I don't really have a lot to say about this book except I liked it a lot! I thought it was much better than Daughter of Smoke and Bone, too, which was a pleasant surprise. Too often, we'd be thrilled about the first book of a trilogy only to be let down by its second installment. That wasn't the case for this one.
The main characters can be pretty annoying because they seem to not know what they want and how to deal with the situation they're in (isn't it always like that?) but I guess I'd be the same lol. For a moment there I thought there'd be a love triangle here and I was so ready to chuck the book out the window but, alas, I was proven wrong and I'm glad. I loved the other characters, though, and although this is very dark compared to the first book, Zuzana and Mik's character sort of brings it a brighter angle. Winning the chimaeras' hearts are kind of corny but it was cute too. Other than their story everything was very serious. I thought the deception chapter could've been better, though. Loved the concept but I didn't feel like the story was told with justice. For that I took off one star.
Some things that I'm really looking forward to in the next book, I guess, is Akira's origin and what Brimstone said about how the angels could win the war if they hadn't burned their library during the war. I'm hoping the story won't be disappointing. I don't wanna go holding my breath and end up saying "that's it?!" Oh and I like that there's more to the war than just Angels and Chimaeras hating each other. This should make it easier to accept that two races are at war and will just stop because a member of each decided they'd fall in love with each other.
So yeah, really looking forward to the last installment and Days of Blood and Starlight officially made me a Laini Taylor fan. :)
Read: November 13 - 19, 2012
Still broken-hearted about the final installment being pushed to April 2014. Loving the cover, though! *fangirling*
Surprisingly ... I found this book good. Great, even. I thought it was just going to be one of those angel-devil kind of book (and technically it really is that) but it turned out a lot better than I expected. There's too many fantasy novels now about angels but this one? Wow ... just ... wow! I have the Kindle version and the Audible version and I still want to have this one in print. That's how much I liked loved it!
Granted, the book Daughter of Smoke and Bone has the usual Romeo-and-Juliet plot. Angels and "monsters" at war, a character from each side falling in love with each other, fighting for that love against all odds, a bit of twist and turns here and there but it's the story telling that did it for me. Laini Taylor has some wild, vivid and amaaaaaazing imagination. I mean, souls and ... teeth? Teeth!!! Of all parts of the body! Who knew?! Kinda makes one think that eyes are overrated now, eh? Lol!
I loved how she gave each character ... well ... character. I loved them for their strengths and their flaws. Their weaknesses and their talents. I loved Brimstone, Issa, Yasri, Twiga, Zuzana, Izil and even Razgut, Chiro and Thiago and that hunter guy with the disgusting beard! Maybe it's just me but it's so ... balanced. The only thing I didn't like was Karou (I love her name) being a rebel towards Brimstone. The adopted, teenage drama gets old. I loved how she wished for petty things, though. That was amusing. Ironically, it's the angels that I found less interesting but I imagine they get more featured(?) in the next books? I also don't get why the ex Kaz was mentioned too much at the beginning unless he plays a big role in the later part of the story. I guess I'll find out soon enough ... the second book is out! :D
I thought this one actually lived up to the hype.
Read: November 5-11 of 2012.
In a gist, I'd get the same experience reading this if I browsed Facebook for, say, 15-minutes. Seriously. Sorry. I guess this isn't the best book to start with if you're a Coelho virgin? I don't understand if this is something that he wrote or compiled.
I know I'm a bit late jumping into the bandwagon but I did that on purpose. But no matter how you try not to get dragged by the hype you'd get curious when you see everyone you know posting about him and how great his works are, right? Even those you rarely see with a book have read him except you. Read him, they say. He's good, they say. He's great, they say. Maybe I'll try again next year?
This is like my Supernatural fix. The new season won't come out until months from now so this was a good distraction. Did I like it as much as the first book? Yes. Will I read it again when I'm bored? Not sure. Is there going to be a third book? I don't mind but that's probably not going to be an Anna series anymore is it? Actually, I think I'd like a third book. Or a stand-alone of maybe the voodoists side? Anyway, overall I think this is a good ending to the series.
On another note, is it me or does Carmel sound a bit like Hermione? Erm, never mind
Sadly over-hyped. It had so much potential but that potential stopped at time-traveling-serial-killer.
The book had such a great concept and although the execution was fine, it failed to make the right ... pull for a serial murder novel fan. This one lacks suspense. I only felt it towards the end of the story. Like the last five pages. I guess I was expecting too much from it.
[It got filled with so many unnecessary characters and I just got lost. At times the story portrays Harper (the serial killer) as a ruthless psycho and sometimes as someone stuck and wants to get out of the cycle. I mean, how and when did he become tired of what he was doing? The story points at Alice but it's inconsistent. And when was the circle-that-had-to-be-closed introduced? Eh.
Turns out you don't have to be ... highly versed in the mythologies to be able to appreciate this book fully. There's a lot of reference to it and other classic literature though, and some of it, although not unheard of, I had to Google to make sure I follow the exchange of dialogue but that wasn't so bad.
What's disappointing is the experience of reading the book. I'm not sure if it's because a) I have read a lot of positive reviews about The Secret History; b) the book is in a lot of to-read lists (to-read-before-you-leave-your-20s, top-100-books-to-read-before-you-die, etc); or c) it was referred to me by someone I hold in high regard when it comes to literature and the arts that made me expect a lot from this book. I guess all of it and that made it bad because from the very beginning I kept thinking "okay, this book will blow my brains out ... any minute now ... just a bit more ..." You get the drift.
That's not saying I didn't enjoy reading the book. I did. See the four stars? The story is full of intrigue and drama and the prose is simple. It didn't seem pretentious or snobbish which is how I find some mythology/psychology/philosophy-based fiction. I find some writers (and readers!) are so into the genre that they think in the following manner: i-so-love-[insert genre here]-so-im-so-going-to-love-this-book-and-anyone-who-doesn't-is-below-my-intelligence-level. I think at times a book can make a reader think "I'm not worthy of this book". That's not the case with this one. It did not make my tiny brain inferior. Lol. That's a plus for me.
As for the story, there is so much to talk about but the thing that stuck out for me is the relationship between the main characters. If anyone is worthy of the status "it's complicated" on Facebook, it's these people. I mean, what do you think of the relationship between Henry and Camilla? Between Camilla and Charles? Between Charles and Francis? I think it's disturbing and almost taboo yet it seems perfectly natural. It wasn't shocking. Maybe I was looking for shock value but then again I can't expect to be shocked because the writer pegged the main characters to be obscure from the very beginning.
I will have to get back to this book to re-read. Sometime in the future. It's one of those stories one needs to re-analyze and see if you still feel the same.
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UPDATE: Apparently I already read this book back in 2004 and I just didn't know the title. It was an old old copy with no covers or anything and apparently, I REALLY liked this book back then hahaha! I guess that was why I only gave it four stars, it sounded like I've read it somewhere before. Derp!
Never mind that the prose is boring, I just kept telling myself maybe if I knew how to read French I would appreciate the prose. The story, however, is a whole different kind of ... blah.
If Monsieur Prevost's goal is to annoy people (by coming up with this story) then bravo! You did a great job! I love how fictional characters can incite so much emotions and passion from a reader but you, sir ... you take the cake.
Ugh!
