eloise_bradbooks's reviews
769 reviews

Please don’t hurt me ?
I absolutely get how some people will love this book. I... did not. Here are my four main reasons:

1. As you may have read from many other reviews, it took ages to get going. Actually, it only started getting interesting around 70% of the way through for me. I honestly forced myself through 300 pages hoping to get that UMPF I was expecting from the writer of my favourite book (Six of Crows). But this made me realise what my main issue was:

2. King of Scars isn’t just another book set in the Grishaverse. It’s the continuation of the Grisha / Shadow and Bone trilogy. We follow the aftermath of that series and what’s going on with those characters today. It felt very info-dumpy and kinda like we should be content with just having the characters from the trilogy interact once more, without any plot actually being developed…
And don't get me wrong, I am interested in Nikolai, but clearly not as much as many others are. I did not succumb to his charm but i was interested in the dark part of his storyline.
Zoya stole the show for me, she was absolutely amazing and definitely the most fleshed out character (probably because we didn't get all the info about her in the other Grishaverse series).
It also felt like Nina was added in so that the people who weren’t as into the Grisha trilogy but loved Six of Crows stayed on board. As much as I enjoyed her part of the story, anyone else could have done it. It is so detached from the rest of the book that it almost deserves its own one (yes, I bet things will come together eventually but I’m judging this one book rn). And she repeats the same thoughts over and over for the first half of the book. It gets annoying.
A fourth character starts getting his own POV around 70% in which once again proves when the actual story starts.

3. And during those last 30% ? Well it turned out to be a veeeeeery similar plot to… Harry Potter. Here’s why (hidden cause may be a little too much info:

Spoiler

it’s basically the story of a horcrux. Nikolai has part of the bad guy inside him (not even on purpose, oh “the horcrux he never meant to create”!) and there were even talks of “neither one can live while the other one survives” like…. SOUNDS FAMILIAR!? + that ending…

)

4. And of course, that ending has got everyone shook (or not so much), which I understand, again, if you loved the original Grisha trilogy… I didn’t. I almost find it cheap…

Final note: Trassel gave me all the feels and he and Hanne deserve at least one of these stars all to themselves.

3.5 - Damn it. Why did it take me so long to get into this book? Cause that last quarter was bloody epic.

Maybe i wasn't in the right mood, maybe listening to it on audio wasn't the best way to consume this book, i don't know. All i know is i wasn't getting anything out of the first 3/4 of the book... I wasn't feeling much for characters and I couldn't quite find a plot to hang on to.
That all changed by the end though.
It was dark and gritty and punched me in the gut when I clearly wasn't exepcting it to.
The relationship between the characters got super interesting, and I think i started getting interested in the world and its way of existing. Sadly, because i almost don't remember anything from the first 70% of the book, I'm not sure what all of it means but now i feel like looking into it more so i can continue on with the series.

Look, I'm stubborn. You make me fall in love with an new world and the characters in it, I'm gonna want to follow them in the next books too.
It kinda felt like many second-book-in-a-trilogy where I'm still interested, I appreciate the characters and find everything very well thought through, but nothing much happened in this particular book. I mean... things DID happen but nothing extremely entertaining, and most importantly, not much of Lyra. Loads of things ABOUT Lyra, but we didn't see actual my bad ass stubborn Lyra DO THINGS.
All in all, it's setting up a big revolution and I can't wait to find out how it ends. I'm also not ready to say goodbye to these characters and this world...

I kept hearing people say how brilliant this story was but it was even greater than that. It was phenomenal.

The Feels.
I need the full length novel NOW.

* 2019 TALK:
I'm not going to rant anymore around this book. Rereading it was actually more enjoyable than the first time reading it 3 years ago. I must have been in a bad mood cause Tory can actually be very relatable even though she's annoying. She's a true angsty and depressed teen.

WHAT I WILL TALK ABOUT: Is Alice Oseman.
Please please please go read all of Alice's other stories. They are beautiful, wholesome, heartfelt, have great rep of all kinds and depict teens in the most realistic way EVER!
- Please read the (web)comic Heartstopper where two boys (Tory's brother Charlie and his now bf Nick) meet and fall in love (with topics surrounding identity, mental health, eating disorders).
- I Was Born For This depicts the good and the bad of fandom, obsessing over a band, being in a successful band when you have anxiety, and friendship (with a muslim MC and a trans MC + other types of rep).
- Then, of course, you have my fave : Radio Silence. Platonic soulmates dealing with the fear of university, expectations, art, making a webcomic together and friendship. FRIENDSHIP!

* 2016 REVIEW : 2.5 /5
I felt connected to multiple aspects of this story which allowed me to finish this book. However it was very difficult to appreciate a story when the main character and narrator hates everything so much. I really wonder how people around her actually liked her... Also, how can we be interested in the mystery part of the plot of Tory herself isn't?

Maw's paw, I needed time to think about this before writing a review. Altogether, I think I'm pretty satisfied.

What I really appreciated with this third and final book was the whole myth element and world building we got. It was so interesting.

The characters were still bloody brilliant.
There's an unnecessary love triangle that really didn't need to be SO prevalent in this book. And wowdy the amount of explicit sex scenes was over the top (especially when you think about who is writing the story [inside the book AND out of it] and how the lesbian sex was porn worthy). Oh and don't get me started on Jay Kristoff 's fascination for boobs . Or breasts as he likes to say. On every other page.
Although I must say.. Jay Kristoff literally shades himself for a few of these things.. In the book itself.
And yet dispute these annoying things, I couldn't help but absolutely love this. I was entertained all the way through and my heart messed with on repeat.

Romance step aside, cause what moved me the most were Mia's relationship with her Found-dad and her Shadow-cat.
Just know this: This story is about family. And it makes us think it's about blood family but 'byss and blood you realise it's actually more about found family.
So yeah, gentlefriends, I'm touched.

I survived. For most of the book I didn't think I'd make it out alive. I barely did. Soooooo many emotions.
I loved it.

First, I'd like to point out that this book for me was clearly devided into two parts.
The first half basically goes through all that is said in the GR blurb, so even though you'll want to read that blurb (because it really is a beautiful blurb), try not to focus on it too much or you'll be wanting all those things to happen too soon. But believe me when I say that even knowing all those things before starting, it does not take away from the fact that the first part of this book is one of the most beautiful, amazing, heartfelt stories I have ever read.
A story about love, friendship, family, finding your place, growing into your own, belonging, oh... and also wolves. That's a thing. But tbh the most heartfelt parts were to do with the humanity that lives in all of these beautiful characters.

Now, I'm NOT saying that the second half wasn't good. It was veeeery good. Still beautiful.
I was left longing for the characters to get it together though. It also had a very different mood, more sombre, darker. I still loved it, my heart was in pieces but I loved it.

There were a couple of things that bugged me if i'm honest. Mostly the fact that there is this one thing about a couple of the side characters that interests me A LOT but we never get to know about it. I understand that we're seeing it through the MC's POV and he doesn't want to push them into talking about it but I WANT TO KNOOOW. And I think the author has said he wasn't talking about them any time soon. Ugh. My heart will be left longing for answers forever and always (or i could just go read fanfics, i'm sure they exist).
> Ahaha how wrong i was : Ravensong deals exactly with this issue.

All in all, I loved this. Stories that make me feel this many emotions so strongly in one book deserve awards. That's all I'm saying.

I'm now realising how different the pace is beween the book and the movies... But I loved reading how this book went into more depth about the wizarding world AND Hogwarts!