jlreadstoperpetuity's Reviews (309)

adventurous funny informative lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

Mood: “What did I just read?… I want more.”

Aight so boom—this book is straight chaos in the best way. Writers of the Future Vol. 41 ain't no regular collection. It’s like 400+ pages of wild, mind-bending short stories from new authors that came to eat.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 🌱📚
It’s a bunch of sci-fi/fantasy stories from up-and-coming writers, handpicked for being fire. You got aliens, magic, tech, monsters, timelines snapping like rubber bands, and vibes that’ll make you question your existence. And best believe—some of these stories hit harder than a plot twist in the hood.

𝗧𝗲𝗮 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀🍵🪽
Some stories had me like “yo, what even is this?”—but in a good way. Others? Straight bangers. There’s one with a dude trying to save a planet and another where magic runs through machines… I ain’t spoiling it, but just know it’s not for the faint-hearted. This ain’t no bedtime fairy tale. It’s gritty, it’s bold, and it's got mad heart. You feel the hustle in every word.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿:
⚔️ Survival when the odds are trash
⏳️ Weird tech that’ll make you paranoid
✨️Magic systems that don’t play fair
🍻 Underdogs with something to prove
💀 Big questions like “what even is right or wrong anymore?”

If you love that off-the-wall, “I need a minute to process this” type of reading—this for you.

Characterizations If there's one thing that can save a plot line from going under, that is to create some perfectly crafted personalities. Hook has a very interesting background that fully justified his supposed dark persona . However, the second half of the novel left him under developed. He transitioned from a brooding and interesting villain to a sappy front in a span of 3 chapters before the book ended. It did not help that we have Wendy as a claimed woman but has been portrayed as a 20 year old innocent virgin lapping on attention.

The story proved to be promising on the first few chapters but as we neared the end, I felt it was rushed. The big reveal as to who killed who and the why's behind the mysterious new gang was just anti climactic. It could have been saved if there were transition sub plots written

Overall the cover is interesting, the taglines are interesting as well and the concept is an attention-clincher. I just hoped the characters and the prose lived up to it until the end

Fast paced romance. It's something that can be read in between heavy stuff. Conceptually, it held a good starting line with the main characters on opposite sides of the spectrum- one avoiding dating while the other seeking an ever after.

Because it is fast paced, I felt like there were some missing pages to fully develop the characters into something with an ompf. Both fell in like at first sight and then felt relationship flutters on the first week. Less than a month, it evolved into a full blown need to be with each other. So while the background of each character was laid out perfectly on the first 3 chapters, the succeeding ones did not fully justify the ending.

Also, the last chapers got dark for a moment with the inclusion of an obsessed side boo. And while, I think, the intention is to showcase the lead cast into a more positive light, it did not do much on the story itself.

Overall, it serves its purpose as a novella, probably. Will be interesting to see sub plots on their story.

I love a retelling story especially spin offs regarding Hades and Persephone. Even on the original Greek Myth, they are the ppwer couple with the least amount of scandals and has really exuded monogamy - not the usual trend among gods and goddesses. That being said I was so excited to read this one.

Unlike the other retelling stories, this combined the modern and traditional magical powers that both deities possesed. There was also the involvement Fates on the plot making it really promising. If we are to base assessment on the technical components of a novel (setting, characterization and plot) this could have been wrapped up in less than 150pages, instead of 431 pages.

I love a good smut, there's an art put by the author in writing a good smut. This one however, relied on repetitive and to the point of frustrating descriptives that I literally had to skip the "deed" scenes. Like yeah, I get it you are h*rny for each other, next. Apart from that, the sequel seems to promise the actual meat of the series so yeah, I am still looking forward to it.

3.5
We all know the classic tale of Peter Pan who does not have a shadow, lives in Neverland with the Lost Boys, have a trusted friend in Tinker Bell, lures Wendy to the land where boys don't grow up- reverse harem that sh*t and you have this.

Okay, so wow. I was already expecting something sinister about this Peter Pan reimagine but I did not expect that it will be coming from the FMC