A review by _artemis
Sorrow and Starlight, by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I’ll be honest, the first like half of this book was kind of torture to get through. I can handle ZA at its goofiest - I love it in spite of myself. I can handle a lot of the things that once made me roll my eyes plot-wise. But it just felt like we were biding time (which we’ve seen before in the series, just done better) until the real arc of the action started. A case of: an incredibly long book that would have benefited from a harsher edit. If we’d cut a lot of the bulk out it would have been the addictive breeze the others have been.
That being said, we’re definitely building to a big magic, mystery, lore climax and instead of getting the sense that the authors have left us these bread crumbs or that the characters have show their increasing mastery over their abilities (especially in the case of the vegas) it’s all kind of… “oh and here’s another prophecy” or “yeah Tory can do rune magic now.” Ultimately that sort of fantasy world weaving mastery isn’t what I had expected ever of this series, but was curious to see how it was pulled of as we were led there. I don’t know that that aspect has always been a success.
Still loved hanging out with this messy crew I’ve learned to love. The relationships are all A+ (except we need two of them to stop being idiots) and the spice has def leveled up in some places! Still fun in the end it just took me forever to get there.
That being said, we’re definitely building to a big magic, mystery, lore climax and instead of getting the sense that the authors have left us these bread crumbs or that the characters have show their increasing mastery over their abilities (especially in the case of the vegas) it’s all kind of… “oh and here’s another prophecy” or “yeah Tory can do rune
Spoiler
etherStill loved hanging out with this messy crew I’ve learned to love. The relationships are all A+ (except we need two of them to stop being idiots) and the spice has def leveled up in some places! Still fun in the end it just took me forever to get there.