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"She wanted again to hold on to him, and have him hold on to her, so they could whirl together through the cosmos like galaxies that could not—and would not—be confined."
Stars (Out of 10): 9.5/10
Overall Thoughts: I always love books with games, competitions, or riddles, and this one was no exception! It's definitely different in how it was done, and wasn't like most "game" related books I've read, but I loved it for its uniqueness! The characters were amazing to read, and I loved both the POVs that I was given! Overall, a great book, and I'm curious what the author will do with the rest!
SPOILERS BEGIN HERE
The Good: The plot and competition was really well fleshed out! I also loved the main characters a lot, and reading from them was very enjoyable. There also wasn't necessarily one bad and one good enchanter, and in my opinion, I wasn't rooting for Vika or Nikolai to win, as I liked them both so much! I also loved how well the book meshed with the historical aspect of Russia, and it was really interesting to read from that time and region!
The Bad: it wasn't what I expected from a competition based book, and while that's not bad in itself, I was slightly disappointed because of this. However, that's more on me than the author and book! I also didn't really care for any of the side characters, or at least did not like them as much as the main characters.
The Characters: I loved Vika, Nikolai, and Sergei, and while none of the other side characters really meshed with me, I still liked their contributions to the story. I only disliked Pasha near the end, and was surprised by his sudden transformation, even with the aiding of Yuliana.
The Plot: I really enjoyed the plot. The twists of heritage always shocked me, and so did the death of Nikolai and use of Galina's knife at the end! It truly captured my attention, and managed to just grab tighter on to it as the book continued on!
The World Building: I loved the blending of Russian culture and magic. We not only saw the culture of magic and its role, but also a political side of the empires present at that time, as well as social hierarchy and the languages spoken!
The Stereotypical Tropes: Love Triangle
The Favorite Character: Vika or Nikolai!
Buy it, Borrow it, or Bin it: Buy it!
Stars (Out of 10): 9.5/10
Overall Thoughts: I always love books with games, competitions, or riddles, and this one was no exception! It's definitely different in how it was done, and wasn't like most "game" related books I've read, but I loved it for its uniqueness! The characters were amazing to read, and I loved both the POVs that I was given! Overall, a great book, and I'm curious what the author will do with the rest!
SPOILERS BEGIN HERE
The Good: The plot and competition was really well fleshed out! I also loved the main characters a lot, and reading from them was very enjoyable. There also wasn't necessarily one bad and one good enchanter, and in my opinion, I wasn't rooting for Vika or Nikolai to win, as I liked them both so much! I also loved how well the book meshed with the historical aspect of Russia, and it was really interesting to read from that time and region!
The Bad: it wasn't what I expected from a competition based book, and while that's not bad in itself, I was slightly disappointed because of this. However, that's more on me than the author and book! I also didn't really care for any of the side characters, or at least did not like them as much as the main characters.
The Characters: I loved Vika, Nikolai, and Sergei, and while none of the other side characters really meshed with me, I still liked their contributions to the story. I only disliked Pasha near the end, and was surprised by his sudden transformation, even with the aiding of Yuliana.
The Plot: I really enjoyed the plot. The twists of heritage always shocked me, and so did the death of Nikolai and use of Galina's knife at the end! It truly captured my attention, and managed to just grab tighter on to it as the book continued on!
The World Building: I loved the blending of Russian culture and magic. We not only saw the culture of magic and its role, but also a political side of the empires present at that time, as well as social hierarchy and the languages spoken!
The Stereotypical Tropes: Love Triangle
The Favorite Character: Vika or Nikolai!
Buy it, Borrow it, or Bin it: Buy it!
I forgot how much I loved these (and tbh I also forgot almost all of the story)
The Kingdom is a uniquely formatted mystery of the lies hiding behind a glimmering facade. Told through snapshots of memory, trial proceedings, and interviews, it tells the tale of Ana, one of the Fantasists, or robot-human hybrids, working in the magical dreamland that is The Kingdom theme park. This park sells the dreams of happily ever after, even to its own creations, but Ana is starting to see through the cracks in the facade. When she starts to experience real emotion, especially the feeling of falling in love, the beautiful dream shatters fast and Ana is left lost among all the sharp edges.
While this book was definitely a cover buy (I mean, holo cover? On top of the beautifully illustrated design? There’s no way I can resist that), the synopsis also really intrigued me. I mean, there’s the obvious connection to Westworld, but I’ll be honest I have no experience/bias from that parallel. I just found the idea of a futuristic theme park combined with a murder mystery pretty interesting.
In the end, the book did a lot of things ok and very little actually good. While it was entertaining and quick, I can already feel myself forgetting the details of the story, as overall it was extremely shallow. This shallowness comes through most in the world building, where while we do get a lot of it, none of it is fully fleshed out (though it seems like the author is building up to a sequel?) It leads to a lot of ‘woah’ moments that never actually come back around, threads left dangling, and general vagueness about the world in general. I can’t actually continue to ponder the book and the world it’s set in and what the ending means for the characters but I don’t have any frame of reference to understand it, no setting to fully place that ending in.
The plot itself was another thing that intrigued me at first but slowly lost its luster. I was into the whole “wow this theme park is awesome but is it????”, but then the story just took a lot of turns that were either too expected or too repetive. Namely, the actual ending of the story, what was being built up in all the trial files and interviews, was pretty easy to guess, either partially or fully, by about 40-50% in the story. On top of that, the author kept coming back to the same dark aspect of the park without ever actually revealing it fully or discussing it openly. It was mainly used to monger fear in the main character, and while every reader knows the truth and can guess from the vagueness, I feel like it should’ve been discussed more openly or used less, not kept in this half shadow.
Lastly, you had the characters themselves. I never really got behind the romance (and I only half liked Ana and Owen at any point in time), so there was this whole binding thread in the novel that didn’t affect me, especially as this romance became more vital to the book. On top of that, I felt like most of the characters (besides a few) felt like cardboard cutouts of each other, specifically the sisters. Only 2 or 3 were ever fully distinguishable from each other, and while in the setting it might be forgivable/understandable, I’m not sure if that was actually the intention of the author. Mainly I just found myself not fully caring about Ana and the cast, so some moments ended up falling flat.
I was still very into this book at points, namely the first 20-30%, and the file format is always something that raises my enjoyment of any book. However, even with the intriguing setting and unique format going for it, I can’t say I really enjoyed this book overall.
While this book was definitely a cover buy (I mean, holo cover? On top of the beautifully illustrated design? There’s no way I can resist that), the synopsis also really intrigued me. I mean, there’s the obvious connection to Westworld, but I’ll be honest I have no experience/bias from that parallel. I just found the idea of a futuristic theme park combined with a murder mystery pretty interesting.
In the end, the book did a lot of things ok and very little actually good. While it was entertaining and quick, I can already feel myself forgetting the details of the story, as overall it was extremely shallow. This shallowness comes through most in the world building, where while we do get a lot of it, none of it is fully fleshed out (though it seems like the author is building up to a sequel?) It leads to a lot of ‘woah’ moments that never actually come back around, threads left dangling, and general vagueness about the world in general. I can’t actually continue to ponder the book and the world it’s set in and what the ending means for the characters but I don’t have any frame of reference to understand it, no setting to fully place that ending in.
The plot itself was another thing that intrigued me at first but slowly lost its luster. I was into the whole “wow this theme park is awesome but is it????”, but then the story just took a lot of turns that were either too expected or too repetive. Namely, the actual ending of the story, what was being built up in all the trial files and interviews, was pretty easy to guess, either partially or fully, by about 40-50% in the story. On top of that, the author kept coming back to the same dark aspect of the park without ever actually revealing it fully or discussing it openly. It was mainly used to monger fear in the main character, and while every reader knows the truth and can guess from the vagueness, I feel like it should’ve been discussed more openly or used less, not kept in this half shadow.
Lastly, you had the characters themselves. I never really got behind the romance (and I only half liked Ana and Owen at any point in time), so there was this whole binding thread in the novel that didn’t affect me, especially as this romance became more vital to the book. On top of that, I felt like most of the characters (besides a few) felt like cardboard cutouts of each other, specifically the sisters. Only 2 or 3 were ever fully distinguishable from each other, and while in the setting it might be forgivable/understandable, I’m not sure if that was actually the intention of the author. Mainly I just found myself not fully caring about Ana and the cast, so some moments ended up falling flat.
I was still very into this book at points, namely the first 20-30%, and the file format is always something that raises my enjoyment of any book. However, even with the intriguing setting and unique format going for it, I can’t say I really enjoyed this book overall.
Vampires are really letting me down in 2019. Is this replacing my mermaid disappointment trend of 2018?
Camille Durbonne is an orphan, trying her best to keep her frail, younger sister and drunk, older brother alive by using petty magic to turn scraps of metal into coin. But her magic isn't strong enough to keep the illusion alive, and soon she's exhausted of people to trick and options to turn to. Forced to drastic measures, Camille tries a new type of magic, always forbidden by her mother, in order to try to make a living for her and her siblings in the dangerous court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. However, all magic has its cost, and she may not be the only one playing its dangerous game.
Normally, I'm not the biggest fan of historical fiction/fantasy, but something about Enchantee made me enjoy it anyways. I think it was a combination of the characters, writing, and magic itself that added an interesting layer to stories that often end up boring me.
I loved that Camille felt multi-dimensional in terms of identity and thoughts, she was constantly stuck between her poor background and the glittering court of the aristocrats, without either side of her ever truly winning out or making her hate the other. She is both utterly entranced by the court's games as well as a revolutionary at heart, wanting to be a famous printer and help the public spread their truth. Her story is also multi-faceted, it's an exploration of herself, her family and her emotions towards her parents, brother, and younger sister, as well as of romance. This is all twisted by the games of court and the traps she falls into, and I was honestly intrigued every step of the way.
The plot, thinking back on it, was also quite interesting in how it evolved and became something more without me ever actually noticing that's what the author was trying to do. It made it feel authentic and in line with Camille's story, as she starts by entering into something small and one-sided, an attempt to simply make enough money for her and her sister to get by, and it turns into a bigger and bigger game as she interacts with larger players of the court and learns more about her magic.
However, even with all the things I liked, I still feel like the story ended well where it was. Yes,, but that was never fully Camille's story. Her feels fairly wrapped up, and while more could definitely happen to her, I worry it'd crack open too much of the ending of this book. So I'm not quite sure if I'll continue the series, even though I did really enjoy this.
I did really enjoy this overall though, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this author's other works in the future!
Normally, I'm not the biggest fan of historical fiction/fantasy, but something about Enchantee made me enjoy it anyways. I think it was a combination of the characters, writing, and magic itself that added an interesting layer to stories that often end up boring me.
I loved that Camille felt multi-dimensional in terms of identity and thoughts, she was constantly stuck between her poor background and the glittering court of the aristocrats, without either side of her ever truly winning out or making her hate the other. She is both utterly entranced by the court's games as well as a revolutionary at heart, wanting to be a famous printer and help the public spread their truth. Her story is also multi-faceted, it's an exploration of herself, her family and her emotions towards her parents, brother, and younger sister, as well as of romance. This is all twisted by the games of court and the traps she falls into, and I was honestly intrigued every step of the way.
The plot, thinking back on it, was also quite interesting in how it evolved and became something more without me ever actually noticing that's what the author was trying to do. It made it feel authentic and in line with Camille's story, as she starts by entering into something small and one-sided, an attempt to simply make enough money for her and her sister to get by, and it turns into a bigger and bigger game as she interacts with larger players of the court and learns more about her magic.
However, even with all the things I liked, I still feel like the story ended well where it was. Yes,
Spoiler
they're in the middle of a revolution and things are going down hard nowI did really enjoy this overall though, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this author's other works in the future!
