maartje_volder's Reviews (578)

Oh dear

It turns out I am at 59 year old Swedish man. A grumpy one who has principles. Ove took a little bit of getting used to, but the more you know about him the more you can see why he feels what he feels. Although I am not sure if he every analyzed his feelings.

I love a good YA fantasy read, and the one who made this had a good idea on what she wanted to do. Stepping into this story gives questions, answers, and more questions.

Well that was the cringiest first kiss I ever encountered. This is also where my mind is too old for these fantasy young adult novels, I fear I don't believe that love conquers all. I liked the first book so much because it only had an infatuation in it, but the characters age and evolve in these books so I should have seen it coming.

Other than that it is a bit of a middle book. It has good story development, answers some questions and leaves you with a few more. And ofcourse the one big question: Who has Tea done in? I loved the corpse who refused to talk ending, that was cleverly done.

You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you'll find you get what you need. And thus this book ends. It is heartbreaking but right. And this is why I need fantasy in my life, because it is good to read about people who sacrifice and give.

The goodreads book of the year inspired me to pick up something different, and so I ended up with a half thriller half detective novel. It was a nice read, the way it unravels is very well done. The ending was not what I was expecting.

A mythology retelling is always nice, and the focus being on the woman's point of view is refreshing (as the book points out as well, woman receive a lot of wrath from the Greek gods...). Knowing the characters in some way or shape, it was hard to trust them when they came into the book. Like Theseus has good and bad stories. Then Dionysos was introduced and I just had to take a moment to gather myself because I feared that they would spin it a whole different way. But in the end the book stays true to the legends, it gives a nice twist.

It's a fine book, but I am sure this is one of those titles that I will look at in a year orso and be like did I read that? And have forgotten half about it. The setting is nice, the idea of the aftermath of releasing the slaves in America is a good place for a story. But even though there is havock and nastiness, it just doesn't stick? Maybe the scope of the story is too small to seem impactful. I'm not sure. It was a nice read while it lasted.

I'm not sure if I felt the powerfulness that people described to me who recommended this book. And I don't really get the rhythm thing