A very generous two stars for the cool concept. That's it. That's the only thing I found worthwhile.
Truly, how do you write a 548 page long book wherA very generous two stars for the cool concept. That's it. That's the only thing I found worthwhile.
Truly, how do you write a 548 page long book where practically nothing happens? This could have been a novella, a short story even. A whole lot of moving around and getting captured and planning escape and talking talking talking while the most boring, one-dimensional villain in the world demands that people read for him.
I feel betrayed by how many people recommended this to me. ...more
I can't do it anymore. I got 50 percent in and then tried to read the wiki page and I STILL couldn't follow the plot. This is so needlessly confusing I can't do it anymore. I got 50 percent in and then tried to read the wiki page and I STILL couldn't follow the plot. This is so needlessly confusing and messy and Harrow-san-Gideon is not a compelling POV to read in. I adored Gideon the Ninth, so I don't understand how I hate this sequel so much but here we are. ...more
the low rating does not lie. this was genuinely so incredibly bad. i had high hopes since the writing was initially beautiful but the further in i madthe low rating does not lie. this was genuinely so incredibly bad. i had high hopes since the writing was initially beautiful but the further in i made it, the worse it got, until the absolutely awful ending....more
I am disturbed by the ever present air of pedophilia hanging over each passage where Claudia is mentioned. Like genuinely why is this book so well ratI am disturbed by the ever present air of pedophilia hanging over each passage where Claudia is mentioned. Like genuinely why is this book so well rated and why in any of the reviews I read did I see no mention of this? Literally even the scene where she is turned uses phrases like "I wanted her." Then as you get further into it, and she starts to grow mentally, he begins to describe how like sensual she is and it was disgusting. "Father and daughter, lover and lover." "I was estranged from her and in agony as if she were my bride." "'Kill with me tonight,' she whispered as sensually as a lover."
And while I do enjoy the TV adaptation, I am kind of shocked at the way it painted Louis in a much kinder light, even making him a black man who specifically calls Lestat out on racism while in the book he is a plantation owner who is horribly racist himself.
I have no damn clue WHAT the author is talking about. I may as well have been reading gibberish, and judging by other reviews, I am not alone. I refusI have no damn clue WHAT the author is talking about. I may as well have been reading gibberish, and judging by other reviews, I am not alone. I refuse to give this an extra star just because I feel like "someone cleverer" might understand this. It shouldn't take a genius to follow your story. ☠️...more
This story is confusing in an inaccessible way. The fun of reading murder mystery novels is trying to piece togethDNFed around a third of the way in.
This story is confusing in an inaccessible way. The fun of reading murder mystery novels is trying to piece together the culprit and motive, but this novel is written in a way that doesn't allow the reader to do that. The main character is so lost and out of sorts in his own narrative that the audience is receiving no useful information. Instead of being able to participate in the mystery, we are only allowed to watch the mystery happen to him.
A quarter of the way into the book and you have no leads on who the murderer could be because the MC has had little going on his head except wishing to get out of the groundhog day trap that he's in. For god's sake, even after all that's happened to him up to this point in the book, he just takes it at face value that she must have killed herself.
In addition, a groundhog day mystery would have been fine on its own, but it's completely sullied by being introduced as *another* mystery in and of itself. We could have just gotten a story where this guy is stuck repeating the same day and figures out on his own that perhaps he has to stop a murder. Instead, we get this seemingly all-knowing plague doctor figure talking about how the murder mystery is a race against other people also trying to solve it. It detracts from the actual murder plot going on.
To make matters worse (what with the dragging, confusing plot and the droll characters), there is an absurd amount of fat shaming in here? When the MC enters the body of a fat man, the story goes on and on and on about how disgusting this fat guy is, how he smells and can't bathe himself and eats beyond excessively and what an odious, awful, fat fat person is he! My god, man, give it a rest. It's as if this character's fatness (and his grossness due to being fat) is a subplot in and of itself.
Truly, this was such a disappointing read and I just couldn't stick through it, even to see what the ultimate "twist" would be....more
This is just so deeply unfun and I could not care about the characters or plot. Also I can appreciate the concept of the backwards chapters but it didThis is just so deeply unfun and I could not care about the characters or plot. Also I can appreciate the concept of the backwards chapters but it did not work at all here. Teen me who got a signed copy of We Were Liars because I loved it so much is so sad, and adult me who paid for this book is also sad....more
This is quite literally my most hated book I have ever read. I have never felt such anger while reading a book, and I am not even an angry person. It This is quite literally my most hated book I have ever read. I have never felt such anger while reading a book, and I am not even an angry person. It can be summed up with these lines:
"I'd starve for the chance to save someone." "Die then! That's your choice. That's your life. But you dont get to throw mine away!"
except the person saying the second line is the ... villain?????
And of course the author pulls out some ridiculous deus ex machinas to make sure the MC was right to endanger everyone else on the ship (literally starving them) on some ludicrous hope of saving a single person.
I have an arm injury atm, so I can't give a proper review now, but oh my god if you're seeing this, please don't waste your time on this book.
i tried, i really fuckin tried. i got halfway through but it didn't get any better. literally HALFWAY into the book and nothing had changed since the i tried, i really fuckin tried. i got halfway through but it didn't get any better. literally HALFWAY into the book and nothing had changed since the beginning of the book. if i read the first chapter and the one i'm currently on, i would hardly feel as if i missed anything....more
DNFed at 70 percent. I couldnt even stick out an hour & a half to listen to the rest of this story. Every moment was grueling. Not one notable charactDNFed at 70 percent. I couldnt even stick out an hour & a half to listen to the rest of this story. Every moment was grueling. Not one notable character, plotline, or moment in anything I read....more
The further I got into this book, the more the rating dropped. How does one take a concept that is so interesting and make it so boring?
Characters: 3/The further I got into this book, the more the rating dropped. How does one take a concept that is so interesting and make it so boring?
Characters: 3/5 for Nella & Eliza. -15/5 for Caroline. Every chapter of Caroline's was excruciatingly dull and pointless. I can't fathom why she is in this book at all. It almost felt like Penner was trying to parallel her with Nella but there was nothing to parallel other than their want for a child, which every woman in the story seems to be hung up on??
Plot Concept: 5/5. An apothecary meant specifically for helping women, even if that help came in the form of killing men!? Sign me up!
Plot Execution: 0/5. Oh, what's that? Nothing exciting happens at all, a third of the story is centered around a modern woman with marital problems, and none of it even tries to be believable? Nevermind....
Pacing: 1/5. It all felt kind of rushed and condensed. If Penner just took out Caroline's POV altogether and focused more on the past, maybe this would have turned out better. For example, with the way Nella got so attached to Eliza as to think of her as her own child, you'd think they knew each other for longer than they did.
Writing: 3/5. It's good, but even good writing can't distract from the pitfalls of this story.
I don't know, this just wasn't great. It felt very fake deep. After suffering through many platitudes about life, death, and success, I realized this I don't know, this just wasn't great. It felt very fake deep. After suffering through many platitudes about life, death, and success, I realized this book simply was not going to deliver anything new. I already knew where the book would end up from the very moment The Librarian first started explaining The Midnight Library. It wasn't hard to guess.
I held out hope for a while that the book might surprise me or at least give me some lovable characters to care about, but I simply did not connect with Nora at all. I say this as someone who has battled depression, self-harm, and suicidal ideation since my tweens. Her overt self hate and conviction that she didn't deserve happiness — which is a very dismal POV to be in — wasn't really challenged much throughout the book either. We didn't see any break through on self love. The library gave her other lives to live and through it she realized the grass is greener on the other side and all that jazz.
And I can't help but roll my eyes at that.
The assertion that your life as it is is the only fit for you because you were meant to live it, and no other life would be right or fulfilling, is utter bullshit. And it either reads as coming from a place of privilege (someone who already has a life they mostly enjoy) or just delusion. Because sometimes peoples lives just suck, and they would be happier in a new one. Sometimes, peoples lives are downright atrocious. You're telling me the best possible timeline for this lady is one in which she tried to commit suicide? What kind of fucked up "inspirational" concept is that?
Even if I didn't hate that the book was trying to sell us on the notion that everything happens for a reason, it still wasn't providing a thoughtful, interesting, or fresh take on the subject at hand. It ended up being just another voice in the cacophony of an age old conversation. Snooze....more
I don't know that I've read a book that has so thoroughly disappointed me. I've had books I've hated, sure, but I didn't have expectations of l[image]
I don't know that I've read a book that has so thoroughly disappointed me. I've had books I've hated, sure, but I didn't have expectations of loving those books. This feels like a betrayal. This book seemed like something I should have adored, and yet!
I don't even know where to begin on a review because it all blends into one uniform, monotonous blah in my head. It took me weeks to get through the audiobook for this story because I didn't even want to passively absorb it while doing other, more interesting, things. The characters are stale and one dimensional. The magic system is ill conceived. The plot is underwhelming. The romance is boring as fuck. There wasn't much I outright hated in We Were Magic, but I can say there is not one thing I really liked. The opposite of love is apathy or whatever, I guess.
I could break down part by part the reasons I didn't enjoy this book, but I don't want to expend any more energy thinking about it.