Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

3 reviews

ninascozydayreads's review

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

There aren’t many books that I remember the reading experience vividly of. How could I, after having read at least 261 books (that I tracked on Goodreads, that is, not counting everything I read before I turned 14 years old and  started using it, so in reality it could be over 300 books). Of course, I remember loathing some books. Books I had to read for school, that every time that I picked them up I just sighed, exasperated, and would literally do anything else but read them. Hate is an easier emotion to remember than love. And of course, a big chunk of the books that I have read in my life-time were okay. Not necessarily life changing, but enjoyable enough. I might remember their stories, their characters, but I do not remember how I felt reading them.

Red Queen is a different story. I was 16 or 17 years old, and I had been seeing this book everywhere. Mainly on Youtube and Instagram, that is, because those were the only social media platforms I used at the time (and Tumblr, but that was for very specific fandoms and nothing else). It was a Saturday, I had recently bought the book, and it was one of those rare Saturdays off. Given that I worked retail at that time and played volleyball about weekly, I didn’t often have Saturdays off. But I did that day. So I sat down on this corner of my bed, on top of a bunch of blankets (not under them, it was very much summer), I opened the book…. And when I closed it and looked up, it was dark outside. I had finished it, and to this day I haven’t been able to finish a book that long (300+, proper book size) in one day. not like that. I had absolutely loved and devoured the book. 

So it stands to reason that 7 years later, after having read a bunch more books and (hopefully) grown in reading taste, I wouldn’t love it as much. 

A little unfortunately, I was right. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it well enough. I liked it. But it wasn’t that all-encompassing “I need to finish this book right now or else I will die”, like I had 7 years ago. Unlike 7 years ago, I did have all the books by now so I could dive head first into the second book – which I did, cause I have promised myself to actually finish series. Which is why I reread Red Queen and Glass Sword in the first place, because why would I remember books that I read 5+ years ago to the detail that is necessary for reading a sequel?

Little did I know, I was wasting my time with rereading Red Queen and Glass Sword (or maybe just Red Queen, because I couldn’t remember even reading Glass Sword even though Goodreads INSISTS that I had read it at some point before 2022). When I read sequels, I’m used to seeing names and things and events mentioned that I have no recollection of because by then it has been way too long. The Red Queen Series is not that kind of series. It will explain every event, every person and their history in every single sequel.

Wherein lies exactly the problem I had with this book, and why I didn’t like it as much as I did when I was 17, when the writing style didn’t really bother me. Because you see, I really did enjoy the story. The characters were fun, a little hot and hard-headed but I’m fine with that, that doesn’t bother me. There were aspects that I did actually like, storylines that I enjoyed reading about, characters that I may have gotten a little too invested in. though King’s Cage, I’ll admit, was a bit too slow for my liking, overall I did really like the story arc, where it went and where it ended. But the one problem I did have, that annoyed me to a pretty big extent, was the writing.

“show don’t tell” is a very familiar concept, even non-writers have heard it at some point in their life. Show don’t tell is based on trust: do you trust your audience enough to gauge a character’s emotional state if you describe their actions and how they look (rather than outright say “they were sad”)? Aveyard used quite a bit of showing in her book, and that’s absolutely fine, that’s what we’re told to do. But the writing also told, to the point where it was very over descriptive. Whenever we see a character’s state or can guess their line of thoughts (and this was especially apparent in War Storm), there’s always an extra line or sentence that explains those thoughts. At some point, it did start to feel a little repetitive. Another thing that bothered me about the writing, was how passive it was. Things were described as happening to the characters, almost, rather than the characters making them happen which led to me feeling very distanced from the characters, and I couldn’t really connect to them. For a book that’s supposed to be all about magic and action and being immersed in that world, that isn’t the greatest writing technique.

Despite these shortcomings, I really did enjoy the book overall. Enough to make me want to keep reading, because I was genuinely invested and wanted to see how it ended. I enjoyed the characters. A bit flat, but nothing terrible. And I did enjoy the depth behind one specific character, which actually took me by surprise (no spoilers though). Most of all I enjoyed the story itself. I thought the stakes were just high enough, the way it progressed was very good and very natural. However, the writing just wasn’t it for me. I do think I’ll read more of Aveyard’s books in the future, if only because I am well aware these were her first books, and for a debut it’s pretty damn good. And hey, there’s always more to learn. 

Also, not cool that disabilities get 'healed'. Just, yeah. 

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kingspite618's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

TOP 5 books that emotionally scarred me and changed me as a person and ruined my life forever! Loved it, would recommend it to everyone and also I hope no one has to go through the pain of reading this.

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anniereads221's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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