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readingwithtara's reviews
32 reviews
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
I must be the odd one out because i hated this book. Ive hear about how amazing this series is and was so excited to start it but im so disappointed. It could also be that this book just flew over my head and i didnt understand majority of it and it was so heavily information based not character or plot base that has made me dislike it so much. It was so densely written and i understand fantasy is mostly worldbuilding but this was worldbuilding times 1000. The parts i found most interesting ended up being glossed over or time jumped to months later i.e the school , rin's training , rin's friendships etc and the parts i hated just seemed to drag on and on and it was confusing and hard to keep up with all the information. Something i dont understand is Rin's anger when it comes to the speerly and how she talks about her people and her friends when she only found out about her heritage towards the end of the book and its like she flipped a switch from not caring about her heritage to wanting to avenge it it felt like instead of her anger she took on the anger of others because she knew with anger came the phoenix's power and she wanted to be powerful more than anything. She talks about avenging her people and her friends and yet her people didnt accept her and she had no friends except kitay. Her love for Altan was weird to me as well it was less like love and more like admiration and her wanting to be him i understand they had that connection as speerlys but she acted as if she cared about him more or better then the rest of the Cikes who have been with him for way longer and knew him way better. I didnt like any character nor did i really care about anyone in the story apart from Ramsa . I thought there would be that found family trope with the Cikes and yet i didnt get that from them. I was interested in the school/training but it was just sped up so quickly that it went from weeks to months to years in a single page. I might try book 2 and sed if it gets better because i really have seen people rave about this series and how it wrecks them emotionally but if i already feel a disconnect to the characters im not sure if that can change.
2.75
I must be the odd one out because i hated this book. Ive hear about how amazing this series is and was so excited to start it but im so disappointed. It could also be that this book just flew over my head and i didnt understand majority of it and it was so heavily information based not character or plot base that has made me dislike it so much. It was so densely written and i understand fantasy is mostly worldbuilding but this was worldbuilding times 1000. The parts i found most interesting ended up being glossed over or time jumped to months later i.e the school , rin's training , rin's friendships etc and the parts i hated just seemed to drag on and on and it was confusing and hard to keep up with all the information. Something i dont understand is Rin's anger when it comes to the speerly and how she talks about her people and her friends when she only found out about her heritage towards the end of the book and its like she flipped a switch from not caring about her heritage to wanting to avenge it it felt like instead of her anger she took on the anger of others because she knew with anger came the phoenix's power and she wanted to be powerful more than anything. She talks about avenging her people and her friends and yet her people didnt accept her and she had no friends except kitay. Her love for Altan was weird to me as well it was less like love and more like admiration and her wanting to be him i understand they had that connection as speerlys but she acted as if she cared about him more or better then the rest of the Cikes who have been with him for way longer and knew him way better. I didnt like any character nor did i really care about anyone in the story apart from Ramsa . I thought there would be that found family trope with the Cikes and yet i didnt get that from them. I was interested in the school/training but it was just sped up so quickly that it went from weeks to months to years in a single page. I might try book 2 and sed if it gets better because i really have seen people rave about this series and how it wrecks them emotionally but if i already feel a disconnect to the characters im not sure if that can change.
Powerless by Lauren Roberts
This book was good but it was only good because it was made up of all the other books i love. When people say its like the hunger games i didn't think it'd be such a replica of it. The only original and interesting part of this book was the plague and how it gave magic to some and not to others and yet that was never fleshed out or explained more so just flashed over to give a brief explanation. The banter between kai and paedyn was too much and they repeated the same things over and over so as you read you could almost predict what they were going to say. The resistance was another cool part of the story if only it was dragged out and explained more the end with them revealing themselves makes no sense since they were so easily outnumbered and overpowered you would think that something thats taken years in the making would of gone even a little bit better. This book is just filled with all the cliche tropes imaginable and the writing was repetitive and kept trying to be deeper than what it was. Im not sure if I'm going to read book 2 or just look up the spoilers. Anyway heres just some of the comparisons i made whilst reading.
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This book was good but it was only good because it was made up of all the other books i love. When people say its like the hunger games i didn't think it'd be such a replica of it. The only original and interesting part of this book was the plague and how it gave magic to some and not to others and yet that was never fleshed out or explained more so just flashed over to give a brief explanation. The banter between kai and paedyn was too much and they repeated the same things over and over so as you read you could almost predict what they were going to say. The resistance was another cool part of the story if only it was dragged out and explained more the end with them revealing themselves makes no sense since they were so easily outnumbered and overpowered you would think that something thats taken years in the making would of gone even a little bit better. This book is just filled with all the cliche tropes imaginable and the writing was repetitive and kept trying to be deeper than what it was. Im not sure if I'm going to read book 2 or just look up the spoilers. Anyway heres just some of the comparisons i made whilst reading.
Purging trials - hunger games
Rating system (elites , the fatals, mundane , ordinary) - divergent
Kai freaking out about paedyns wounds and then finding the healing salve - katniss saving peeta
Kai burying sadie and putting flowers on her grave - katniss covering rue in flowers
audience and contestants making a symbol with their fingers to honour the dead - hunger games 3 fingers salute
Love triangle and crooked king/kingdom - throne of glass
cinna and katniss - Adena and paedyn
The final trial maze made from nature that can be manipulated and moved - harry potter and the goblet of fire
The final trial maze made from nature that can be manipulated and moved - harry potter and the goblet of fire
The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
Im glad i didn't read assassins blade first for a couple of reasons. The first being i would of known Celaena was Aelin from the start and whilst i had theories that she was it made it more enjoyable to not 100% know and much more dramatic of a reveal when she told chaol. The second i would of hated knowing that Arovynn was the one to betray her and had to read whilst she figured it out again i assumed and thought he did but it would of taken the fun out of it knowing 100% that he did. The final reason was i would of forgotten the backstories to the debts owed to Aelin and reading about the stories behind it after finishing Kingdom Of Ash was just better then half remembering it if i had read it beforehand. I also feel like i would of been more wary of Aelin and her romantic partners because of how much i loved Sam and i would of constantly put Sam against Chaol and Dorian (not Rowan though since he had his own tragic backstory so they're pains matched and thats what drew them together) and would of went in hating anyone she got with on principle. I cant believe my Throne of Glass era is over and i truely like it alot more than ACOTAR purely because of Aelin and how badass of a character she is and the fact she actually was a genius in how she though and her schemes and how selfless she was in willingly to die basically every book for everyone else.
3.25
Im glad i didn't read assassins blade first for a couple of reasons. The first being i would of known Celaena was Aelin from the start and whilst i had theories that she was it made it more enjoyable to not 100% know and much more dramatic of a reveal when she told chaol. The second i would of hated knowing that Arovynn was the one to betray her and had to read whilst she figured it out again i assumed and thought he did but it would of taken the fun out of it knowing 100% that he did. The final reason was i would of forgotten the backstories to the debts owed to Aelin and reading about the stories behind it after finishing Kingdom Of Ash was just better then half remembering it if i had read it beforehand. I also feel like i would of been more wary of Aelin and her romantic partners because of how much i loved Sam and i would of constantly put Sam against Chaol and Dorian (not Rowan though since he had his own tragic backstory so they're pains matched and thats what drew them together) and would of went in hating anyone she got with on principle. I cant believe my Throne of Glass era is over and i truely like it alot more than ACOTAR purely because of Aelin and how badass of a character she is and the fact she actually was a genius in how she though and her schemes and how selfless she was in willingly to die basically every book for everyone else.