I wasn't going to write a review for this. Since this book is popular it might get some people curious why I gave it such a low rating. So here goes,I wasn't going to write a review for this. Since this book is popular it might get some people curious why I gave it such a low rating. So here goes, short as it is(view spoiler)[it's not short...(hide spoiler)],the reasons why I pretty much hated this book.
I wouldn't call myself a Sarah J. Maas fan, I've read most, if not, all her books so far. Throne of Glass was mediocre to me, I enjoyed a small number of the books in the series. The rest were just.. meh. A Court of Thorns and Roses I loved, it just worked for me perfectly, especially book #2. Now comes this new, spicy, juicy adult book. I just.. didn't like it. At all.
Issues:
1. The beginning of the book was a full on grind. Big fat info dump. It was incredibly difficult to keep up with who the hell everyone is, what even is this universe, WHY is even this universe. It's too much. Too much info just bundled in one place, no sense of slowly discovering things, organically make the reader figure out where they're at. Just *plop* this is all you need to know about the world and characters. There's angels and demons and vampires and werewolves and witches and Norse gods and orcs and dragons and hey there's Geralt hunting a wyvern *waves* LOVE YOUR FACE GERALT!!
It's too much. It doesn't blend together, doesn't make sense to me why have all this bundle of elements and it's all squeezed into the beginning chapters only to be abandoned later in favor oooof...
2. Angst. Edgyness. Sex. Drugs. Violence. Did I say fuck enough? I think this is an adult book now, we should just fucking say fuck all the fucking time now guys it's a fucking ducking adult book. Well, yeah, but it gets annoying. No. Please stop. It's not that it bothers me, I have no problem whatsoever with cursing, but it feels forced here. The whole violence, sex, drugs, bad language.. forced. Eventually it gets so overused that I got numb to it, stopped affecting me entirely.
3. The characters. I hated most, if not all the characters. Annoying.i n c r e d i b l y a n n o y i n g.Walking tropes. Even though the main character keeps on poking fun at these tropes, well sweetheart you're on of them. Super Goddess Sexy Everyone Wants To Fuck Me Mary Sue. Good Guy Greg I'm So Badass Everyone Calls Me The Grim Reaper But Deep Inside I'm A Fluffy Teddy Bear Please Hug Me male lead. So Evil I'm Sure No One Knows I'm The Final Boss evil person. And yes, I've read these tropes many times. I have many examples where I even enjoyed them. It was all because of the whole vibe being fun, not to be taken too seriously. Just enjoy the ride. But here I couldn't even get close to having fun and enjoying much of anything. I blame it on the characters lacking charm.
I'm beginning to wonder by now why I gave this book a 2 star rating instead of 1. Maybe because of the pet. It seemed cute. And her brother. Kinda reminded me of Rhys. Aside from the main characters everyone felt to me like a plot device. Couldn't connect or care about anyone, would not give a flying fuck if anyone died. Thinking about it, I'd be happy if the main characters died. That's fucked up...
This is not a short review anymore, it became a full on rant. Apologies.
Next up we have
4. The plot. What plot? EXACTLY!
Having read this on Kindle I didn't pay attention to the total number of pages. 800+! No wonder it felt like a grind to finish it. I fell asleep while reading. I never do that. It felt odd. I think the book needed to be cut in half, or even made ~300 pages or so. As I mentioned in my first point, the beginning was too packed. Middle was ok-ish but felt like nothing much is happening, things were just dragging on. The end was just a scrambled mess. I think it just caught my attention when the "boss fight" was happening, other than that I was skimming through because I was bored and I just wanted things to end. And they ended
5. The ending. Lazy. Easy way out, things pretty much ended well for almost everyone minus the necessary sacrificed characters. I might add that it ended too well. I will not get into details because of not wanting to spoil things, but when things go TOO well, when a character becomes too strong, when a relationship settles too fast it just loses the fizz. I do not like when my drinks lose their fizz. I need my drinks to be fizzy.
Anyway, consider my rant over. TL;DR it was a grind to read, inconsistent pacing, annoying characters, long, boring plot. Prolly the author will aim for 10 books in the series, things will get good and pick up by book 15,The House of Hornets and Bloody Flying Pigs,and now I'm just being a mean asshole. BUT, I can surely say that I'm not going to read the rest of this series. I'm good. Looking forward to A Court of Silver Flames. Please don't fuck things up.
P.S. I might have exaggerated the tags. Just a bit....more
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