"Roses have both petals and thorns, my dark flower. You needn’t believe something weak because it appears delicate. Show the world your bravery.”
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"Roses have both petals and thorns, my dark flower. You needn’t believe something weak because it appears delicate. Show the world your bravery.”
yeah so ,, this was incredibly disappointing for me and everyone should just go watch the buzzfeed unsolved episode instead BECAUSE SHANE AND RYAN NEVER LET ME DOWN LIKE THIS BOOK DID.
this book has so many issues all of which we will be going into later but the thing is, I probably could have overlooked them to some degree if this book was at least entertaining but despite this book a murder mystery and based on true crime it was so, so boring
I definitely expected this book to have more direction. We're introduced to Audrey - a girl interested in science and crime. When murders start happening in her area she's compelled to investigate. I was expecting a pointed, driven book as Audrey raced to solve the crime but honestly this book was a romance in which Audrey randomly stumbled upon clues and considering Audrey was supposed to be bright and bold she was .. kind of dumb. I mean literally everyone I've seen review this book said they guessed who the murderer was on chapter 2, and so did I.
On top of that, she just puts herself into ridiculous, silly situations. Like wandering off alone at night when there's a murderer, or stalking people into dark alleys, and I just was like GIRL I thought you were smart.
And this all leads me to talking about Audrey Rose as a character because going into this I wanted to love her. But the whole time reading it I just wanted her to shut the hell up. her monologues about feminism were hollow and irritating and listen, I'm all for feminist characters, but WHY OH WHY are you trying to play off a girl who complains about girls at literally every oppurtunity as a feminist. Audrey Rose IS the "I'm not like other girls" girl and, seriously, you're not gonna sell that girls feminism to me.
But we're gonna get back to feminism in this book in a minute too. Lets talk about romance
"There’s nothing better than a little danger dashed with some romance."
The romance absolutely did not do it for me in this book. Is it just me, or is anyone else getting sooo bored of a book throwing a male and female character in the same room, and you can practically hear the author throwing their hands up in the air and saying "he was a boy, she was a girl, can I make it anymore obvious?"
Because it was so so obvious what was gonna happen between Thomas and Audrey and I was never rooting for it. I need authors to start building up chemistry and genuine romance instead of relying on the fact and he's a guy she's a girl.
On top of that, I did NOT like Thomas Cresswell at all. He's the sterotypical kind of rude, kind of obtuse but he's actually a softie deep down trope. And listen, if you like that you'll probably like him. Because he's not really a bad guy, but he just exhausted me and this book never compelled me to care about him or Audrey. Which is a BIG BIG problem when so much of this book is preoccupied with putting it's leads in romantic sleuthing situations.
I basically know the romance isn't going well for me when I roll my eyes at the "I love you" moment and thats what happened here.
FEMINISM AND SIMILAR ISSUES
The feminism was the whitest, fakest feminism ever. If you're going to write a book about feminism then you should primarily be portraying women is this not a no brainer? But throughout this whole book the only prominent female character is Audrey, and any other woman who appears is shunned by Audrey and ridiculed for not being "enlightened". I hated it so so much.
Audrey is also biracial, her mum being Indian, but this fact is only used to talk about how Audrey has lovely skin and then completely glossed over for the rest of the book. Which is ,, weird. Especially in this time period. the fact Audrey's rich, well off father was married to an Indian woman at a time when India was actively colonised by Britain would have been .. a bit of a deal And while I'm all for not making people suffer for their marginalisations in historical fiction if you're writing a book about how misogyny harms women in the 1800's, I feel like there's room for a realistic exploration of how race and racism plays into that too. it just felt weird, fake, and definitely thrown in. this review nails my anger about the feminism
I mean, Jack the Ripper was a man who, specifically, preyed on women (prostitutes particularly) which has some nasty implications about women, sexism and female sexuality. And when you look at the actual top suspects for Jack the Ripper most of their motives are driven by gender dynamics which means this book had an interesting oppurtunity to explore that and it DIDN'T. I was hoping for the Jane the Ripper version of events in this book to be honest.
The mental illness representation was also a straight up mess I mean, we're shown a character who's supposedly mental ill, locked in an actual asylum, given some medicine and apparently is now completely cured ?? excuse me what :??
On a smaller note: The dialogue definitely annoyed me and some things were obviously not researched properly which was annoying.
THINGS I ACTUALLY LIKED
Probably the only good thing about this book was the villain and their motives. While I guessed the killer early, their motives were interesting and original. And I thought the reveal was done fairly well, even though, again, it was obvious. I can see this was supposed to be more about the emotional impact and if I didn't know the villain was the villain I probably would have felt sorry for them.
Also, I'm literally always here for steampunk elements and this book had some.
Fear is a hungry beast. The more you feed it, the more it grows.
I mean, maybe if I wasn't excruciatingly bored through this book it would have been better But due to the fact I was bored I then had to analyse literally every single flaw of this book to pass the time and I just urgh.
If this book had nailed even ONE of it's elements I would have liked it so much more. But a book that's boring, portrays shoddy feminism and representation, coupled with a romance I didn't care about and an obvious plot twist it was just, not for me AT ALL. And I'm not going to continue this series probably....more
me everytime there was a reference to something in mistborn:
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I'm not sure how to feel about this? Here's some thoughts in dot point form becausme everytime there was a reference to something in mistborn:
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I'm not sure how to feel about this? Here's some thoughts in dot point form because I don't have it together
- this was hard to get into at the beginning, but then about 1/4 to 1/2 through I got really into it and the mystery. However, despite that I was engaged I thought this book took AGES to read even though its only *just* 300 pages long?
- I liked Wayne as a character most. Waxillium annoyed me, and I WANTED to like him but his character was so boring. He was just one of those male protagonists thats ridiculously good at everything and has one of those 'gotta save the women because im a strong man man' complex which is annoying
- Marasi could have been a great character but I kinda hate how she was written sometimes? She was written so much as being a love interest/damsel character and it was ANNOYING. She was supposed to be smart and capable but the narrative constantly put her in bad positions and had everyone slowly explaining concepts to her smhhh. And it was annoying after Mistborn which had Vin, and I just think the way Elend and Vin worked together was so much better and good? And I know it's unfair to compare the trilogies but I don't get how you went from THAT to THIS
- the setting was cool. I love Steampunk, I don't read much western but I liked it here. It was interesting to see how the world had developed since Mistborn and I liked that it's a moving world and not just static
- The action scenes were well written, and I liked the introduction of new alloys that changed how fighting was done in this world. For example, bendalloy and aluminium played an interesting part. But I feel this book didn't have the grand ending, or the twisty turny unpredictable grandness of other Sanderson books. It was much more predictable
- I would continue this series, but I don't feel I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT like I have in previous Sanderson books
- as always I need to mention like I do for every Sanderson books they're really unrepresentative
THOSE are my basic thoughts for now. I will think on this book some more and come up with a star rating (I know it's gonna be between 3-4 stars but not sure yet) ...more
IMAGINEit's the mid 1800's, and Charles Darwin presents his groundbreaking research on the origin of species. But alongside that, he also presents a IMAGINEit's the mid 1800's, and Charles Darwin presents his groundbreaking research on the origin of species. But alongside that, he also presents a way to harvest "life thread" DNA from animals, and then fuse them with other animals to create new, hybrid species. Thus, the rise of the Darwinist nations -- countries which create these animal hybrids for war. Flying, whale warships, bats which will attack enemy aeroplanes, lizards which speak with human voices to relay messages.
IMAGINE it's 1914, and Archduke of Austro-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, has just been assassinated, triggering the beginning of The Great War.
IMAGINE a world where the great powers of Europe fight not with guns, but instead with something much more advanced. The "Darwinist" nations, Britain, France, Italy -- fight with their animal warships. The "Clanker" nations, Austro-Hungary, Germany, Serbia fight with incredibly advanced and innovative machinery capable of taking down down the "beasties" of the Darwinist nations. ( and I mean, these machines are huge. Think the army of the Fire Nation in Avatar -- or that evil machine in The Incredibles)
and IMAGINE a clash between the two, imagine World War One fought not with guns - but with massive mechanical war machines and animal creatures and flying jellyfish hot-air balloons and spider-dogs and a whole host of other things I cannot describe.
THIS WORLD is what you get when you pick up Leviathan and I love it ! like, aaah, I can't explain how freaking COOL it is. Like I just don't have any way to explain this world except real freakin' cool.
So what's it about? Well it's about two main characters - Aleksander, the son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Deryn, a member of the British Air Force.
This book basically picks up on one of the great conspiracies of our time -- ( and debunked not too long ago ) who REALLY killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand? Conspiracy puts the blame on the German's, hungry for a war. So does this book.
It opens on the young prince of Austro-Hungary, Aleksander. He's whisked away in the night after loyal members of his royal staff hear of his parents assassination in Serbia. Suddenly, the young prince is on the run - from the German's who killed his family, and from the Serbian's who are no friend to Austrian's.
And it also follows Deryn, a young British girl with a passion for the "Darwinist" creations. She's determined to find herself on a Darwinist airship crew, but doing so involves masking her identity and pretending she's a male, since women are not allowed in the army in 1914 -- She's a Joan of Arc type.
From there, the two stories grow, intertwine, grow some more. It's a real nice tale of the two characters separately, and by the way ! both are such really interesting characters. I enjoyed both their chapters equally. Aleksander was soo precious! he had a good amount of character development just in this one, and I swear I loved everything about him
"As far as my granduncle is concerned, I don't exist So, you're not archduke or anything? He shook his head. Just a prince Only a prince ! Blisters, that's rough"
Deryn was so feisty! She was absolutely hilarious, really witty and remarkably brave. I loved how she spoke to people and how she acted. She had a "swagger" that really made her stand out and omg she's just so cool like I wanna be her.
“She was a soldier, not some girl twisting her skirts at a village dance.”
WHAT ELSE WAS REAL FUNKY FRESH ABOUT THIS? Aside from the huge originality of the world building, ( and wow it's really original) there are a tonne of elements I really liked in this.
- mix of history and fiction. LISTEN ! so much of this was based in fact. There were stories / characters / events that truly happened, and this was mixed in soo well with the fictional elements of the story. You could tell this was well researched and I am a massive history nerd so it was so cool to see that come across. THE ONLY BAD THING ABOUT IT WAS THAT MY HISTORY KNOWLEDGE SPOILED ME (view spoiler)[ as soon as Nora Barlow popped up I was like ding ding thats my girl Charles Darwin's granddaughter omg (hide spoiler)]
- THE. PICTURES holy, moley. The pictures were so neat! I loved having a illustrated representation of the things described. It really helped develop the story in my head - like, they'd describe something and I'd be like hmm say what and then there'd be a picture which would make it so much easier to wrap my mind around the descriptions of the Darwinist creations of the Clankers and just yes.
- Incorporation of Urban Legend. Okay, fun fact I'm a conspiracy theory HOE. I love em. Even though I've mentioned this, I love that this story is based around a "what if that conspiracy was real". Also, Aleks adventure gives me hecka lot of "Princess Anastasia survived the Russian Revolution" vibes and I love that.
- action. packed. Seriously, the action never let up. It was go, go, go. And it had an element of panic and unrelenting energy which I suppose fits this tumultuous period in 1914.
- oh, also did I mention this is really funny? As in, I was laughing out loud at the cheek of some of the characters and how they spoke anD THE LINGO THEY USED (because of course the book has it's own jargon) anyway, it was really hilarious in parts.
Anyway, I was so totally blown away by this. I went into it knowing little of what it was about, and I was not expecting to absolutely end up falling in love with it. The characters, the world, the mix of history and futuristic elements, JUST YES ! so much yes.
(ps. Aleksander mUST BE PROTECTED and Deryn is so fcking cute I love her so much omg what a bae) (p.p.s (view spoiler)[can't wait for Alek to find out Deryn is a girl and freak ye boi (hide spoiler)]
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Anyway, giving this a 4.5*! because it was just so freakin good - and like, I really want the next one right now and that NEVER HAPPENS.
Also, this really really makes me wanna read more Steampunk ...more
“I address you all tonight for who you truly are: wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, and magicians. You are the true dreamers.”
Mark this
“I address you all tonight for who you truly are: wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, and magicians. You are the true dreamers.”
Mark this down as: Books I wish I read when I was in middle grade.
Not because I didn't enjoy it now (I did)
But because in middle grade this heartwarming, whimsical story of a thief, clock keeper and an adventurous, headstrong reader would have changed my life. Because this book is beautiful, and it's unlike so many other childrens books on the market.
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I've already seen the movie for this book, Hugo. I loved the movie, in fact I've watched it three times because it makes me happy, and because it's just beautiful and because Hugo breaks my heart.
I enjoyed the book equally to the movie. What the book loses in the beautiful film setting, it gains in the amazing, whimsical pictures that are scattered throughout the book.
I LOVED those pictures - whole chase scenes illustrated in black and white sketch, the images of Hugo and Isabelle, the movies played out before my eyes. It did give the book the vibe of being a silent movie itself, and brought something dreamy and magical to this book. I cannot tell you how much I loved those pictures, they are just gorgeous and bring something to special to this otherwise familiar tale.
“It looks like the whole city is made out of stars.”
I love the characters in Hugo. Both the children, Hugo and Isabelle truly warm my heart - in the same way the Pevensie children in Narnia do, or the young versions of Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Hugo is an immensely sympathetic character, and one you can get behind despite his thieving ways. To me, he has the Harry Potter-ish vibe of just being a really good person and I am drawn to those characters like nobodies business. I pick em' every time. But Hugo also has a unique story that other characters don't have: he lives in a train station, he winds the clocks, he can fix machines and he's incredibly responsible for a 12 year old boy. And he also has the incredibly sad backstory about his father, and his mean uncle and even though it could have made him into a moody #badboy .. it just made him good. Truly, he breaks my heart.
Isabelle I also loved. I loved her little quirks, the way she was so abrupt and demanded to know everything. The way she was headstrong and vicious sometimes, and how she wasn't above a little thievery herself. The friendship between Hugo and Isabelle is so cute and sweet and I love that they were able to exist side by side as friends without it ever being an issue.
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I just think this book is incredibly cute, and the addition of the pictures, plus the fact it is Hugo telling his own story just makes it so magical. I love the plot progression, and I just think it's just an adorable, whimsical tale which can be appreciated at any age.
anyway first reread since that time I read it on release day in 8 hours and cried a lot and a lot. it wasI don't know a better epilogue I simply don't
anyway first reread since that time I read it on release day in 8 hours and cried a lot and a lot. it was perfect again. will and jem and tessa ... i lov u all...more
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