the_pale_woman's Reviews (542)

After reading all of these first law "stand-alones," I'm confused about why they are given that descriptor. It's a fantastic book in its own right, but I wouldn't recommend that someone just read this one book or jump around in this world. I suggest someone do us all a favor and stamp a big 6 on the cover of this book. 

I would highly recommend you start reading this series right now, but from the beginning. It's dark, funny, and intelligently constructed. Start with The Blade Itself and enjoy the ride. By the time you get to this book, you'll understand a 5 star rating. Unless dark humor isn't your cup of tea. I understand that not everyone can have good taste.

This First Law world trilogy is not a traditional epic fantasy series with an ever-present protagonist and villans. It has something better, that vibe of a multi-verse complete with cameos. This particular volume is probably the best of the bunch. I really enjoyed Best Served Cold, but Red Country was a great conclusion to the set.

I had roller-coaster of feelings reading this book. I went into it rather blind like I do most books. Of course, I knew it was an older book, so I had some general assumptions because of that. However, I didn't read the synopsis or anything like that. I prefer to be surprised. 

In retrospect, I wish I had known it was an intentional subversion of Jane Eyre. For much of the book, I was thinking... 

"This better not turn out the same way as Jane Eyre."

I loved reading Jane Eyre, so I wasn't interested in reading a rip. Jane Erye is one of my favorite reads of all time, so you can imagine my feelings. 

It became clear to me, embarrassingly last into Rebecca, that the book was playing with my expectations. It clicked, and by the end, I'm thinking back at all the events in the book and how they relate the story and message of Jane Eyre. 

For example, (no spoilers) our main character in Rebecca goes unnamed. That's right. You're in a POV that goes unnamed. Until she is married. Then, of course, she is Mrs. Mans-name. I like to think that relates to the fact that I can't remember the name of the first Mrs. Rochester. She might have had one but it definitely wasnt made clear. I never thought once about that or why it would matter. She was just a crazy lady, right? A mistake, a secret. I always knew that it was a sketchy relationship but I was definitely rooting for Jane and Mr. Rochester. Looking at it throught the context of Rebecca changes that.

Most of the time, I would think it was pretentious or a hassle to say you should read something else before you read this. But now... I don't think I would have enjoyed Rebecca as much without Jane. It makes it a message. It made me think. It made me question. 

Jane made me rethink my perception of the story of Rebecca. Like Maxim's tale and even the behavior of the employees and officials later on. What are the real motives? Why would you even think looking through the eyes of this inexperienced, biased girl that you're getting the truth. This narrator is unreliable not because she lies but because she doesn't want to see. Max killed his wife because she was pregnant with an other man's child. He never loved her but he didnt want to be embarrassed by her. He lied, threatened and bought people off to get off for that murder. You don't understand until the end that they're basically in hiding. Its actually in the first capter but thats not clear until after the end. I also think that Max and Frank are a couple. I have all kinds of evidence for this but this review is too long as it is. 
Let's just end by saying I have sooooo many thoughts. 

I love the vibes I got from Salem's Lot. That 80s nostalgia is palpable. Or I guess 70s in this case. That Stranger Things type setting. Back when there's land lines and no assault weapons. If this was set in today's world, events would play out differently. But who knows, maybe military grade weapons wouldn't help a bit.

The main group of characters we follow were cool, but I really liked the scenes where the writing moves around the town, spying in on the rest of the towns inhabitants. You really get a feel for how the whole town is affected by events unfolding.

I liked pet semetary a little more because of the character work. I thought it was missing a little of that here. However, I thought the enemy here was more terrifying. Or at least harder to take care of. It's a well-done vampire story. No doubt about that. 

Might read some lighter stuff before I move on to more King. I've been having weird dreams since pet semetary and this. Who's knows what would happen to my subconscious if I went on to the shining or IT. 

This was my first King book and I was not disappointed. Fantastically written and super dark. I have never seen the movie, so on first impressions, I thought this book was going to be about evil undead pets. And while there is an undead cat, that was only a relatively small part of the plot. It's more about death in general and grief. The way those topics were explored in this story was darkly creative. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this first dive into the horror genre. I generally stay away from horror movies, and when I do watch one, I'm scared for weeks. That's why I've been hesitant in the past to read King. But this was good. I liked it. That seems kinda weird now that I think about it, but I did. I'm ready to see if I can handle the next one on my list. Salems lot.

The below average rating here is in part due to the fact that I accidentally listened to the abridged audio. Why do abridged versions of books even exist? People who don't have time for your book are not going to be interested in half your book. And if you're going to offer such a poor exuce of an addition, then make it very clear in the description and in the thumbnail. It's just proper book etiquette. 

For example, this version I'm writing a review for here is the abridged version but I don't see that labeled anywhere.

For the story itself (the half I was presented with), I thought it was kind of bland. All the characters were bad stereotypes. It was more a book of short stories than a novel. Like most collections of short stories, some were good, and some were forgettable or just bad. The full cast narration just amplified that effect. Some of it was well done, where the narrator added a lot of personality and acting into their monologs. Others failed to achieve the casual cadence of a conversation. Not all voice actors are cut out for narrating a novel. 

Maybe I would have felt differently if I had consumed the "complete addition," but we'll never know. 

Reader beware of abridged books.

This was a step up from the first book. There's a lot more world building, and you're not stuck in the girl's perspective the whole time. However, the ending felt rushed. There was a lot of build up with out much pay off. It could have been a 5 star read if not for that. 
I'm interested to see how this series wraps up.

Every volume of this series has put a smile on my face. 🧀 

For a middlegrade book, this is good. It's well written, and it has a defined and thoughtout plot. I started listening to the audio, but it wasn't for me. I had seen good reviews for it, but I didn't know it was full cast. That bugs me. It was not written to be read that way. I ended up reading physically instead, and that was much more enjoyable. I can also mentally add some years to the girl so that I find her less annoying. It's frustrating being stuck in a child's perspective. I'm starting to think middlegrade isn't for me. I loved Harry Potter, but nothing else I've read has had that same magic. I do want to continue this series. But it's going to be difficult to get me to pick up a middlegrade series after this. 

Scandalous gossip. Told almost completely from a maids pov. I literally hated every character. And I found the telling of the tale tedious more than once. However, I still enjoyed reading it most of the time. If only to hate on all these awful people.