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eggcatsreads's Reviews (480)
The sound effects and voice acting were phenomenal, and if the story matched that it would have been 5 stars. If the story could have been as good as the premise and the sound design it might have been as great as the White Vault. It is not.
The main character is annoying and boring, and the entire plot of discovering more about each character from these "therapy" sessions just to have a tiny bit of backstory before they die, as a replacement of actually telling a story. What was the plot? What was the point? What was the theme? Could not tell you.
Each character has a random "plot twist" that sets them up to die, and while the original characters they do it too make sense they slowly just take it to the extreme for shock value instead of good storytelling (the one character going from mildly paranoid/liking conspiracy theories to suddenly believing he's one of the only real human beings alive and being monitored by everyone else was....a hard sell. And then what, the character with an eating disorder suddenly believing there's a virus with everyone else causing her to starve herself to death and destroying the radio. Once again, what was the point?). Plus, the ambiguous ending was supposed to be nice but overall it was just a letdown tbh.
It was an interesting listen but the main character going on and on about her lost love to narrating nonsense could have been cut to make the entire experience half as long and less painful to listen to.
The main character is annoying and boring, and the entire plot of discovering more about each character from these "therapy" sessions just to have a tiny bit of backstory before they die, as a replacement of actually telling a story. What was the plot? What was the point? What was the theme? Could not tell you.
Each character has a random "plot twist" that sets them up to die, and while the original characters they do it too make sense they slowly just take it to the extreme for shock value instead of good storytelling (the one character going from mildly paranoid/liking conspiracy theories to suddenly believing he's one of the only real human beings alive and being monitored by everyone else was....a hard sell. And then what, the character with an eating disorder suddenly believing there's a virus with everyone else causing her to starve herself to death and destroying the radio. Once again, what was the point?). Plus, the ambiguous ending was supposed to be nice but overall it was just a letdown tbh.
It was an interesting listen but the main character going on and on about her lost love to narrating nonsense could have been cut to make the entire experience half as long and less painful to listen to.
This is a story of Medusa, but told through the point of view of everyone involved in the entire story - whether they know they are or not. I wasn't certain I would like the multiple povs throughout this novel but I thought they fit very nicely in telling a bigger picture. It was interesting how everything intersected, as well as getting an inner look at the thoughts of everyone whose story connects with Medusa in some way, when in previous tellings you're told what the character does but not how they feel about it.
However, if you're looking for a story told entirely from Medusa's pov, or telling a different story than the well known myths, this might not be what you're looking for.
I will say that if you're not at least semi-familiar with many of the myths involving Medusa and the surrounding influences, I think some parts might be a bit confusing on figuring out how they all relate to each other. They are explained, but I knew the myths as they were being described so I could have missed something that needed explained that someone who doesn't know them would need.
However, if you're looking for a story told entirely from Medusa's pov, or telling a different story than the well known myths, this might not be what you're looking for.
I will say that if you're not at least semi-familiar with many of the myths involving Medusa and the surrounding influences, I think some parts might be a bit confusing on figuring out how they all relate to each other. They are explained, but I knew the myths as they were being described so I could have missed something that needed explained that someone who doesn't know them would need.
I might try to sit down and do a real review later, but as of now: Mild spoilers below.
Shiori isn't a character but more of a vessel for things to happen TO her to make the plot move forward and she's a boring main character.
We leave the dragon realm and Seryu on page 148, and both are never seen again (except for a literal cameo in the epilogue to try to make us forget that he was basically ripped from the narrative)
The book is called The Dragon's Promise but the big promise we have to care about wasn't even with a dragon, it was Shiori's stepmother, and our entire trip to the Dragon Realm wasn't even relevant to the rest of the plot. The first 30% of the book has almost nothing to do with the last, and the getting to the demon island was almost pointlessly boring and short-lived by the time it happened.
The plot (if you can call it that) suddenly changes gears and gives us a more relevant ending, completely estranged from the middle of the book, in the literal last 60 pages. The first 148 pages are the dragon realm, the next about 250 pages are a middle plot completely different with the most pointless "battle" and solution to the "big bad guy" and the drama being a stupid plot device by the stupid talking paper bird, and then the last 60 pages are a completely DIFFERENT ending and solution to the narrative. And then Seryu comes back (only alluded to) as a Deus ex Machina to keep Shiori alive because Seryu only exists to love her and keep her safe, that's it.
Literally every side character is more interesting than the main ones. I am infinitely more interested in how the half-dragons came to be and her stepmother's past than Shiori trying and failing every other page and then whining that she's "betrayed" by people she met the day before and constantly fluctuating between being competent at magic or failing terribly, depending on whatever is needed to move the story forward.
Shiori has the option of a literal dragon prince who gave her a piece of his soul and not only risked his life to protect her, but reached his full dragon potential to take on the god of the dragon's to save her. And she chooses the human. The human???? Who is just some guy??? Takkan is fine on his own but c'mon now, compared to Seryu where is the competition.
It's such an insult how much Seryu isn't even an option as a love interest, his entire character is being in love with Shiori and keeping her safe and her rejecting him. Why does he even need to be in love with her at this point just make them friends if you're not even going to consider him.
--
Listen, I really wanted to like this book. I knew it might take a while, since it took a bit for Six Crimson Cranes to entice me to the 4 stars I gave it from the 2/3 it was hovering at for the longest time. But I couldn't. This book took so long for me to read, when normally I would have finished this within a day or so based on my normal pace. But this book sat at the mid-point for 2 days without me touching it bc it didn't interest me so much, to the point where I didn't even have the desire to continue the audiobook of it I was listening to. I had to just force myself to sit and finish this book just to finish the last 200 pages, when normally that would be just about 2-3 hours of reading.
It was a struggle because by that point I didn't care what would happen in the narrative, since we had taken out the character I was excited and expecting this book to focus on (Seryu) and instead brought back ANOTHER guy whose entire character trait is being in love with Shiori (Takkan) who is, I'm sorry, much more boring of a character and makes Shiori (another boring character) even worse to read about.
(Also I know it was a thing in the first book but god do I hate the trope of talking animal companion who is the most annoying being to walk the earth - why do these books keep including them???? Set the paper crane on fire I hated every interaction. The fact that the big bad demon got the name of the half-demon dragon because the stupid bird wouldn't shut up almost made me throw the book because it irritated me so much.)
Shiori isn't a character but more of a vessel for things to happen TO her to make the plot move forward and she's a boring main character.
We leave the dragon realm and Seryu on page 148, and both are never seen again (except for a literal cameo in the epilogue to try to make us forget that he was basically ripped from the narrative)
The book is called The Dragon's Promise but the big promise we have to care about wasn't even with a dragon, it was Shiori's stepmother, and our entire trip to the Dragon Realm wasn't even relevant to the rest of the plot. The first 30% of the book has almost nothing to do with the last, and the getting to the demon island was almost pointlessly boring and short-lived by the time it happened.
The plot (if you can call it that) suddenly changes gears and gives us a more relevant ending, completely estranged from the middle of the book, in the literal last 60 pages. The first 148 pages are the dragon realm, the next about 250 pages are a middle plot completely different with the most pointless "battle" and solution to the "big bad guy" and the drama being a stupid plot device by the stupid talking paper bird, and then the last 60 pages are a completely DIFFERENT ending and solution to the narrative. And then Seryu comes back (only alluded to) as a Deus ex Machina to keep Shiori alive because Seryu only exists to love her and keep her safe, that's it.
Literally every side character is more interesting than the main ones. I am infinitely more interested in how the half-dragons came to be and her stepmother's past than Shiori trying and failing every other page and then whining that she's "betrayed" by people she met the day before and constantly fluctuating between being competent at magic or failing terribly, depending on whatever is needed to move the story forward.
Shiori has the option of a literal dragon prince who gave her a piece of his soul and not only risked his life to protect her, but reached his full dragon potential to take on the god of the dragon's to save her. And she chooses the human. The human???? Who is just some guy??? Takkan is fine on his own but c'mon now, compared to Seryu where is the competition.
It's such an insult how much Seryu isn't even an option as a love interest, his entire character is being in love with Shiori and keeping her safe and her rejecting him. Why does he even need to be in love with her at this point just make them friends if you're not even going to consider him.
--
Listen, I really wanted to like this book. I knew it might take a while, since it took a bit for Six Crimson Cranes to entice me to the 4 stars I gave it from the 2/3 it was hovering at for the longest time. But I couldn't. This book took so long for me to read, when normally I would have finished this within a day or so based on my normal pace. But this book sat at the mid-point for 2 days without me touching it bc it didn't interest me so much, to the point where I didn't even have the desire to continue the audiobook of it I was listening to. I had to just force myself to sit and finish this book just to finish the last 200 pages, when normally that would be just about 2-3 hours of reading.
It was a struggle because by that point I didn't care what would happen in the narrative, since we had taken out the character I was excited and expecting this book to focus on (Seryu) and instead brought back ANOTHER guy whose entire character trait is being in love with Shiori (Takkan) who is, I'm sorry, much more boring of a character and makes Shiori (another boring character) even worse to read about.
(Also I know it was a thing in the first book but god do I hate the trope of talking animal companion who is the most annoying being to walk the earth - why do these books keep including them???? Set the paper crane on fire I hated every interaction. The fact that the big bad demon got the name of the half-demon dragon because the stupid bird wouldn't shut up almost made me throw the book because it irritated me so much.)
This book was such a fascinating read, I was interested the entire time. I listened to this through audiobook, and there were times I audibly gasped aloud (and a few laughs at the absurdity of some of the situations). This is written in such a way to help you learn about the disaster, even if you have almost no prior knowledge of it, or nuclear physics, and yet never talks down to you/or above where you can't understand what's going on.
It masterfully builds up how the disaster happened, what build up to it, and the aftermath in such an engaging way. Even though you know the "ending" so to speak, I was still on the edge of my seat waiting for what would be, essentially, the final straw.
It almost felt like I was there, and hearing the stories of the men and women there (and how so many were ignorant of the effects of radioactivity on the human body) vs their attempts to salvage the situation, many of which were in vain despite the human cost of doing so - was so impactful. And then, the blatant lies and propaganda, and the refusing to see the issue/danger of the situation by the people TELLING these people what to to - made me so furious. Just how preventable the entire thing was, and how preventable how many people who died/were harmed trying to salvage it was, and how preventable the tons of affected people who had NOTHING to do with the situation - it's infuriating and heartbreaking at the same time.
It masterfully contrasted the propaganda of the USSR vs the realities of what was actually going on and how the rest of the world was perceiving everything that was happening. It blew my mind that the entire reason anyone even "found out" about Chernobyl, so to speak, was because it's scale was so big it was affecting countries outside the control of the USSR, and so they were backed into a corner to admitting it (although only barely, and only the bare minimum).
If you're interested at ALL in this disaster, I highly suggest this book. It was so interesting, and told in a way that taught you the facts, let you learn, but didn't FEEL like reading a book on just facts. I understand so much more now than I originally did (which, admittedly, was not much) and since I read this through audiobook I'm seriously considering purchasing the physical copy so I can re-read this at my leisure, since this was so fascinating and told so well.
(Also, knowing how much more I know now, I'm even significantly LESS confident about the safety of the Chernobyl tours that apparently people can take that I discovered existed due to TikTok.)
It masterfully builds up how the disaster happened, what build up to it, and the aftermath in such an engaging way. Even though you know the "ending" so to speak, I was still on the edge of my seat waiting for what would be, essentially, the final straw.
It almost felt like I was there, and hearing the stories of the men and women there (and how so many were ignorant of the effects of radioactivity on the human body) vs their attempts to salvage the situation, many of which were in vain despite the human cost of doing so - was so impactful. And then, the blatant lies and propaganda, and the refusing to see the issue/danger of the situation by the people TELLING these people what to to - made me so furious. Just how preventable the entire thing was, and how preventable how many people who died/were harmed trying to salvage it was, and how preventable the tons of affected people who had NOTHING to do with the situation - it's infuriating and heartbreaking at the same time.
It masterfully contrasted the propaganda of the USSR vs the realities of what was actually going on and how the rest of the world was perceiving everything that was happening. It blew my mind that the entire reason anyone even "found out" about Chernobyl, so to speak, was because it's scale was so big it was affecting countries outside the control of the USSR, and so they were backed into a corner to admitting it (although only barely, and only the bare minimum).
If you're interested at ALL in this disaster, I highly suggest this book. It was so interesting, and told in a way that taught you the facts, let you learn, but didn't FEEL like reading a book on just facts. I understand so much more now than I originally did (which, admittedly, was not much) and since I read this through audiobook I'm seriously considering purchasing the physical copy so I can re-read this at my leisure, since this was so fascinating and told so well.
(Also, knowing how much more I know now, I'm even significantly LESS confident about the safety of the Chernobyl tours that apparently people can take that I discovered existed due to TikTok.)
If you love secret societies, magic, deadly secrets, AND beautiful dresses with high society (and can't forget the romance!) I highly suggest this book!
I was honestly surprised by how well all the seemingly separated concepts worked in this novel, and never once did anything seem like it didn't fit. The magic in this world involves having diadems or beautiful masks covered with jewels, and it works! I thought the world building was so cool and unique and I've never read anything like it before. (Also I loved the descriptions for what someone's gowns or diadems looked like throughout the novel, it was always fun to me to imagine what each character was wearing and how it all fit together, while they were going about their daily life.)
There were also a lot of character twists I didn't see coming until the reveal, where in hindsight it made it make all the more sense. There were a few things I thought seemed kind of odd with what some characters were doing or what was going on, but I was supposed to and even then I didn't see the reveal(s) coming!
ALSO. THAT ENDING WAS LETHAL. I wish I was recording myself reading because my jaw quite literally dropped at the reveal and I gasped out loud with a hand over my mouth.
I was honestly surprised by how well all the seemingly separated concepts worked in this novel, and never once did anything seem like it didn't fit. The magic in this world involves having diadems or beautiful masks covered with jewels, and it works! I thought the world building was so cool and unique and I've never read anything like it before. (Also I loved the descriptions for what someone's gowns or diadems looked like throughout the novel, it was always fun to me to imagine what each character was wearing and how it all fit together, while they were going about their daily life.)
There were also a lot of character twists I didn't see coming until the reveal, where in hindsight it made it make all the more sense. There were a few things I thought seemed kind of odd with what some characters were doing or what was going on, but I was supposed to and even then I didn't see the reveal(s) coming!
ALSO. THAT ENDING WAS LETHAL. I wish I was recording myself reading because my jaw quite literally dropped at the reveal and I gasped out loud with a hand over my mouth.
The main character spends the entire novel cheating on her husband, getting drunk, and not even bothering to mother her children and then at the end is rewarded for it???? There's NO CONSEQUENCES FOR HER ACTIONS. Her husband just, gets out of jail and returns to her and there's no discussion about her rampant cheating and ignoring him and their children while she goes off to another state to her have her affair and forcing her sister to be their mother instead. Instead it's all "oh we all live happily ever after now and I'm Super Good At Magic and we all live our happy lives all together, let's not mention the ugly details of my cheating and abandoning my children, ever."
Does he know? Is he aware how terrible his wife is, or will that come up some time in the future? She literally was about to let him rot in jail to go back to her highschool boyfriend, and if circumstances were just SLIGHTLY different, if he didn't decide to try to kill his wife and instead divorced her instead, she'd just have married him and moved on and never once questioned anything while letting her loving and caring husband rot in jail for a crime he didn't commit.
The epilogue should have resulted in him divorcing her and taking the children with him. She had absolutely no consequences for acting like an immature child the entire novel and forcing her sister to be the mother to both her and her children, or for ignoring her husband while he's in jail to the point that the LAWYER SHE HIRED HAS TO SHOW UP AT HER HOUSE UNANNOUNCED BECAUSE SHE WON'T TAKE HER CALLS.
Why does the detective like her? She's done nothing to earn her trust. What causes her to be like "I don't believe the husband did it, and somehow this unstable woman openly sleeping with the boyfriend she had when she was accused of ANOTHER drowning, is a good source of information and I trust her." What.
This book would have been 2 stars instead of 1 if the main character faced even ONE SINGLE CONSEQUENCE for her terrible actions. But instead she's rewarded for them.
Does he know? Is he aware how terrible his wife is, or will that come up some time in the future? She literally was about to let him rot in jail to go back to her highschool boyfriend, and if circumstances were just SLIGHTLY different, if he didn't decide to try to kill his wife and instead divorced her instead, she'd just have married him and moved on and never once questioned anything while letting her loving and caring husband rot in jail for a crime he didn't commit.
The epilogue should have resulted in him divorcing her and taking the children with him. She had absolutely no consequences for acting like an immature child the entire novel and forcing her sister to be the mother to both her and her children, or for ignoring her husband while he's in jail to the point that the LAWYER SHE HIRED HAS TO SHOW UP AT HER HOUSE UNANNOUNCED BECAUSE SHE WON'T TAKE HER CALLS.
Why does the detective like her? She's done nothing to earn her trust. What causes her to be like "I don't believe the husband did it, and somehow this unstable woman openly sleeping with the boyfriend she had when she was accused of ANOTHER drowning, is a good source of information and I trust her." What.
This book would have been 2 stars instead of 1 if the main character faced even ONE SINGLE CONSEQUENCE for her terrible actions. But instead she's rewarded for them.
THAT was the twist I spent all this time with the most annoying main character for??? That??? This concept would have been so much better if the main character was likeable, everything moved at a less excruciating slow pace, and the supernatural aspect was taken out.
This book would have been SO MUCH better if the supernatural aspect wasn't explicitly shown. Does subtlety and interpretation mean nothing??? I almost gave this book 1 star for that alone.
*Spoiler ahead*
OR. If we got an epilogue or something making it less explicit, and giving a possibility of it being the main character's psychosis instead of just "yeah the house is alive".
We ALREADY had a buildup of the main character continuing what her father did - WHY did we have to try to make him innocent and blame it on the mother??? Hello misogyny?? Tell me why the RPG horror game Mad Father fared better with the father being fucked up, the mother loving him anyway, and the daughter continuing his legacy - and doesn't try to retroactively absolve the father of his sins.
This book would have been SO MUCH better if the supernatural aspect wasn't explicitly shown. Does subtlety and interpretation mean nothing??? I almost gave this book 1 star for that alone.
*Spoiler ahead*
OR. If we got an epilogue or something making it less explicit, and giving a possibility of it being the main character's psychosis instead of just "yeah the house is alive".
We ALREADY had a buildup of the main character continuing what her father did - WHY did we have to try to make him innocent and blame it on the mother??? Hello misogyny?? Tell me why the RPG horror game Mad Father fared better with the father being fucked up, the mother loving him anyway, and the daughter continuing his legacy - and doesn't try to retroactively absolve the father of his sins.
I think the comparison to The Hazel Wood does this book a disservice - both main characters are likeable and the black character isn't there just to prop them up and be insulted, so it's already leagues better. My reading this was DESPITE the comparison, because The Hazel Wood was not a pleasant read and I would never recommend reading it.
I think this should also have been marketed at Lovecraftian horror, since all the negative reviews hate that aspect despite it being interesting and fun during the book. Who doesn't love cosmic horror? There's tentacles on cover it kind of gives you an idea of what you're getting into.
The only complaint is that this book felt vaguely juvenile at places, but since it's a YA with 16yr old protagonists I let that go, that's to be expected. The LGBT rep with Connie felt rough at the beginning, but eventually she got into the swing of it where it wasn't awkward to read.
Spoiler
Also people not liking the ending is wild to me, who doesn't love unexplained unhappy ambiguous endings.
(It also explains to me how Adelle lived so long with scissors in her neck. I love the potential of the horror continuing and them actually having a fake victory.)
I think this should also have been marketed at Lovecraftian horror, since all the negative reviews hate that aspect despite it being interesting and fun during the book. Who doesn't love cosmic horror? There's tentacles on cover it kind of gives you an idea of what you're getting into.
The only complaint is that this book felt vaguely juvenile at places, but since it's a YA with 16yr old protagonists I let that go, that's to be expected. The LGBT rep with Connie felt rough at the beginning, but eventually she got into the swing of it where it wasn't awkward to read.
Spoiler
Also people not liking the ending is wild to me, who doesn't love unexplained unhappy ambiguous endings.
(It also explains to me how Adelle lived so long with scissors in her neck. I love the potential of the horror continuing and them actually having a fake victory.)
It's not that this book was bad. It's just that it was predictable and told you the entire plot from the synopsis - but even if it didn't there were no surprising twists. It was okay, but flat. Maybe if you don't read a lot of horror this would get you, but honestly nothing that happened shocked or disturbed me - it was all "evil hick family in Appalachia" to a T.
Spoiler below:
It would have been better if at the end Michael decided to be a real member of the family, instead of taking the entire book to monologue about how terrible everything is for him and ending the book the same way. Just...I think a twist of that would have turned this book around for me, tbh.
Especially with the few hints about him only being attracted to dead women, and his anger at Alice being afraid of him despite him not attacking her. I thought for SURE he was going to either kidnap or kill her at the end. Also, the sudden change from him being attracted to her to not once he found out she was his sister I thought for sure was a red herring. I fully expected the end to be him either killing her or keeping her captive to make his own killer family instead, given the explicit incest implications of everything that had happened before with his mother and his false sister.
Spoiler below:
It would have been better if at the end Michael decided to be a real member of the family, instead of taking the entire book to monologue about how terrible everything is for him and ending the book the same way. Just...I think a twist of that would have turned this book around for me, tbh.
Especially with the few hints about him only being attracted to dead women, and his anger at Alice being afraid of him despite him not attacking her. I thought for SURE he was going to either kidnap or kill her at the end. Also, the sudden change from him being attracted to her to not once he found out she was his sister I thought for sure was a red herring. I fully expected the end to be him either killing her or keeping her captive to make his own killer family instead, given the explicit incest implications of everything that had happened before with his mother and his false sister.