ellaellaellaetc's Reviews (494)

because I read all these books in such close succession, I don't have all the stuff blocked out in my head and I can't necessarily tell which book is which. So I'm just gonna make some sweeping generalisations about the series in this one.

1) I don't think the amplifier storyline makes a lot of sense. I think, especially in the second book, it takes them like two seconds to find the amplifier. and then in the third book most of the plot is dedicated to them trying to find it. also this is massive spoilers but I just don't understand how the whole 'Mal is the amplifier' thing works. Because the whole thing is that he's a descendant of baghra's sister but once he's killed, there is no more (merzost-made) amplifiers. but like, are there really no more VERY LOOSE descendants of baghra's sister? this was like hundreds and hundreds of years ago too, was none of these many descendants ever killed by a grisha? not in the sense that they realised that the person was an amplifier, but surely if a grisha killed mal's great grandfather for example, wouldn't it mean that that grisha would get the power and then there would be no more amplifier???? I'm confused. also the resurrection was so boring oh my god. have guts and kill off your main characters! (although one thing I do admire about leigh bardugo was that she did kill a lot of characters!! good for you, leigh)

2) I hate when people reduce stories to only the romance but I'm afraid I'm going to do that right now. I do not understand how anyone can leave this book NOT being a full on nikolina shipper. cause what do you even mean. chemistry is off the charts!! they understand each other like no one else!!! (in a healthy way too!! not a darkling type of way!!), their relationship just makes so much sense for the characters and for ravka as well!! I was so so so surprised to see that there is not a big fan community for this pairing, they are perfect for each other??? and I love them??

3) I am just so so proud of leigh bardugo! she is def one of my favourite authors (maybe THE favourite?? when I read ninth house and the familar I will update) it is so cool to see her writing improve in each project. these books are great but they're even better because I know where it's leading to! I read the spin off duology immediately after finishing this series so I'll touch more on this in my next reviews but I got genuinely so so sad when I finished everything in this universe 😭😭 I love this world so so much and I'm so glad it exists! 3.5 stars

okay reading this kicked off my reading of one book every single day for the next like I think 5 days. I read every single book in this series and then the king of scars duology which is a spin-off series! so even though I didn't think this was the best series ever written, I did get really hooked and I'm not going to lie, it is because of nikolai. I love this man, he's white boy of the month. I love him and he kept me reading😭😭 so sorry I obsessed😭😭 I had always heard that this series was inferior to six of crows (which I do agree with) but I think it's a hard comparison because six of crows is just THAT good. six of crows is that girl so this series never stood a chance. but I still think this series was really great and I think because I had lower expectations of it I ended up enjoying it more! in my previous review for the first book, I mentioned that I think I enjoyed this because I had seen the show and I kind of knew what would happen. but this book really goes so much more in depth (which doesn't surprise me because the show like season 2 of the show like tried to fit three books into eight episodes which was insane) so I think I had so much fun with this because I was just expecting the show and I just got so much more than I expected! I think my favourite part of this series as a whole (that you get a lot of it in this book) is the whole Alina as a saint and the religious aspect of the story, particularly the relationship between the church, the crown and the people. Very obviously inspired by dune and I love it! even though it is a chosen one story with a love triangle which is pretty like stock standard for fantasy, especially for when this came out, the way the characters navigated the religious/sainthood aspects of the story made it stand out, if anyone has any recommendations similar to this I would love to read them! While this book did slog at times (definitely some second book syndrome) I just love this world so much and I love SOME of these characters (mal and alina are still boring). some aspects of the story still confuse me but I'll go into that for my ruin and rising review. 3.25 stars :)

h my 🤭🤭 um🤭🤭 hehe🤭🤭 um 🤭🤭 this was so good🤭🤭 this was my first ever tessa bailey and it won't be my last!! this is about piper who is a rich, very out of touch influencer who just uses step-daddy's money for everything. when her boyfriend of 3 weeks (her longest ever relationship) dumps her, she breaks into a hotel and has an impromptu pool party with like hundreds of people😭😭 she gets arrested and as a "punishment" her step dad cuts her off and she has to go to the small fishing town where her dad grew up (and then eventually died in🥲🥲) to make her understand her privilege and then obviously she falls in love with a guy there! cute! while not my favourite romance ever, this definitely does the hot pretty girl trope the best! I love how piper was pretty vapid at the start but as she grows throughout the novel, she doesn't lose her love for fashion or make up or any of her other stereotypically feminine "bimbo" traits. while this I think was maybe the straightest book I have read ever (the amount of references to piper talking about his "manly scent" or something was off-putting to me lol) I still really really enjoyed this. also oh my I think those were the best smut scenes I've ever read ngl. i highly highly recommend if this sort of thing is your jam, you will not be disappointed! 4.5 stars!

charming! I really really liked this! After being unimpressed with the live action show (no surprises there) i decided that i would finally pick up the comics. I wanted to read them in publication order and to be honest i didn't think that this one would be that fantastic but I shouldn't have underestimated!! all of these short stories really captured the essence of the show and these characters perfectly! it was such a quick read and I highly recommend that anyone looking for more content with atla vibes to give these a read, this was delightful! 4.25 stars

okay not gonna lie at first I thought that this was a little pretentious. the writing style is definitely not for everyone but by the end, this really managed to tug on my heartstrings in ways that I didn't expect. this is about a failed bank robbery (they tried to rob a cashless bank😭), the robber then flees to a building across the street, stumbles upon an apartment viewing and holds the 7 people there hostage for a few hours before letting them go but when police storm the place, the robber is gone. It's told in a non-linear timeline and you follow the detective slowly unravelling the story of what happened and you get backstory for each of the characters. i highly highly recommend this for those who love found family/a bunch of random people who come to mean so much to one another😭😭 guys i cannot fully describe how sceptical i was of this going into it, like the first 50% i was like okay sure, this isn't bad, I'll play along and I will walk away from this satisfied but i will never think of this book again once I've finished. i couldn't be more wrong! this was so so heartwarming and i really applaud the author for making so many distinct but also interesting characters that were peeled back to reveal more perfectly! all of their stories were so perfectly knit together and this was such a seamless story. also managed to be exciting too! i truly didn't know what was coming next or how everything was going to slot together, I'm so glad i read this <3 4.75 stars

teaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! this was tea! I'm glad I went in knowing that lots of people saw this as a downgrade from the original cruel prince series, with that in mind i went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised! this follows a very brief side character from the original trilogy who is technically the ruler of the court of teeth, suren and jude's younger brother, oak eight years after the end of the 3rd book. this was such a fun story! i thought the pacing was a bit off and the plot confused me quite a lot I'm not going to lie, for a long while it seemed like this story wasn't really going anywhere but oh my. that last 25%. oh girllll!!! that was so so worth it! omg! i was gagged! i think it's because what i loved so much about the cruel prince series was all the scheming and plotting and politics from the mind of jude. suren/wren is a very different character and one that starts out with not a lot of agency. this obviously changed towards the end of the story and that's where the true fun really kicked in for me, I'm excited to read the sequel! 3.75 stars

okay... i was kind of getting into this, all of the commentary was really interesting and the mystery elements were compelling... Until the final 2ish pages. huh😭 what do you even mean. This is about a woman called mona (🤯🤯) who has been nominated for a fancy writing award that will be presented in sweden. it follows her for a weekend of panels and hanging out with other writers all the while she is trying to work out where the strange bruises on her body are from. I'm annoyed caused I really loved the prose and I liked how the book was kind of boring lol but then the final pages just confused me and made me feel like I'd just wasted all my time. What a flop. If you read this don't read the last 5ish pages cause I'm not speaking hyperbolically it really ruined the entire novel for me. 3 stars

tea! read this cause my nine year old cousin lovessss this series. I had a really good time reading it with her on a long car ride, it was very much giving locke and key/spiderwick chronicle vibes. It's about two siblings, their dad dies in a car crash so their mother moves them into this old abandoned house and they unlock some (honestly, terrifying) magic there when mum gets kidnapped :(( I don't think I would continue the series if not for my cousin, I didn't really find the world building to be that interesting enough and it has a very basic plot. however, I will continue to read the next time I babysit! 3 stars

tea. jaime you'll always be famous. this is such an amazing sequel, however, not as memorable as the first book. pls read this series. 4 stars

I got this as a gift... a little bit boring sorry... this is a collection of short stories all based around a cafe where you can time travel! But you cannot leave the chair while you're time travelling and you can only stay until the coffee gets cold. I can understand why people gain a lot of meaning out of this but tbh I didn't really care for it and it seemed a little forced ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ I would say more but I don't actually care enough to write a proper review and I'm sorry😭😭 this was just okay 2.75 stars ig