There were good moments, but overall, this was unnecessarily long and tedious. For example, there was a chapter that was almost entirely just them driThere were good moments, but overall, this was unnecessarily long and tedious. For example, there was a chapter that was almost entirely just them driving and overtaking on the Arizona freeway.
The whole thing was written so defensively, like she took every little criticism of the original book and responded to it and tried to excuse and justify it all via Edward's thoughts. By the end, this involved attempts to alter how we see Jacob's behaviour.
There is no way to fix the toxicity rampant in these stories. You created a truly irredeemable relationship, Stephenie. There's no rectifying it. Just own the crazy and move forward....more
K mean...let's make no mistake: I only read this because the author name was Ivy Smoak. I expected ridiculous and wasn't disappointed. The cover aloneK mean...let's make no mistake: I only read this because the author name was Ivy Smoak. I expected ridiculous and wasn't disappointed. The cover alone...no way is that dude in high school.
It's getting two stars for comedic value, but no more because it turned out to be so grossly misogynistic and totally promoted emotional abuse to women. It was also terribly written and implausible even for the genre.
So we are meant to believe the new girl is totally hot to the point where every guy is after her but she still thinks she's an ugly nobody. Whine whine whine. Her mother died and it's not really explored in any meaningful way. She moves in with her uncle who is a janitor for a super rich private school, so she gets to attend for free...uh-huh. The other kids treat her so badly that it goes beyond high school bullying, and it's so loudly public that in reality these kids would absolutely be expelled. But we're told money buys you immunity. Um...no, not in high school with hundreds of witnesses.
She doesn't know who her father is, but he's local, so she's convinced she might be related to any of the boys she likes. Because there are so few people in New York that she has to be related to someone at this super rich elite school, right?
She gets in with this boy named Felix who pressures her to drink and lets her get home late after promising her uncle that he'd do otherwise...and we keep getting told he's really sweet. Oh and he sells drugs to all the other students and this is apparently normal. And sweet.
But then there's Matt, who acts nice to her one night, then blows her off majorly, says nothing when she's bullied in front of him, but then sends private notes to say meet me at this place. Not even signed. She finally meets him and without asking, he just forces a kiss on her because he wanted to be her first kiss. He intends to be her first everything, he tells her suggestively. Let's just make it clear that he also does things like have her locked in a bathroom with no lights to force her to be with him, shoves her in a closet, forces more kisses, and still won't acknowledge her in public. Supposedly this is because he's being blackmailed by the evil chick Isabella. I can't tell you how many times he grabs our idiot heroine by the wrist and yanks her around or refuses to leave when she asks multiple times, or climbs into her bedroom uninvited at night and refuses to leave, or commands her to stop wearing something or break up with Felix. But we are told repeatedly that he's actually really sweet and it wasn't harassment or assault because turns out she really liked it all and she wants him so bad.
All women really like being raped, right? Because that's what this book tells us. And it's possibly written by a woman. I mean...maybe not. Ivy Smoak, remember?
Then her uncle dies of cancer out of nowhere and her real dad suddenly turns up and it's Isabella's father and he is an evil asshole and tells her you're coming with me, I demanded custody and that's all there is to it...after papers had already been signed to pass her to a close family friend. Yeah, dude, that's not how custody law works. None of this is possible. It's called kidnapping.
I assume in book 2 we see her learn to deal with being rich overnight and having all these assholes after a piece of her, and we will keep getting told how sexy it is. No thanks!!!...more
I somehow added the rest of the trilogy but not this one.
Read it years ago and it just irritated me so much that I guess I forgot even to acknowledge I somehow added the rest of the trilogy but not this one.
Read it years ago and it just irritated me so much that I guess I forgot even to acknowledge it had happened.
Rick Riordan recently tweeted something about getting messages complaining that he'd let an LGBT agenda take over his book, and suggesting that the plaintiffs needed to take a long hard look at themselves. I can't comment on his book, but I thought of this trilogy and I'll tell you what I hate about it so much: it's patronising and fake.
It isn't about having an issue with gay or trans characters. I really don't. It's about a person who is neither gay nor trans nor poly, filling up a book with these characters to the point of it being totally unrealistic and actually undermining the feelings attached to being stuck outside the majority - and writing about them in such a way that their ENTIRE personality is being gay or trans or poly. They have basically NO other characteristics. It's kind of like how you often get characters of foreign extract and that's their whole persona. The romance is then all about being gay or trans or poly, rather than just falling in love. It is in your face with every sentence and not remotely normalised, and I think it is written to appeal to woke hipsters rather than to actually increase acceptance.
'But Vrinda, you're not gay or trans or poly, so how can you comment?'
I AM autistic, with a history of debilitating OCD and Tourette's and ADHD, and PTSD - and I feel the same way about most books that feature characters who fall in those categories, too. This book ALSO features an autistic character, and again, I hate it - his neurosis and being gay are, like, ALL he is. Another great example is Stephen King's Holly Gibney. Oh my days, I HAAAAATE her. Isn't she brave?? And isn't she wonderful for dosing herself up to try to cure her personality?? Honestly, it's gross. All of it feels akin to calling disabled people 'special', and all of it is like trying to cash in on the latest trend - because I do feel that for a lot of people, things like autism or LGBT issues are just trendy, and true understanding is totally lacking.
To give contrast, Clive Barker is always slipping in gay characters. A crucial difference is that he's actually gay and writing from the heart. There's no song and dance about it - the relationships are just there, and presented in a way that assumes it's normal, and if you don't think it is, you'd better jump on the wagon quick because the story is moving and will not stop. I am perfectly happy reading one of his fairly graphic gay sex scenes, but this Cassandra Clare book just made me angrier with every page.
There's such a feeling of smug superiority in it, like if you don't like it, you must be a disgusting bigot. No - you just totally failed to integrate these characters into your story because you don't really understand what you're writing about. You're so so so deliberately making money off of subjects that really affect other people who I highly doubt will find any greater acceptance in society as a result of your quick cash story. It's similar to the way gay sex was thrown into the Game of Thrones TV adaptation - it felt like it was there to titilate and shock straight people. I heard plenty of GoT fans carry on calling male colleagues 'queer' as an insult, for example. These things don't help anything. They don't create change. They are not for me....more
I had forgotten how utterly mental this one is! The ending feels a little rushed, like it would have benefited from being another hundred pages long -I had forgotten how utterly mental this one is! The ending feels a little rushed, like it would have benefited from being another hundred pages long - but Simon's story is entertaining enough to make you forgive that, and the epilogue is hilarious. This one was classic Stine: ironic morbid twist after ironic morbid twist. As gruesome as the whole thing is, all you can do is smile....more
These are absurd but addictive. I do so love a long revenge saga. I remembered this one the best of the three. The images of the well and the knittingThese are absurd but addictive. I do so love a long revenge saga. I remembered this one the best of the three. The images of the well and the knitting needle have stuck with me for decades. I don't even know if either event is physically possible, but they sure make for shocking reading when you're in middle school, as I recall.
There are some classic lines in here, too - like:
'The blood had spread like evil...and now there is evil everywhere.'
I think these need to be reviewed within context. They were not written for adults. I first read this trilogy when I was about 10, and I loved it so mI think these need to be reviewed within context. They were not written for adults. I first read this trilogy when I was about 10, and I loved it so much that I read it over and over and over and over and over again...for years. Picking them up again at 38...sure, there are some very cheesy elements, but they didn't feel cheesy when I was the intended reading age. And compared to other books from that time, aimed at a similar audience (like Sweet Valley), these are works of art. You can tell he had a lot of fun with them, too. What happens to Jeremy at the end of this one...I can just picture Stine laughing to himself at his typewriter as he wrote it. It sure made ME laugh!...more
**spoiler alert** I can't express how little I cared, after the first third of this book. By the last third, I just wanted it over.
I loved book one. I**spoiler alert** I can't express how little I cared, after the first third of this book. By the last third, I just wanted it over.
I loved book one. I didn't finish the trilogy until ten years later and I wish I hadn't bothered. I was fine with the tragic open ending of that first book. Following it up spoiled it, took away from all the emotions I felt before.
This story suffers from what I'm now calling The Hunger Games Syndrome. The sequels feel like she only wrote them because the publishers told her readers want a trilogy. And they must have told her there has to be a love triangle, so she threw in one of those too and it was utterly pointless. A bit of a stint with Julian, only to turn around and return to Alex, suddenly and out of nowhere, amid a huge war!
Every character was empty in this book. All the action tended to happen off-stage to other people, so that she didn't have write too much of it. It went nowhere. And every little thing was just so convenient! Examples:
* This extreme brain surgery either cuts out all strong emotions or leaves you so damaged that you're mentally unhinged...yet Lena's best friend Hana somehow comes out of it unscathed and still feeling things...and actually, everyone around her seems pretty highly strung!
* Alex didn't die.
* Her mother never died.
* Her mother's prison attendant just happened to be her sister's ex-boyfriend, loyal to the mother because the cure happened not to work properly on him either, so he helped her escape.
* Julian turned sides within a day and happened to be muscular and handsome and fall in love with Lena - what are the chances? In a day!
* All the worst people conveniently die.
* The mega scary high-security borders? They don't bother electrifying the whole of the fence and security often can't be bothered to do their job, so people get over the border every day.
On and on and on like this. It is the easiest society to rebel in and take down of any I have ever read about it in any other dystopia.
I'm keeping book one but giving the sequels to charity. In my mind, Alex died for Lena to get away and I never had to find out how boring and weak all of them really are....more
The ending was sooooo predictable so early on. In fact, most of the book was. It was also shorter and quicker than book one, without as much depth. BeThe ending was sooooo predictable so early on. In fact, most of the book was. It was also shorter and quicker than book one, without as much depth. Being very blunt about it, I kinda feel like she only wrote this to satisfy popular demand for trilogies and love triangles. The story could have easily ended with book one and been brilliant as a standalone novel.
All that said, I got very into it. It's definitely a page-turner. I enjoyed reading it and cared what happened, even if I already knew what was coming. So, a fun read, but not the emotionally harrowing, heart-rending experience of book one....more
I wondered at the end of book one what could possibly be crazy enough to conclude a series like this - just where could the story possibly go that wouI wondered at the end of book one what could possibly be crazy enough to conclude a series like this - just where could the story possibly go that would be any more out there than what I'd already read? The answer: Nazis! Of course.
I continue to love the relationship between Seth and Jenny. It's simple and touching.
Alongside this, I thought the parallel stories were handled masterfully, with the pace just right, keeping me turning the pages, eager to know what would happen next, only to be left on a cliff hanger as I was transported back into the past, or returned to the present, to read the other story.
The very ending was perfect and a satisfying conclusion to the series. I've only knocked one star off because for me, none of it compares to the first book. Still, I loved it, bought them all in paperback, and want to read more by the author.
I will greatly miss Jenny and Seth, now that it's over, and likely reread these someday....more
**spoiler alert** This was not the conclusion I had hoped for. I understand it's left open for the next two books. That's not my problem with it.
It's **spoiler alert** This was not the conclusion I had hoped for. I understand it's left open for the next two books. That's not my problem with it.
It's that firstly, I had predicted Magus was Yul's father way back in book 1, and the only other person who could possibly be Sylvie's dad was then Clip, so it wasn't a revelation to me. I had to raise an eyebrow, though, at first cousins somehow being absolutely fine for marriage. Even if their fathers were only half-brothers, it's still pushing it. I read a whole article on genetics / incest in an effort to convince myself I was wrong on this, but I wasn't - Yul and Sylvie really shouldn't be having sex!
I had a serious problem with the way it turned out all the women were merely influenced by the magic and not really under any real spell at all - and when they finally chose to, they could so easily see through all the charm of Magus. It meant they could have done it all along...yet for three books they were all committing for him the kind of child abuse that could get you immediately arrested...and after all that, they just say oops, my bad, and all is instantly forgiven.
Which leads me to Clip - he confesses he's the one who raped Sylvie's teenage mother all those years ago and now he's sorry, and her mother immediately forgives him and happily invites him to be the father he never was. Who does that!? Especially after he was just helping his brother rape her of her magic, physically torture her, and hypnotise her into submission, while he got high out of his skull on hallucinogenic drugs! Miranda should NOT be allowed to have custody of her daughter!
And when Miranda realises the truth about the place, she has to um and er about what to do and whether to leave. This isn't fantasy land, girl. This is a commune in Dorset. She could have gone to the police and had Magus and many others arrested on the spot, for child abuse and repeated statutory rape, yet this thought never once so much as crosses anyone's mind. It was so unrealistic.
Sylvie drove me the craziest. We kept being told she was so strong, yet she was the most pathetic creature, constantly whimpering and waiting to be saved - and after being so viciously tortured by Magus for so long, and seeing what he did to Yul, a few pretty designer dresses and suddenly she's like actually, Magus ain't so bad! Stockholm Syndrome much??
Yet even Yul, whom Magus DRUGGED TO PARALYSIS AND TRIED TO BURN ALIVE, feels sad when Magus dies, because 'a strong and brave man' had died that night. How the hell is drugging teenage girls into allowing you to take their virginity at public orgies month after month 'strong and brave'!?
Yul was painfully disappointing too, beating Sylvie for her 'own good', to keep her from going off with Magus.
And what was the point of Siskin!? He shows up, does nothing, gets invited back, we see tons of cut scenes of him travelling back, and then he lies down in a green and dies. This was paralleled by a warning to Clip to beware his brother - not Magus but his other brother, whoever that is. It was written with such deliberate aim to let you think it was somehow related to Siskin, and then it went noooooowhere. Maybe it's in a sequel, but I just feel so annoyed by it all right now.
It was SUCH a good series, but when it was over I just felt such rage. I don't know what the author was trying to say with her characters, by the end. It's obvious that it was all inspired by the notion of the Holly King and the Oak King, and the shifting seasons. But she has the most backwards ideas of what makes a heroine - or a hero, for that matter....more
**spoiler alert** My 14-year-old son is currently on book 4 of this series and keeps saying they're the best books he's ever read, so I had to see wha**spoiler alert** My 14-year-old son is currently on book 4 of this series and keeps saying they're the best books he's ever read, so I had to see what they're about.
This first instalment really took me by surprise. Within the first 20 pages, there was a brief rape flashback that isn't returned to in this book, so I assume it awaits me in a sequel. When Sylvie and her mother first arrive in Stonewylde, we already know the Magus is a nasty piece of work and our hero is being brutally beaten by his own father. With that kind of backdrop, you can't expect an overly cheerful story to follow - and the premise that slowly unfolds really is disturbing, hinging on promiscuity and ritualistic sex, involving fairly young teenage girls with a much older man. It's not glorified at all. You are definitely encouraged to root for a revolution. Still, if you don't think you / your teenage children can handle these kinds of things, this book won't be right for you. If you're fine with it, it's a fantastic novel.
In one sense, not a lot really happens. This is much more about the characters, setting and atmosphere, all of which are so vivid that they feel real. The descriptions are simple but beautiful. You quickly get drawn in and can't put it down, even while not really wanting to look at times. You are made to care, which not every book achieves.
Trawling through some of the other reviews of this book, I've seen female readers criticise it as inappropriate for talking about menstruation - in the 21st century, seriously?? I've seen the premise attacked as unrealistic (village cult choosing not to adopt modern technology and continuing to live in feudalism - sorry but these kinds of things DO happen, all over the world). I've seen the sex themes criticised - but they make sense within the context of the story. It's steeped in paganism and magick, and a lot of groups who practise these things DO incorporate sex into it. Fertility is a big deal.
I personally regard these kinds of criticisms as prejudiced and / or uninformed about the kinds of things this book plays off. The series is sold in all the shops in places like Avebury and Glastonbury. I expect that's a more prepared audience for it, maybe. For those readers, I assure you this book also doesn't paint paganism in a negative light. It emphasises the ideas of dark and light, and shows how power can be used for good or for ill. It does not portray the power / magic as bad in itself. Equally, it doesn't say sex is bad. It forces you to think about your intentions behind all you do.
In a time of endless samey paranormal romance novels, it was refreshing to find a story that stood out as truly individual and which made you think and feel. I'm glad to have found such a book for my teenager, especially as it's grabbed him so strongly. It definitely tells me he's no longer a little boy, though...!...more
**spoiler alert** This is an immensely annoying book. 400 pages of being told repeatedly why we should stick with our own kind and not marry other rac**spoiler alert** This is an immensely annoying book. 400 pages of being told repeatedly why we should stick with our own kind and not marry other races - and whiny teenage not-sex.
Liba and Laya are half-sisters. Liba is a bear and Laya is a swan. I thought maybe this would be magical realism, but no, it's a generic shifter story. Except it's used as an allegory for the notion that a swan must marry a swan and a bear must marry a bear, and when you mix, things go horribly wrong. At the very end, there is an extremely mixed message that left me thinking the author had no idea what she wanted to say - but I was already too offended by the metaphoric racism to care, by that point.
The sisters' parents go away for one week and we are told repeatedly how long this is as how irresponsible the parents are. Bear in mind Liba is 18 and Laya nearly 16...and, again, it's just a week.
In that week, the girls rebel against the values imposed on them by their parents, by going off with boys for the first time in their lives (at 18 - seriously - even in the 19th century that just wouldn't have happened). Idiot Laya falls for an evil fruit-seller. Irritating Liba falls for the goodie-goodie local boy and we have to endure thinly disguised sex references for 400 pages, even though no one actually has any sex. It was tedious.
There's some murder that we never really see. There are a few casual references to the pogroms, with no explanation for readers who might not know the word / history. There's no mention of where the book is set (you have to go to the blurb on the back cover for that information) and I have no idea WHEN any of this was meant to have taken place. The pogroms happened over many, many decades, so it could have been any time. I'm not convinced the author had a set idea.
The author is Jewish and lives in Israel, so I find it amazing what an injustice she did to the historical context / subject matter. The book quite literally says things like, 'We don't want a pogrom here.' That's it. No discussion. No description. When you hit the end, they're all preparing for a fight that...never happens. All that build-up and the story goes nowhere.
All that influence of fairy tale, Christina Rosetti, and history...and this really is just a book about two unlikable teenage girls whining about how much they want sex. For 400 pages.
And as for the beautiful sisterly love the book blurb promises - in the final section, Laya starts licking Liba all over! Licking fruit juice from her, after we spent the whole book reading about such things as euphemisms for sex. Anyone else disgusted?
To add to it, when their mother confesses to their father that she had an affair and Laya isn't his daughter, she says she now understands that you can love two things (men) at the same time. Her husband says yes, I get that, because I love my Jewish heritage but I also love you. Um...NO. That is NOT the same as cheating on your husband! And it's accepted because the man she cheated with was of her own race.
This is not to speak of the writing itself. Example: Liba tells Miron that people are waiting for her outside...and then, in narration, we're told she says that because she wants Miron to know She has people with her. Yes, we know, Liba - you just said so. The whooooole book was like this. That, and constant telling rather than showing - telling us over and over how strong and awesome we should think Liba is, even though all we see her do is whine and cry and get carried by a boy - telling us all these people are in love, and it's so beautiful, even though we never see them have a real conversation and actually they just see each other naked a lot and suddenly desire each other. And why, why, why were all of Laya's sections written in verse if none of it was actual poetry? I love good poetry, but just laying the text in broken lines doesn't make it a poem. It was normal prose formatted pretentiously.
I really wanted to love this book, but I got taken in by a blurb and cover that were miles better than the book itself. It felt ridiculously amateur. I can't believe this was a major publication. It's going straight to the charity shop....more
Loading...
