192 replies to this topic

[SweeneyxxTodd]

So, for those of you on Goodreads, I'm sure you've seen everybody making reading challenges for this year. Well, I've jumped on the bandwagon and decided that I'll be tracking my progress here for you all to see. And I'll write reviews of all the books I read for this challenge, because why the heck not?

 

Help encourage me to reach my goal! I'm going to try to read 50 books this year, which I haven't done since I can't remember when!

 

EDIT 8/3: From now on, I'm going to include a link to the book's Goodreads page in each review so you can read the synopsis, as my reviews don't generally include one. Just click on the book title in each review post. Eventually all books will have this, but right now it's just my most recent one.

 

Books Read:

1. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

2. Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

3. Fairest: Levana's Story by Marissa Meyer

4. "The Little Android" by Marissa Meyer

5. "Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky" by Marissa Meyer

6. Explorer: The Lost Islands, edited by Kazu Kibuishi

7. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

8. Delirium by Lauren Oliver

9. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

10. Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

11. Amulet, Vol. 2: The Stonekeeper's Curse by Kazu Kibuishi

12. Amulet, Vol. 3: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi

13. Zodiac by Romina Russell

14. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

15. Amulet, Vol. 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi

16. Amulet, Vol. 5: Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi

17. Amulet, Vol. 6: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi

18. The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

19. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

20. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

21. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

22. The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

23. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

24. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

25. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

26. The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel by Jeanne DuPrau, Dallas Middaugh, and Niklas Asker

27. The Assassin and the Pirate Lord by Sarah J. Maas

28. The Assassin and the Healer by Sarah J. Maas

29. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

30. How to Ride a Dragon's Storm by Cressida Cowell

31. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

32. The Awkward Owl by Shawnda Blake

33. The Apple-Pip Princess by Jane Ray

34. The Assassin and the Desert by Sarah J. Maas

35. Winter by Marissa Meyer

36. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

37. The Assassin and the Underworld by Sarah J. Maas

38. The Assassin and the Empire by Sarah J. Maas

39. Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

40. The Story of Human Language by John McWhorter

41. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

42. Flight Explorer by Kazu Kibuishi

43. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

44. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

45. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

46. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

47. non-reviewed book

48. non-reviewed book

49. non-reviewed book

50. non-reviewed book

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

 

Shortly after I started listening to the audiobook of this, I read a bunch of the other reviews for it on Goodreads. And it got me worried--a lot of other reviewers were complaining about stuff that I would be really annoyed about in a book. The mystery/paranormal aspect wasn't enough of a focus, Mara fell in love with Noah too quickly, it turns into a romance story after the first quarter, etc. But except for the part about falling in love too quickly, I have to say that all of the reviews that accused this book of those faults were grossly over-exaggerating them. Did the mystery take a backseat after Noah was introduced? Yes, but it did get back on track fairly quickly and even in the more romance-heavy sections, there were still hints about it. The romantic subplot was just that--a subplot. I think people were really just more annoyed that it was present at all, to be honest.

I will say that I agree with Mara falling in love too quickly, and with Noah having a lot of annoying personality quirks that really rubbed me the wrong way--at first, I wasn't sure I was going to like him at all, either. But he grew on me. I think I would have preferred if he'd been the friend instead of Jamie (the token-everything best friend--he even lampshaded it once), who literally didn't have any plot relevance whatsoever and could (should?) have been removed after the first draft and it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. Jamie was one of those characters where the editor should have told Michelle Hodkin, "You have an extra character. Take him out and everything will be tighter and more concise." But maybe that's why he got expelled halfway through and we never heard from him again--because the editor did say that and the author just couldn't part with him fully. It makes sense. We writers are very fond of and attached to our characters. But this paragraph was supposed to be about how Noah and Mara fell in love too quickly, so I'll go back to that. This is a trilogy, if I'm not mistaken. It's my opinion that, for the best purposes of this story, the romance should have been much slower and spread out over the entire series. It'd be a lot more satisfying at the end of the last book for them to finally be in love after a long journey.

But overall, I did really enjoy this book. It was well-written and well-paced and I'm excited to read book two.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake (sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood)

 

 

 

I've been super excited about this book for over a year, ever since I finished reading Anna Dressed in Blood for the first time. So when I started out, I expecting to be wowed. And I...wasn't. Not at first, at least. This book definitely starts much more slowly than Anna does. And until about two thirds of the way in, I was actually concerned that this might fall prey to "middle book syndrome" like a lot of sequels (especially in YA) seem to do. But then they went to England, and everything really took off like it ought to have several chapters earlier. And the ending was so beautiful, I legitimately was on the brink of tears. I knocked off a star for the slow start to action, but couldn't take off more than that because of the ending. And because Cas's inner dialogue is just too damn enjoyable.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Fairest: Levana's Story by Marissa Meyer

 

 

This is a prequel novella to The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer (which consists of Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and the upcoming Winter--which I recommend to anybody who likes fairy tale retellings and sci-fi). I enjoyed it a lot. Nowhere near as much as the actual books in the series, though. Levana is interesting and everything, but she's not my favorite character and not my top choice for a prequel/spinoff novella protagonist. That would be Captain Carswell Thorne, somewhat self-serving petty criminal and reluctant member of Team Hero who lives his entire life for the purpose of his own amusement, but with a heart of gold hidden deep within. Thorne is awesome.

 

Ahem. Actual review of this novella...as I said, I liked it. I really enjoyed reading it, mostly for the backstory aspect and the deeper look into Lunar culture and history. There's a shit ton of plot spoilers in this book, so it probably shouldn't be read before the main series unless you don't want to be even moderately surprised by anything. Evret was a great character, and I really liked Solstice as well. And Jacin's cameos amused me. And it was also very interesting watching Levana's start of darkness from the unfavorite who just wanted someone to love her into the queen who's just as evil (if not more so) than her parents and sister. Villain protagonist is a difficult thing to work with, and I certainly admire Marissa Meyer for taking that on, but honestly I feel like she tried a little too hard with this one. And by that, I mean she tried too hard to make Levana sympathetic. Levana is a terrible person, and even when she was kinder than her sister Channary, she still was incredibly selfish and delusional, when it came to Evret. She is messed up in the head, and though I came to appreciate her more as a character, she still failed to become more likeable in my opinion. So while it was nice to have this to read and to tide me over until the release of Winter (and had a preview of it at the end!), I think Meyer's time would have been better served getting Winter out to the readers sooner, and saved this for after the series was finished, or preferably, written about Thorne instead. But that's just my personal bias.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

"The Little Android" by Marissa Meyer

 

 

So, technically this is a short story, not a full book. But it has a separate entry on Goodreads, and Goodreads counted it as a book towards my goal, so I'm not gonna argue there....

 

Anyway, this takes place in the same world as The Lunar Chronicles (mentioned in my previous review of Fairest). It's set before Cinder, but after another short story-prequel called Glitches, which details how Cinder came to live in her adoptive/step family. This story is an adaptation of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson, and despite the sci-fi setting, it's actually a bit closer to the original story than the Disney version. Especially the ending. It was really refreshing to have a completely new character to see the world from, especially since that POV character was an android. You get to see her thought process slowly become more human as the story progresses. It was a very subtle change that you just barely had in your mind as you read--not so subtle that you didn't notice, but not in-your-face like some kinds of changes like that are. It was a nice little story. I'm looking forward to reading another short story featuring my favorite character, Carswell Thorne, in the near future

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

"Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky" by Marissa Meyer

 

Another short story in the world of The Lunar Chronicles. This time about Thorne!!

 

 

 

Carswell Thorne is my absolute favorite character in The Lunar Chronicles. And I love that he's a cat person--cats are the best, even robot kitties like Boots.

But on topic, this little story was a fun read and I loved getting to see a younger Thorne. His narration was really funny. Thorne's got a great voice and I wish there was more from his POV. I'd buy and probably love a full novella where he's the central character, if Marissa Meyer ever felt the desire to write one (please do!). I can see how this story only fit as a short one, though. I don't have much to say against it, except that I wish there'd been a stronger central conflict. That would have brought my rating up to 5 stars, because to be honest most of my justification for the 4 I gave it comes from my extremely biased love for Thorne's character. A more objective rating would probably be 3 stars.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Explorer: The Lost Islands, edited by Kazu Kibuishi

 

The second in a series of children's/middle grade/YA graphic anthology, the first of which was Explorer: The Mystery Boxes.

 

 

As a whole, I found most of the stories in this anthology to be of a higher quality than those in The Mystery Boxes. And they all had astonishingly beautiful artwork, especially The Mask Dance, Carapace, Loah, and The Fishermen. The Mask Dance was hands-down my favorite of these stories. The style was interesting, the colors exquisite, and the Great Unmasking genuinely startled me--wasn't expecting that!

Very fun little way to spend half an hour or so. Can't wait for more installments.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

 

 

I don't read very much middle grade, but as it is an age group I'm interested in possibly writing for in the future, I thought I should read more of it. And I'm glad that this is one of those books I chose for that endeavor. I listened to the bulk of this audiobook on a long car ride and it made the trip so much more fun. This book is full of witty humor and the Incorrigibles are adorable. I really enjoyed listening to them transform from wolf children into a trio of energetic and rambunctions regular children, with a powerful thirst for squirrel-chasing. I am definitely going to be buying the rest of the series.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Delirium, by Lauren Oliver

 

I'd been debating about whether to read this book for about three years. The description was a bit murky--a world where love is forbidden and the main character falls in love can go wrong so, so easily--and I'm not generally a fan of books where romance is the main plot. In the end, I decided to grab this off Audible because the sample seemed like Sarah Drew would give a good performance, and because I have friends who liked the series a lot.

I will say, I liked this book a lot more than I expected to. But it wasn't fantastic. I recognize that this book is a romance first and dystopian second, so my complaints are probably a result of my own personal preferences and biases about literature in general rather than the book itself. But they're still valid.

Firstly, I'll say that I really liked that it wasn't just romantic love that was feared and forbidden in the book, but even love of family and friends. I wasn't expecting that to be addressed much, so the fact that Lena's memories of her mother's love were so important for her character development really improved the book in my view. I still wish it would have been focused on a bit more, though. Again, personal preference about romance books, but there you have it. This book did seem a bit flat at times because the instances in which familial love was explored were few and far between.

Secondly, I did like that Lena's relationship with Alex wasn't as fast as it frequently is in YA books that focus on love. They fell in love over the course of about three months, if I remember the timespan of the plot correctly, and they didn't get to "I love you" within a couple weeks. It felt like a touch of realism, and I didn't expect that in a book focusing so much on romance.

Thirdly, I thought that the pacing of Lena's discoveries about the dystopian world she lives in was spot-on. She had little bits of realization throughout, but the big reveals were spaced out, and she actually dealt with them in a variety of ways, depending on what they were, and reacted believably. For the most part, Lena was a very believable, convincing, and well-rounded character. It was just everybody else who fell a bit flat. Hana lacked an interesting character arc and remained unchanged from beginning to end. I know that the Cureds were supposed to be rather flat of personality and that was a major aspect of the procedure and the world-building in general, so I can't exactly fault Lauren Oliver for that, though it did bother me that we didn't even get to see subdued change. It would have been a bit easier to sympathize with the Cureds if we could see flashes of their previous personalities hiding under the surface, rather than them being cardboard cutouts filling character types and acting more or less as plot devices or background items.

As is the case with certain types of books, I have to say that the fact that I listened to the audiobook is the main reason why I enjoyed this book. Sarah Drew's performance was very satisfying. She really nailed Lena's conflicted thoughts and relationship with the world around her, and accurately portrayed her confusion as she navigated falling in love in a world that told her it was wrong. She made Lena come to life, in a way I'm almost certain wouldn't have happened for me if I was reading this myself. Drew's emotional delivery also helped carry the slower parts, and helped make the unbalanced focus on romance bearable for me. I plan on at least reading the second book, and I credit that entirely to Sarah Drew's performance. It's why I rated this book 3 stars instead of the 2 or even 1.5 it probably would have gotten otherwise.

My hopes for the sequel are that other types of love are explored within the context of the world, and that we see more of the resistence.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Steelheart, by Brandon Sanderson

 

Generally speaking, I am not a fan of superheroes. I have no interest in Superman, or Batman, or any other hero like them. But I do like twists, and turning tropes on their heads. And Steelheart certainly does that.

 

None of the Epics, no matter what their powers, are heroes. And the only heroes are facing up against them with guns and fists and determination. Talk about the odds being stacked against them.

 

I listened to this audiobook during a couple of long car rides to and from New York with my boyfriend, and I am so glad we did it this way. Macleod Andrews delivered a spectacular performance, really embodying the character of David and the other Reckoners. His delivery of the humor was spot-on, and the more emotionally wrenching parts really hit home with his narration. My boyfriend was so invested in listening to this book that he almost missed our exit on the drive home, if that is going to convince anyone that this is worth reading.

 

Absolutely would recommend this to...just about anyone. I think Steelheart has the power to hold the attention of a lot of people, whether superhero/supervillain stuff is their cup of tea or not, whether post-apocalyptic fiction is their thing or not. The world is seemlessly built, believable, and most of all, enthralling. I want to know more about the Fractured States, about the Epics. I want to know if they can be saved, too.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Firefight, by Brandon Sanderson

 

 

 

As far as sequels go, Firefight was fantastic. It promised big things, and it delivered.

 

There was plenty of action, just like in Steelheart, and I loved the atmosphere of Babylon Restored. Glowing spray paint, glowing fruit that grows by itself, conversations via fortune cookies...all kinds of crazy, surreal stuff. Nice substitution for Steelheart's all-steel Chicago in perpetual night. And on top of all that, we got a lot of character development for Prof (my personal favorite) and Megan in this book. I wish we could have kept Cody and Abraham, because I loved them too, but I understand that their characters weren't really necessary to the story in this book. I hope we see them again in Calamity.

 

But on the topic of characters, I have to make a complaint. I did not like Val, Mizzy, or Exel as much as I was expecting to. In fact, I'd say they were far below par for character quality, compared with the Reckoners team from book one. At most moments, I outright disliked Val--and not in the strong emotional reaction-type way that's sometimes good, because we as readers are supposed to like Val. But I just found her really unappealing and uninteresting. There was no mystery hiding behind her terse, all-business attitude the way there was with Megan, and she didn't have the secret-keeping knowledge center feel of Tia. Exel was alright for the most part--easy-going and his comments about funerals were funny now and then, but again...boring. Not as funny as Cody's outlandish attempts to relate everything to Scotland despite never visiting the country and frequently mixing it up with Ireland, and not the same warm, inviting atmosphere that Abraham invoked. Val and Exel just seemed like wooden stand-ins for characters who, while not particularly necessary for the plot of this book, would have at least been much more interesting running around the background.

 

Mizzy was more interesting than either of them, but again, lacked substance. But she did have an underlying potential that Val and Exel didn't seem to, so maybe in Calamity she'll really blossom and become a true, fully-fleshed character in her own right. Because right now she just seems to be filling the role of a less-funny version of David, to show how far David has come in his own development.

 

All that said, I'll get back to some positives. One common aspect of the second book in a trilogy is what's commonly referred to as "middle book syndrome"--book 2 is a whole lot of nothing with maybe some character revelations or world-building, but lacks a plot. Basically just there to fill the gap. Firefight is not a "middle book syndrome" sufferer. It takes that idea and rips it to shreds. I loved listening to this book. It was exciting, engaging, had great character development and revelations, and plenty of mystique to keep me guessing. It was a bit more predictable than Steelheart, in my opinion. And while overall I didn't enjoy it as much, it is still a great sequel, and a great book in its own right. Now I get to join the masses of people speculating and agonizing over the yet-to-be-released Calamity.

 

In a somewhat-unrelated bit of commentary: David's bad metaphors/similes were way better (read: worse) in this book.

 

"It was as black as a can of black paint that had also been painted black."

 

"You're like a potato in a minefield!"

 

"Like how an exterminator is an expert at finding bugs, and knowing where they've been just by looking around? I'm like that. I'm a stupidinator."

"...Never say that word again."

[Mara=^.^=]

@Mary: Do you have the .mp3 for Steelheart, by any chance? I've been meaning to get the book from the library, but it's checked out (and waaay overdue).

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[SweeneyxxTodd]

No, but I could download the AAX from my Audible account. I really want to find a way to convert those Audible files to AAC, which is still an audiobook format but conveniently DRM-free, so that I can share with people but they'll be able to keep their place unlike an mp3 file would. Only problem is that the current program needs to play through iTunes to convert, so it takes as long as the original file is (about 12 and 3/4 hours for Steelheart) to convert, as well as making it so I can't do anything on my computer requiring sound, as we learned when you tried listening to The 5th Wave. But so far, my search is coming up dry.

 

Also, YAY! People actually look at this thing. I was beginning to wonder if it was worth it to keep updating.

[Mara=^.^=]

Oh yeah, I always read it! I just don't respond very often because I haven't read most of these books, so I don't feel like I have anything constructive to add... 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Thore]

I read this topic as well and like Mara I just haven't read most of these. Fiction honestly makes up a rather small percentage of my library, I tend to lean more towards books like the one below....  yeah I'm that guy. Though a few of the books you've reviewed such as Steelheart have made it onto my list of books to read.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

Haha looks like we have opposite tastes in reading, Thore. I read very little non-fiction, and usually take forever to get through one even if I am extremely interested in the topic.

[Thore]

I used to read almost exclusively fiction and to be honest I can't pinpoint where the change happened. But nowadays I have a list of nonfiction books to read that is a mile long, and very few fiction books that have caught my eye. Though on the bright side I make a good travel companion. Because no matter the problem I should be able to handle it. Broken tire, stuck in the wild, random hostage crisis, nerve gas attack, etc. chances are I have some plan in mind.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Amulet, Volume 2: The Stonekeeper's Curse by Kazu Kibuishi

 

 

This is the second installment of a Middle Grade graphic novel series. You can read the description of the first volume here.

 

Compared to Valume 1, I'd say that the artwork really took off. There were more full-page panels, and a few two-page spreads, that were simply beautiful. And they fit so naturally into place, perfectly emphasizing the moments of action that needed it. The settings were also more interesting. I really loved the city of Kanalis. It was beautiful and seeing the animalistic townsfolk really gave an otherworldly feel to it.

 

On top of all the advances in the artwork, the story is really coming along very nicely. It's been a while since I've read volume 1, so I had to skim the last few pages of that to refresh my memory, but the narrative is really flowing quite seemlessly. Leon was a great addition to the cast--I love his design and his role in the story. I'm excited to see where he takes us in volumes 3 and beyond. I'm also very interested to see what role the Elf Prince is going to play. He's caught my eye, and I have a feeling I'm really going to like his character as well.

 

All in all, solid installment all around. 3.5/5 stars. I hope it just keeps getting better from here.

 

A sample of the artwork I mentioned:

 

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Amulet, vol. 3: The Cloud Searchers, by Kazu Kibuishi

 

 

Like the previous volumes of Amulet, this one contained a solid storyline and beautiful artwork. Both improve with each book. I loved looking at the panels containing the never-ending storm, and the narrative keeps taking new turns that make sense for what's been set up so far, and new mysteries are always being added. I'm really curious to know why Prince Trellis lost his memories and if the elf in the mask had anything to do with it.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Zodiac, by Romina Russell

 

I saw this book on Goodreads several months before it was released, and from the description, it sounded really great. A villain whose very existence is considered legend, and a big journey around the galaxy to defeat him, and with a bunch of Greek Zodiac Mythology? I was really excited.

 

But this book is so not worth the high ratings it's gotten. It didn't start to get interesting until page 150. And until that happened, the most dramatic scenes were about the inappropriate love triangle that didn't even make any sense. It's one thing for the plot to take a while to get started, but it's another entirely for the book to take so long to get interesting after starting the plot in chapter two. And while it did get interesting, it still didn't get good.

 

Rho was not even remotely likeable as a character. She was this whiny little teenager who is completely incapable of realizing that the way she presents herself and her story heavily affects how seriously other people take her. It was more important to her that she tell the whole story as she understands it rather than meet people where they're willing to listen. Matthias outright tells her multiple times that the reason people don't take her seriously is because Ophiuchus is viewed as a mythical being, and how if she wants anyone to believe her, she needs to stick only to provable facts that have evidence to back them up. But then she keeps going on with the story that she knows no one will believe just because she believes it to be true--despite knowing full-well that no one will listen once she does so. All the while claiming that she feels this confliction because she left her home planet behind to protect the entire Zodiac and unite them all. If saving the other Houses from their inevitable doom was so important, she should have done whatever it took to get people to believe her, even if it meant lying by omission. She acted like leaving information out that no one would believe anyway was some kind of betrayal to heavenly morality. It's clear that as readers we're supposed to respect and admire this trait about her, but it just made her come off as self-righteous and uppity, and unable to be practical in the face of danger. It's why I gave up with this book. I wanted to finish it before writing this review, but I really couldn't. 

 

All throughout the first half of the book, we're shown what a special little snowflake Rho is supposed to be: she's the only person good enough at star reading to not need the crippling crutch of an astralator to do math! She's named Guardian in a surprise test of character that makes no f*cking sense! Despite the fact that there are probably lots of older, more qualified individuals available! All her advisors are too skeptical to believe the unrealistic and poorly explained story of a teenager, but her word is final so they let her run off in a spaceship anyway! This teenager from another House she barely knows instantly trusts her enough to reveal the biggest secret of his life to her at an inappropriate time in the plot! A man several years her senior develops instant bodyguard crush on her despite never speaking to her until the day she becomes Guardian! He is so dedicated to her that he'll follow her everywhere even though he thinks she's full of shit! She masters complicated psychic technology in only two tries!

 

I could go on.

 

Moving on to the other characters...Hysan isn't likable, either. He's an obnoxious joker whose unclear motives just end up making him more annoying, rather than intriguing. He has no respect for other people's property. And he doesn't understand when it is and is not an appropriate time to reveal huge secrets about his life, or the appropriate way to do so.

 

Matthias was completely wooden. The entirety of his characterization was: strong, quiet older guy who is dedicated to Rho's life. And...that's it. Nothing interesting was hinted at in his backstory. He didn't get any character development. And the fact that he returned any of Rho's affections, even mildly, was really unsettling. He's a full grown man and she's not even seventeen yet! What the actual crap? And then he got into a bunch of possession-arguments with a teenage boy because of these feelings. This was the main reason why the love triangle was inappropriate. The other was the fact that the book was supposed to be about this banished, immortal being who could manipulate the psychic plane and destroy entire worlds, and you know, STOPPING HIM FROM DESTROYING WORLDS. Instead, we got 150 pages of love triangle before anything interesting actually happened.

 

I never felt like the galaxy was truly in danger, because the love triangle kept getting in the way.

 

This entire reading experience has been a waste of my time. I got halfway through and put it down. I then proceeded to spend half a week actively looking for excuses not to read any more. As a reader, this is an awful experience. I want to love everything I read, even though that's unrealistic. But this book really did not impress me. I'm so glad it was a library book and I didn't waste any of my non-existent money on this.

 

 

TL;DR version:

 

This is how I felt about this book: