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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Oppression (Children of the Gods, #1) in Books
Jun 7, 2018
(I hate writing reviews that are under 3 stars, but I told the author I'd write a review, so here goes).
Okay, so I wanted to really like this book, I really did. It was about Greek gods and goddesses which is a subject I like. However hard I tried to get into it, I just couldn't. It actually felt like a chore, and I hated having to read it. I took a little break from it, but when I came back to it, I still couldn't get into it.
Please keep in mind this review is only going to be about the first 9 chapters as I stopped reading when I got to chapter 10.
The title is a fantastic choice for this book. When I stopped reading, it had gotten obvious why the author chose this title.
I'm not really sold on the cover. It's just too boring for my liking. Again, this book has taken the easy way out by just putting a photo on the cover. Whatever happened to imagination!?!
The world building didn't really seem that thought out. I found myself being nagged by so many questions about Elyse's aging process that I couldn't answer. The whole aging thing just did not make much sense. Based on the bit I read of this book, I just didn't see the world building getting any better.
The pacing in this book was so slow!! I found myself becoming easily bored and not caring about anything that happened. As I said previously, I even took a book thinking maybe it was just me, but when I came back to it, I found the pacing to be even slower if that's possible.
The dialogue between the characters was well thought out. It never seemed forced and seemed to flow with the story. Based on what I read of this book, there was no swearing.
The character of Elyse didn't seem very well-developed. She does not act 89 at all but acts like a teenager. Surely she'd act her age regardless of what age she looked like physically!?! That is what mainly put me off the whole book. I liked William based on the little bit I read about him. He seems like a fun character. I would've liked to find out a bit more about Kara but I just really couldn't force myself to read this book anymore.
Like I said, I really wanted to enjoy this book. Even the synopsis sounded promising. I think the idea of the book is a good one, but it wasn't executed very well. I think if the author had maybe worked on the book a bit longer, it could've been really good.
Overall, I wouldn't really recommend this book unless you aren't very fussy with details or unless you're really bored. If you want to take a chance with it (and you may like it), I'd say it's a book for those aged 13+ from what I've read.
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Dreaming of Antigone in Books
Dec 17, 2018
Dreaming of Antigone</i> is a contemporary tragedy about sixteen-year-old Andria in the aftermath of the death of her twin sister Iris. It has been almost six months since Iris overdosed on heroin, and also the same amount of time since Andria last had an epileptic seizure. Feeling overwhelmed by her mother’s overprotectiveness, Andria is counting down the days until she can reapply for her driving license – freedom. Only fourteen days to go; unless she has another seizure…
Although she is not over her sister’s death, Andria is keeping her emotions in check; but then, Iris’ ex-drug addict boyfriend, Alex, comes back to school. Andria feels hatred toward him and angrily blames him for what happened to her sister. She is beyond frustrated to discover that she has to work alongside Alex in the library after school. However their love of poetry begins to bond them together, causing Andria to question how she really feels. When more tragedy strikes in the form of her stepfather, Andria is glad to have Alex by her side.
<i>Dreaming of Antigone</i> is a mix of high culture and pop culture. It is written for the contemporary teenager who enjoys love stories, yet it also contains a few highbrow topics. Firstly, as referenced in the title, is the Greek play <i>Antigone</i>. Andria is studying this tragedy at school and likens herself and Iris to the key characters, Antigone and Ismene. Secondly is astronomy. Andria is passionate about the stars and educates the reader a little about the names of constellations and the position of the stars and planets in the solar system. Thirdly, as already mentioned, there are lots of poetry citations.
I was a little disappointed that there was not more focus on <i>Antigone</i>, as this is what attracted me to the novel in the first place. Robin Bridges gives a brief overview of the play for the benefit of readers who are unfamiliar with it, however for readers, like myself, who have studied Sophocles’ tragedies, there is not much more to gain from this reference.
Bridges tackles quite a number of difficult subjects in <i>Dreaming of Antigone</i>. There is the obvious issue of drug abuse, which killed Iris. In this case, Iris was a victim of the addiction, however Bridges counters this with Alex, the survivor, thus saying that it is possible to recover from such a dangerous habit. Later on in the story other challenging problems crop up, for example suicide and sexual abuse. Thankfully Bridges deals with these in a mature and gentle manner, so as not to distress the reader. Having said this, some readers may struggle with this triggering content.
Overall, whilst this was not a terrible book, it was not exactly what I was expecting, and therefore a bit of a disappointment. It is for this reason that I am not giving <i>Dreaming of Antigone</i> more than three stars. Other readers with fewer expectations may enjoy this novel a lot more.
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Gates of Thread and Stone (Gates of Thread and Stone #1) in Books
Jan 23, 2020
Much as I actually read the synopsis once when I first saw it months ago on Goodreads and then again before I clicked "Read Now" on Netgalley, I ended up forgetting the synopsis <i>entirely</i> by the time I started.
Except for one word: Labyrinth. Needless to say, I actually thought for awhile that <i>Gates of Thread and Stone</i> would be about a labyrinth. <i>The</i> Labyrinth of the Greek myths, per say, and when I actually read <i>Gates of Thread of Stone</i>, I checked the synopsis again to set myself on the right track (because when there's no one being sent as sacrifice, you know there's something wrong).
<i>Gates of Thread and Stone</i> is really about a girl named Kai <i>living</i> with her "brother," Reev, in a place called the Labyrinth, named so by its maze-like structure, and where the lowest of the lowest in Ninurta live out their daily lives. But one day, Reev disappears just like many others and Kai is determined to find her brother.
There's something about <i>Gates of Thread and Stone</i> that I really like. It's definitely not the world, even though I highly enjoyed Lee's world-building each section (East Quarter, White Court, Void, Outlands, etc.) in Ninurta were set apart from one another and most even had their own nicknames (East Quarter = Labyrinth, North Quarter = Purgatory). It's most certainly not the amount of possible f-bombs in here as well, or what I'll assume as f-bombs, because "drek" by itself is certainly not sounding like crap or hell.
The characters were tolerable Kai is a determined and persistent character who has an admirable strength and may sometimes be a little feisty. Irra is perhaps one of my favorite characters by far, being a dramatic yet eccentric advisor in assisting Kai and Avan finding Reev. In fact... he's a bit of an oddity compared to the other Infinites, who seem to be similar to gods and goddesses based on their description.
The plot was a little predictable and I was just waiting for a couple of parts to play out (I really should stop being Sherlock Holmes and just enjoy reading the book, but I can't help myself). While the end is similar to the end of <i>Senshi</i> and the beginning of <i>Shinobi</i> and doesn't seem to have a bigger plot that spans over to the sequel or more books.
Now that I actually took the time to write all that down, maybe it's the world-building that I liked the most. With the ending of <i>Gates of Thread and Stone</i> seeming to be a solid ending, I may read the sequel just to for the pure fun of seeing what Ninurta will be like.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-gates-of-thread-and-stone-by-lori-m-lee/" target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
