lenorayoder's Reviews (149)

A fitting ending, for the most part I like where we ended up. 

Some parts, especially the beginning, really dragged. Several characters made stupid choices that seemed out of character just so that there could be more drama, which came across as lazy writing and was frustrating to read. Never showing a real downside for Percy with

Achilles’ Curse

bothered me. 

It really feels like everyone is growing up in this book. The tension and anticipation builds well here, this is a great ramp-up for a final book. I like that as the books go on, Percy's solutions become more and more unconventional and fair. Annabeth lashing out at the Sphinx was the only part of the book that struck me as odd/unrealistic with what we've seen so far, it felt very out of place for her character. Looking forward to the conclusion!

I liked it, but at this point Percy’s lack of knowledge feels a little ridiculous. The chapter titles aren’t as good as the first book. 

Fun, but definitely felt more like a transitional/informative part of a larger series than a strong story of its own. 

Restarting this series as I never finished, so I remembered the main story beats which made it fun to notice all the clues along the way. What a great start to a series! Still good as an adult, but I wish I’d known about these when I was younger. 

A solid YA mystery with solid characters and themes. Having chapters from different character perspectives really works for this story, and I think the time we spend with each character is balanced well. Not surprised this was adapted into a show, it seems well suited for it. When it comes down to it though, none of the characters are very interesting/complex, and I'm not interested in reading the sequel.

I liked it, but much of the book is spent worrying about time travel instead of having adventures in the past. Not much plot to go around. 

There are snippets of the book that are enjoyable, and I like that this one loosely adapts Persuasion the way the first book loosely adapted Pride and Prejudice. However, long stretches of the book are kind of insufferable, and it’s annoying to read through them to get to the good bits (and the good bits aren’t worth it).  

A good mystery, but something about this book just felt off - maybe the pacing? Things just felt kind of vague? I can’t describe it better than that. Didn’t care for the Hastings/Cinderella subplot at all. 

This was okay. There were several aspects I enjoyed, but a lot of this book really bothered me. 

This is a sequel in the worst way. Two has the same themes, basic plot, and strengths and weaknesses as One. But because I'm reading them for the second time, and because of the ending of the book, everything is diluted. 

I like the idea of new characters, but all of them are poorly executed (the L0w Five feel the book equivalent of a backdoor pilot - why are they here??) and except for Wade all of the characters from the first book are less interesting. I like how Wade has evolved from the first book, the way he's changed feels realistic in his circumstance and with the change in age. But everyone else feels like shadows of their characters in the first book - Art3mis' character has a sudden and drastic change of heart and attitude that feels unearned fairly early in the story, Aech feels more like a side character than a long-time friend, and Shoto feels more like a tagalong then ever, even though it feels like after the years spent with the other characters between books, he should be a bigger and more familiar part of the story. The reappearance of

Sorrento

feels so unwarranted - his motives are never really clear, and he wasn't an interesting enough

villain

in the first book to warrant bringing back -

the most interesting thing about him in One was how he served as a metaphor for corporate greed etc., and that's stripped away here

. 

The telling instead of showing almost feels worse in this book - both because as a sequel we should already be familiar enough with the world that all this exposition is unneeded, and because many of the quest sequences involve characters telling Wade what's happening, which is even more annoying to read than Wade telling us what's happening (this was especially painful during the quest on The Afterworld planet, and I think would probably be a problem for a lot of readers given the likely small overlap between readers of this book and super Prince fans).

I like the focus on Kira in this story, and using her character to explore how women get don't receive due credit or veneration was nice, though I think it would have made more of an impact if Aech and Art3mis were more fleshed out as well. I think taking a more nuanced look at

Halliday

and using him to explore some of the toxicity of male-dominated nerd culture was a good choice too.

I think the ending is interesting, but unsuited to this book, it's themes, and the themes and lessons of One. Also, it has to be said - the characters in this book make several huge decisions that they seem entirely unqualified to make. They have the power and time to consult experts who could help them make much more informed decisions but just... never do. Yes, this is ultimately a YA book - but if you're going to delve into these big topics, do it properly! Wade and his friends are no longer the underdogs they were at the beginning of One - with great power comes great responsibility, and the ending makes them come off as stupid, privileged assholes.