zoeelizabethk's Reviews (642)

I struggled with Iron Gold for much longer than I should have. I found it hard to connect to our new characters for quite a long time and the pacing was a very slow build. I also could have done without a lot of the brutality especially of the animals eating/torturing you variety. Didn’t realize I was sensitive to that but evidently I am. Yet as always Pierce Brown scrapes it together in the final act. I think this will be more enjoyable on reread once I'm more invested in our characters. This was more like a 3.5 star for me throughout much of the book, but the ending bumped it up for me.

I had fun with Fourth Wing. It was enjoyable and fairly fast paced. I think I benefitted from having most of the book spoiled for me cause there were things that I would have been much more annoyed at otherwise. But since I knew what kind of book it was, I never expected it to be more and I had fun with it.

 2023 reread: This was so much more fun this time around having read the whole series! I loved the hints and foreshadowing that Jordan included. I think the first time I read it I was more hampered by the similarities to Lord of the Rings. This time it felt so much more its own thing and I was so engaged with the story and pacing throughout. The ending's a little janky, but overall such a great read. 4.5 stars

2020: I sure do love a good epic fantasy, and an author who isn’t afraid of description and wandering and battles. All of the WoT books are rather daunting for their length and I’m not sure that all that length is necessary (and it definitely should not take as long as it does for them to get out of Emond’s Field, let alone the Two Rivers) but they’re still fun. I listened to the audio book this time round and it was pretty good, but the change of narrators 2/3 of the way in (with different pronunciation) was annoying to me, but overall good. 

I enjoyed Crooked Kingdom a lot more than Six of Crows. We don't really have the heist aspect, but I love the city politicking and we get to know the characters more. I'm not obsessed with these characters the way some are, but they are a great crew to be around!

I will start off this review by saying that I don’t love multiple timelines so between that and the plot, I think I enjoyed the experience of reading Book Lovers more. BUT the themes of Happy Place were really hard hitting and I’ll be thinking about this one for awhile. I did not expect Happy Place to be as heavy as it was. This was about breaking generational cycles and wow it was a big “ooof” for me to read a lot of the time. I kinda struggled to pick it up at times because I really related to a lot of the struggles both characters dealt with. Happy Place was such a slow burn and it was agonizing to watch Harriet and Wyn be hurt and hurt each other and make up and miss each other and not talk and then talk and not talk again. But it felt very realistic. In a lot of ways this really isn’t a romance. It’s a family growing apart and making mistakes and and growing back together by putting work in. And that’s hard but beautiful.

 

I’m soft dnf-ing this at this moment. I got over 50% but I can tell I’ll enjoy it more when I can devote a little more brain space to it and not be stressed out by the time it’s taking. The writing is beautiful and the storytelling is really fascinating

DNF at ~10%. Wow this was so dark. Not just sad - and it certainly is sad - but gut wrenchingly sickening. I’m sure there’s a lot to be gotten from this book but I can’t handle it. I read a lot of dark books but this hit different

I think this series has promise but Engines of Empire just has too much going on. If I were to compare it to something I would say that this is Dandelion Dynasty meets James Cameron’s Avatar. We have guilds ✅ fantasy magic ✅ Magic powered tech ✅ multi viewpoints from all around the empire ✅  arcane native magic ✅ rideable eagles ✅ an empire in turmoil ✅ a murder mystery ✅ betrayals and political schemings ✅ everything but the kitchen sink ✅ 

Reading this was almost like watching an epic action adventure movie. And it was fun to read and fast paced. But I didn’t always understand character motivation or the magic systems. Once the separate threads starting coming together, it was a non stop race to the end and that was rewarding. However, the book could have benefitted from more focus and spending a little more time to slow down and sit with characters and process the world. 

I will still be reading the sequel, Engines of Chaos. I’m interested to see where everything is going, plus the world is epically fun, I just need more page time to process. 

Our Missing Hearts deals with some really important and very difficult topics. I really enjoyed Celest Ng's concept of the story, her writing, and how she narratively framed this book. It was heartbreaking and powerful. Unfortunately I got a little bit lost by a narrative shift that took place halfway through the book. It was a smart way to tell parts of the story that couldn't be told earlier, but I didn't care about Margaret as much as I did about Bird, and I feel that the way we interact with the story through Bird really makes this book. I would definitely recommend Our Missing Hearts for people who are drawn toward lyrical prose, dystopian spec fic that draws on American history, and to a lesser extent family sagas.

I think is an example of why I don’t gravitate toward many YA romances - a bit too much angst for my taste and I prefer adult work settings and such. But that being said I thought Hibbert did a really nice job with this. I had a few things that I wasn’t in love with - mostly due to the age of the characters, but overall I did really enjoy HSaUC and I loved the OCD and anxiety rep. This one has no on-screen spice besides a little kissing. 

3.5 stars