Take a photo of a barcode or cover
690 reviews by:
lizbethandthelifeinbetween
4.75
My highest rated Marissa Meyer book so far!
I will say it might be because my expectations were a bit low for this. I wasn't really expecting this to be much more than a 3 star read, maybe 3.5 stars because I wasn't a huge fan of her other retelling [b:Heartless|18584855|Heartless|Marissa Meyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1477740245l/18584855._SY75_.jpg|26322524]. Luckily, this had what I liked about Heartless, and none of what I did not.
It was very good as a reimaging/retelling. It wasn't as subtle as [b:Ella Enchanted|24337|Ella Enchanted (Ella Enchanted #1)|Gail Carson Levine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1410727190l/24337._SY75_.jpg|2485462] where you almost didn't know it was a Cinderella retelling until later in the book as this book started out with a very clear nod to the original tale. It was really interesting to see how Meyer took the main elements of the tale and twisted them to work wither her cybernetic, futuristic society. It felt very refreshing and original while still paying homage to its predecessor and it did not feel forced or cliched.
I found all the characters to be very fleshed out, even the "evil stepmother" character. None of them were carbon cutouts of their tropes. I could see their perspectives and see their perspectives even if it did not vindicate them of all the awful things they did to Cinder, Beneath it all, you could see that they were hurting.
I also found the Lunar queen to be a very interesting character. She was one of the more flat ones, but it seemed to very intentional. Her whole shtick was that she was the queen and no one disobeyed her. I hope we get to delve more into her as a character and a magical monarch as the story progresses.
I will say that there were a few plot elements here and there that become more obvious as I read the book, but it often wasn't joltingly obvious until a few pages before the nice reveal.
The Plague was also an interesting and unexpected plot point. I loved how it was used in the political side of things. The author was really exploiting all the potential her world had. I have so many questions, especially about the society on the moon. Just so many.
My real only fault with this book was probably that it doesn't have the special something that pushes the book to be my favourite but I can't fault the book for that. This is still a series that I'm very interested in continuing and I don't know why I waited so long to start reading it.
My highest rated Marissa Meyer book so far!
I will say it might be because my expectations were a bit low for this. I wasn't really expecting this to be much more than a 3 star read, maybe 3.5 stars because I wasn't a huge fan of her other retelling [b:Heartless|18584855|Heartless|Marissa Meyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1477740245l/18584855._SY75_.jpg|26322524]. Luckily, this had what I liked about Heartless, and none of what I did not.
It was very good as a reimaging/retelling. It wasn't as subtle as [b:Ella Enchanted|24337|Ella Enchanted (Ella Enchanted #1)|Gail Carson Levine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1410727190l/24337._SY75_.jpg|2485462] where you almost didn't know it was a Cinderella retelling until later in the book as this book started out with a very clear nod to the original tale. It was really interesting to see how Meyer took the main elements of the tale and twisted them to work wither her cybernetic, futuristic society. It felt very refreshing and original while still paying homage to its predecessor and it did not feel forced or cliched.
I found all the characters to be very fleshed out, even the "evil stepmother" character. None of them were carbon cutouts of their tropes. I could see their perspectives and see their perspectives even if it did not vindicate them of all the awful things they did to Cinder, Beneath it all, you could see that they were hurting.
I also found the Lunar queen to be a very interesting character. She was one of the more flat ones, but it seemed to very intentional. Her whole shtick was that she was the queen and no one disobeyed her. I hope we get to delve more into her as a character and a magical monarch as the story progresses.
I will say that there were a few plot elements here and there that become more obvious as I read the book, but it often wasn't joltingly obvious until a few pages before the nice reveal.
The Plague was also an interesting and unexpected plot point. I loved how it was used in the political side of things. The author was really exploiting all the potential her world had. I have so many questions, especially about the society on the moon. Just so many.
My real only fault with this book was probably that it doesn't have the special something that pushes the book to be my favourite but I can't fault the book for that. This is still a series that I'm very interested in continuing and I don't know why I waited so long to start reading it.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not influenced my review.
This book started off very strong and remained so for a good 60% of the book, which is high praise considering how long this is. It's very long.
This book did many things right. It handled the multiple perspectives and the switching between them very well as well as it did a very good job building up the romance. I honestly believed that the character loved each other more than the initial "love at first sight"/lust scenario that I often end up reading about. They truly cared for each other and wanted to spend their lives together.
There was a subplot having to do with the politics and marriage alliances. It didn't really come into play until 1/2 way through the book but the first half was littered with seeds so it did not spring up out of anywhere. However, I feel like that part of the book was a bit weaker and more boring as it involved a lot of inner reflection and people just running around and reacting to circumstances and it was the part that brought this down from four stars to three.
The first half was by far the strongest. The speech of all the characters was different than our own which nicely reflected the medieval influenced society as well as the fact that the world is entirely fictitious. It was refreshing. However, this did get tiresome in the latter half of the book. I'm not sure if the writing quality dipped but phases included "yesternight" and "belike" in particular started to sound a bit cheesy. The author did have a large vocabulary which she used excellently. I came across some ancient words I've never read before and was quite glad my kindle dictionary could enlighten me on adjectives being used a way I'd never seen them before (like steepled) or words I'd plainly never heard or read before (like moue). While it was pretty obvious of their meaning through the sentences, I still looked up the definitions out of curiosity and was impressed.
I think fans of the romance genre will enjoy the romance. It was strong and prevalent. There was a bit too much obsessing over one's scent for my liking. With a paragraph dedicated to it in chapter 19:
"Her scent called him. Despite mingled odours of fear and fresh blood and his own sweat, her unique scent teased at his nostrils, arising from her hair, her throat, the delicate shell of her ear. For three heavy heartbeats Naed surrendered, covering her with his body, infusing her with the heating venting from his skin, wanting nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and quiet her shaking."
There was also lots of talk of caged beasts that made me think of werewolves and a supreme protectiveness after the wedding on the last 20% of the book that manifested in Nead thing "Mine" whenever he saw Raell. Those were the only thing that stood out to me though and rest was very enjoyable.
In the end, I think I was hoping for a bit more fantasy than just an alternate world, but the battling and the different culture were done well though I did wish some character had difference vocabulary set or cadence/accent to the way they spoke to distance characters from other countries than just them constantly mentioning how different their customs were. I do think there is precedent for more fantasy, at least in terms of the mythology of the world with the necklaces at appeared throughout the book and it's something that might convince me to pick up the sequel to see if it gets fleshed out more.
So, in conclusion, this is a solid romance in its own world book for people who like historical romance but are bored with the current tropes/time periods/what have you in the genre.
This book started off very strong and remained so for a good 60% of the book, which is high praise considering how long this is. It's very long.
This book did many things right. It handled the multiple perspectives and the switching between them very well as well as it did a very good job building up the romance. I honestly believed that the character loved each other more than the initial "love at first sight"/lust scenario that I often end up reading about. They truly cared for each other and wanted to spend their lives together.
There was a subplot having to do with the politics and marriage alliances. It didn't really come into play until 1/2 way through the book but the first half was littered with seeds so it did not spring up out of anywhere. However, I feel like that part of the book was a bit weaker and more boring as it involved a lot of inner reflection and people just running around and reacting to circumstances and it was the part that brought this down from four stars to three.
The first half was by far the strongest. The speech of all the characters was different than our own which nicely reflected the medieval influenced society as well as the fact that the world is entirely fictitious. It was refreshing. However, this did get tiresome in the latter half of the book. I'm not sure if the writing quality dipped but phases included "yesternight" and "belike" in particular started to sound a bit cheesy. The author did have a large vocabulary which she used excellently. I came across some ancient words I've never read before and was quite glad my kindle dictionary could enlighten me on adjectives being used a way I'd never seen them before (like steepled) or words I'd plainly never heard or read before (like moue). While it was pretty obvious of their meaning through the sentences, I still looked up the definitions out of curiosity and was impressed.
I think fans of the romance genre will enjoy the romance. It was strong and prevalent. There was a bit too much obsessing over one's scent for my liking. With a paragraph dedicated to it in chapter 19:
"Her scent called him. Despite mingled odours of fear and fresh blood and his own sweat, her unique scent teased at his nostrils, arising from her hair, her throat, the delicate shell of her ear. For three heavy heartbeats Naed surrendered, covering her with his body, infusing her with the heating venting from his skin, wanting nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and quiet her shaking."
There was also lots of talk of caged beasts that made me think of werewolves and a supreme protectiveness after the wedding on the last 20% of the book that manifested in Nead thing "Mine" whenever he saw Raell. Those were the only thing that stood out to me though and rest was very enjoyable.
In the end, I think I was hoping for a bit more fantasy than just an alternate world, but the battling and the different culture were done well though I did wish some character had difference vocabulary set or cadence/accent to the way they spoke to distance characters from other countries than just them constantly mentioning how different their customs were. I do think there is precedent for more fantasy, at least in terms of the mythology of the world with the necklaces at appeared throughout the book and it's something that might convince me to pick up the sequel to see if it gets fleshed out more.
So, in conclusion, this is a solid romance in its own world book for people who like historical romance but are bored with the current tropes/time periods/what have you in the genre.
This was a reread. After absolutely loving [b:Tess of the Road|35046472|Tess of the Road (Tess of the Road, #1)|Rachel Hartman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1503599285l/35046472._SY75_.jpg|53793345], I decided to go back to the roos of Godredd for the first time in four years. I have to say, it's better upon the reread but even bore that, I was very alarmed that I was the only person in four years to have taken this our from the library, including the person who gotten it out the first week before I did. This book is really good and original. So original in fact, that I did not like it upon my first reading because it did not have the epic sense of dragons I was looking for and instead gave them their own original characterization. Now I do have more of an appreciation for how the author considers what it would be like to live with dragon and war against them in a way I haven't read about, ever, I believe. This book a truly original and refr3eshing and I would recommend it to only the hardcore fantasy lovers.
Totally forgot to mark that I read this short in the back. I loved it a bit more than the books as it gave a lot of background to Gliseelda and it made her a lot more vibrant and present than she was in the book.
Also, I should mention I'm rereading this duology after four years after I finished reading [b:Tess of the Road|35046472|Tess of the Road (Tess of the Road, #1)|Rachel Hartman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1503599285l/35046472._SY75_.jpg|53793345] and loving it so much.
Also, I should mention I'm rereading this duology after four years after I finished reading [b:Tess of the Road|35046472|Tess of the Road (Tess of the Road, #1)|Rachel Hartman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1503599285l/35046472._SY75_.jpg|53793345] and loving it so much.
Helpful but brief. Includes a character page as well as poses and pictures of her sword and shield for reference as well as a part guide for the different parts of the costume.
reread.
The ending is very anti-climatic and I find the book long. Not much has changed since I first read it, but it gave me a bit more appreciation for the Quigs after reading [b:Tess of the Road|35046472|Tess of the Road (Tess of the Road, #1)|Rachel Hartman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1503599285l/35046472._SY75_.jpg|53793345].
The ending is very anti-climatic and I find the book long. Not much has changed since I first read it, but it gave me a bit more appreciation for the Quigs after reading [b:Tess of the Road|35046472|Tess of the Road (Tess of the Road, #1)|Rachel Hartman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1503599285l/35046472._SY75_.jpg|53793345].
I liked [b:Anne of Green Gables|8127|Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)|L.M. Montgomery|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390789015l/8127._SY75_.jpg|3464264] more, but this has an odd charm to it. I think I would have wanted to be best friends with Emily when I was younger and I really enjoyed reading this.
February read for my bookeclub: https://www.bookeclub.com/496/
They are kindly sponsoring my channel.
February read for my bookeclub: https://www.bookeclub.com/496/
They are kindly sponsoring my channel.
4.5
I'm just a bit conflicted just a bit. I mean how is this not completely five stars I mean I absolutely loved it, of course, I did but at the same time, it didn't feel the same. I'm not sure what it was, the perspectives were amazing and I loved following Nina through Fjerda. That whole plotline was just wow and I loved watching her grow and come into her own without the Crows. I loved getting to learn more about Zoya and her past and all the questions I had since we know almost nothing about her. And Nikolai had a strong arc too. I loved seeing all the politics and it's so amazing how fleshing out Leigh makes this world and she does an amazing job expanding it. I seriously want something about Noyvi Zem sometime.
Anyways I feel like the book dragged a bit in the middle, especially as Nina's parts were cut. She kinds felt like a separate story and while it's involved with what's going on, I feel like it should have been its own book and that I would have loved it. This felt different than the others, maybe because it wasn't as plot-heavy.
And the ending. I mean it was epic, every ending I've ever read was epic, but at the same time, I still feel conflicted. I'm not sure.
ANyways don't mind me I don't think I've actually slept anyways and just convinced myself I have. This was such a fun read at completely at the levels I was expecting and I don't know why i was so worried to read this. Well, actually, after [b:Crooked Kingdom|22299763|Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456172607l/22299763._SY75_.jpg|42090179] I had little trust my emotions would make it out alright. And now I'm in awe and still confused.
Tis is an emotional, great read.
I'm just a bit conflicted just a bit. I mean how is this not completely five stars I mean I absolutely loved it, of course, I did but at the same time, it didn't feel the same. I'm not sure what it was, the perspectives were amazing and I loved following Nina through Fjerda. That whole plotline was just wow and I loved watching her grow and come into her own without the Crows. I loved getting to learn more about Zoya and her past and all the questions I had since we know almost nothing about her. And Nikolai had a strong arc too. I loved seeing all the politics and it's so amazing how fleshing out Leigh makes this world and she does an amazing job expanding it. I seriously want something about Noyvi Zem sometime.
Anyways I feel like the book dragged a bit in the middle, especially as Nina's parts were cut. She kinds felt like a separate story and while it's involved with what's going on, I feel like it should have been its own book and that I would have loved it. This felt different than the others, maybe because it wasn't as plot-heavy.
And the ending. I mean it was epic, every ending I've ever read was epic, but at the same time, I still feel conflicted. I'm not sure.
ANyways don't mind me I don't think I've actually slept anyways and just convinced myself I have. This was such a fun read at completely at the levels I was expecting and I don't know why i was so worried to read this. Well, actually, after [b:Crooked Kingdom|22299763|Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456172607l/22299763._SY75_.jpg|42090179] I had little trust my emotions would make it out alright. And now I'm in awe and still confused.
Tis is an emotional, great read.
I will preface this by saying that Margaret was a more interesting protagonist the girls in the other two books. She didn't just sit around and wait for Stockholms syndrome or for things to happen, it really felt like the actually had a goal and was working towards it, making this the best book by this author I've read so far.
However, I still find her writing bland. It worked well when Margaret was a child but I felt like it should have evolved as she grew up and became more learned. It did not and retained the same blow by blow teenage diary feel with a few interesting events sprinkled in here and there.
I had no connection to her, as I haven't with any previous protagonist in this series and as I've read them out of order I found the ending to be a bit tedious as I already knew what was going to happen.
However, if I had to recommend a Phillippa Gregory book it would be this one as it has the most interesting character so far, even if she is a bit pious.
However, I still find her writing bland. It worked well when Margaret was a child but I felt like it should have evolved as she grew up and became more learned. It did not and retained the same blow by blow teenage diary feel with a few interesting events sprinkled in here and there.
I had no connection to her, as I haven't with any previous protagonist in this series and as I've read them out of order I found the ending to be a bit tedious as I already knew what was going to happen.
However, if I had to recommend a Phillippa Gregory book it would be this one as it has the most interesting character so far, even if she is a bit pious.