It actually hurts me to say this, but Children of Anguish and Anarchy was a huge disappointment.
After waiting almost 4 years for the conclusion to thiIt actually hurts me to say this, but Children of Anguish and Anarchy was a huge disappointment.
After waiting almost 4 years for the conclusion to this trilogy, I find the final instalment malformed and rushed.
I was immediately not a fan of the enslavement parallels at the very start of the book and by almost 20 chapters we were still fighting to get off the boat after being captured by a brand-new enemy who had not previously featured. We all know how much I despise the slave narrative and while this was not a central focus of the book, having this magical Black cast in this type of bondage for so long admittedly made me dislike it a lot more than I probably would have. The author has taken everything that was magical and special about this world and its people and joined it into struggle and plight and I hated that about this.
Where this book ultimately doesn’t work is that it is completely disjointed from its predecessors. Everything about Children of Blood and Bone and Children of Virtue and Vengeance seems to be completely forgotten. Characters are gone, motives disappear and even certain people are literally killed off so that we don’t have to deal with them anymore. It genuinely feels like this plot was an afterthought and simply inserted just to bring the series to an end when no thought on how to do so had previously been established.
The pacing and quadruple POV’s create a choppy narrative that even though I have found to be better for reading in previous stories, just made this feel too fast and unrealistic. Zelie is meant to learn how to control her new powers from new allies and I have no idea how she did it. I felt like they spent more time beautifying her then actually teaching anything which made everything feel sacrificial which I didnt care for. At one point, someone says theyd trained for 9 days but were suddenly capableof taking on armies. The rituals didnt make sense. The villain deaths were super easy and i had no clue how they were travelling back and forth so easily across the oceans.
While there was a solid attempt at worldbuilding around Orisha, I'm not entirely sure where they are and how the two worlds are connected. The use of their language while wonderful to see included felt unnecessary because you can't pronounce them anyway. I wanted to feel more connected with this and whenever a book has too much of a language I don't understand, it takes me out of the story.
I hated the ending and while I understand that you might not always get the ending you desire, this did not feel well thought out enough for it to be accepted as the ending that was needed. The deaths felt transient and unfair and the sacrifices hollow in order to pander to current tropes.
I will always be grateful to the author for paving the way for mainstream Black lead fantasy but unfortunately and to my utter heartbreak, the conclusion was not as mighty as the people it portrays.
For the most part i really enjoyed this journey into Norse Fantasy with a Black protagonist because of course it was something id never seen done bef For the most part i really enjoyed this journey into Norse Fantasy with a Black protagonist because of course it was something id never seen done before. Written by a co author alongside Willow Smith, i was intrigued when seeing this on #Netgalley so immediately made the request.
Going in i knew there would be struggle/slave narrative but due to the historic setting, i had no real issue with this and actually liked how delicately it was handled from the point of our heroine being taken from her village in Africa (modern day Ghana) to a viking town in what i believe is Norway, and how she navigates the change from freedom to captivity.
There is a dual POV with the princess of said viking town and i enjoyed meeting Freydis and understandin the longhouse politics through her eyes as a woman in the traditional role and then in the heroine’s role as a non traditional one.
What made me not love this weirdly enough is that it felt too neat and HEA. Vikings were brutal and while there is a surface layer of what they got up to, it all felt too immature to be a true Viking outing as Ive seen in the tv show Vikings and The Last Kingdom etc which i adore.
So for me, good story, good characters but just a little too tame but I would love for this to get in front of more people so definitely give it a go if you want to try something different.
Thank you to @netgalley @randomhouse @cornerstone and @delrey for the ebook. All opinions are my own. ...more
House of Marionne is about a teen named Quell - shit name - who has some sort of bad magic that rather than teach her about or ho(2.75)
Where to begin?
House of Marionne is about a teen named Quell - shit name - who has some sort of bad magic that rather than teach her about or how to control, her mother has her on the run for years to hide it from her magically respected family. The magic manifests into something like black ash or shadows or something and apparently this is bad for reasons not really made clear.
Fast forward to some people called Draguns - no discernible reason for the name or spelling - hunting her, Quell's mum sends her to the very place theyve been running from and tells her to seek sanctuary. Said place is a school for magic people, one of four and this particular house is run by Quell's obviously shady grandmother who is like Professor McGonagall and Anna Wintour had a very rude baby.
Quell has to learn about magic and this school in a matter of seconds in order to graduate in some fashion that isnt that clear in order to hide her bad magic and avoid annihilation.
I liked the Bridgerton esque feel of school with its debutante balls and learning how to curtsy was cute enough but it was all very...pretty. The whole book is pretty and 1000% YA. There is no darkness to speak of so if you like that sort of squeaky clean, no frills YA, then be my guest. The romance is wack too.
I pretty much disliked everything else and found it a struggle to read the last 25% because i lost interest. The magic system could have been stronger, the dialogue was weak, pacing was too slow and the brooding bad boy was neither brooding or bad. Simply possessing shadow powers doesnt make you edgy dude. You actually have to BE edgy -_-
I did like the grandmother but by the end of the book, when her role in the story was revealed to be the role i thought it was from the beginning, it felt super basic. Nothing came as much of a shock and even the end which i didn't see coming - mainly because the character held no interest - still wasnt enough to make me think 'oooh, i really need to read book 2'
Quell is largely uninteresting but then most 17 year olds are so what ya gonna do. The author just didnt really create anything of substance about her or the other characters around her who all felt flat and largely insignificant.
There was a lot going for it in terms of the setting but at times i wasnt even sure where or when this was. The worldbuilding felt rushed and incomplete when there was so much more that could have been done to flesh it out and make me want to be in this place.
There's also the level of racial ambiguity in this that i really didnt respect and thought was a little cowardly. No descriptions of anyone black from a mixed author felt like a sale grab and comparing it to Fourth Wing was an outright lie.
In short, i'm really disappointed in this one and wanted it to be much better...more
Another steamy romantasy from Katrina but this time in an urban/contemporary setting with vampires.
While there were a few loose plot elements, (3.75)
Another steamy romantasy from Katrina but this time in an urban/contemporary setting with vampires.
While there were a few loose plot elements, text errors and typos, I really really enjoyed the vampiric world the author has created. The attention to detail in highlighting how the vampires exist in this hybrid world was amazing. How they can see themselves in mirrors if the mirror doesnt have silver in it was an example of a great touch to detail. The steam was top notch as ever and had all the right elements for a quick romance novella. Even the mechanics of how they partake in coitus was designed well. The dialogue was good with some notably funny bits from the FMC. I recommend it for a quick easy fun read. ...more
Honour will soon be out in the world as I write this and i’m really happy that those who liked its predecessor, get the ending that i believe is rightHonour will soon be out in the world as I write this and i’m really happy that those who liked its predecessor, get the ending that i believe is right for the characters and the story.
I appreciate that there is a lot of information in this book, that while at times a lot to take in, serve an over-arcing purpose that displays the lengths that ruling bodies - in this case patriarchal - will go to, to rob women of their strength and power.
Honour allows Aspen to take that power back in her own realistic way and I am proud of the woman ive turned her into. Shes not perfect, shes not meant to be, but she tries and that is half the battle. In the words of Sansa Stark “I’m a slow learner, its true. But I learn.”
I find Wolves of Honour honest, real, powerful and hopeful in many ways and I hope you all do as well. ...more
I really enjoyed the romance element of the book and the writing was wonderful. Great descriptions, great elemental magic concepts and world building I really enjoyed the romance element of the book and the writing was wonderful. Great descriptions, great elemental magic concepts and world building throughout. My main issue was the complexity of characters and plot at the very beginning which made it difficult to understand where we were and when. It evened out by the end and had a satisfying conclusion but just too a while to get there. Really love Haze and Eoin, great book boyfriends to sink your teeth into lol...more
DNF at 47% because it was just so pointless. Too many characters with not enough purpose. I wasnt connected to anyone and i didnt understand why any oDNF at 47% because it was just so pointless. Too many characters with not enough purpose. I wasnt connected to anyone and i didnt understand why any of it was going on when it was just leading up to Tarisai being sacrificed. Like just get the point already. I actually downloaded the audio to see if i could get through it better but i was literally drowning out the whole time. This is more a moan then a review because to review, i'd actually have to know what it was about and what was going on and i don't. The first book had a good premise and interesting parts but this just really let the whole thing down....more
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