Read
-
Children of Memory
Finished
-
King's Cage
Finished
-
Before They Are Hanged
Finished
-
Iron Gold
Finished
-
The Blade Itself
Finished
-
The Measure
Finished
Eh. It was fine. An attempt to examine prejudice without the baggage of existing prejudices; didn’t really live up to that though. Just a kind of simple “ensemble cast”-style story of characters in this new world, none of whom particularly grabbed me. Didn’t really lead up to much or have a noticeable climax. Just kind of happened. Writing style unremarkable, so it’s not one of those literary “nothing happens but it happens beautifully” kind of books.
-
Age of War
Finished
-
Piranesi
Finished
-
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
Finished
-
The Midnight Feast
Finished
-
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Finished
I didn’t hate this. I really loved the way Collins ended the trilogy; it was so interesting and real, in a universe that wasn’t very. So I was curious to see how she’d do Snow. I think the biggest issue I have is the pacing. The heel turn feels sudden and late, even if there are some smart breadcrumbs left along the whole journey.
I also expected the heel turn to be in response to something but I think it was sly that it was basically always in him. He was never going to be anything else because of his basic flawed belief system. A lot of “banality of evil” stuff here. So I liked it overall but yeah I think it could’ve been better paced and while I thing Collin’s is smarter than some of her “dystopian YA” peers about the things she writes about, I don’t know that this one will stick with me too long, like the epilogue of the trilogy did. -
Ordinary Monsters
Finished
I liked it but I’m not sure I liked it enough to read a second (or third). I think maybe just the whatever it is, Victorian? setting doesn’t grab me. The magic hovered between system-based or even scientific, and mystical, and I kind of wish it would just pick a lane. And Marbur and Marlowe are so easy for my head to mix up, and then you add in that Jacob Marbur is nearly the classic Dickens name Jacob Marley…
Yeah. I liked it but didn’t love it. Maybe I’ll come back to the series in a while when this book has settled into my brain a bit.
-
One Perfect Couple
Finished
-
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
Finished
-
Close to Death
Finished