Posts tagged: reading

Of course my first crime solving detective novel has an element of fantasy in it. And I knew this one would be tame in terms of the crime side. But nothing else was tame.

The town’s heartthrob quarterback becomes the victim of this small, uneventful town’s latest murder case. Detective Maggie Knight leads this investigation, in which the daughter of a witch is accused of murdering him via witchcraft – a state offence that could land her on death row if convicted guilty. This sets the girl’s mother against the victim’s mother, as the two fight first to keep each other together then for the rights of their own children. Maggie must solve this case before the town of Sanctuary goes to war over the death of a quarterback while a lot of secrets her kept to the grave.

The drama in this novel was to die for. Mothers at war over each others believed wrongdoings as they defend their children creates so much tension and conflict it is crazy. This is why you don’t mess with mothers and mother figures. They will do anything for their children, and this book showed that like nothing else. The emotions you feel from both Sarah and Abigail evoke inside of you as well, as their perspectives dominate the book like nothing else.

I don’t have much to say about the crime solving side with this being my first dive into the genre in a bookish sense. The laws that involved witchcraft in this almost magical realism kind of world were fascinating, but the interest was blocked by cliches. Chiefs trying to stop a case being solved, the way information got discovered and how the detective was the last person to find a key puzzle piece which we knew from other perspectives. Maybe Maggie was a poor choice of a POV character, because while i wanted to find out who did it her chapters held the least interest.

This is gonna be a theme for a lot of upcoming book reviews including this one; the third act disappointed. I looked at a lot of reviews saying that the third act was the only part of the book they liked, but I am the opposite. I am very much a person who goes into a book with expectations and expects the blurb to deliver the vibe. The blurb did, but the first two acts didn’t hint at the climax being so different to the rest of the book.

Pair that with an ending that goes against so much in the actual book. That ending made me so freaking confused. It is natural for there to be red herrings within a crime novel, but nearly every piece of evidence in this book wound up as a red herring based on the actual ending and what we actually find out happens by the end of the book. It almost defeats the point of what was fought for.

Sanctuary gets a score of 3/5.

We’re slamming the breaks on reviewing the Bone Season series as this is the last book available to date. And I need that. Because I have a lot to think about regarding this series since reading The Mask Falling.

Paige and Arcturus, criminals of Scion London, are now hiding in Scion-run Paris. As recoveries from battles won are had, they have to get their next moves ready to take Scion down. While they have their own plans and ambitions to forge alliances with the clairvoyant gangs beneath the city, other rebellion groups want them to take out Scion from the inside using Paige’s powers of possession. But when things gets personal in this battle, by how much do they cloud Paige’s vision?

The characters keeping getting narratively stronger after every novel. Paige continues to stand out as she grapples so much at once – her body, her beloved, her cause and her motive. It was also nice to see characters returning from other installments and the ways that they played their games.

Worldbuilding as always felt very intriguing, and this time culturally rich. But not in a touristy way. This was a realer Paris. Each act focussed on a different part of Scion Paris and the ways that Paige had to work her plans around them. The streets, the political sphere, and then the hidden catacombs and beyond. I loved the underground aesthetic of the clairvoyant societies for sure. The visuals of these world are a very strong suit for Shannon.

But then the mask fell at the third act. A lot of it felt like it didn’t need to be there or drama got concocted for the sake of making drama. There was an edge of disjointedness even though I knew why everything was happening. Maybe things were happening too fast? I don’t know for sure why it didn’t sit with me.

And that ending left me so confused. I was left with no breadcrumbs to follow and not even a gingerbread house. I severely hate endings like that, where it feels like a chapter is missing to explain what the hell is going on and at least have an idea of what to expect in the next installment. To make kind of a spoiler like comparison, this felt like Paige was ripped out of one world and is in the process of falling into the next.

So it makes me both excited and not excited for book five. I have so many emotions about this book now yet the inability to say them beyond one word; what?

The Mask Falling gets a score of 3.5/5. Never end a book like that.

Traditional high fantasy is something I stayed away from like a bad smell. This book was gifted to me and for a few months it was the prettiest book I owned. I had the full intent of reading it and expecting something vanilla.

But vanilla is my favourite scent. So who am I to be hypocritical now over a classic view of the genre?

After saving an old prince, Lady Katsa is soon to meet someone else who was looking for him. Thereafter the two of them grow curious as to why he was captured in the first place. With her strengths in the art of killing and her new friend Po’s own royal connections and battle talents, the two of them team up to travel through kingdoms to find answers. And the ones they do find may unearth one of the seven kingdom’s greatest corruptions hidden behind the most powerful being unknown to anybody.

The first act was borderline boring. I will straight up say that. I get it, you have to build up and explain the world and establish motivations. But I feel like a bit too much was spent on such matters. So much drawled on about Katsa’s relationship to the king and her reputation in the court. So much was waiting to happen without actually happening. I was so close to putting this book down for good.

I am so glad I didn’t DNF Graceling. I kept going and found riches.

Because when we get to the second act that was where I truly got hooked. The plot takes a simpler turn and it gives so much a chance to shine. From the plot and what happens to the characters as they become fugitives of kingdoms, how they wind up bonding and developing, seeing the natural world and how beautifully Cashore made it. For such high stakes the second act felt so cozy, and then the high action parts where things turn sour felt all the more crucial to get through as a result.

This was because of how much our main characters, Katsa and Po, truly shined. These two carry the whole story with their arcs, their banter and their relationship as it develops. They are the trunk of this tree of a story. Everything great in this story builds up from them, every scene they share and every time their motivations cross. They create something very calming and cozy throughout this whole novel. They epitomise the vibes.

This being the start of an anthology in the same world, I look forward to diving in to the rest of this place. Let’s see what Cashore has to offer. I’ll let you know if more riches come.

Graceling gets a score of 4/5. When something ends so sweet, you forget how sour it was to start.

There’s been a trend so far with me picking up BookTok favourites. I say that but this is only the second one I’ve picked up. BookTok books just aren’t for me.

Once a soldier, now the key to saving her kingdom. Alina reveals a radiant magic hidden within her in a life or death moment. This captures the attention of the crown prince, also renowned for his magic, who whisks Alina away to a life of both luxury and vigorous training. Alina must find her purpose in court, her magic she struggles to unlock and the solution to quelling the dark magic that has split the land in two. But the problem may be bigger than what she’s been told.

The main character was an interesting case. I cannot tell you a thing about her personality because it was either so generic or changed so much. Alina was passive one moment and snappy the next, willing to fight the villain and then surrender the next. You couldn’t tell much about her personality beyond how she saw herself and other people. But she wasn’t annoying. And thank god she wasn’t defined by her career or hobbies which just added small details to her. Her decisions still makes sense, and she’s far from the sassy stereotype most heroes follow in YA fantasy. So while she does the job, Alina doesn’t quite feel compelling for me.

The worldbuilding and cultural inspirations intrigued me. While I usually roll eyes or ignore European inspired worldbuilding found in most fantasies, the Slavic inspirations in Shadow and Bones felt evident and refreshing. Especially the time periods they took on where firearms are used and introduced – early to mid 1800s I think? It works excellently with the theme, with the cold wintery vibes and environments linking to the dark period of history the world has succumbed to. This made the world feel refreshing as a fantasy world.

That being said, the plot felt generic, superficial and predictable. While the world had character above and beyond, the story did not. I’m wondering if this is something that fantasy classics have made us misinterpret about the fantasy genre – that the worldbuilding makes the story. It didn’t here. Even stuff framed as a plot twist or something climactic felt doable or obvious and it just made me disappointed. An ‘Oh, of course!’ filtered in every couple of chapters, y’know? Maybe the way tropes paired up gave me that perspective.

But the writing style was a huge plus. It made many great descriptions and helped visualise that world very well. I wouldn’t feel the way I did about the world and characters and the plot for the most part if it weren’t for the narrative voice. That was the most solid and consistent throughout and made the experience all in all ethereal in spite of a lot of common tropes paired together.

All in all, this is again a book that will be good for somebody else. But that someone isn’t really me. I’m not calling anyone boring for liking this, because this is just fine. And just fine is not something I’m willing to attach myself to.

Shadow and Bone gets a score of 3.5/5. I’m just fine. So is this book.

Yours in writing

Amy

One of my friends might hate me for this. She recommended this book to me and I’m about to put it to shame. Sorryyyyyyyy.

Those born with superpowers walk either the line of the hero or the villain, and in the age where the Renegades govern and protect their people the line draws finer. Nova, an Anarchist whose hatred for the Renegades stems from them not coming to save her family, seeks to take them down and for humanity to lose their apathy within a crisis. Meanwhile Adrian poses as a vigilante alongside his Renegade position, taking the steps and measures the Renegades don’t have the guts to due to a corrupt code. These two keep their secrets tight when their paths cross, each preventing a terrible fate to their respective allies as plans unfold.

Worldbuilding served well in this novel. It became very clear the way this world worked from the get go, and exploring various hierarchies and law within the Renegades who govern it was very clear a lot of thought was put into this. The psychology and social studies of a world run by heroes was very clear and very well done, seeing regular humans gain apathy and putting blind faith into superheros who may not deserve the powers they hold.

While the characters had good motivations, I couldn’t pinpoint personality for a lot of them. The good guys acted the same, the bad guys acted the same. A lot of their personalities hinged around their powers, some of them in great ways and others in bizarre ways. It was a very mixed bag altogether, making these characters feel like a cartoon you’d catch on Saturday morning in the nineties.

This didn’t help with how corny this is. It felt Meyer was getting a lawsuit if she didn’t mention superheroes or villains every chapter. Or mention good and evil. Have characters contemplate or deny what side they stood on. God, it felt like I was being talked down to. The superhero genre saturates modern media enough for me to get the points she’s making with this novel and I kept wishing the story would move along and get to action like in the actual blockbusters showing in the cinemas right now.

Yes, you heard me. The plot was so freaking slow. It took forever to get into the second act of the novel because the lead female was too scared. Not to mention how many decisions the two characters made based on random affection for each other that was only there to move the plot along it felt like. Said affection, which I should add, had no payoff. And then not enough change happen to warrant this book as a fully fledged three act structure. My god, did the ending feel off and pessimistic.

I just realised that the longer I write this review the more mad I get about this book. Better stop writing before I rate it once star because a smidgen of good was in this.

Renegades gets a score of 2/5. Say superhero one more time. I dare you.

Yours in writing

Amy