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ellemaddy's reviews
1094 reviews
Assassin's Apprentice - Illustrated Edition by Robin Hobb
adventurous
emotional
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
She's Always Hungry by Eliza Clark
dark
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Homophobia, Rape, Violence, Cannibalism, and Dysphoria
Rule of the Aurora King by Nisha J. Tuli
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
this book is basically just about nadir & lor attending parties and looking for things. that’s it. 404 error world-building not found. none of the characters from book 1 showed up which only prove my point that book 1 has no stake and the whole trial thing isn’t even important to the story and world-building. so why the hell did i even have to read all that? is there any good romantasy at all in this world? so far my journey into this genre has only been met with shitty books that refuse to commit 100% to the fantasy bit. you can’t have a fantasy world without politic, especially if your characters are royals. i said what i said!!! like yeah fuck the monarchy but believe it or not, it’s more than just about going to parties and shopping for dresses. my god.
also i find it annoying when authors get all tunnel vision-y with their main ship because none of the other characters are developed, lor barely spends any time with her siblings, there’s just nothing going on with any of the other characters or even the world that they live in, i literally do not care whether anyone live or die or whether the fucking palace gets bombed and everyone perished. i literally don’t! because i know nothing about them! even the prisoners and the low fae that were casually mentioned in this book and were being treated as characters that we should care about don’t even actually show up and have a dialog of their own. Lor mentioned how a lot of the prisoners don’t deserve to be kept there, but it just feels like a half hearted attempt at making us feel sympathetic towards Lor. ohhh she’s so kind, she cares about the other innocent inmates. Yet she does nothing about it, though.
another thing i find annoying about these romantasy books are the verbiage. “mate” “gods” or even some mentions of a random god as a replacement for the word ‘god’ itself, in this case ‘zerra’ is used. so religion is a thing in this world and yet no mention of the system or anyone praying to zerra, the god’s name is just being casually thrown in without any explanation just like every bit of ‘world-building’ in this book? i’m sick of it!! the pet name thing is always so gross too, in this case the pet name being ‘inmate’ yeahh…. no.
still not the worst thing i’ve read, yet it still pisses me off. the note about the ~hate bj~ at the end sealed the deal for me. like that’s not a thing, methinks. how ridiculous.
(i just sighed so loud while writing this review, my mom heard me and was like ‘wow it sounds like your life is so difficult just from that exhale’. well… yes!)
tldr:
i will not be reading the 3rd book lol
also i find it annoying when authors get all tunnel vision-y with their main ship because none of the other characters are developed, lor barely spends any time with her siblings, there’s just nothing going on with any of the other characters or even the world that they live in, i literally do not care whether anyone live or die or whether the fucking palace gets bombed and everyone perished. i literally don’t! because i know nothing about them! even the prisoners and the low fae that were casually mentioned in this book and were being treated as characters that we should care about don’t even actually show up and have a dialog of their own. Lor mentioned how a lot of the prisoners don’t deserve to be kept there, but it just feels like a half hearted attempt at making us feel sympathetic towards Lor. ohhh she’s so kind, she cares about the other innocent inmates. Yet she does nothing about it, though.
another thing i find annoying about these romantasy books are the verbiage. “mate” “gods” or even some mentions of a random god as a replacement for the word ‘god’ itself, in this case ‘zerra’ is used. so religion is a thing in this world and yet no mention of the system or anyone praying to zerra, the god’s name is just being casually thrown in without any explanation just like every bit of ‘world-building’ in this book? i’m sick of it!! the pet name thing is always so gross too, in this case the pet name being ‘inmate’ yeahh…. no.
still not the worst thing i’ve read, yet it still pisses me off. the note about the ~hate bj~ at the end sealed the deal for me. like that’s not a thing, methinks. how ridiculous.
(i just sighed so loud while writing this review, my mom heard me and was like ‘wow it sounds like your life is so difficult just from that exhale’. well… yes!)
tldr:
i will not be reading the 3rd book lol
Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Well, one thing I can say about this is it was highly readable.
What I liked:
- Realistic portrayal of the main character and her behavior as someone who comes from that kind of situation & background. She is not overly strong, she fails the trials multiple times, and people do not dote on her. She might be ~the chosen one~ but it's not super conspicuous.
- The story's really fast paced, so it's easy to get into it
- There are some part where she says something so completely self aware like "fuck these people. fuck this entire demeaning experience" like you're right. you should've realised this from the beginning.
What I don't like:
- The whole trial and tributes concept I find particularly tired. I'm just sick of it. Each tests felt contrived and juvenile. How do any of these tests contribute to creating an actual queen? It makes no sense to me.
- Also fighting to the death for ONE man they know nothing about is not it.
- There are characters other than Lor, sure. But we know nothing about them except for the occasional fact drops like oh this one character has a sister, or oh this other character is gay. That's it?? I feel no attachment whatsoever for the other characters so i really couldn't care less whether they live or die
- Where's the politic? Since they're so close to court, why on earth are the tests more about fighting monsters instead of studying politics? Shouldn't the queen be good at politicking?? The one where they had to study history was literally just about them memorizing names and family trees. How odd.
- Everytime I get to the smut between Lor and Atlas I had to immediately skip. Immediately. I don't like Atlas and I don't think the author likes him either. I don't understand the attraction Lor felt towards him. He felt sus right from the start and it would make more sense for her to distrust and dislike him from the beginning. Lor instantly liking him in this situation makes no sense and I couldn't for the life of me get into it.
- The trials have no stake. I know damn well she's going to survive, so I didn't feel like they do anything for the story other than just moving the plot along. I also feel like it would be better if we get to know the other tributes more. Caring about them as characters, actual three dimensional characters that don't feel like fillers who are going to die anyway would up the stake in my opinion.
- It is hinted that Lor gets into a lot of trouble back in prison. Yet she raises no hell in the sun court. Literally. What's her day to day schedule like? She has no question at all about how the court works? She doesn't go and explore the castle? Doesn't even sneak around? In fact she's been acting completely meek the whole time. Yeah right.
- There's almost no world building. The world building we get are just casual mentions of other 'cities'. But what's the actual history? The magic system? The power hierarchy between each rulers?
I feel like there are more gripes that I have with this book. Overall it was not the worst thing I've read this year, but it definitely could be so much better.
What I liked:
- Realistic portrayal of the main character and her behavior as someone who comes from that kind of situation & background. She is not overly strong, she fails the trials multiple times, and people do not dote on her. She might be ~the chosen one~ but it's not super conspicuous.
- The story's really fast paced, so it's easy to get into it
- There are some part where she says something so completely self aware like "fuck these people. fuck this entire demeaning experience" like you're right. you should've realised this from the beginning.
What I don't like:
- The whole trial and tributes concept I find particularly tired. I'm just sick of it. Each tests felt contrived and juvenile. How do any of these tests contribute to creating an actual queen? It makes no sense to me.
- Also fighting to the death for ONE man they know nothing about is not it.
- There are characters other than Lor, sure. But we know nothing about them except for the occasional fact drops like oh this one character has a sister, or oh this other character is gay. That's it?? I feel no attachment whatsoever for the other characters so i really couldn't care less whether they live or die
- Where's the politic? Since they're so close to court, why on earth are the tests more about fighting monsters instead of studying politics? Shouldn't the queen be good at politicking?? The one where they had to study history was literally just about them memorizing names and family trees. How odd.
- Everytime I get to the smut between Lor and Atlas I had to immediately skip. Immediately. I don't like Atlas and I don't think the author likes him either. I don't understand the attraction Lor felt towards him. He felt sus right from the start and it would make more sense for her to distrust and dislike him from the beginning. Lor instantly liking him in this situation makes no sense and I couldn't for the life of me get into it.
- The trials have no stake. I know damn well she's going to survive, so I didn't feel like they do anything for the story other than just moving the plot along. I also feel like it would be better if we get to know the other tributes more. Caring about them as characters, actual three dimensional characters that don't feel like fillers who are going to die anyway would up the stake in my opinion.
- It is hinted that Lor gets into a lot of trouble back in prison. Yet she raises no hell in the sun court. Literally. What's her day to day schedule like? She has no question at all about how the court works? She doesn't go and explore the castle? Doesn't even sneak around? In fact she's been acting completely meek the whole time. Yeah right.
- There's almost no world building. The world building we get are just casual mentions of other 'cities'. But what's the actual history? The magic system? The power hierarchy between each rulers?
I feel like there are more gripes that I have with this book. Overall it was not the worst thing I've read this year, but it definitely could be so much better.
PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connolly
1.5
i hate this main character. like sheeee pissseeeddd me offfff!!!! yeah i know you lost your brother and that sucks but the inferiority complex, the anger, the immaturity, the pettiness… GODDDD!!!! woman, how about some therapy sessions????!!!!!
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
3.0
“We are a dream together. Why am I trying to confuse things? Why do I allow my greatest pleasure to be my greatest panic? Just the mention of her name is enough to fill me with butterflies, with bile. Yes, I have kept us a secret so I don’t have to face the reality of what our relationship means. I just wonder now, without reality, and without accountability, is there any relationship at all?”
The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus
3.0
I’m not gonna lie to yall i understand like maybe 50% of this and the rest got me going ????? I don’t know if the language is confusing or do i just not have enough braincell to fully comprehend the text? I shall revisit this in the future (maybe). But I do know more about absurdism now… so… thanks Camus. I guess.