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triftwizened
THE AUDIOBOOK IS WONDERFUL, for anyone wondering.
“Robdog” (as he calls himself) is such a ridiculous dudebro, but in this goofy, wonderfully charming sort of way. I laughed the entire time. I took off a star for the totally unnecessary epilogue. Other than that, this book was great. There’s no homophobia (internalized or otherwise). No one has any “I can’t be gay!” crises (crisises?). Additionally, Brandon and Robbie have great communication as well. They’re constantly talking to each other about their progressing relationship. I love it when books make it clear that not only do they have great romantic and sexual attraction, but they have a great friendship too, and this does all those things really well.
I also really that both of them learned different things about themselves in their experimentation, and how each of them chose to define their sexualities.
“Robdog” (as he calls himself) is such a ridiculous dudebro, but in this goofy, wonderfully charming sort of way. I laughed the entire time. I took off a star for the totally unnecessary epilogue. Other than that, this book was great. There’s no homophobia (internalized or otherwise). No one has any “I can’t be gay!” crises (crisises?). Additionally, Brandon and Robbie have great communication as well. They’re constantly talking to each other about their progressing relationship. I love it when books make it clear that not only do they have great romantic and sexual attraction, but they have a great friendship too, and this does all those things really well.
I also really that both of them learned different things about themselves in their experimentation, and how each of them chose to define their sexualities.
OMIGOSH.
This was amazing. Probably my favorite book Tavia Lark has written so far (though I haven’t gotten to that Vampire Delivery service series yet and I am mightily intrigued).
Bellamy and Rakos are great characters. Bellamy is adorable and charming, and Rakos is so sweet and considerate even when he and Bell are almost total strangers to each other. Both of them are kind of dolts, but in ways I found really amusing.
The plot worked a little bit better for me in this one than in book 1, just by way of getting to see more of the world as Bell and Rakos travel through Draskora, and learning more about the world building - scalestone and dragons and whatnot.
All in all, this was a really fun, fantasy read and I had a great time with it. Super looking forward to book 3 - I just really love characters who pine for people they’re not supposed to want. (Which, actually, that’s kind of been the case in books 1 and 2 as well, lol.)
Thanks to Tavia Lark for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was amazing. Probably my favorite book Tavia Lark has written so far (though I haven’t gotten to that Vampire Delivery service series yet and I am mightily intrigued).
Bellamy and Rakos are great characters. Bellamy is adorable and charming, and Rakos is so sweet and considerate even when he and Bell are almost total strangers to each other. Both of them are kind of dolts, but in ways I found really amusing.
The plot worked a little bit better for me in this one than in book 1, just by way of getting to see more of the world as Bell and Rakos travel through Draskora, and learning more about the world building - scalestone and dragons and whatnot.
All in all, this was a really fun, fantasy read and I had a great time with it. Super looking forward to book 3 - I just really love characters who pine for people they’re not supposed to want. (Which, actually, that’s kind of been the case in books 1 and 2 as well, lol.)
Thanks to Tavia Lark for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve been thinking about this book basically since I finished it twelve hours ago, and not necessarily in a good way.
The crux of it is that I’m disappointed. For a book that’s such a mockery of weddings and people who obsess over them, I wanted this to be … more fun. Instead, it tries to be a pretty serious thriller for most of the book, despite the ridiculous setting and despite the fact that almost all the characters are extremist portrayals of stereotypes. That scene where Robin and Ellie are trying to kill each other but their improvised weapons keep breaking is honestly the best damn scene in this book, and I just wanted more of that energy. (This is not really a spoiler. Literally the first sentence is something about how Robin and Ellie are going to literally kill each other in the book. And then the author does it again at chapter 13, which is such a campy set up for a not-campy book.)
I also really enjoyed that line Robin has about Mindy, where Mindy’s politics are a box of chocolates - you never know what you’re going to get. Which is just … what a way to twist such a classic quote.
The ending was very anticlimactic - for the serious thriller this book wants to be, anyway. I also think the author did a good enough job of setting up the world and Ellie and all that I don’t feel like we really needed Ellie to explain herself - certainly not for as many pages as she did. That whole thing could have been much shorter, or scrapped entirely.
The crux of it is that I’m disappointed. For a book that’s such a mockery of weddings and people who obsess over them, I wanted this to be … more fun. Instead, it tries to be a pretty serious thriller for most of the book, despite the ridiculous setting and despite the fact that almost all the characters are extremist portrayals of stereotypes. That scene where Robin and Ellie are trying to kill each other but their improvised weapons keep breaking is honestly the best damn scene in this book, and I just wanted more of that energy. (This is not really a spoiler. Literally the first sentence is something about how Robin and Ellie are going to literally kill each other in the book. And then the author does it again at chapter 13, which is such a campy set up for a not-campy book.)
I also really enjoyed that line Robin has about Mindy, where Mindy’s politics are a box of chocolates - you never know what you’re going to get. Which is just … what a way to twist such a classic quote.
The ending was very anticlimactic - for the serious thriller this book wants to be, anyway. I also think the author did a good enough job of setting up the world and Ellie and all that I don’t feel like we really needed Ellie to explain herself - certainly not for as many pages as she did. That whole thing could have been much shorter, or scrapped entirely.
All in all, a somewhat odd book that I think mostly works. The romance was really sweet and really cute. Patrick and Curt are great together and just adorable, but they’re also great as their own, separate entities. I liked all the side characters (except the ones you’re not supposed to like), and most of this book I really enjoyed.
I didn’t care for the interview transcript stuff. That always just feels like a cheap way to info dump to me, and I didn’t care any more for it here. (And there’s so much of it. Ugh.)(But admittedly, Neal DeGlasse Bryson and Bill McCann the Science Man did make me laugh.)
And I felt like the ending was weak. In a lot of ways, this book ends after Hermes I lands back on Earth, and everything else (but for a few important conversations) just feels like one extended epilogue.
I didn’t care for the interview transcript stuff. That always just feels like a cheap way to info dump to me, and I didn’t care any more for it here. (And there’s so much of it. Ugh.)(But admittedly, Neal DeGlasse Bryson and Bill McCann the Science Man did make me laugh.)
And I felt like the ending was weak. In a lot of ways, this book ends after Hermes I lands back on Earth, and everything else (but for a few important conversations) just feels like one extended epilogue.
I don’t entirely jive with the brand of humor in this, but there were several moments that were really funny. It was OTT and really cute and sweet and the exactly right, light, easy read after a very taxing day.