Book Review: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor ★★★

20170827_130111

“”Life won’t just happen to you, boy,” [Master Hyrrokkin] said. “You have to happen to it. Remember: The spirit grows sluggish when you neglect the passions.” 

“My spirit is fine.”

“Then you’re going sadly wrong. You’re young. Your spirit shouldn’t be ‘fine.’ It should be effervescent.””

This book was extremely frustrating to review. Some parts were so good, but other parts were not good at all, not even in realm of good. And sadly, those parts clashed with what I loved about it. Ultimately, it balances out around 3 stars, with most of those points going to writing quality alone. That score is way lower than I was expecting to give, when I first started reading. I thought for sure this was going to be a 4.5/5 star read and I am disappointed in how it turned out. But, I could not overlook its flaws. Hopefully, I can articulate exactly how I feel about Strange the Dreamer for you guys.

This review contains spoilers!

Continue reading

Book Review: Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones ★★★

“”You are the one who wanted a happy ending, my dear. So you tell me, how does the story end?”
Tears slipped from my face, and he wiped them away with his thumbs.
“The foolish young man lets the beautiful maiden go.”
“Yes.” His voice was clotted thick with unshed emotion. “He lets her go.””

24763621

Cover image courtesy of Goodreads, as I do not own the book.

Well, this book was hard to review. I was wavering between two and three stars forever on this one, so I would officially give it 2.5 stars with an extra half star for the beautiful writing. This is another book that came out early this year that I was super excited for. I read the multi-chapter preview right when it was released and I loved it! The cover is beyond gorgeous and I was so intrigued by the idea of a Labyrinth-inspired story, despite being kind of terrified of the original movie when I first saw it in 6th grade (those tights gave me nightmares). But, once again, when I finally got to read all of Wintersong, it was just…meh? Ultimately, I was just underwhelmed. Maybe I had unrealistic expectations, but I wanted more from Liesl and the Goblin King! Continue reading

Book Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab ★★★★

“”Aren’t you afraid of dying?” he asked Lila now.
She looked at him as if it were a strange question. And then she shook her head. “Death comes for everyone,” she said simply. “I’m not afraid of dying. But I am afraid of dying here.” She swept her hand over the room, the tavern, the city. “I’d rather die on an adventure than live standing still.””

20170722_183651 (2)

Yay! A good one! A Darker Shade of Magic was a magnificent, well-crafted fantasy adventure with great world-building, pacing, and characters.

Continue reading