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fearlessreader's Reviews (406)
Premise: A girl named Rin - orphaned as a product of the Poppy Wars - living in a rural town is being forced to marry in order to increase the fortunes of the people who raised her. She takes matters into her own hands and after studying relentlessly she passes a historically difficult exam and earns a place in the most coveted, exclusive, and elite Sinegard Academy. She is immediately an outcast because of her poor upbringing and once again has to work harder than everyone else to prove herself. This novel - the first in a trilogy - follows Rin as an Academy student through her early life after the academy.
Overall Opinions: This book was up and down for me. I really enjoyed the beginning up through where she is proving herself at the academy. I love stories with a lead protagonist who has to battle diversity to beat the odds and rise victorious. Once she leaves the academy, however, I feel her character does a 180, and all the fight and determination I appreciated in the beginning gets lost. She then waffles between bold ferocity and exhausted misplacement. I can't solidify her and her motivations as a character. Also, there were times when the pacing was slow for my taste and it was harder to stay engaged.
Additional notes on Characters: I don't know whether it can be attributed to this being a debut novel, but I feel that what was an attempt at creating characters that are flawed and relatable actually came off as more confusing and off-putting. For me, the polarity of the characters being easily respectable one moment and glaringly disappointing the next was an elementary design to make them multi-dimensional, and it didn't really work for me.
While I was a bit disappointed that - for me - the book didn't live up to the hype, there were definitely parts that intrigued me and held my interest. As such, I'm not opposed to picking up the sequel when it comes out to see how the story moves forward.
Overall Opinions: This book was up and down for me. I really enjoyed the beginning up through where she is proving herself at the academy. I love stories with a lead protagonist who has to battle diversity to beat the odds and rise victorious. Once she leaves the academy, however, I feel her character does a 180, and all the fight and determination I appreciated in the beginning gets lost. She then waffles between bold ferocity and exhausted misplacement. I can't solidify her and her motivations as a character. Also, there were times when the pacing was slow for my taste and it was harder to stay engaged.
Additional notes on Characters: I don't know whether it can be attributed to this being a debut novel, but I feel that what was an attempt at creating characters that are flawed and relatable actually came off as more confusing and off-putting. For me, the polarity of the characters being easily respectable one moment and glaringly disappointing the next was an elementary design to make them multi-dimensional, and it didn't really work for me.
While I was a bit disappointed that - for me - the book didn't live up to the hype, there were definitely parts that intrigued me and held my interest. As such, I'm not opposed to picking up the sequel when it comes out to see how the story moves forward.
This is a beautiful story where realism, fantasy, the absurd, and the terrifying all meet up for tea and a biscuit.
Premise: A man visits his home town for a family funeral and ends up at an old neighbor's house reminiscing on when he was a young boy of 7 living in the beautiful home down the lane with his mother, father, and younger sister. He remembers when they had been hit hard financially they let-out the little boy's room to try and make ends meet. Due to an incident with one of the renters, the boy is introduced to the family at the end of the lane, and it soon becomes apparent that the ladies Hempstock are unlike you average neighbors. His life is thrown off kilter with the acquaintance of the kind family in both wonderful and scary ways alike.
Overall Opinion: One of the things I love about Neil Gaiman's stories - especially the ones where the protagonist is a child - is that not only is there always something to learn, but the lesson - whatever it may be - has the most epic set up, for a hard hitting emotional response and understanding.
Gaiman is refreshing to me as an author because all of the stories I have experienced so far have had elements that scared me, characters I love, things I understood too well, and others that I never would have imagined in my dizziest daydreams. With all of that, I am always overcome with feels, and every story is satisfying. This one is no exception.
Premise: A man visits his home town for a family funeral and ends up at an old neighbor's house reminiscing on when he was a young boy of 7 living in the beautiful home down the lane with his mother, father, and younger sister. He remembers when they had been hit hard financially they let-out the little boy's room to try and make ends meet. Due to an incident with one of the renters, the boy is introduced to the family at the end of the lane, and it soon becomes apparent that the ladies Hempstock are unlike you average neighbors. His life is thrown off kilter with the acquaintance of the kind family in both wonderful and scary ways alike.
Overall Opinion: One of the things I love about Neil Gaiman's stories - especially the ones where the protagonist is a child - is that not only is there always something to learn, but the lesson - whatever it may be - has the most epic set up, for a hard hitting emotional response and understanding.
Gaiman is refreshing to me as an author because all of the stories I have experienced so far have had elements that scared me, characters I love, things I understood too well, and others that I never would have imagined in my dizziest daydreams. With all of that, I am always overcome with feels, and every story is satisfying. This one is no exception.
Premise: It is about a family by the name of Bennet with 5 daughters and no male heir. This is an issue because their family estate is entailed away from the female line. As such, their mother is obsessed with them marrying well and luckily for her their new neighbor, Mr. Bingley, is a man of great fortune at $5,000 a year. He brings with him a friend, Mr. Darcy, whose wealth exceeds his at $10,000 a year. While Bingley is friendly and amiable, Mr. Darcy proves to be less so and even insults the second oldest of the Bennet sisters, Elizabeth, on their first meeting. Mr. Bingley is enamored with the oldest of the Bennet sisters, Jane, and the feeling is mutual. However, due to low connections and no real dowry the Bennet sisters don't have much to recommend them. Thus is the start of the classic story that is Pride and Prejudice.
Characters: I feel like the essence of the characters, or what makes them who they are, is expressed well. You don't necessarily get much insight into the physicality of the characters, and when you do it's little bits here and there. However, you understand them and their motives clear enough.
Writing/ Theme: The book has a number of fun tropes that make a good novel: misunderstanding, unrequited love, star crossed lovers, jealousy, scandal, a tumultuous relationship that turns into love, classism...all the good stuff.
Overall Opinion: I really enjoyed this re-read. I got more from it this time than the last time and it was a very well-rounded story. I feel like it's cliche to say that Pride and Prejudice is your favorite Jane Austen, so I try to avoid it, lol, but today I'm going to say that it is.
Characters: I feel like the essence of the characters, or what makes them who they are, is expressed well. You don't necessarily get much insight into the physicality of the characters, and when you do it's little bits here and there. However, you understand them and their motives clear enough.
Writing/ Theme: The book has a number of fun tropes that make a good novel: misunderstanding, unrequited love, star crossed lovers, jealousy, scandal, a tumultuous relationship that turns into love, classism...all the good stuff.
Overall Opinion: I really enjoyed this re-read. I got more from it this time than the last time and it was a very well-rounded story. I feel like it's cliche to say that Pride and Prejudice is your favorite Jane Austen, so I try to avoid it, lol, but today I'm going to say that it is.
