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mysteriesofmar's review
4.0
i want to emphasize that this isn't a bad book, it just really wasn't for me. luv u still miss chupeco
thehawk72's review against another edition
1.0
DNF at page 236.
This book was wildly uncreative to me. It was a mishmash of fairy tales and fantasy characters, tropes, and places that most of us might already be familiar with. The world itself was very confusing because of this, as I’m used to each of these worlds being separate and I had to try to combine them as I was doing this. The history was confusing and honestly uninteresting. I would not recommend this to fans of fantasy.
This book was wildly uncreative to me. It was a mishmash of fairy tales and fantasy characters, tropes, and places that most of us might already be familiar with. The world itself was very confusing because of this, as I’m used to each of these worlds being separate and I had to try to combine them as I was doing this. The history was confusing and honestly uninteresting. I would not recommend this to fans of fantasy.
emilyrose724's review against another edition
I loved the concept but I just couldn’t get into it. The world and characters just weren’t well developed enough for me and big reveals happened before I was invested enough to care.
racheldacey's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
natibns's review against another edition
2.0
(I´m not in the mood to write a detailed review, so these are just my thoughts of the book overall)
This book had such an interesting concept, but it was just so confusing. I never really understood, how or what is happening. The world building was confusing too and sometimes it felt like info-dumping. Also, I didn’t really care for any of the characters or their relationships. However, I liked the writing and the pop culture references.
Overall, this book was a confusing, but enjoyable mess.
This book had such an interesting concept, but it was just so confusing. I never really understood, how or what is happening. The world building was confusing too and sometimes it felt like info-dumping. Also, I didn’t really care for any of the characters or their relationships. However, I liked the writing and the pop culture references.
Overall, this book was a confusing, but enjoyable mess.
murve's review against another edition
Carly Rae Jepson mentioned and I realized this book is too young for me.
jordanez's review against another edition
This felt like a sequel and I was missing all the information
nelnjali's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It has an interesting premise, and I love unique retellings, but I just found this to be convoluted. I struggled to distinguish the characters from one another (maybe partially from listening to audio, but the convoluted story and cast didn't help), which therefore made it hard to care what happened to them.
ciphertextx's review against another edition
3.0
It feels like I've been reading this book for years. It's only been a couple of months, but it just took me so long to get through it which is one of my biggest issues with it.
It's like a fantasy alternate history which I can't really explain properly because I just didn't understand it, but basically the Prince of Avalon is on the run in America (known as the Royal States) from the Snow Queen who apparently attacked and froze his whole kingdom when he was like 5. He has a curse, and a BFF (main character) who repels magic. The Cheshire Cat of Wonderland has collected these magical-weapon-wielding young adults to assist and protect the prince on his way back to Avalon to save his frozen kingdom (including an enby named Loki, and a completely confusing character who's the descendant of the Sheriff of Nottingham). Government people are trying to buy illegal spelltech (I think), and there's prophecies and stuff. Also deals with real world problems like racism, how ICE handles refugees, etc etc.
Here's the problems: cool concept, cool ideas, cool story, very poor execution. The world-building and politics were confusing (and, at times, info-dumpy) and even having read the entire book VERY slowly, I still don't really understand the history or what was going on. Loose ends not tied up, which is fine because this is the first in a series, but like, the ending gave me no impression that the author was aware of just exactly what ends are left loose. I found the humour to be kind of immature and forced. It was mostly enjoyable while reading it except for the fact that it seemed to take ages to get through it and I understood only about 30% of what was going on at any given time.
It's a shame because it really seemed like a cool story, I wanted to like it, but I almost DNF'd because of just how much time it was taking and how much I had to force myself to keep going.
I actually read an ARC of this book (which I received several months ago), and usually I like to then buy the official release, but this is one I don't think I'll be buying tbh. And I've got no interest in reading the sequel so there's that. WELP.
It's like a fantasy alternate history which I can't really explain properly because I just didn't understand it, but basically the Prince of Avalon is on the run in America (known as the Royal States) from the Snow Queen who apparently attacked and froze his whole kingdom when he was like 5. He has a curse, and a BFF (main character) who repels magic. The Cheshire Cat of Wonderland has collected these magical-weapon-wielding young adults to assist and protect the prince on his way back to Avalon to save his frozen kingdom (including an enby named Loki, and a completely confusing character who's the descendant of the Sheriff of Nottingham). Government people are trying to buy illegal spelltech (I think), and there's prophecies and stuff. Also deals with real world problems like racism, how ICE handles refugees, etc etc.
Here's the problems: cool concept, cool ideas, cool story, very poor execution. The world-building and politics were confusing (and, at times, info-dumpy) and even having read the entire book VERY slowly, I still don't really understand the history or what was going on. Loose ends not tied up, which is fine because this is the first in a series, but like, the ending gave me no impression that the author was aware of just exactly what ends are left loose. I found the humour to be kind of immature and forced. It was mostly enjoyable while reading it except for the fact that it seemed to take ages to get through it and I understood only about 30% of what was going on at any given time.
It's a shame because it really seemed like a cool story, I wanted to like it, but I almost DNF'd because of just how much time it was taking and how much I had to force myself to keep going.
I actually read an ARC of this book (which I received several months ago), and usually I like to then buy the official release, but this is one I don't think I'll be buying tbh. And I've got no interest in reading the sequel so there's that. WELP.