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A review by asterope
The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
Did not finish book. Stopped at 41%.
I know, I got so far and gave up at the final hurdle. This is such a sunk cost fallacy moment for me. I was thinking, ok I made it through the first two, I should be able to handle one last book just to see how it all ends right? No. I can't handle any more of this girl lmao. Let me be free!
The first thing I wrote in my notes was: I don't miss Orion. But I know he'll be back somehow. That doesn't mean I can't be annoyed about it though. He's such a blah paper-thin character! He barely exists. And then this whole book is based around their ‘relationship’, so that made it even harder to read.
El is still so bitter about literally everyone she meets. There's no real character growth. When she finally feels sympathy for Liesel, it's only after discovering her sad backstory. Even if she didn't have a sad backstory, she didn't have to be so rude to her. Even then, the way this reveal is written is very surface-level. The author could have done way more to be incisive about El’s flaws.
And when she yells at Orion’s dad? And walks out on him afterwards? The other characters don't react like how someone would actually react if they had to deal with a person like El. So the other characters feel incredibly thin and not like real people at all.
Even the characters she claims to be friendly with can't escape: "'What?' Chloe jerked to glance around: couldn't even be bothered to notice the everyday local miracle.". Harsh! If a local miracle is part of your home, you get used to it when you see it every day. That's just how the human brain works El.
I was looking forward to starting this book because it finally takes us out of the Scholomance and into the real world. But even then, the expanded plotline couldn't distract me enough from the rants and rambles. The part with Yancy and the escape from the London enclave, yeesh. It could have been a cool sequence to show off a type of magic we haven’t seen before, but it was so over-written. Way too much detail. I got bored and started skimming.
It's such a weird series! It all hinges around this one awful character, so I can't connect with anything - plot, worldbuilding or characters. Even after reading two and a half books!
It reminds me of Babel with its complete lack of nuance in its themes. The class system sucks, we know. But god, wasn't there a better way to illustrate this point? 2 stars for this terrible series.
The first thing I wrote in my notes was: I don't miss Orion. But I know he'll be back somehow. That doesn't mean I can't be annoyed about it though. He's such a blah paper-thin character! He barely exists. And then this whole book is based around their ‘relationship’, so that made it even harder to read.
El is still so bitter about literally everyone she meets. There's no real character growth. When she finally feels sympathy for Liesel, it's only after discovering her sad backstory. Even if she didn't have a sad backstory, she didn't have to be so rude to her. Even then, the way this reveal is written is very surface-level. The author could have done way more to be incisive about El’s flaws.
And when she yells at Orion’s dad? And walks out on him afterwards? The other characters don't react like how someone would actually react if they had to deal with a person like El. So the other characters feel incredibly thin and not like real people at all.
Even the characters she claims to be friendly with can't escape: "'What?' Chloe jerked to glance around: couldn't even be bothered to notice the everyday local miracle.". Harsh! If a local miracle is part of your home, you get used to it when you see it every day. That's just how the human brain works El.
I was looking forward to starting this book because it finally takes us out of the Scholomance and into the real world. But even then, the expanded plotline couldn't distract me enough from the rants and rambles. The part with Yancy and the escape from the London enclave, yeesh. It could have been a cool sequence to show off a type of magic we haven’t seen before, but it was so over-written. Way too much detail. I got bored and started skimming.
It's such a weird series! It all hinges around this one awful character, so I can't connect with anything - plot, worldbuilding or characters. Even after reading two and a half books!
It reminds me of Babel with its complete lack of nuance in its themes. The class system sucks, we know. But god, wasn't there a better way to illustrate this point? 2 stars for this terrible series.