I
actually ended up polishing this off in a day and finding it highly
entertaining! Which surprises me, given that it is rife with cliches of
the genre and you can tell from the writing (some awkward phrasing and
metaphors) that this is a debut novel. Nevertheless, it was an inviting
story with a couple main characters I liked (some of the side characters
never felt really fleshed out, unfortunately) and a world with glimpses
of an interesting history between various factions. The storytelling
style worked pretty well to keep the momentum of the plot going,
although I admit that certain characters' POVs felt a bit
boring/unnecessary to me (spoiler, highlight to read: I didn't really care for the Pira and Leao POVs) and I always wanted to be back with the Johanna-Rafi side of things.3.5 stars.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
I know this book has a
lot of fans, but I'm afraid I found it very bleak and depressing. The
problems that Eleanor faced at home overshadowed the lighter storyline
of Eleanor and Park's relationship. I had to push myself to keep going,
and Eleanor just kept dealing with more and more of the same awful
stuff. That's not to say that it wasn't a realistic portrayal; the
thoughts and emotions that Eleanor goes through felt authentic. And the
writing was solid (as I have come to expect from a Rainbow Rowell
novel), although I felt like it sometimes slid into melodrama. But I
feel like I wasn't in the right frame of mind for reading about these
sorts of serious, heavy issues, so perhaps it was at least partly a case
of book-at-the-wrong-time for me.3 stars.
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