ridleyreadsthings's Reviews (789)

This was exquisite from start to finish. A chaotic whirlwind of magic, family drama and psychoitc royalty. 
 
 We pick up from where White Trash Warlock left off. There was alot of character growth in this and we started to see some of those family bonds slowly being to repair as trust was built back up. We met some new members of the Binder Clan, and got loads more questions surrounding the identity of the Druid. 
 
 The secondary characters really stand out and feel just as substantial as Adam and Vic. It's not a typical romance or love story, and  I appreciate the fact that it doesn't focus on the fact that they are gay. It just is, and its not brought up every two seconds like some other lgbtq novels. It's just two guys finding their way in a relationship together. 
 
 A fantastic urban fantasy with incredible world building and a complex magic system. Even though we only get glimpses of how things are on the other side, and the politics of The Watchtowers and other races, only adds to the mystery, and any tidbit you do get, you treasure.
 
 My reason for knocking off half a star is that plot felt it was moving too fast - that it was speeding along to get to the end and it made it a little hard to process events as they happened. 
 
   

While I enjoyed this overall, I just didn't fall in love with it the way everyone else has. I really enjoyed the world it was set in, the Roman influences in a fantasy setting and the cut throat almost "game of thrones" politics, but other than that...

I don't know what it was. I loved the way the Assassins and their Church played a massive role in this, and the setting was dark and and beautiful- it had all the elements that I usually love - brutal, a gothic fantasy world, badass characters and witty banter - but while reading I found myself with the intense desire to play through the Dark Brotherhood storyline in Skyrim, so I spent more time doing that than wanting to know how Mia's story played out. 

While I grew to enjoy Mia, I didn't really begin to enjoy her until I was towards the last half of it. 
My favourite character was Hush, which says alot because he literally can't talk. I appreciate that it's one of those books where any character can be killed off in a blink, and I usually love that, but I just felt it stopped me from really appreciating anyone. 

But nothing really suprised me in this book. None of the twists, the way characters outplayed each other - none of it suprised me, and I found things obsessively descriptive.

I do love Kristoff as a writer and I realise I do sound harsh but I wouldn't be honest if I said "oh I loved it, it was incredible and epic," like everyone seems to. It thought it was alright and I look forward to reading the rest of the series, and hopefully I enjoy the second book more. Maybe I wasn't in the right headspace after coming out of Empire of the vampire. 

4.5 but it felt wrong to mark it down as 4. 

First off, thank you Jordon for the beautiful arc, bookmarks and little characters I received in exchange for an honest review. 

I loved this book, and its message. That clothes have no gender and stigmas like that have no place in today's society. 

I adored the characters- I felt for Skylar as it can't be easy to be bumped around and let down your whole life, and on top of that to be non verbal. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book, and it added so much to the story. I've never read a book with a nonverbal MC and it was so interesting to see how someone without the ability to speak navigates the world. It also really made me think on how much we take the ability to speak for granted. 

I resonated more with Jacob - rock loving, eboy who loves movies and music and just wants to get out of the small town he's in. Like me in Grammar school. 

Ian, Eric, Im and Seth are friends that every person needs in their live and I loved that they were so supportive and ready to stand up for their friends no matter what. 

What frustrated me was the hardcore religious people who were constantly being offended and trying to shove their veiws and religion onto other people. The fact that it was in the book didn't frustrate me - more that these people actually exist and made me feel for all the queer people who have to deal with it on a daily bases. It made me angry for everyone who has gone through it. It was incredibly important to the story though and so relevant in the world today. 

But I did love the reverse of that too, and that there are religious people who loved everyone equally and actually fought for equality instead of preaching outright hate. (I don't have an issue with religion fyi, just the whole "gay is sin, you'll burn in hell" aspect some people love to latch onto.)

It does sound heavier than it is - it was an incredibly heartwarming, wholesome story that I think everyone could take something from. It was full of love, and acceptance and friendship and striving to be yourself no matter what others tell you. If a boy wants to wear a dress, so what?

I also highly reccomend checking out Jordons other book "watching for comets." It's a beautiful story and set in the same world as this, and some of the characters pop up for a cameo or two. 

I can't wait to see what comes next from Jordon. Brilliant book my friend. 

TW for homophobia, hate speech, mild abuse (mentioned) bullying.

Alice Oseman does a brilliant job with approaching difficult topics and dealing with them in a way that's relatable and not too on the heavy side. The boys go through alot of growth in this novel and really grow in their relationship. Everything about these books and characters are so wholesome and comforting. 
 

This volume focuses on Nick and his sexual identity, and how he comes to terms with it. I love that there was no pressure put on Nick to "come out," and that these boys are so understanding of one another and really listen to what the other has to say.  Each turn of the page just gets better and better and fills my heart. 
 

First off, I want to say, that I am so happy that the woman of this series are finally starting to show more depth and have their individual stories as opposed to the hot-headed, stern, (I kind of want to say emasculating?)  frustrating know it alls they have been for the last 4 books. It was infuriating that they held so much promise and yet had all the exact same personalities to the point it was boring.

But that is over, and I finally feel that I understand them, and they seem to be opening up, coming out their hard shells and frankly, making this the most enjoyable installment yet. 

The pace of this was so much better, although it still felt slow, it didn't feel as if things were at a standstill. Things were constantly in motion, with each party that our main protagists have split into, all having their own storylines. 

It's interesting to see the politics play out as each faction seems to be coming together slowly, and its so much less frustrating now that all the characters seem to have the same information, although distance still separates them. 

I can go on and on but this is book 5 in a 15 book series, and it was almost 1000 pages long so I'll be here all night. 

Needless to say, the characters grow so much more in this instalment, as do the relationships between them.  we get some interesting POVS - some characters we've met, others we haven't. The story sped along nicely and didn't feel like it was dragging. This has been my favourite so far and it's made me eager to pick up the next one, instead of dreading it. 

The only downside was that we didn't get any of Perrin in this book but we will no doubt see more of him in the next book. 

You had me at witchcraft and libraries. This was spooky and horrifying and so full of dark academia vibes and books I could literally smell old books and fresh ink all the way through. I loved every second, and I fell in love with both Tess and Eliot. They were great characters who were polar opposites of each other, and yet they fit together like two jigsaw pieces. 
 
 The story was unpredictable, intriguing and mysterious. It was also way darker than I thought it would be. It was well paced out and had a nice flow throughout. It was twisty and often made me question what was real and what wasnt. 
 
 The romance was well placed out, giving us time to love and appreciate our protagonists as individuals first, which I really appreciated. 
 
 The atmosphere throughout was more horrifying than spooky. There was always an eerieness that saturated the story, even when you could put your finger on it. Highly reccomend this to anyone who loved Dark Academia or is looking for a horror read full of murder, witchcraft and handsome British boys.  

What I love about this series, is that every single character is unreilable and it's like your waiting for the knife to stab you in the back at every turn. It's the end of freshman year and it also happens to be the deadliest time to be a student. This issue was pure, untamed chaos and I loved every minute of it. I love Wes Craig's art - it gives the story a gritty, almost vintage action movie tone.