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585 reviews by:
thebookishlifeoflaura
These Witches Don't Burn: ★★★★★
This Coven Won't Break: ★★★
Fully forgot to leave a review for this one but WOW THIS WAS SO GOOD!!
Sapphic witches is a genre that I need way more of in my life, and These Witches Don't Burn was just such a fantastic example of it. Absolutely adored every page and I'm DYING for the sequel!!
I had a whole ass review planned for this one and then I completely blanked and forget everything I was going to say about it so I'll leave it at that lmfao
This Coven Won't Break: ★★★
Fully forgot to leave a review for this one but WOW THIS WAS SO GOOD!!
Sapphic witches is a genre that I need way more of in my life, and These Witches Don't Burn was just such a fantastic example of it. Absolutely adored every page and I'm DYING for the sequel!!
I had a whole ass review planned for this one and then I completely blanked and forget everything I was going to say about it so I'll leave it at that lmfao
These Witches Don't Burn: ★★★★★
This Coven Won't Break: ★★★
A significant drop in stars compared to the first book, but I did still enjoy this book! It was a little underwhelming, and I found the main character to be unbearably annoying at times, but it wasn't a bad book by any means. I think the main issue that I had was the ending/the solution to the conflict. I listened to the audiobook, so I'm not sure if just zoned out for a minute at one point and missed some vital information, but the ending made zero sense to me whatsoever. I had so many questions about the logic and it really took me out of the story trying to figure out exactly what they were doing and how it worked. I still haven't figured it out, my questions did not get answered, but I don't care enough to go back and find out if I missed a piece of information that would have explained my confusion away (I don't think I missed anything though, to be honest)
Overall, a fun duology and a pretty quick read, but not something that will stick with me for a long time. Disappointing since I loved the first book, but that's ok!
This Coven Won't Break: ★★★
A significant drop in stars compared to the first book, but I did still enjoy this book! It was a little underwhelming, and I found the main character to be unbearably annoying at times, but it wasn't a bad book by any means. I think the main issue that I had was the ending/the solution to the conflict. I listened to the audiobook, so I'm not sure if just zoned out for a minute at one point and missed some vital information, but the ending made zero sense to me whatsoever. I had so many questions about the logic and it really took me out of the story trying to figure out exactly what they were doing and how it worked. I still haven't figured it out, my questions did not get answered, but I don't care enough to go back and find out if I missed a piece of information that would have explained my confusion away (I don't think I missed anything though, to be honest)
Overall, a fun duology and a pretty quick read, but not something that will stick with me for a long time. Disappointing since I loved the first book, but that's ok!
The Cruel Prince: ★★★★
The Wicked King: ★★★★★
I was nervous going into the finale of this series because I'd heard such mixed things about it. Some people say it's fantastic, others say it completely ruined the series for them. I'm so, so glad I'm on the side that loved it!
What a wild ride! I had so much fun with this entire series, I loved every second of it. These books are filled with so many of my favourite tropes and they were all done so well. I loved the characters, the plot twists, the writing, and most of all the world. Holly Black really is the true Queen of Faerie, long may she reign
Queen of Nothing is admittedly my least favourite book in the series, but I still really enjoyed it. I definitely prefer the sinister hatred, trickery, and scheming that the first two books have. Those are all present here, but they kind of took a backseat to make room for wrapping up the plot. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I totally see that it was necessary, but I did miss that element quite a bit as it's my favourite thing about these books. But that's really the only critique that I have. This book was so entertaining and a fantastic conclusion to this story. So glad that I finally got around to reading these!
The Wicked King: ★★★★★
I was nervous going into the finale of this series because I'd heard such mixed things about it. Some people say it's fantastic, others say it completely ruined the series for them. I'm so, so glad I'm on the side that loved it!
What a wild ride! I had so much fun with this entire series, I loved every second of it. These books are filled with so many of my favourite tropes and they were all done so well. I loved the characters, the plot twists, the writing, and most of all the world. Holly Black really is the true Queen of Faerie, long may she reign
Queen of Nothing is admittedly my least favourite book in the series, but I still really enjoyed it. I definitely prefer the sinister hatred, trickery, and scheming that the first two books have. Those are all present here, but they kind of took a backseat to make room for wrapping up the plot. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I totally see that it was necessary, but I did miss that element quite a bit as it's my favourite thing about these books. But that's really the only critique that I have. This book was so entertaining and a fantastic conclusion to this story. So glad that I finally got around to reading these!
A Darker Shade of Magic: ★★★★★
A Gathering of Shadows:
A Conjuring of Light:
Y'all
Y'all
This was fucking good
I'm so glad that I finally read this, wow. I'm so in love with this book. Portal fantasy is my favourite thing in the entire world, so I knew I was going to like A Darker Shade of Magic. I was not anticipating that I would love it as much as I do.
The magic system is so fantastic! I think that's probably my favourite part of it (aside from the fact that it's portal fantasy, since we've already established my undying love for the genre as a whole). It's so interesting the way the magic was done and I really hope it's explained more throughout the rest of the series, I'm desperate to learn more about it!
I'm also madly in love with Red London; Lila's first time seeing it and the descriptions of the festivities had my heart racing with excitement, I can't even explain how much I adore this entire world(s). I like White London a lot too, I'm really intrigued by the absolute madness of that London and hope to see more of it later, but Red London completely stole my heart. Which is actually my only gripe with this book: I wish the descriptions were a bit more drawn out. I feel like Lila didn't really get to be excited about being in a different world because they had to get right to all the action. And don't get me wrong, I love the action, but I wish there was just a bit more time spent with Lila marvelling in the splendour of Red London. But otherwise, this book was fucking incredible and I will be getting to the next books as soon as I possibly can. There's so much potential for where this series could go and I'm beyond excited to find out what happens next!
(Ok but how cool would it be if Lila became some kind of pirate villain and she and Kell had to fight to the death in the finale? Fuck I'd be so down for that. Why do I always want main characters to become villains? Something is wrong with me lmfao I'm not mad about it though)
A Gathering of Shadows:
A Conjuring of Light:
Y'all
Y'all
This was fucking good
I'm so glad that I finally read this, wow. I'm so in love with this book. Portal fantasy is my favourite thing in the entire world, so I knew I was going to like A Darker Shade of Magic. I was not anticipating that I would love it as much as I do.
The magic system is so fantastic! I think that's probably my favourite part of it (aside from the fact that it's portal fantasy, since we've already established my undying love for the genre as a whole). It's so interesting the way the magic was done and I really hope it's explained more throughout the rest of the series, I'm desperate to learn more about it!
I'm also madly in love with Red London; Lila's first time seeing it and the descriptions of the festivities had my heart racing with excitement, I can't even explain how much I adore this entire world(s). I like White London a lot too, I'm really intrigued by the absolute madness of that London and hope to see more of it later, but Red London completely stole my heart. Which is actually my only gripe with this book: I wish the descriptions were a bit more drawn out. I feel like Lila didn't really get to be excited about being in a different world because they had to get right to all the action. And don't get me wrong, I love the action, but I wish there was just a bit more time spent with Lila marvelling in the splendour of Red London. But otherwise, this book was fucking incredible and I will be getting to the next books as soon as I possibly can. There's so much potential for where this series could go and I'm beyond excited to find out what happens next!
(Ok but how cool would it be if Lila became some kind of pirate villain and she and Kell had to fight to the death in the finale? Fuck I'd be so down for that. Why do I always want main characters to become villains? Something is wrong with me lmfao I'm not mad about it though)
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe: ★★★.5
Prince Caspian: ★★★
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
The Silver Chair:
The Horse and His Boy:
The Magician's Nephew:
The Last Battle:
It's hard to rate a book when I'm not the target audience for it
On the one hand, I adore this world and all the characters in it. Narnia is somewhere I've always dreamed of going, even when I was a kid and I'd never even read these books. I'd heard of Narnia through some friends who had been reading this series when I was very young, and ever since I've dreamed of it. Hopefully that gives you an idea of how much I love this world. I really enjoyed Prince Caspian because it gives us a bit about the lore of Narnia and its history, which is what I'm really here for. But on the other hand, the actual plot of it felt so rushed that it was hard to enjoy. I think I felt the same about the first book. This is where it's tricky, because what I think would fix it is more action, more drawn out battles, more struggle. But of course, you can't do that in a children's novel. So while I do love this book, and so far the series as a whole, I can't see myself giving anything in this series higher than a 3.5 because of the plot. But regardless, I still love this world and can't wait to read the next one!
Prince Caspian: ★★★
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
The Silver Chair:
The Horse and His Boy:
The Magician's Nephew:
The Last Battle:
It's hard to rate a book when I'm not the target audience for it
On the one hand, I adore this world and all the characters in it. Narnia is somewhere I've always dreamed of going, even when I was a kid and I'd never even read these books. I'd heard of Narnia through some friends who had been reading this series when I was very young, and ever since I've dreamed of it. Hopefully that gives you an idea of how much I love this world. I really enjoyed Prince Caspian because it gives us a bit about the lore of Narnia and its history, which is what I'm really here for. But on the other hand, the actual plot of it felt so rushed that it was hard to enjoy. I think I felt the same about the first book. This is where it's tricky, because what I think would fix it is more action, more drawn out battles, more struggle. But of course, you can't do that in a children's novel. So while I do love this book, and so far the series as a whole, I can't see myself giving anything in this series higher than a 3.5 because of the plot. But regardless, I still love this world and can't wait to read the next one!
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August 31st, 2020
2.5 stars
Well this sucked. I'm so disappointed, I really thought I would like this despite all the bad reviews. A lot of people didn't think they'd like it because it's a villain backstory, but I live for (fictional) villains so I was hyped. But yeah no this was just straight up bad. I liked some of the side characters, but I didn't care for anything else about this whatsoever. I have so many problems with this book that I don't even know where to start, so I'm just gonna leave it there.
What a disappointment :/
November 14th, 2019
UMM???
WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS
I CAN FEEL MY 14 YEAR OLD SELF CLAWING THEIR WAY OUT OF THE DEPTHS OF MY LONG FORGOTTEN MEMORIES
WAKE ME UP WHEN THIS IS RELEASED PLEASE
2.5 stars
Well this sucked. I'm so disappointed, I really thought I would like this despite all the bad reviews. A lot of people didn't think they'd like it because it's a villain backstory, but I live for (fictional) villains so I was hyped. But yeah no this was just straight up bad. I liked some of the side characters, but I didn't care for anything else about this whatsoever. I have so many problems with this book that I don't even know where to start, so I'm just gonna leave it there.
What a disappointment :/
November 14th, 2019
UMM???
WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS
I CAN FEEL MY 14 YEAR OLD SELF CLAWING THEIR WAY OUT OF THE DEPTHS OF MY LONG FORGOTTEN MEMORIES
WAKE ME UP WHEN THIS IS RELEASED PLEASE
The Diviners: ★★★.5
Lair of Dreams: ★★★★
Before the Devil Breaks You: ★★★
The King of Crows:
So I think I’m the only person in the world who didn’t really enjoy this book
Lair of Dreams: ★★★★
Before the Devil Breaks You: ★★★
The King of Crows:
So I think I’m the only person in the world who didn’t really enjoy this book
3.5⭐️
Honestly I’m really conflicted about this book. I enjoyed it, it was good, but it wasn’t really spectacular in any way.
If I were rating this based solely on the plot and characters, it would have probably been a 2 or 2.5 star. I did not give a damn about what was going on, and I didn’t feel attached to any of the characters (except for Ell a little bit). The whole plot was so weird to me when I really thought about; travelling across the universe to find a girl you dated for a couple months like 5 years ago? A little stalkerish but ok. And the characters, while I didn’t dislike anyone, they were all interesting and had personalities, I just didn’t feel any attachment to any of them. Them as a group was great, I enjoyed the found family aspect of this book. But individually I didn’t care about any of them
The positives of On a Sunbeam though, are the art and the world. HOLY. SHIT. First of all, this is probably the most visually stunning graphic novel I’ve ever read in my life. WOW that art is incredible. And the world??? Oh my god. If y’all know me at all then you know that I love an interesting world, and this book delivered! I would honest to god read an entire series just about the world: their history, folklore, I want it all! This is definitely one of the most unique worlds I’ve ever been to in a book and I think it’s one that’ll stick with me for a long time. Ugh, stunning
Honestly I’m really conflicted about this book. I enjoyed it, it was good, but it wasn’t really spectacular in any way.
If I were rating this based solely on the plot and characters, it would have probably been a 2 or 2.5 star. I did not give a damn about what was going on, and I didn’t feel attached to any of the characters (except for Ell a little bit). The whole plot was so weird to me when I really thought about; travelling across the universe to find a girl you dated for a couple months like 5 years ago? A little stalkerish but ok. And the characters, while I didn’t dislike anyone, they were all interesting and had personalities, I just didn’t feel any attachment to any of them. Them as a group was great, I enjoyed the found family aspect of this book. But individually I didn’t care about any of them
The positives of On a Sunbeam though, are the art and the world. HOLY. SHIT. First of all, this is probably the most visually stunning graphic novel I’ve ever read in my life. WOW that art is incredible. And the world??? Oh my god. If y’all know me at all then you know that I love an interesting world, and this book delivered! I would honest to god read an entire series just about the world: their history, folklore, I want it all! This is definitely one of the most unique worlds I’ve ever been to in a book and I think it’s one that’ll stick with me for a long time. Ugh, stunning
