svnsn's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Did not enjoy this book.
The good things first:
I thought the premise was I interesting. Also, I'm not usually into fantasy books set in the real world, but I did surprisingly enjoy the story taking place in a small (real world) town.
Now for the things I did not enjoy:
The characters are incredibly dull. Anyone who could be interesting
gets turned into a book zombie before I could get invested in them at all. Also I think the way that many characters are handled is just how I imagine a cynical boomer would look at them. Hurrrdurrr teenagers don't respect their elders and only watch trash TV hurrrdurrr celebrities these days are trash.
The characters which I think? was supposed to be the main character, someone I should empathize with, was borderline abusive to the children around him,like calling his students trash and whatnot. No wonder his students H A T E that guy
I was probably most disappointed about Emma. I thought she had so much potential. I teenage delinquent who her teachers look down upon and her parents don't care about that much. I thought the author wrote her so unlikable at first to later break with that expectation, show us that she is not a brat, maybe she'd even save the day! but no, she turns out to still be a brat, but this time a medieval one I guess.
The good things first:
I thought the premise was I interesting. Also, I'm not usually into fantasy books set in the real world, but I did surprisingly enjoy the story taking place in a small (real world) town.
Now for the things I did not enjoy:
The characters are incredibly dull. Anyone who could be interesting
The characters which I think? was supposed to be the main character, someone I should empathize with, was borderline abusive to the children around him,
Story structure wise, the same thing happens over and over and over again. At first it's interesting, but after, what, the 6th time? of someone
Side note, but I feel like anytime there's was an ugly or fat female character the author went all out on describing her perceived flaws, while it was just brushed over for male characters with the same features.
Tl;Dr: Strong start, turned into a drag about halfway in. Repetitive structure and no characters to root for.
Tl;Dr: Strong start, turned into a drag about halfway in. Repetitive structure and no characters to root for.
belgatherial's review against another edition
4.0
For a book I bought purely for the title, this was remarkably good. Fun, good grounding in mythology. Now to get my hands on the sequel....
ghost_cat99's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition
2.0
I really just couldn't get into this. It was not bad written or anything, it just didn't catch my attention at all.
Just not the right book for me - I gave up about 50 pages in.
Just not the right book for me - I gave up about 50 pages in.
sxphie12's review against another edition
3.0
Puhh, das war ein interessantes Buch. Ich habe der Geschichte und dem Fantasy-Genre eine Chance gegeben. Allerdings habe ich schnell feststellt, dass mir weder die Geschichte, noch das Genre zusagt. Ich konnte nur schwer in die Geschichte eintauchen und war die meiste Zeit eher gelangweilt. Vielleicht lag es daran, dass es ein Jugendbuch ist und ich aus dem Alter einfach raus bin. Aber noch eher lag es vermutlich an den wirren Szenen, brutalen Ereignissen, in denen auch Kinder involviert waren, und den Charakteren. Für keinen einzigen wurde mein Interesse geweckt.
Andere werden vermutlich nicht der gleichen Meinung sein und das ist gut so. Jedes Genre hat seine Fans, weshalb ich dieses Buch allen empfehlen kann, die die Fantasy so sehr lieben. Denn die Grundidee der Geschichte ist eigentlich gut.
2,9/5 ⭐️
Andere werden vermutlich nicht der gleichen Meinung sein und das ist gut so. Jedes Genre hat seine Fans, weshalb ich dieses Buch allen empfehlen kann, die die Fantasy so sehr lieben. Denn die Grundidee der Geschichte ist eigentlich gut.
2,9/5 ⭐️
emilia__x's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I don't know... it was just too dark and hopeless for me. It was a very interesting and promising idea but not captivating enough. I liked the description of the characters but the whole additude of this book and its characters was too negative for my taste.
eule's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This book is evil. Not just the book in the book but the book itself. Gorgeous premise and writing style. (By the way: Have you had a look at this cover?! I am in love. You know what everyone says: don’t judge a book by its cover and whatever. Yes, yes I do.) Normally, I am neither a thriller nor a horror reader and therefore, I was grossed out by the intimidating and eerie things happening in this book (of course, some of you might think of it as lame). You could literally experience the spread of this world through the town and what it did to loved ones. I especially enjoyed the many character perspectives and developments. Most if them were eventually sucked into this book but you just knew that they were tailored to their book character from the beginning. Yet, If I think about this book right now, it did not give me a lot of content. Just vibes of horror. After all, I am looking forward to read the sequel and loosing another night’s sleep.
Ps: thank you to my friend Thea for recommending me this book and letting me borrow her copy ^^
Ps: thank you to my friend Thea for recommending me this book and letting me borrow her copy ^^
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Cursing, Animal death, Drug use, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
ellen5525's review against another edition
3.0
This book wasn't that great. The blurb made it sound so much more interesting than it actually was.
This was one of my longer reads, it took me six days to get through it because it was so mind numbingly boring.
It took forever to get going, the book got interesting at about page 400 (roughly just 120 pages from the end). In the last 120 pages things really started happening there was a lot of excitement, however when I got to end literally no cliff hanger (considering there are sequels) nothing to compel you to read the next book.
I wouldn't recommend this book.
This was one of my longer reads, it took me six days to get through it because it was so mind numbingly boring.
It took forever to get going, the book got interesting at about page 400 (roughly just 120 pages from the end). In the last 120 pages things really started happening there was a lot of excitement, however when I got to end literally no cliff hanger (considering there are sequels) nothing to compel you to read the next book.
I wouldn't recommend this book.
softbooknerd's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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? No
5.0