (and does) occur; the focus should very much be on why the tributes have to be in the contest and why it’s all wrong. And then also adds fae to the mix, because why not? While we do get a bit of the politics, I did find myself wanting more but hopefully that’ll play a bigger role in the second book. 

The book was well-written, packed with action and fast-paced (it’s under 400 pages). The characters were written in such a way that you couldn’t help but to root for Lor, smile/smirk whenever Gabriel was mentioned on the the page (I chose him as my favourite character probably before his third scene?). I’ll admit, I was confused with the first few of Nadir’s pov chapters and actually though he was the Sun King’s son (he was not) so I think I’ll enjoy getting to know more of this compelling character in the next book. 

There was more action than I originally thought there would be and I liked that! Listen, I’m still recovering from Lightlark where a ton of action was promised and we received about 2.9%. So I was glad that what was promised, was actually given! I think a large part of the book is basically build up to have a second book as it felt like half of the story was told in this book. So hopefully in the next book which comes out next year will have it all. 

I enjoyed the plot and the plot twists that we were given – again, I could see that it’s for the build-up for the second book – but honestly I really didn’t mind that. In fact it actually made me more excited for the sequel. For the next book I definitely want more Gabriel (I just really love him). 

I think this year either I really like the first book of the series (this book, The Stardust Thief, The Girl from the Well) or I dislike it/dnf it (Lightlark, The School for Good and Evil). Luckily, this definitely wasn’t the case with this book. I went in expecting an interesting plot and characters. What I got was something much more. A fascinating, intriguing plot, rich world-building, and compelling characters.

I liked that it had a bit of a retelling and I really liked that the book was inspired by Korean mythology. I liked that I had to look up what different terms meant (or that I sometimes didn’t have to because context clues were enough). Though I had an audio copy so I looked at others’ reviews for the spelling first. Next time I’ll definitely read a physical/ebook version so I know how to say and spell the words (because I’m not familiar with them).

Lina, being the main character, was well-written and lively, and fun to follow. She loves her sister, Eunbi, so much that she’s literally willing to try to kill a Dokkaebi Emperor – a powerful spirit in Korean mythology. When she speaks of her sister, it’s of love and affection and you can understand her reason for doing all this. You want her to complete the task because it means she’ll see her sister again. There’s a bit of chronic pain representation in the book because Lina’s left leg is damaged from a (knife) injury, and I’m guessing nerve damage too, by the sound of it. The pain she felt when she landed wrong or fell and hurt her leg – I felt that all throughout – in fact I think my legs were also reading the book and wanted to join in.

At first I thought it was another immortal falls for the 17-20 girl (Lina’s 18 or 19) book – but turns out that Dokkaebi age much slower than humans – so he’s technically twenty, and also centuries old 😄. I much prefer that than an actual immortal – vampire or something, interested in a barely legal person.

The Dokkaebi Emperor, Haneul Rui, was a fantastic character. He’s witty, mysterious, and intriguing and I think like that Lina liked that, even though she won’t admit that. I liked him from the get-go, so I kept telling Lina to just kiss him 😄. Of course she didn’t listen to me! The book’s main trope is enemies-to-lovers and it delivers on that plenty. I mean Lina literally has to kill him so she can return a prisoner and then her sister will be safe. And I loved seeing it slowly turn from ooh I want to kill you to fine you’re slightly tolerable and then we started the path of hmm I’m starting to like you which leads very quickly into the path of I want to protect you because I love you route. Another trope I loved seeing was the who hurt you trope, done by Haneul Rui. I think even before he realises he likes her he doesn’t want to see her get hurt. But, he also knows that she can take care of herself, which I could tell he also liked. 

The world-building is spectacular and lush. I never felt bored with the writing because I always wanted to know more about everything. The world, the characters, the food (always the food). It was a rich reading experience as there was so much to take in and enjoy thoroughly. The mythology and culture were interspersed so well with fantasy but I think Korean mythology and its culture has a lot of roots in fantasy. Kim did a stellar job at that, I could really see how much work and research she put into the novel.

Jaine Ye was a great narrator and I’ll definitely look out for her other books as well. I liked that she sounded young because Lina is young! I could tell that Ye enjoyed the time she had narrating the book – I don’t know how to explain that I could hear it but I could. It’s just that some narrators sound like they’re a bored reading the book and that makes listening to the book harder (especially when audiobooks are my main format now).

I think what I really needed was a long and in-depth book to just push me and really get me in the mood to read long fantasy books again and this really did! Even though this is under 500 pages so it’s not actually that long, but it felt like it was. That is quite impressive, though – to seem like a long book even though it’s not a long book (I think long books are usually over 500 pages?).

It is such an immersive book, it really just drags you into the story, making you forget where you actually are because it truly felt like I was traveling with the characters, living the story with them – which is honestly my biggest wish when I’m reading (especially fantasy) books. Abdullah can definitely pat herself on the back because it is really impressive and I can’t wait to read everything else she has (and I very much hope she’ll be writing more after this trilogy is complete). 

The characters are really what drew me in first. They’re rich, well-written, complicated without being too complicated. They’re exactly the type of characters you’d want to have and follow in a fantasy series. Loulie al-Nazari is just the type of female main character I want to see in a book – smart, capable, one who knows herself. I always love any type of magical items in books, so of course her finding and selling ancient relics made me like her more. I also like her strong personality and the fact that she’s a strong character who speaks her mind. Qadir is definitely my favourite character and he just needs so many naps because he’s so busy being the Dad™️ of the group. I NEED his POV in the sequel, you don’t understand how much. He’s funny and I love him. I loved reading his relationship with Loulie and how he cares for her.

Mazen and Aisha are two characters that I didn’t think I’d like but I grew to really like them. Mazen, originally unsure about basically everything, really started to come more into his personality and shared what he loved – telling stories. I loved hearing the stories and the big emphasis that they had in the book – which just goes to show you how important oral storytelling is in various cultures. I didn’t like Aisha at the start but she grew on me with her fierce personality and how she just forges on, not caring what people care about her.

The oral storytelling plays a big role in the book and I love how Abdullah ties the storytelling to culture, mythology, and history. The writing and world-building are both stunning and vibrant. Rich with description – especially the food – it made hungry several times 😂. The plot is substantial and there are several subplots that, once again, can be linked to the stories told in the book. A big part of the plot is going on a quest (already fantastic) in order to acquire an ancient relic – which also ties a lot into the storytelling, culture, history, etc etc.

 in break your glass slippers, like its sequel down below (and probably the third book as well) someone gives advice to the main character (if you can even have a main character in a poetry collection). Because this collection has notes of Cinderella, it’s the fairy godmother who’s giving advice. 

With Cinderella we mostly know what this collection will focus on feeling trapped, not feeling good enough even though you’re doing all that you can. Again, it focuses on self-worth and telling the reader through the fairy godmother – you’re good enough, you’re more than good enough. 

 shine your icy crown focuses mostly on sisters and their relationship. I liked that a lot because I like positive female friendships in books. There’s a lot of the older sister giving advice to the younger one and (thankfully) I didn’t feel like the advice was too cheesy or unwanted (I have an older sister and sometimes I don’t always want to accept the advice 

As always with Amanda Lovelace, there’s the important theme of self-love and self-empowerment. In this one it’s the big sister telling the older one to be more happy. Care less about what other people think. Stand up for yourself, make your voice the loudest advocate for you. Lets the younger sister know that even though others might not love her, her older sister always does.