salmaa's review against another edition
4.0
honestly the first book left me with sooo many unanswered questions-- super excited for this one!
i_love_read_ing's review against another edition
2.0
I am honestly disappointed by pretty much every aspect of this book. I have been eagerly awaiting the conclusion to the story since the first book came out last year-I loved the first book! I though "Spindle Fire" was really well written; this book is quite the opposite. Main characters that were super important in the first novel immediately became unimportant and played minuscule roles in this book. It's as if they never existed in the first place, and their importance is completely lost. And vice versa, suddenly minor characters are WAY more important. I feel like if they were going to become so important immediately in this book and throughout this book, then they should have been featured more in the first novel. One such character is Wren-I didn't even remember her from the first book! And all of a sudden she's a main character and I just didn't care about her at all.
Another thing that bothered me was that there was just too much going on. It all went way too fast. There were too many things that just got thrown into the book and were very lightly touched upon that needed further explanation. Such as the Ice King. And Hildegarde coming out of nowhere for one page just to move he plot along and then disappearing for the rest of the book. Or Wren's stone curse, which also came out of nowhere just to move the plot along??? It actually seemed unnecessary to the plot at all and could have been omitted. Also her deal with Binks to kill Aurora was never mentioned again, as well as Binks. Nothing was explained in depth and it really ruined the book for me.
I also hated the lack of character development. It was like Aurora and Isbe were making decisions on a whim that did not fit with their character. Like for Aurora; I felt like she immediately forgot about Heath, didn't care about him at all, and just very suddenly was madly in love with Wren within the first few pages, with whom she never had a strong bond with in the first place. That truly came out of nowhere, and I felt like the story would have been better if she had been attracted to Wren in the first book, and Wren didn't want to escape because of her secret stone curse, but Aurora did, and Heath wouldn't have even existed. Also the fact that Isbe wanted to marry William, got the chance, turned it down, immediately un-turned it down, actually loved him to death, and then told him to leave anyway for really no reason. NOTHING MAKES SENSE!!! None of this fits the characters from the first book and it is very disappointing. I honestly wish the author would just rewrite this book and develop both her characters and her plot points more because it all felt rushed and sloppily put together.
Another thing that bothered me was that there was just too much going on. It all went way too fast. There were too many things that just got thrown into the book and were very lightly touched upon that needed further explanation. Such as the Ice King. And Hildegarde coming out of nowhere for one page just to move he plot along and then disappearing for the rest of the book. Or Wren's stone curse, which also came out of nowhere just to move the plot along??? It actually seemed unnecessary to the plot at all and could have been omitted. Also her deal with Binks to kill Aurora was never mentioned again, as well as Binks. Nothing was explained in depth and it really ruined the book for me.
I also hated the lack of character development. It was like Aurora and Isbe were making decisions on a whim that did not fit with their character. Like for Aurora; I felt like she immediately forgot about Heath, didn't care about him at all, and just very suddenly was madly in love with Wren within the first few pages, with whom she never had a strong bond with in the first place. That truly came out of nowhere, and I felt like the story would have been better if she had been attracted to Wren in the first book, and Wren didn't want to escape because of her secret stone curse, but Aurora did, and Heath wouldn't have even existed. Also the fact that Isbe wanted to marry William, got the chance, turned it down, immediately un-turned it down, actually loved him to death, and then told him to leave anyway for really no reason. NOTHING MAKES SENSE!!! None of this fits the characters from the first book and it is very disappointing. I honestly wish the author would just rewrite this book and develop both her characters and her plot points more because it all felt rushed and sloppily put together.
sc104906's review against another edition
2.0
I received this as an eARC through Edelweiss.
Aurora has been woken from her dream state and now must join forces with the Prince who woke her to fix the kingdom. However, she is desperate to go back to her dream reality, where she left friends in the middle of a war. Aurora and her sister Isabelle will need to work together to stop the evil that is leaking out into their world.
This book was extremely hard to follow because I have not read the first book. I could not connect to the characters and had trouble committing to the plot.
Aurora has been woken from her dream state and now must join forces with the Prince who woke her to fix the kingdom. However, she is desperate to go back to her dream reality, where she left friends in the middle of a war. Aurora and her sister Isabelle will need to work together to stop the evil that is leaking out into their world.
This book was extremely hard to follow because I have not read the first book. I could not connect to the characters and had trouble committing to the plot.
kbaj's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book in a giveaway from Harper Teen.
This book was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't quite as YA as I thought it would be, and it steered clear of most tropes of the "reclaimed fairytale" genre. Having only read this, the second book of the series, I could still follow the characters and storyline, and it does well as a standalone book. *spoilers* Though the emphasis of the book was on the relationship between the sisters, I did also appreciate the romance between Aurora and Wren. And I did also like the characterization of Malfleur, who was portrayed as nuanced without trying to totally redeem her. If there were any flaws in this book, I think it would be that Hillyer didn't put enough emphasis on the big climax moments. They often ended before I realized that it was something I should really take notice of. The drama really wasn't there, even though I was interested. I just didn't feel a suspense or urgency. Enjoyable nonetheless, especially for a quick YA read.
This book was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't quite as YA as I thought it would be, and it steered clear of most tropes of the "reclaimed fairytale" genre. Having only read this, the second book of the series, I could still follow the characters and storyline, and it does well as a standalone book. *spoilers* Though the emphasis of the book was on the relationship between the sisters, I did also appreciate the romance between Aurora and Wren. And I did also like the characterization of Malfleur, who was portrayed as nuanced without trying to totally redeem her. If there were any flaws in this book, I think it would be that Hillyer didn't put enough emphasis on the big climax moments. They often ended before I realized that it was something I should really take notice of. The drama really wasn't there, even though I was interested. I just didn't feel a suspense or urgency. Enjoyable nonetheless, especially for a quick YA read.
mlottermoser's review against another edition
4.0
Read book one first. Fractured fairytale with Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty elements.
jena_33's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
rachel_abby_reads's review against another edition
1.0
The first novel was interesting and different and caught enough interest for me to progress to this one. This novel killed it for me.
It seemed that she started on one path and completely switched for the second book. Action was vague, the villain's motivations were never addressed (and were gutted in the second book). It seems that the author started with kind of a fairy tale retelling/blending in the first book and decided in the second book that princess stories are weak, and the key point that needs to go away is the prince/guy and the happy ever after. Which - okay - tell that story; but I'm not necessarily going to like it.
And I didn't.
It seemed that she started on one path and completely switched for the second book. Action was vague, the villain's motivations were never addressed (and were gutted in the second book). It seems that the author started with kind of a fairy tale retelling/blending in the first book and decided in the second book that princess stories are weak, and the key point that needs to go away is the prince/guy and the happy ever after. Which - okay - tell that story; but I'm not necessarily going to like it.
And I didn't.
sprinkled's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
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? Yes
4.0