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eliotts_library
The Cruel Prince: ★★★★
The Wicked King: ★★★★★
I was nervous going into the finale of this series because I'd heard such mixed things about it. Some people say it's fantastic, others say it completely ruined the series for them. I'm so, so glad I'm on the side that loved it!
What a wild ride! I had so much fun with this entire series, I loved every second of it. These books are filled with so many of my favourite tropes and they were all done so well. I loved the characters, the plot twists, the writing, and most of all the world. Holly Black really is the true Queen of Faerie, long may she reign
Queen of Nothing is admittedly my least favourite book in the series, but I still really enjoyed it. I definitely prefer the sinister hatred, trickery, and scheming that the first two books have. Those are all present here, but they kind of took a backseat to make room for wrapping up the plot. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I totally see that it was necessary, but I did miss that element quite a bit as it's my favourite thing about these books. But that's really the only critique that I have. This book was so entertaining and a fantastic conclusion to this story. So glad that I finally got around to reading these!
The Wicked King: ★★★★★
I was nervous going into the finale of this series because I'd heard such mixed things about it. Some people say it's fantastic, others say it completely ruined the series for them. I'm so, so glad I'm on the side that loved it!
What a wild ride! I had so much fun with this entire series, I loved every second of it. These books are filled with so many of my favourite tropes and they were all done so well. I loved the characters, the plot twists, the writing, and most of all the world. Holly Black really is the true Queen of Faerie, long may she reign
Queen of Nothing is admittedly my least favourite book in the series, but I still really enjoyed it. I definitely prefer the sinister hatred, trickery, and scheming that the first two books have. Those are all present here, but they kind of took a backseat to make room for wrapping up the plot. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I totally see that it was necessary, but I did miss that element quite a bit as it's my favourite thing about these books. But that's really the only critique that I have. This book was so entertaining and a fantastic conclusion to this story. So glad that I finally got around to reading these!
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe: ★★★.5
Prince Caspian: ★★★
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
The Silver Chair:
The Horse and His Boy:
The Magician's Nephew:
The Last Battle:
It's hard to rate a book when I'm not the target audience for it
On the one hand, I adore this world and all the characters in it. Narnia is somewhere I've always dreamed of going, even when I was a kid and I'd never even read these books. I'd heard of Narnia through some friends who had been reading this series when I was very young, and ever since I've dreamed of it. Hopefully that gives you an idea of how much I love this world. I really enjoyed Prince Caspian because it gives us a bit about the lore of Narnia and its history, which is what I'm really here for. But on the other hand, the actual plot of it felt so rushed that it was hard to enjoy. I think I felt the same about the first book. This is where it's tricky, because what I think would fix it is more action, more drawn out battles, more struggle. But of course, you can't do that in a children's novel. So while I do love this book, and so far the series as a whole, I can't see myself giving anything in this series higher than a 3.5 because of the plot. But regardless, I still love this world and can't wait to read the next one!
Prince Caspian: ★★★
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
The Silver Chair:
The Horse and His Boy:
The Magician's Nephew:
The Last Battle:
It's hard to rate a book when I'm not the target audience for it
On the one hand, I adore this world and all the characters in it. Narnia is somewhere I've always dreamed of going, even when I was a kid and I'd never even read these books. I'd heard of Narnia through some friends who had been reading this series when I was very young, and ever since I've dreamed of it. Hopefully that gives you an idea of how much I love this world. I really enjoyed Prince Caspian because it gives us a bit about the lore of Narnia and its history, which is what I'm really here for. But on the other hand, the actual plot of it felt so rushed that it was hard to enjoy. I think I felt the same about the first book. This is where it's tricky, because what I think would fix it is more action, more drawn out battles, more struggle. But of course, you can't do that in a children's novel. So while I do love this book, and so far the series as a whole, I can't see myself giving anything in this series higher than a 3.5 because of the plot. But regardless, I still love this world and can't wait to read the next one!
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August 31st, 2020
2.5 stars
Well this sucked. I'm so disappointed, I really thought I would like this despite all the bad reviews. A lot of people didn't think they'd like it because it's a villain backstory, but I live for (fictional) villains so I was hyped. But yeah no this was just straight up bad. I liked some of the side characters, but I didn't care for anything else about this whatsoever. I have so many problems with this book that I don't even know where to start, so I'm just gonna leave it there.
What a disappointment :/
November 14th, 2019
UMM???
WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS
I CAN FEEL MY 14 YEAR OLD SELF CLAWING THEIR WAY OUT OF THE DEPTHS OF MY LONG FORGOTTEN MEMORIES
WAKE ME UP WHEN THIS IS RELEASED PLEASE
2.5 stars
Well this sucked. I'm so disappointed, I really thought I would like this despite all the bad reviews. A lot of people didn't think they'd like it because it's a villain backstory, but I live for (fictional) villains so I was hyped. But yeah no this was just straight up bad. I liked some of the side characters, but I didn't care for anything else about this whatsoever. I have so many problems with this book that I don't even know where to start, so I'm just gonna leave it there.
What a disappointment :/
November 14th, 2019
UMM???
WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS
I CAN FEEL MY 14 YEAR OLD SELF CLAWING THEIR WAY OUT OF THE DEPTHS OF MY LONG FORGOTTEN MEMORIES
WAKE ME UP WHEN THIS IS RELEASED PLEASE
The Diviners: ★★★.5
Lair of Dreams: ★★★★
Before the Devil Breaks You: ★★★
The King of Crows:
So I think I’m the only person in the world who didn’t really enjoy this book
Lair of Dreams: ★★★★
Before the Devil Breaks You: ★★★
The King of Crows:
So I think I’m the only person in the world who didn’t really enjoy this book
There was some useful information in here, but the way it was written was so hard to get through that it made it difficult to focus on anything of interest. I also feel like a lot of the information in here is just... painfully obvious. If you have been a manager, or have ever had a manager, then you probably already know the vast majority of what’s in here
3.5⭐️
First of all, thank you so much to Matthew for sending this my way!
This is a collection of poetry written while healing from a breakup with a long-term partner. It’s honest, raw, emotional, and Matthew definitely doesn’t hold back. This felt like reading someone’s diary, all their deepest thoughts and emotions, which I appreciated. I find a lot of poetry (that I read, at least) tends to try and be more general so as to appeal to a larger audience, which can make it hard to connect to. So I really like that Matthew was clear with the fact that he was writing about a specific event in his life, and that this book was mostly about one person.
With that said, that is also where my one main issue with this collection came in. This book is split into 4 parts. In Acts 1 and 2, I assume those were written shortly after the breakup when the strongest emotion he was feeling was anger. And let me preface by saying feeling that anger is completely valid, and I think the healthiest thing you can do is to allow yourself to fully feel whatever emotions you need to feel. So this is not to say that I don’t think he should have been angry. However, the level of anger in the first two acts were filled with aggression as well, and knowing that all this aggression was directed at one specific person made me a little uncomfortable at times. For context on my part, I have never been broken up with before, I’ve only ever been the one to do the breaking up. So while reading this, I wasn’t able to connect with all the emotions he was feeling, so I couldn’t really understand why that amount of aggression was necessary. Being that I have been in the shoes of his ex before, I found myself imaging how I would feel if one of my exes had written this about me, and it was not a comfortable thought to have. Personally, I don’t think it’s ever appropriate to tell someone that their actions made you want to commit suicide. It is of course a valid thing to feel, and I feel deeply for Matthew for having gone through that, as I also struggle with severe mental health issues. But this is the one time where I wish he hadn’t specified that this book was about one person, because in my opinion it’s not fair to put that on their shoulders.
But moving onto the positives, which there are a lot more of!
I love how vivid Matthew is able to paint his emotions. I’m also someone who feels everything so deeply, and I think it’s a beautiful thing (although painful at times). Matthew does not seem afraid to bare his soul and lay everything out in the open. Even though this book is open for anyone to read, the way it’s written makes it feel like a privilege to be allowed to see all these vulnerable parts of Matthew. It is not an easy thing to do, but Matthew managed to do it so beautifully, so I applaud him for that.
I especially loved the format he chose for this book, the four acts. It was a really easy way to track his journey, and better understand where he was emotionally throughout the course of this book. Acts three and four were my favourites, where he was still angry and sad, but the aggression was gone and he was starting to process his emotions and begin healing. He began to understand himself better, learned things about his own personality and the way that he feels things, and most importantly he begins to learn how to process his emotions in a healthier way. It was really interesting to witness this process, as it’s one that we all go through but rarely pay attention to the growth in the moment. We usually only see the ways in which we’ve grown when it’s hindsight; we look back and think “wow I’ve really changed since then.” But Matthew seemed able to capture his growth in the moments they were happening, as was very evident in the way his writing changed in the second half of the book, and that was fascinating to read.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and I’m looking forward to getting to his next collection. Thank you again to Matthew for sending me these, it’s very much appreciated!
First of all, thank you so much to Matthew for sending this my way!
This is a collection of poetry written while healing from a breakup with a long-term partner. It’s honest, raw, emotional, and Matthew definitely doesn’t hold back. This felt like reading someone’s diary, all their deepest thoughts and emotions, which I appreciated. I find a lot of poetry (that I read, at least) tends to try and be more general so as to appeal to a larger audience, which can make it hard to connect to. So I really like that Matthew was clear with the fact that he was writing about a specific event in his life, and that this book was mostly about one person.
With that said, that is also where my one main issue with this collection came in. This book is split into 4 parts. In Acts 1 and 2, I assume those were written shortly after the breakup when the strongest emotion he was feeling was anger. And let me preface by saying feeling that anger is completely valid, and I think the healthiest thing you can do is to allow yourself to fully feel whatever emotions you need to feel. So this is not to say that I don’t think he should have been angry. However, the level of anger in the first two acts were filled with aggression as well, and knowing that all this aggression was directed at one specific person made me a little uncomfortable at times. For context on my part, I have never been broken up with before, I’ve only ever been the one to do the breaking up. So while reading this, I wasn’t able to connect with all the emotions he was feeling, so I couldn’t really understand why that amount of aggression was necessary. Being that I have been in the shoes of his ex before, I found myself imaging how I would feel if one of my exes had written this about me, and it was not a comfortable thought to have. Personally, I don’t think it’s ever appropriate to tell someone that their actions made you want to commit suicide. It is of course a valid thing to feel, and I feel deeply for Matthew for having gone through that, as I also struggle with severe mental health issues. But this is the one time where I wish he hadn’t specified that this book was about one person, because in my opinion it’s not fair to put that on their shoulders.
But moving onto the positives, which there are a lot more of!
I love how vivid Matthew is able to paint his emotions. I’m also someone who feels everything so deeply, and I think it’s a beautiful thing (although painful at times). Matthew does not seem afraid to bare his soul and lay everything out in the open. Even though this book is open for anyone to read, the way it’s written makes it feel like a privilege to be allowed to see all these vulnerable parts of Matthew. It is not an easy thing to do, but Matthew managed to do it so beautifully, so I applaud him for that.
I especially loved the format he chose for this book, the four acts. It was a really easy way to track his journey, and better understand where he was emotionally throughout the course of this book. Acts three and four were my favourites, where he was still angry and sad, but the aggression was gone and he was starting to process his emotions and begin healing. He began to understand himself better, learned things about his own personality and the way that he feels things, and most importantly he begins to learn how to process his emotions in a healthier way. It was really interesting to witness this process, as it’s one that we all go through but rarely pay attention to the growth in the moment. We usually only see the ways in which we’ve grown when it’s hindsight; we look back and think “wow I’ve really changed since then.” But Matthew seemed able to capture his growth in the moments they were happening, as was very evident in the way his writing changed in the second half of the book, and that was fascinating to read.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and I’m looking forward to getting to his next collection. Thank you again to Matthew for sending me these, it’s very much appreciated!
Some really beautiful pieces in here, a lot of it resonated with me right now. The first and last chapters were my favourites. The rest were nice, but I did find it to be pretty repetitive. There were several poems that were very similar to one that I had just read a few pages before, and the same metaphors used over and over again. I think this would be better if I’d read maybe one or two poems a day instead of mostly in one sitting, that way the repetitiveness wouldn’t have been so obvious and I could have just enjoyed the beauty of each poem individually without comparing them to the ones I’d just read