reubenalbatross's Reviews (521)

I was pretty intrigued when I started reading this because it was both my first 'modern' King, and first non-horror book of his I’ve read. Things like 'The Voice' being mentioned were weird to me as I'm used to 80/90s references of his earlier works, but this did not affect my reading experience. The audiobook narration was also really great, especially in the opening section. 
And this is where the issues lie... The first section in the 'real world' was really good. I loved the dynamics and mystery of the story unfolding, and Mr Bowditch definitely wormed his way into my heart a little. 
But as soon as Charlie stepped foot into the fantasy land it all went downhill. I read in another review that it was like two completely different books sandwiched together, and I definitely agree with that. 
The fantasy elements were SO dull and bog-standard - there were absolutely no original or stand-out ideas. The same repetitive 'journey' narrative just kept GOING and GOING, with nothing of value happening. Maybe if King had tried to write this as a shorter book, cut a lot out and stopped overindulging his ego, it would have been better, but judging from reviews I've read about the end of the book, I doubt it. 
I think I'm coming to realise that King just can't write good long books - 'Insomnia' springs to mind, which had the same vibe of an interesting and intriguing premise, then pages and pages of meaningless nothing. Even my love for Radar (who for some reason I kept imagining as a golden lab) wasn't enough to keep me interested. 
One of the most egregious things is that there's no real drama or tension - Charlie just kept being brilliant and completely capable of everything he ever tries. I’m SO sick and tired of books with no conflict or struggle!
After reading MANY reviews which say that the slow middle section isn’t worth it - that the story just peters out at the end rather than having a satisfying climax -, and that the first section was the best part of the story, I decided to DNF. 
The final nail in the coffin was reading the full plot summary, which has confirmed that trying to finish this book is definitely not worth it. I'm not going to waste 11 more hours on 'meh'. 

Why wHy WHY did Clare choose the name Kel for a main character?? It's such an unusual name, and there are already at least two (Mistborn and Darker Shade of Magic) other well established fantasy series with lead characters named Kel. Personally, I can't help but think of Mistborn when I read the name - just choose a new one!
I started off a bit unsure of this book as the prologue was nothing more than an inelegant info-dump, but I did get more into it once the story got going - how naive I was. 
I got to about half way through and felt that it was just OK, nothing breathtaking or mind blowing, but enjoyable enough to finish. 
Now at 60ish-% I've realised that I don't want to read another 250 pages of this. Nothing is happening. I didn't feel connected to the characters or care about them. The world is so detailed yet the worldbuilding seems fundamentally incomplete and lacking. The story seems unnecessarily complex and some characters aren't defined enough for me to tell the difference between them. The stakes are set so low, and you don't feel any danger because I instinctively know (probably from reading so much of Clare's other work) that everything will turn out alright. 
I'd hoped for a fresh approach/style from Clare to distinguish this new world from the Shadowhunters series, but it's the same writing and vibe, just in a different world.  
I will admit that reading this was relatively fun while I was learning about a large chunk of the worldbuilding, but now that that's over, there's no real plot to sustain my interest, and the things I can tell Clare is trying to do just aren't hitting. The story also feels quite shallow in a lot of ways.
Maybe if I weren't reading 'Blood Over Bright Haven' at the same time as this I would be enjoying it more. But anything compared to M. L. Wang will pale in comparison, and this one certainly did.    

What even is this book??? I am truly baffled by all of the 5* reviews. They must all be from people who have never read a drop of sci-fi in their entire lives, 'cos this. ain't. it. I wish I could enjoy, or even tolerate, such a poor-quality book. 
My first issue is with the memory loss - that's not really how memory loss works is it now? Remembering everything in chronological order and in full detail exactly when you need it? It just felt like a horrifically heavy plot device Weir tried to use to make the book more interesting/give natural info dumps to the reader, but in reality, it was the furthest thing from natural and felt so contrived that it took me out of the story at so many points. 
I was ok with the first 100 pages or so, and was interested while the premise of the book was being established, but by page 150 basically nothing had happened of note. We'd just been spoon-fed information in a 100% telling not showing, completely unnatural/contrived way. The (minimal) plot was dull and I started to get more and more annoyed with the whole thing. 
I also felt like I was being talked down to like I was an idiot for so much of it. e.g. "the model is Sol (Earth's sun)." - even if I didn't already know this pretty basic bit of information, it was BLINDINGLY obvious from the context. Not every single little detail needs to be explained all of the time!! Give your reader SOME credit. And every explanation of something is repeated at least twice and often more in as many pages...
The writing is also just pretty awful e.g. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If Astrophage is your enemy, I'm your friend." Shite writing. Unnecessary. 
After I decided to DNF, I skipped to the last couple of pages and the book had gone exactly where I thought it was going to. I'm glad any didn't waste any more of my precious time on it.  

I definitely enjoyed this book, but I was decidedly distracted while listening to quite a lot of it, which had an impact on my reading experience. I felt that for the majority of the book the story felt a little disjointed, and every character arc felt very separate. But this could be due to me not paying enough attention to the book and fully immersing myself in it. 
On the plus side I love how our world is brought into this story. Usually with portal fantasy our world is the normal/base world, but in this case it is presented as the weird/fantasy-esque one from Lyra's point of view. A nice twist on the usual trope. Instead of someone from our world being 'dragged' into a new environment and experiencing new things, we see Lyra struggle through our world. And what makes it better is that throughout the first book we imagine Lyra's world as if it were our own, and then that idea is thrown out the window when she experiences our reality.  

The start of this was somewhat creepy, but after about 20% nothing is scary and the book could hardly be described as a horror. I would say it is more lukewarm fantasy? Or more simply, a story about a depressed alcoholic getting annoyed by a skeleton. 
Josie started to become annoyingly obtuse and short sighted around the 60% mark. Until then her actions and thoughts had felt in character, but then Meuret just went overboard with her stupidity to unrealistic levels. 
Before this 60% mark I'd say it was an ok book, but it really lost it from there. The ending was a massive flop - I was just bored for the last 25%. Nothing interesting happened, it wasn't emotive, and everything started to be told to us rather than developed naturally - it was all very flat and one note. The 'action' at the end was very wishy-washy, and the supposed high stakes didn't feel so at all. Things weren't explained very well and I wasn't convinced by any of the characters motivations for their actions.
It's sad because this book started out pretty well with an interesting concept and had the potential to include an interesting exploration of human nature, but I think the story got away from the author after the first 20%. 

I felt lost a lot of the time listening to this, especially in the 1980s timeline. It was like we weren't being told important details of the story. It happened so much that I've decided it couldn't just be me, it must be to do with how the book is written.
Also, the narration of the 1600s timeline was stressing me out for some reason. 
I'm not enjoying it very much, so what's the point in finishing it? 

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. As a 2008 YA fantasy I was expecting more predictable tropes and plot lines, but the storyline actually felt pretty original to me. 
It was definitely a little 'I'm not like other girls' coded e.g. "She was not normal", BUT, unlike a lot of books with this trope, she actually did have skills and life experiences that made her markedly different from the other characters. Most of the time this sort of character is pretty bland, and starts off the book with no skills then magically gains them through no effort of their own, in this book Katsa was a refreshing take on the trope. 
The biggest let down of the book was Bitterblue. No 10-year-old would EVER be able to monologue or tell a concise and eloquent story as well as Bitterblue did, it was insane. Kids can be well spoken, but would not interact with adults like this, or be able to anticipate other's needs for plans/schemes. She was essentially written as an adult in a child's body, which made every scene with her in highly unbelievable. 
The climax of the book started off with a really fun shock, but then was pretty underwhelming - I wanted more trauma from Leck's grace!
Overall, this was not a masterpiece by any means, but still a really solid, enjoyable fantasy. I plan on continuing the series.  

Such a beautiful story - magical.
"What I'm looking at is only a shell. What's most important is invisible."

The narrator's tone of voice in this audiobook was really grating on me and stressing me out. I understand that Bree is an anxious/depressed character, but the narrator's portrayal of her was so overwhelming and not at all enjoyable to listen to. 
I am interested in the story, so maybe will give it a go in print at some point, but I just couldn't continue listening to this audiobook.

I love the northern lights (the weather), so obviously any book that centres around them is amazing. I've also known this story for so long, so it truly feels like coming home when I re-read it.
This is the first time I've read it via audiobook, and the audio was really great! Pullman and a full cast? Marvelous.