rebeccasreadingrambles's Reviews (3.06k)

There's not much more to say about this book other than it is the least favorite of the series for my husband and I. But it's HP so still amazing and more than 5 stars!

I really enjoyed re-reading (or re-listening actually) Miss Marple's first "case". It's been many years since the first time I read this mystery, and I found that I was as confused and surprised as before. Ms Christie does a wonderful job (as usually) of throwing you off the scent, and just as you think you have it all figured out, something else is thrown in to make you start over again. My only gripe (small, small one) is that Miss Marple is much in the background and only pops up here and there. But, it makes sense as this is the novel where she is introduced. A great AC mystery!

I don't know if I have the words yet to review this book. I loved it. It made me laugh and sob and I was not ready for it to be over. These characters are my crew and I didn't want to say goodbye. I gasped and held my breath at every twist and turn. Kaz, as usual, surprised me with his schemes and I loved seeing how this crew has learned to work seamlessly together. Each character is unique and they all seem to fit like a strange and surprising puzzle.

Though Six of Crows is my favorite of this duology, I loved this book. I had to remind myself that this was something different than Six of Crows. There was way more character development and different types of schemes and troubles. This book had different struggles, but still amazingly crafted. Every sentence had me hooked and I could hardly make myself put it down.

The ending had me yelling and raging and sobbing.

Spoiler

I somehow knew that Matthias would not make it. He rarely had a POV, but when he did it focused on his changed attitude and I thought uh oh this guy is finally going to accept his friends and himself...and it's going to be too late. I am heartbroken. Heartbroken for him and Nina. Heartbroken that his last thoughts were that he wanted to help the child who shot him and all the other children being trained as Grisha hunters to find a different path. My heart also hurt to see the crew separating and going their own ways. It was a happy sadness and definitely a better ending that I foresaw during the book. I like that the end was more open....we are left to know what happens with everyone in our own imaginations. And always crossing our fingers for another Grisha book.

4.5 stars

This book took me a while to read (thanks to my reading schedule) and so my thoughts are kind of all over the place. Overall I enjoyed it - every sentence that brought me back into the Grishaverse made me insanely giddy because this is a world I never have been able to shake.

I’ll be honest; there wasn’t a lot of fast paced action. This book shows how; even after the war is won and victories are celebrated... a happy ending is not guaranteed. We are shown and dark and twisted time where there are many evils lurking and no easy answers or solutions. Leigh’s words are like poison wrapped in honey; I was easily swept in by the favorite characters, to be shown a dark side that I hadn’t imagined.

When the story started curving back toward the Darkling I have to admit I got very excited. The Darkling is my all time favorite villain and to be honest I would love to see his evil face returned. He was such a complicated character and his depth could really add to this intensely changing time in Ravka. But at the same time, of course I just want peace between the different countries and for Nikolai to succeed as the king.

I knew that I was excited to see Nina again, even though I knew she probably wouldn't be happy and her wounds still raw. I loved learning about her new powers and following her as she risked it all to save Grisha. I was surprised by how much I adored Zoya. She is the strong female warrior we always needed (and there are a lot of amazing women in the Grisha-verse don't get me wrong). But she is independent without being too much of a longer - she needs her king and her friends, but will go out and risk herself when she thinks she needs to. I just love her determination and seeing more of her backstory (and how much she evolves in this novel).

While I do think the characters made some obviously stupid decisions - I can forgive them a bit because it brought about THAT ENDING! That ending got this book an extra .5 star for sure. Man my head was racing at the end and now the wait for the next one will surely kill me.

Over all, though it was a long book and maybe on the surface seemed like not a lot happened - it still felt like an emotional rollercoaster. I feel like these characters each evolved and I cannot wait to see what drama and disasters are coming, because these fights have ingenious ways of tackling them.

3.5 stars
I'm not sure if I can really get my feelings straight about this novella. There were things I loved and things I didn't. I personally feel like these are chapters that SJM just cut out of her next book.... the less exciting lead in chapters that would slow down her novel. And maybe she just wanted to make sure to publish something this year as the rabid readers are salivating for the next novel...why not give them this.

I've read a lot of novellas and I think this one was not that well done. It seemed just chopped out of a book with no real overall plot line, just glimpses into the character's lives. A lot of other "in between" novels I read are there to show something....a snippet of someone's past...reveal a secret...explain something. This one is just kind of a connector between books without that umph of others.

Things I loved:
Seeing the characters again! I wasn't lying when I said I would happily read a scene about Feyre and Rhysand going grocery shopping or something else mundane.
The epilogue and the last Mor scene - they had me needing to know what happens yet and really piqued my interested
The healing - this was a book of sorrow and sadness and hurt, but also healing a love. I love how we see how different characters (big and small) are finding a way to live after the disastrous war. Not everything goes back to being perfect.

Things I didn't:
Where the heck did this Nesta come from? Completely and absolutely different from ACOWAR Nesta (and she had lots of time for this behavior after she was "made" and before the war).
Not enough Az and Mor!
This languid, slow pace and pretty much no plot.
Some of the stuff with the Illyrian women - is it really prideful to do the laundry and cooking? Don't get me wrong I like to do that stuff, but my husband and I both do it and I wouldn't say there's a "pride" in being FORCED to do anything. Why don't we find out what the women want?
Do they want to clean or fight? (has no one thought maybe they don't want to fight?)Hopefully this is better hashed out in the next book.

So there are some thoughts and ramblings about this. I'm glad I read it, but wish it was published closer to the next book because I'm left feeling empty and just even more anxious to see a real plot!

I hate to rate any Dan Brown book less than 5 stars, but I just did not enjoy this one very much. I felt like there was not enough action to keep me interested or enough shocking twists. At some points it almost seemed like Robert Langdon was just name dropping and showing off knowledge that had little to do with the situation. I did like all the discussion of religion vs science and the different point of views. I enjoyed the final reveal after slogging through the book and thought the explanation was pretty interesting. However, the shocking twist

Spoiler

where Winston explains how he set up the murder and everything afterwards

I had already predicted. All in all I enjoyed the concept, but felt the actually story telling lacked some of the dramatic and fast paced action that I usually look forward to.