eloise_bradbooks's Reviews (801)

I can feel so many fanfic tropes coming but hey, I'm here for it.

3.5
I've read a fair share of TJ Klune novels by now, and admittedly I love most of them. I love the Tales of Verania series. I love the characters and have a great time reading about their dumb actions and how their love for each other keeps growing. I really do.

After three books in this series though, I have to point out little aspects that annoy me. They have come up in the previous books too but I was able to look past them as they were tiny in comparison to the positives. While reading Consumption though, I couldn't let these things go. They were a little too visible to me.

The negatives:
- Repetition. For the first half I felt like rereading too many paragraphs we already got in the previous books. Some, over and over again. Book 2 only came out 5 months ago, I KNOW you're angry at the wizards, I KNOW Kevin and Gary are on a break, I KNOW ABOUT THE BIRD FFS stop saying it in every chapter!!!
- Women [lack thereof]. Three books (so far), twenty or thirty characters, not one of them is a well-rounded female character that stands on her own without being a stereotype of a sweet mother figure, old crazy witch or ridiculous fangirl. Also, having to call the female dragons lady-bro or lady-dude was unnecessary. UGH.
- Jokes? In the previous books, I found the jokes aspect so funny. And it's not that they aren't funny anymore, but simply that there are too many. I watched Thor: Ragnarok the other day and realised the exact same thing: jokes are nice, but having five jokes every minute, in the middle of heart-felt moments especially, just breaks the pile of emotions I was starting to accumulate because of brilliant heartfelt conversations.

But ultimately? My heart aches and feels warm at the same time. This found-family of dumbass kids who protect each other is what I live for. I still feel very attached to them and I don't want them to suffer anymore SO STAWP IT!

I need the fourth book But also I don't want it to end.

La Différence Invisible est un témoignage sous forme de bd/ roman graphique d'une jeune femme réalisant qu'elle est autiste asperger.
J'ai été très touchée par l'histoire et j'apprécie qu'il y a en plus des éléments pour éduquer les lecteurs à ce trouble du développement qui reste encore très mal diagnostiqué et reconnu en France.

2d reading, December 2017: I still really enjoy this. I realise the writing is really simple, it may seem bland to some, but for me it's nice. It's refreshing to see imperfect characters and there's room to grow.
That ending is messy but I WANT MORE.
Daphne better get a major role.
GIVE ME CHAINBREAKER.

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4-4.5 /5 - I LOVED THIS BOOK ! Up until 3/4, it was going to be a 5-star-loved-every-moment-of-it and I have so much to say so I'm sorry about the length of this (I'll put in bold the main points).

I loved the characters. Not just the lonely, anxious, grieving clocktower mechanic and the just as lonely, sweet adorable clocktower spirit who find themselves pulled to each other, but also the secondary characters, especially Daphne, who bring interesting dynamics to the story.
MORE FROM DAPHNE PLS.

I loved the idea of this story, and the magical realism aspects it took on. The whole idea of each town's time being determined by their clocktower, and if something happens to the clocktower (=to the spirit of the clocktower), then that has repercussions on the town. SO INTERESTING.

It was quite a simple but beautiful story, with well rounded characters.
At first I found it odd how the characters seemed younger than they were (17 - 18), with their behaviours and how they spoke mostly. But then I realised No, that's actually great! Because I have been used to reading about teens going on epic adventures and being able to fight without being scared all of a sudden without any training. But here we have characters you could actually find yourself in. They are young teenagers, trying to get through life. And I liked how the romance was nice and sweet and I am creating a 'Protect These Characters' squad if anyone wants to join?

Oh by the way, I liked seeing a diverse cast of characters even though it's set in the late 16th century. POC are included, girls are GREAT (different types of girl mechanics - YEAH!), homosexuality is mostly looked upon indifferently. And of course the author notes at the end that in the 16th Century these are things you might not see, but it is something she had to add seeing as we reading it are in the 21st Century - THANK YOU!

So now I have to talk about the last fifth of the book because that's the part (only part) I didn't really enjoy that much... When everything sped up all of a sudden and loads of stuff started going on, I got a little confused as to why certain things were happening. It wasn't clear to me as to why they were doing X, and why not something easier, more simple, because I could imagine things being just a little less confusing...

But anyway, that really doesn't take away from the fact I enjoyed this so much! I also realised at the end that it isn't a stand alone but a trilogy and I CAN NOT WAIT until the next book comes out!
I'm mostly really nervous about how the main relationship is going to evolve because how on Earth are they going to have their happy ending? I want them to have a happy ending.

A cast of very well rounded characters in a dark and intriguing story.
I loved the kids just as much -if not more- than the adults, but each relationship dynamic was very good. I still feel like it could have been deeper though, especially as there was a hint of a found-family aspect that could have been talked about more powerfully.

The mystery element was a little confusing to me at times and by the end it still felt a little incomplete. Which is fine sometimes, but here it felt like certain things were still confusing because there would be more stories within this world that would complete the mystery. I felt like it was opening up a book around V. and maybe even G., but also maybe more backstory on Loz and their family?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the writer has planned more books with these characters.

Anyway, altogether I really enjoyed the book and I'm starting to get a sense of the kind of books Suki Fleet writes, and I'm all here for it.

Okay, this was SO FUNNY. But also so short.
Meeting the rest of the cast in this issue was GREAT. I can't wait to get to know them more.

I'm honestly considering getting the issues once they're all out because only reading small chapters each time is killing me?
How many issues will there be?
I read somewhere that there would be 6 but I can't see how we're going to get much development with only 6 issues if they're this short.

Short book about horny boys at Christmas who develop feelings they weren't expecting.
Yeah it was so short there wasn't much depth, but it remains enjoyable if all you're looking for a short book with a bit of easy romance and a wintery vibe.

First off, I'm not trans. It's important for me to say that because it is important for people who are looking for good representation to read reviews by people who ARE, because no one will give you a better opinion than them.
Also, my views on this are quite personal and don't seem to be the way most readers have felt, so feel free to ignore me.
If you're interested in certain words being used to make jokes "for fun" even though they could offed someone - and how the book was totally okay with that (I'm not), then please read on.

I liked the setting (England, yay!) and of course reading an own-voices story about a trans guy is something we should get more of. I found it interesting to get views on transgenderism in England and how transitioning is dealt with. I loved seeing that consent and boundaries in relationships was a major aspect of this story. We're getting real conversations about dysphoria and kissing and sexual intimacy not only for the trans character but for any person in any type of relationship. Very well done.

Oddly, the only thing that bothered me had to do with being uncomfortable with some things that were said and done, regarding possible triggers.
The group of friends we follow during this book are, ultimately, a great bunch. They do love and respect each other. However, they're all verbally insulting each other. They give each other names and say things that are meant to be insulting - for fun.
There's a whole speech about how you are allowed to give someone a name that might be offensive, if that person is okay with it and doesn't find it offensive because of so and so reason.
So that's what the guys do. All throughout. Jokes about being a girl for example, to "reduce" the guys. A few jokes are made related to Anton being trans.
And Anton says it's okay. He's okay with that, so nothing else needs to be said.

HOWEVER. I still personally felt like this wasn't right. I don't like people calling other people names, whether it's "for fun" or not. I don't like it, I don't agree with it, it reminds me of times I was given names as an insult for other people to laugh at. And no, I wasn't in the situation where I could give my consent for these jokes but if I had been, I wouldn't have given it. Words that could be insulting to some people, or even dysphoria triggering, shouldn't be used-until-we're-told-not-to-say-them.
Maybe those words didn't hurt Anton. I noted that the book says "Not like it would have, in the past". Clearly Anton is at a point where he doesn't feel offended anymore by silly little words other guys say that joke about girl-stuff when you're a guy. But clearly that means that there was a time when he was hurt and triggered. That is when a conversation should have been started about the fact that SOME PEOPLE WOULD BE OFFENDED/HURT/TRIGGERED by this. And if it's okay for Anton to hear it, it's not going to be okay for some other people to hear it.
So calm it down. Don't scream those words aloud in a jokey way. Because that is how some people, who aren't as comfortable as Anton is, are going to get hurt.

Sadly this bothered me to a point where I didn't like the love interested. And.... you're not gonna love a book if you don't like the main character's reason to be happy.
Even if the rest of the book deserves praise, in the end I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

Ultimately, it's one small thing that I, a cis girl, thinks. The writer is trans and finds this fine. Other reviewers who are also trans have found this fine.
I'm sure it will depend on how comfortable you are and how easily triggered you could be. In my opinion, I'd say go in with knowledge that there are possibly triggering comments being made throughout.

Aaaaw I enjoyed this so much!
Webcomics are my new favourite thing: free, beautiful art, often much better representation than other media, and you fly through it. Ignition Zero is no exception.
read it here: http://ignitionzero.com/archive/ You're welcome. Or buy the books. That's also good.

I started reading it knowing that two of the main characters were homoromantic asexuals. I then realised the whole cast of characters was super diverse in sexualities (aces, and aros, and a genderfluid-polyamoros-panromantic-wiccan-dragqueen), genders, races, dealing with mental health, personnalities and fey creatures. Diverse, but also very loveable. I ended up really caring about the gang. I even loved characters we only got to see a few times here and there.
Not only that, but the story is really interesting. I love all the magical fey elements and the whole idea behind the "baddy" (who isn't really a baddu at all...)

Well done Noel Arthur Heimpel, and thank you.

4.5/5 - It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?