Tuesday 13 March 2018

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson
Published: September 26th 2017, Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 297
Source: Library, hardcover
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.75/5

How I Felt: This book was so atmospheric and the writing was so beautiful. There were so many parts of this book I liked but I also had a few problems.

For one, this book didn't live up to my expectations at all. With the way everyone was raving about it when it was first released I was expecting it to be a phenomenal, mind-blowing, unique faerie book and while it was unique and interesting, it just felt like it was trying to be like the ACOTAR series and I couldn't stop drawing comparisons. Also, I was expecting Rook's character to be a lot more brooding, dark, and mysterious but after like 10 pages of walking through the forest he opened right up and spilled his heart out to Isobel. There wasn't even any real court intrigue. In fact, WE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SEE HIS COURT that he was the so-called prince of.

That brings me to another point. The pacing and the overall plot of this book. To me, everything except world building was lacking in this book. For the majority of the story, probably up until the halfway point, we're just trudging along in the forest with Isobel and Rook and we never even get to really see the faerie lands as a whole and learn their politics. We see a lot of the spring lands but they only make up a fraction of the mystical realm that's so built up over the course of the story.

There was so much potential for this story but I just feel like it wasn't utilized to its potential. I think it was the structure of the story as a whole that didn't really vibe with me. There were so many interesting things that could've happened instead, that I won't mention because of spoilers, to send the plot down a darker or more interesting route, in my opinion. I appreciate that this book I a fantasy standalone and I wish there were more of those but I think that if this was to be a strong standalone book it needed to be a little longer to iron out certain parts of the plot but also cut back on scenes I found to be tedious.

On that note, I found the ending to be way to rushed and just easy. There was never any real threat to the characters. I never felt scared for them. And at the one point near the end of the story where there's an interesting conflict brewing between multiple characters that would create danger and uncertainty it's just like nope, not gonna happen onto the next scene. A perfect moment for conflict GONE. It was a little frustrating.

This is a mild spoiler but I'm just going to quickly mention it: The ending was tied up in too neat of a happy little bow for me to fully enjoy it and connect with the characters.

Personally, I really enjoyed the world building, magic system, and dynamics between the fae and humans in Whimsy. I thought it was so unique, interesting, and well-written. But I had a lot of problems with the development of the characters. I just didn't really connect with any of the characters and found a lot of them to be flat and one-dimensional. A lot of them were just there as props to further the plot and they weren't fleshed out or given real dynamic personalities to me. Isobel often also annoyed me at times in her narration and I can't quite put my finger on why but sometimes she just got under my skin. She had her moments of cleverness that made me cheer her on but there were also times I wanted to roll my eyes.

On a superficial level I can say I enjoyed the romance and how it ended just because I'm sappy like that but it was a little insta-lovey at times. They were cute as a couple at the end but their relationship for most of the book was a little unbelievable to me just because they knew so little about each other.

I'm aware I might be a little over critical of this book but it's only because I went into it with the highest of expectations and was let down more than once. It's an enjoyable book, don't get me wrong. It just didn't live up to what I was thinking it was going to be.

One of my favourite parts of the book that I found so funny and unique were the goat sisters March and May. They were just hilarious in their shenanigans and banter and honestly were some of my favourite characters. I wish we could've gotten to know Emma more.

Overall, this book didn't completely live up to my expectations but I still enjoyed my time reading it. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a quick fantasy read with amazing world building and an interesting take on fae. I can't wait to read more from Rogerson in the future and I really did enjoy this book, despite all my criticisms.

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

Monday 1 January 2018

Top 12 Books of 2017!

Hello, welcome back! Wow, that was a long break. My life has been crazy this year and I haven't been motivated or had the energy to make posts but I've missed it so much. I had to come back before the end of the year because I love wrapping up my favourite and least favourite books of the year. I decided to start off with my favourites this time around because I've been much more critical with the books I read this year. I've been very hesitant to give out 5 star ratings and the majority of the books I read this year were either 2 or 3 stars so you know I absolutely loved the ones on this list. Without further ado, in no particular order, here are my favourite books of the year! (I'll leave a link to my goodreads review for each book if you want to know more of my thoughts.)

1. Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
This was the first book I read this year and I flew through the whole thing on New Year's Day because I couldn't put it down. I absolutely love these books. The world is so mysterious and cool and the characters are hilarious and kick-butt! Even despite the fact that this is told through a collection of files and not a direct narration from the characters, I've never felt a problem connecting with each of them and following along with their stories. I loved this book so much and can't wait for the next one. It's definitely one of my all time favourite series.

2. The Winner's Curse series by Marie Rutkoski (The Winner's Curse, The Winner's Crime, The Winner's Kiss)
I marathon read this series because it was so interesting and I read the first chapter on a whim and then couldn't stop. I also read these books at the same time I was learning about ancient Rome in school so a lot of the battle techniques were things I was actually learning about so I found that fun and made my reading experience that much more real to me. The writing in these books is phenomenal and I absolutely love the characters; how they think, interact, everything!! I highly recommend these books. I couldn't decide between them because I surprisingly loved each of them equally!

3. The Girl of Fire and Thorns series by Rae Carson (The Girl of Fire and Thorns, The Crown of Embers, The Bitter Kingdom)
I picked up this series because I knew it was a well-loved political fantasy series and after the Winner's series, I was looking for some more books from that genre. This didn't disappoint at all! To this day and for the rest of my life, I will always love Hector. Elisa was just such a realistic character and I loved how she was written. She had some of the best character development I've ever read about and again, the writing in this series was so surprisingly good, I loved every single book in this series and there wasn't one I felt was boring.

4. Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
After hearing so many good things about this book, I decided to pick it up and give it a chance. Surprise! I loved it. Audrey Rose was such a brilliant and strong female character. I loved reading about her solving mysteries. Her banter with Thomas was also hilarious. The writing was so atmospheric and beautiful and while it was a slow read that takes a bit getting used to, it was worth it and I loved it so much. I can't wait to dive into the sequel; hopefully I love it as much as this one!

5. Heartless by Marissa Meyer
I picked this up on a whim because I told myself I couldn't read any of Meyer's other books until I finished the Lunar Chronicles, but I'm clearly weak and have no self-control. The writing in hear was shocker beautiful. Meyer did a great job of giving Catherine a compelling backstory and the writing was so wild and weird it felt like Wonderland. I could vividly picture everything that happened in this book and I loved every bit of it. I want her to write an infinite amount of fairy-tale retellings and villain origin stories please.

6. Caraval by Stephanie Garber
I read this immediately after coming back from a two week vacation with my family and I hadn't been in the mood to read anything for two weeks so I gobbled this book up. Again, the writing was so atmospheric and beautiful and I absolutely loved the whole mystery behind Caraval. The writing was brilliant and there were so many twists I found really enjoyable. The whole theme of deception and not knowing who to trust was really well done in my opinion and I can't wait to read the next one when it comes out!

7. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
This book absolutely blew me away. The writing was beautiful, the characters were amazing, the plotting was next level. Everything was perfect. It made me cry. Very few books made me cry this year but this book, and it's sequel, both made me sob. They were just so well written!!! I don't have too much to say about these books, but they were awesome and please read them to experience the preciousness and awesomeness that is Yael.

8. Worlds of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley
Alright, this book was a total wild card. I'd never heard of it before, I just picked it up randomly from my library one day because the synopsis sounded interesting. It ended up blowing me away. It was about something I'd always wanted to read: people who write stories and then can jump into the story as the creator and change things as they go along. I loved movies like this as a kid but I'd never found a book that encompassed it as perfectly as I pictured it. Until this book. It was dark, mysterious, creepy, but so so fun. I highly recommend this. It also made me want to read all the Bronte sibling's works.

9. Allegedly by Tiffany Jackson
I wanted to read this book since before it came out because it sounded super dark and interesting and that was exactly what it was. I don't want to say too much because I'm afraid of spoiling it but if you want to be mislead by a mystery book in the best possible way, please pick this up. I gasped out loud multiple times and lost my chill because of the twists that happened. It was so well written and completely unpredictable to me and I really enjoyed it. I can't wait for this author to write more in the future.

10. And I Darken by Kiersten White
I'd been hearing things about this book when it first came out but I never really had an interest in it. Then I found it in the bargain section one day at Chapters and decided to give it a shot. It completely blew me away. The writing was very mature for YA and it dealt with a lot of dark things and because of that, it was a bit of a slower read. However, I liked that it was slow because it developed a lot of important things and really built up the world for me. It was super rich in history and again, I could vividly picture everything. I absolutely loved this book. The sequel, I found to be a little boring and disappointing so that's why it didn't make the list, but this first one was absolute gold and I highly recommend it.

11. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
My babies were back and this book broke my heart I will never be the same. There was one point in this book where I legitimately went through the five stages of grief because someone died and I couldn't accept it. Even though I was spoiled, I still went through this book thinking it was wrong and couldn't be true but it was and it destroyed my heart. This duology was incredibly well written and I can't wait to read more of Bardugo's other books.

12. Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
What a coincidence. My very first and very last reads of the year made this list. This book completely surprised me. I didn't like the last couple of Clare books I read too much so I went into this with pretty low expectations and they were completely blown out of the water this book was so good!! I loved the writing, the characters, the plot, the twists, everything!!! Honestly, the characters are seriously competing with the characters from the Infernal Devices for my heart, I loved them that much. I'm currently reading Lord of Shadows and I can't contain my excitement. I'm so happy I read this.

Honourable Mentions: Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh, Turtles all the Way Down by John Green, A Court of Wings and Ruin (I'm just as shocked as you are that this didn't make my Top list) by Sarah J. Maas, Geekerella by Ashley Poston.

Thank you so much for reading! Hopefully I'll be able to post more often this year because I really have missed it. I had a great reading year in 2017 and hopefully 2018 will be just as good. Look out for my most disappointing reads coming soon!

Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

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