In case you missed anything, here's a recap of what was posted Saturday, July 30th through Friday, August 5th.
+ DNF Review of Vanish by Sophie Jordan
+ DNF Review of Vanish by Sophie Jordan
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Review Comparison: Die For Me by Amy Plum
No More Waiting!
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What's Your Status?
A meme created by Zakiya from Butterfly Feet Walking on Life where we recap our reading week. Feel free to visit her site and link up your own What's Your Status Posts. Here's how my week went:
No More Waiting!
A list of books that have been recently released + book sales
How to Make a Full-Screen Blog Header
What's Your Status?
A meme created by Zakiya from Butterfly Feet Walking on Life where we recap our reading week. Feel free to visit her site and link up your own What's Your Status Posts. Here's how my week went:
Finished
(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)
Reviews to come. I was disappointed with and didn't like Wisdom's Kiss very much, but I LOVED My Sparkling Misfortune.
Currently Reading
Did Not Finish
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Pages 94/198
I didn't like the first book very much (Firelight review), but there were enough loose ends that held promise so I decided to try the sequel. Unfortunately, the things I was hoping would happen didn't really happen and the things I was hoping would stop, didn't.
The biggest thing I wanted to see was more Cassian. This does happen. I was even given one hot as heck kissing scene that I liked a lot. Cassian is chivalrous and wonderful...but Jacinda is still crazily blind to this. Sure she starts to think that she is physically attracted to him, but that's about it. She makes it pretty clear that her heart isn't with Cassian. Yet she still kisses him and leads him on--despite the fact that she admits she doesn't love him and acknowledges that her sister does love him.
Jacinda is also still hung up on Will, and I don't like Will. He enters the picture right around the part I decided to DNF and I have to admit that his reintroduction to the plot was a big reason for my exit. I just don't like him and I have very little interest in following the book if it's going to focus on Will and Jacinda.
And that leads me to my biggest reason for DNF-ing: There's nothing going on! Nothing. It's just Jacinda continuing on with her indecisive, back-and-forth lamentations over duty versus love. All the while risking an entire species and toying with the emotions of everyone around her. I was hoping that with the return to the pride I'd finally get to see some detailed world building, but that doesn't happen.
The world doesn't make any sense to me. How many draki are there? Sometimes it feels like a large community, and other times it feels like a very tiny one. What do they do all day? Why? How is the pride set up and why is it set up that way? How do the draki in control maintain control? I understand that there is some kind of hierarchy with alphas and such, but why did it develop this way? What is the history of the pride? Why are all these rare draki suddenly manifesting now, and why weren't they before?
None of these questions (and the fifty other questions I had about the draki society and culture) were answered. The little bits that are shown don't make much sense if you start taking them as a whole. I was sorely disappointed with the lack of world building here. It doesn't seem like any of these things will be expanded upon much either as the focus seems to be solely placed on Jacinda and her love dramas.
The final thing that bugged me was the writing style. I don't remember if it was like this in the first book, but the narration style in Vanish feels better suited for an historical or "generic medieval village" fantasy than for a character set in modern times. This grated at me and made it hard for me to get immersed in the story. I couldn't picture things appropriately because every time I tried to picture the characters, I ended up dressing them in historical garb. But that's not right, because they're modern. Except, the pride resembles that type of older village set up and Jacinda speaks like a fantasy princess. Except, they have TVs. I was totally thrown.
Bottom line: Not for me. If you like Will, then you'll probably like this one a lot more than I did. Ditto for Jacinda. For those who have read this book, if Jacinda magically becomes better and decides to ditch Will for Cassian, then please email me. I'd give the book another try if that were to happen. Otherwise, this is the end of the line for me with this series.
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Aww! I'm so sorry about Wisdom's Kiss!!!
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to read it - I loved the Dairy Queen books by that author.
No I has a sad.
But oh well, I'll wait to read your review!!! And I want to see what My Sparkling Misfortune is about :)
Oh, and totally random, but I don't know why I don't like the Vanish cover, like I think the girl's face looks funny.
Oh that sucks about Vanish. I really get annoyed with characters who go back and forth between love interests. I think love triangles can be done well when the heroine is believable in her actions. Although I have to admit I really want to read that Cassian kissing scene.
ReplyDeleteGreat wrap up this week. Look forward to next week's reviews :)
Oh come on...stupid Vanish! Can't believe they still don't explain a thing about the draki! It's one of the most fascinated ideas out there and all you get is Jacinda? I'm really disappointed right now. I don't think i will even try to read it after what you've said. And i don't like Will either so...
ReplyDeleteI'm tickled you enjoyed My Sparkling Misfortune. I just thought it was such a loveable story.
ReplyDeleteBummer about Vanish. I just picked up Firelight for a discounted price (1.99) on Amazon.com. I thought the Draki race sounded intriguing.
I thought Vanish was OK, but not as good as Firelight. I also want Jacinda to choose Cassian. Cassian is so the winner out of the two guys!
ReplyDeleteAlex, I'm sorry too! Wisdom's Kiss was my first CGM book and even though I didn't like this book, I've already ordered Princess Ben through the library because I did see promise. Wisdom's Kiss is written in many different types of narrative styles and I thought it was too jumbled.
ReplyDeleteYou should totally check out My Sparkling Misfortune! I'll have a full review up, but it's a short and sweet story with a nice message and a snarky but lovable protagonist (who is a villain!)
Haha, yeah, the Vanish girl's face is a little funny. But she's supposed to be able to turn into a dragon, so I guess it sort of works :P
Nic, I can see you liking Vanish since you tend to like romance-focused plots more than I do. The Cassian kissing scene was pretty great too :)
Yiota, Haha, yeah. I was super disappointed. I figured we were finally going to live in the pride so we'd start learning all about them! But no. Maybe it happens in the rest of the book? I did only read half of it. But, eh, I think that's just wishful thinking.
Gina, Your review and a few others is what convinced me to request My Sparkling Misfortune. I don't usually do self-published books, but I figured if so many people I trust liked it so much then I'd probably like it too. And I did! It was everything you said it would be.
I'm really curious to see what you'll think of Firelight. I'd put it in the "Die For Me" type category with the focus being so much on the romance. The draki mythology is pretty cool, but she doesn't go into it as much as I wanted.
Leanna, Yes! You see the awesomeness that is Cassian :) So I'm guessing she doesn't pick him in the end of Vanish? Darn. I just want her and Cassian to get married and rule their pride and have awesome little draki babies with special abilities and read all about their hot swoony scenes.
Too bad about Vanish. It sounds like the world building has so much potential. I hate it when I don't get my questions answered!
ReplyDeleteI had trouble getting into Firelight. I don't know...maybe I'm just a dragon fan. I was going to try again but I just don't think it's for me.
ReplyDeleteAwww, too bad about Vanished! I don't think I'll be reading the series.
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ReplyDeleteWow, Vanish sounds brutal. I'm very sorry to hear that Jacinda keeps up her irritating indecisiveness and that on top of that, nothing happens. I'm not surprised you DNFed! The draki world building was one of the aspects I was most interested in after reading Firelight, so hearing that it is not handled well does not inspire confidence. I'm interested to know if I'd react the same way you did to this sequel, but I think it will be a while before I can find out, as Vanish is not high on my tbr list, LOL. (Especially not after hearing you didn't even finish it!)
ReplyDeleteOut of all the things that you disliked about Vanish, the lack of sense in the world building of the draki would annoy me the most. I think I'll probably skip the series.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, the world building had loads of potential. I'm really disappointed it wasn't expanded more.
ReplyDeleteJulie, I had trouble too. I don't think this series is for me either.
Dazzling Mage, I agree. But don't let me turn you off! If you want, you can check out the review comparison to see all the positive reviews.
Danya, Well, I was pretty brutal to Vanish. I think people who liked the first book will also like the second one. I didn't like the first book though. I'll be interested in seeing what you think of Vanish if you get to it :)
Aylee, Given how much I know you like world building, yeah, I think it would frustrate you.
I was so curious to see if you were going to like Vanish better. Guess not. :) I just started Firelight on loan from the library. The beginning is good so far, but I'm scared that it's going to get "meh."
ReplyDeleteI did like that Cassian was there more, but eh I still don't like Jacinda. I wish the book was told through her sister's POV instead. I can't wait to see what you think of Firelight.
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