Timekeeper | Review

"I would have kissed you if you were a girl, I would have kissed you if you were purple."

Timekeeper at its heart is a desperate romance, with themes of selfishness and guilt. I wish I could have turned my critique brain off and enjoy the lore of this world, and fluffy romance but unfortunately I could not and found bumps all along my way. Never really getting a chance to enjoy much in this book.

The initial draw of this book is the alternate Victorian London setting where clock towers power time around cities. These clock towers have mechanics, who are born with the ability to feel the flow of time and get jobs to maintain the clocks. The main character we follow is Danny, who is one such mechanic.
In my opinion Danny is a quite unlikable protagonist. He wasn’t entirely charming or interesting. We are constantly being told that he as a prodigy among mechanics, one of the youngest, but we don’t see why, almost ever. One of the main goals of Dannys is to get assigned to work on a new clock that is being built. But no one can figure out how to get it to work. For some reason, Danny thinks he can figure it out (we’ll get to why he feels so strongly in a moment).
He wants it so bad, even though we as the reader haven’t been told anything that would indicate he has anything to bring to the table they don’t already have. And he comes off so entitled, leading him to do desperate things that screw other people over. (and its not just about this tower.)

So lets get to one of the biggest issues that drag most of the book down: Danny's trauma.

When the book first starts we learn very early on that he has just returned from a leave of absence after being in an explosion at a clock tower. He is traumatized by this and we see him try to return to work with some difficulty. We also learn that 3 years ago the town his father was at “Stopped” which means the whole town in suspended in time. (this why they are building that new clock tower)
I really feel like the author did not handle these two traumas well. Neither of them really got the attention or care they needed, fighting for attention instead of co existing. Considering this book is pretty long with not a lot happening (the plot really wanders) I think it could have been better implemented if we started with just the father back story having already happened, and we actually experience the bombing with Danny. That way we see his trauma with his missing father, and can experience the explosion.

What makes these pots seem unsatisfactory is mostly because this novel focuses on the romance, instead of the goal. I wish I could have been on board with this relationship, but there were way too many red flags and it came off toxic to me. Im actually surprised no one has brought it up yet. It might just be because Ive experienced it personally. This is probably spoilers, so I will mark it as such:

Colton and Danny are in a self-harm attention relationship. Colton harms himself to get Danny to come see him and give him attention. This can also hurt the town. Theres even hints of suicide, as we think one spirit may have destroyed her whole town out of sadness (ending her life bc she couldn’t be with the one she loved)

Danny tells Colton he shouldn’t do this, but even THEN Colton still does this, AND Danny is constantly thinking the whole time if he doesn’t go see Colton, he doesn’t know what he will do. This lasts the entire book, even at the last page we learn Danny went to go see Colton because he damaged himself again. And once AGAIN Danny tells Colton not to do that to himself or endanger the town. Im actually baffled that this has seemingly gone unnoticed in reviews and I don’t think the author realized this in her relationship because she made no attempt to make a message out of it.

As much as I don’t want to compare, I feel like I would be a hypocrite after my years of Twilight judgment not to point out the similarities.
Colton Is far older (timeless) but looks the same age as MC
Him and his people look strikingly different than humans (more beautiful) and look better as they feed off their source (time compared to blood)
Too much “excitement” leads to Colton losing control and bad things happening.
And then just the general toxicity. (its very small but at one point Colton even gets very jealous of Danny and acts out. Which is…always healthy. They clear a lot of things up by the end, like what it means to be human and their restrictions and such. In general it’s a WAY better relationship than Twilight, I just thought the similarities were funny.
I think their connection is interesting, like when Colton talked about how short humans lives are and what hes lived to see. I just dont think the romance should have started so fast. I think they should have made a harder point to the first kiss and just have it as Coltons naivety toward fairy tales, and just thinks a kiss is a reward, which was what he was giving Danny. But overall it was hard for me to get on board with the relationship.

Most of these issues with backstory all come to a head at the mid point climax. Which of course is spoilery:
But the moment leading up to Lucas’ death and the destruction of the Maldon tower has a lot of distraction and disjointed moments.
First off the only thing we know about Lucas is hes a bully. Randomly in the middle of the chapter we change to his perspective, which is the first time we get anyone elses perspective. Once he dies, we go to a scene of Danny being yelled at by Lucas’ girlfriend who (understandably) yells if hes “happy now” because Danny wanted to go where Lucas was, so it could have been Danny instead. But then also brought up how Danny punched Lucas, as if that’s relevant at that time? (plus she was there when he was bullying Danny and deserved the punch)
So then Danny is seen throwing up and getting sick (assumedly from the trauma of his own accident) and then he goes to the hospital and just starts blaming other people for the accident sounding like a crazy person, and then hes crying and punching walls, and its at that moment I'm like “oh yeah, that was also the tower that should have saved your dad.” Its this big moment where it should have built up all this tension and all his trauma came crashing together but instead it was just a huge mess. Because it was distracting, and the story up until that point lacked sufficient focus on those issues.

We’re almost done, we come to the conclusion. I was hoping the story was going to get better, the mystery was finally amping up, but once again, it just came off as a fail to me.

But the ending comes in, and it really just turned into a big battle of love and a lot of it I just didn’t get on board with. The main antagonist came off as ridiculous and I couldn't sympathize at all because of the way the plot was built up.
The best thing about it is that when the resolution finally came around (which most reviews counted it as a negative) I just didn’t care and was fine with it. It just seems more like a mystery that is being set up for future books.

Theres a few more things that didn’t fit smoothly into my review I wanted to point out here:
For most of the novel I didn’t care how the mother and son relationship went, but the later half it got better after a particularly cute moment involving gingerbread.

I personally liked some moments with Daphne, she had a really cool perspective. In my opinion I think it should have started the book, would have worked wonderfully as one of those prologues where we see a glimpse at what will happen.

There are little stories in between stories that shed some light on the lore, I liked those. (I still wouldn’t praise the book as having a lot of lore, its still very surface level.)

Lastly is Cassie. I really liked her character and her support. I think her backstory was compelling. And as a spoiler, let me just say:
I like the seatbelt thing, I could tell it would come back. I just think it would have better implemented if, lets say Mathias and Danny raced to Enfield and got in an accident but Danny came out the better for it because of the seat belt. Missed opportunity. 

Light of the Jedi | Review

"From spark to inferno - any connection to the Force chased away the shadows."

Light of the Jedi is the start of Disney's attempt to bring the Star Wars franchise back to life. I was cautiously optimistic ready for anything. Anything including that I would like it, and I very much did. Thankfully.

This story is set in the High Republic which approximately 300 years before the 4th movie, A New Hope. If you dont think too much of it, it shouldn't be an issue. I personally find it hard to suspend my disbelief as I wonder what happened in those 300 hundred years. For in this book we see crazy feats of Hyperspace travel, fascinating technology, especially when it comes to Jedi and the ships they fly. Where does this stuff go? Who knows, lets not think about it, because on its own, its a very good start to this era.

The first part of this novel is insanely intense. It immediately lets you know the stakes are high, and there will be consequences. However like the Jedi, it doesn't let you form any attachments to anything yet. I think if you are a character driven reader, you may not like the beginning. It does do a decent job of introducing some people and then having devastation strike. So you understand the impact, but don't particularly feel emotionally invested yet.  And then others you dont get to know at all before they are obliterated. So the emotions may not be there, but there is a lot of build up.

So much build up in fact, that when IT happens for the first time. It just kind of took my breath away. It filled me with a swell of emotion. What is IT you may say? Jedi. This is entirely personal, and depends on your fandom for Star Wars. But for me, the Jedi just mean something. They symbolize something, and that something is hope. And I don't care if its cheesy. But this book had not 1 but 2 moments where when the Jedi finally arrived, I felt like I was there. In the shoes of that everyday normal person, when something of legend steps in to save the day. This is probably my highest praise in the book. In an era where Jedi should be very common, they still made them feel special.

"There will be no more Republic. Just worlds, alone in the dark."

I think a lot of the universe building was done very well. There were just little touches here and there. There was of course direct name drops like Yoda, Kashyyyk and so on. But there was other stuff I appreciated, like a moment where a character introduces us to one of last natural place on Coruscant (the planet famous for being entirely one connected city). But, at least to my knowledge, is the first time we see this mountain, that happens to exist still on Coruscant. The tallest of the planet before the city swallowed it. This was fascinating to me, because its something in Coruscant we've never seen. (Also helps put into perspective how massive the city is, imagine everything as tall as Everest on Earth...)

The story also often talks of a space station being build, Lights Beacon. And the way it discusses how it will showcase all the Outer Rim has to offer, in unique biodomes and such. It was just a cool bit of world building and has me interested in how it will effect the future of the era because it seems it will be our base of operation going forward.

But still my highest praise goes to the Jedi. It does a great job of letting us get to know some very deeply, and then others pass in and out, making the whole universe feel more full and diverse. Speaking of diverse I liked how they handled the force. It's handled in a very spiritual way. It describes how each Jedi see it differently, whether it be an ocean, a song, a fire. Just beautifully written sometimes. I think hardcore fans of the Jedi way will really appreciate it.

"Ugly as it was, it served as a perfect reflection of the great truth of the Force: no matter what a person was on the outside...inside, everyone was made of light."

It wasn't all perfect however. The mystery of it all had left me wanting. For instance there is this one part, where it ends a chapter foreshadowing a mysterious person. But the very next chapter just reveals them. And then toward the last quarter of the novel I realized that we the reader already knew all the secrets and were just waiting for the Republic to catch up. That can be frustrating.

Lastly I feel like someone who is most likely a major character, is the Chancellor. She shows up a lot, talks big about the future of the Republic and such. Honestly I was just like ok, lets move on. But then I kind of realized that she is probably the one that builds the High Republic into what it is so...maybe I should care more about her? Oops.

But overall I really enjoyed it. It also has some episodic moments. Where part one seems to be its own whole episode with a very intense opening. And then there are little side plots after that, all seemingly not connected until the end. It's a really good structure in my opinion. It gives you that large galaxy idea, of millions of stories all happening at once, and these are just a few.

The ending has me ready for what's next. Let's do it Star Wars!

DNAngel Vol. 3 Review

This volume has been the best so far. We are:

1. Introduced to Daisukes dad. Who I don't know how big of a role he plays but he does lead us to believe he's some kind of magic artifact investigator or archeologist or something. I also like how it deepens the family role of Daisuke. I liked how his father came in very confident and the love he gets from Daisukes mother. Though I dont think there was actually any interaction between him and Daisuke...

2. The story doesnt specifically rely on Risa, which is nice. There is actually a struggle between Dark and Daisuke themselves. Learning they need to work together. It wasn't perfect, but again it breaks up the repetitiveness of what we've seen before.

3. We get some other silly side story of an entertainment mogul. It was kind of weird, but I'm glad the story is bringing in other people.

4. And my favorite, is Riku. I very much like how we are seeing Daisuke feelings drift more toward her and away from Risa. I really do think they are a cute couple.

I would probably give this one a 4 stars if it wasnt for these following plot points that definitely don't age well.

1. We get another instance of sexual assault, that is just played off as cute, and again it happens to Riku.

I mean...theyre in middle school, and this guy locked the door and just tried kissing Riku when she clearly didn't want him to. (the locked door was to set up how cool and strong Daisuke is when he kicks it in)

This was just set up so Daisuke (who was actually Dark) could bust in and save her. And then they accidentally kissed. But it was unclear if it was Daisuke or Dark kissing her. So again...sexual assault if it was Dark.

The jokes of this weird nature continue with Daisuke who was made to undress for this strange entertainment mogul. It was weird, they stated it as a joke, doesn't make these trend of Sexual Assault jokes ok.

Some minor grievances beyond that is that they keep using the big L. Like, they're in Middle school, I understand it looks better to write Love in stories, but they dont love each other. Especially Dark to Riku (i still dont understand that) and Risa to Dark. They don't know each other.

With Riku and Daisuke I understand it a little better, but still...you have to suspend your disbelief a bit.

I usually don't talk too much about the art, but it really is very good. Some of the panels has striking designs of the characters. In between chapters usually has more concept art/ poses for them. And I love how the artist frequently experiments with their clothes. Unless the plot is down right offensive I would never give the volume below a 3 star just based off art alone. (yeah thats how annoying Risa was in Volume 2, bc I gave it a 2 star)

The last thing I'll end on is I appreciate this line Dark said to Daisuke:

"Don't think that your first love has to be your only love."

Rhythm of War | Review

Mortals search for meaning, so it is proper they should create it. You get to decide what it meant. What you meant. 

This installment of the Stormlight Archives was on massive scale we have yet to have the pleasure of seeing. We pick up about a year or so after Oathbringer with a steady unrelenting war with Odiums forces. Kaladin is succumbing to his trauma and takes a mandatory leave from the army. Shallan discovers a spy within her ranks and beings to see enemies all around her, unsure of who to trust, including herself. Adolin, feeling like he has little to contribute, takes on a diplomatic mission to go to the honor spren of Lasting Integrity in Shadesmar to petition for their help to return to aid humans. Navani struggles to find her place between Queen and Scholar. And Dalinar must find a way to defeat Odium once and for all.

Clearly this book is PACKED, and thats probably only half the characters that have roles and amazing stories. There is still Venli, Eshonai, Jasnah, Terravangian, Teft, Dabbid, Rlain and more! Its incredible how I feel overwhelmingly satisfied with almost every character and their progression in this novel.

On top of just pure character plot and development we have the wider cosmere. Never before has Sanderson written so unabashedly about his lore. This was honestly the hardest to follow, I felt like there was so much I had to keep stopping to piece it all together. This didnt hinder my experience at all, as it isnt necessarily bad or confusing, in fact its probably to the betterment of Sanderson. Im more interested in his lore, rereading books Ive already gone through, and getting on to more side stories like Dawnshard and Mistborn Secret History. There's so much to unpack here about the cosmere that I feel like it would not be blasphemous to now say that this is on par with Tolkein and Sanderson needs his own Silmarillion!

To keep this novel as short as possible Im just going to focus on the stand out Characters for me, starting with Kaladin:

I am not a fan of Kaladin. I completely understood his role and dont think he should change but I was never completely on board with him through the first 3 books. He just got on my bad side and wasn't always fun to read from. But this book even made ME feel wonderfully overcome with Kaladins journey. The look into depression, and trauma with him is incredible. His fight to be a surgeon or soldier returns. His strength is tested, pushing him to his absolute limits. Almost the entire novel you are worried for him and his fate. I wouldnt say subjectively his plot is my favorite, but damn....I might have to admit as objectively as I can, that his story and journey is the strongest. His plot is also very connected to Navani's.

So quickly I will bring her up. She deserves her own section and for it to be longer, but theres a limit! Her struggle with overcoming her own self worth while dealing with an incredibly ancient and masterful foe was phenomenal. Like most of the characters in this book, her climatic ending was rich with satisfaction!

Lastly we will travel into Shadesmar to talk about Shallan and Adolin. As has been the trend in the previous books, Shallans story very similarly aligns to Kaladins own trials. Her past ever haunts her and we hadnt even heard the whole story until this book. Just like Kaladin I was on the edge of my seat so afraid for Shallan, probably my favorite character from the Stormlight. After my own research in DID I felt like Sanderson represented it very well without straight up announcing, "Hey this is a real thing that people in our world cope with."

Im most interested to see what her goals and path will lead to after this book.

This leaves me with my other favorite, Adolin. Oh...sweet Adolin. I hope this books stops any Adolin haters from ever dishonoring Adolin again. I know this is getting personal, though they shall remain nameless, I know there are many people out there having assumed Adolin would turn into Odiums champion or some kind of "turn to the darkside". The plot line and how Adolin handles the honorspren, the deadeyes, and his wife Shallan was just incredible. There are even smaller moments like him helping Kaladin. Adolins story has one of favorite moments of the series now, on par with the "Honor is dead, but Ill see what I can do." scene. Its weird, Ill admit, how defensive I can get about a fictional character. But Adolin is so pure, not perfect, but honorable and kind. I think he's one of the best characters of this novel, completely flying under the radar. His whole journey I think mirrors toxic masculinity issues of the real world. This strong man, who is told by his country not to be emotional, not to hug. He respects others that are deemed "below" his station. He likes fashion, he likes respectful duels. But he also has his own hesitations, his own weakness' and self-doubt. He doesnt have the deepest traumas like Kal or Shallan, or the most respectful and important roles like Dalinar and Jasnah. But he's my favorite.

I just have to end this and express again how much these characters stories have blown me away. I teared, and got choked up on multiple occasions. Out of sadness, or just pure epicness, whether it was good or bad this book is full of emotion. And its full of pure interesting world building. 

I feel like I have to let alot of it sink in and it would take a reread of the whole series to know where I would place it in terms of "which ones best" but I feel like it definitely has some of the best moments of the series and the book continues to build the series, no steps taken backward. It took the most important step, the next one.

The Diviners | Review

 

Set in the 1920's we are introduced to a world very much like our own. Small towns have big drama and small problems. New York is the city of lights and opportunities. And things go bump in the night. As we follow a unique and diverse cast of characters we are further inducted into a world where creepy crawlies are more than just ghost stories.

The atmosphere of this book is incredibly set up in my opinion. We mostly follow Evie O'Neil, as she Nancey Drews her way through New York, helping her Uncle try to solve a dangerous and cryptic new serial killer.

Evie is a Diviner, a person with special powers, hers being the abilities to see the past and memories of an object she touches. I very much enjoyed Evie. She is a brash and blunt young woman with alot of spunk (sometimes too much as it usually ends up getting her into trouble.) We watch as she tries to deal with the trauma of losing her brother in the war and struggling with whether or not to hide her powers.

There is a larger cast of characters we switch to every so often. Each character has their own past and the chapters that peel back their layers get you very invested in them.

The pacing can, at times, be a little slow. The spooky creepy parts are the most interesting as we sometimes get a glimpse into what the killer is doing, and their past. But even when we aren't focused on that I really enjoy the 20's atmosphere the author creates.

Besides some pacing issues, I'm not a fan of some of the romance directions and have me worried for how they will be addressed in the future books. There are demons and ghosts in the world! We dont have time for love triangle drama!

Overall Im very invested in the Diviners and learning more about them. Toward the end we don't really have almost any closure on some characters, just a wrap up on the main plot. So this has me excited to continue the series, I just may want to get to them soon as I can see myself losing interest.

Sorcery of Thorns | Review

Sorcery of Thorns introduces us to Scrivener, our special orphan is (luckily) special because of where she happened to grow up rather than because she was born that way.

In this world magical Tomes are Sentient. They have personalities and souls of their own. But they are also dangerous, so they are housed in great libraries and protected my librarians. Scrivener being one of those librarians.

The only people that can use said tomes are magicians, and magicians can only have their power by summoning demons and conscripting them to their service, bargaining for a price. So because of this librarians are wary of them, thinking them evil even though....they work in a library with books....created by magicians...for magicians?

The plot kicks off when a saboteur of these great libraries is going around sabotaging the libraries. Scrivener gets caught up in one of these incidences, and manages to beat one of the evil books. So she is then under suspicion of doing...such evil? So she is going to the main city to be put on trial...or something

For too long of the early parts of the book she believes the magician escorting her, Nathaniel, is the person who ACTUALLY sabotaged the library. But since the reader isn't an idiot we know this is just a waste of time and OH LOOK, she figured it out...

We also meet Nathaniels demon, Sylas, who is the best character of this book.

Scrivener continues to fumble along this plot of conspiracy, sabotage and danger. Confusing the reader to who the real enemies are. Is it the tomes? the magicians? the demons? the people? the political maneuvering? Who knows?

That is until near the end, with a plot twist that is so grand that you'll be thinking, how did we get here? why are we going here?

Some stories just don't need to be tales about the end of the world.

By my description you may tell that I am just a bit underwhelmed by this story. To be blunt, I really couldn't care for what was happening most of the time.

The characters, I just didnt care for. Scrivener was not interesting to me. Nathaniels back story was very compelling but how he was used in the plot, not interesting. Like I said Sylas was the best character, but I didn't fully understand what it really meant to be a demon and his struggle by the end. Is he compelled to be evil? Did love change his blackened, old withered heart? I dont know, but he was enjoyable.

The world gimmick, that being the sentient grimoires, was cool. But I feel like they should have been focused on more, because they were the best part of the world. Everything else was odd, like I pointed out, Magicians are feared, even though the libraries are for the magicians.

Lastly the Villain was nonsensical. He had the "You dont understand why Im doing this, but Im doing it for right reasons." The reasons were not clear, or he just didnt have any. So we couldn't sympathize or believe him, so he was just one of those generic mustache twirling folk.

Also as a pet peeve, there was a romance slipped into the pages of this book, and I wish it was ripped out. But thats just a preference, it didnt effect my rating.

It was just not for me, a solid 3. The tome aspect of the novel will probably stay in my brain but everything else is forgettable and underwhelming.

(P.S. LOVE the cover. I usually unhaul my 3 star and below books, but I think Ill hang on to this one)

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue | Review

My name is Addie LaRue...

I know, another 5 star review? But hear me out. I didnt bawl over the ending, it isn't my favorite book of the year, and I'm not over the moon gushing. But Ill be damned if I cant say that this is one of most lovely books with an enchanting premise if I've ever read one. A book doesn't need to be perfect to be 5 stars, and this one isn't, but it was amazing. So let's begin...

Some she's found by accident, others in the course of this or that adventure. She keeps them tucked away, like slips of paper between pages of her book.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a story of a girl, born in France in the early 1700's. Her small village life gets all the more restricting and suffocating as her family plans to marry her off. She sees the world differently than most in her village, and their idea of the life she should have does not work for her.

On the evening of her wedding she makes the mistake of praying to any god that will answer her, but the only god that was listening was one of night. Luc enters and strikes a deal with Addie, to give her freedom from her life. She accepts without realizing that true freedom is to pass through the world with no strings attached, and so she finds herself immortal, walking among humans only to be forgotten as soon as they leave sight of her.

That is, until someone doesn't forget her...

I am the one who sees kindling and coaxes it to flame.

I want to get my biggest praise out of the way first. The way Schwab writes is outstanding. I don't think I've come across a book that does prose like this, and gets away with it so beautifully. There was SO many analogies, similes/metaphors and "one liners" that never came across cringey, out of place, eye-rolling, cliche, or beat you over the head. I'm just incredibly impressed by her writing. 

Who you sacrifice to matters less than what you sacrifice for.

Normally I don't like slower paced books, and that's definitely what this felt like, but with her writing, and possibly just my mind set and the fall weather and such, it just worked for me. So if you don't like slower reads with little plot, maybe this will work for you too, but I can see how it might not. The story is really just her retelling her life over a 300 year time span with it occasionally jumping to the present (2014).

People talk about carrying torches for old flames, and it's not a full fire, but Addie's hands are full of candles.

Another strong positive is the character. Not characters, but THE character. Addie LaRue was fantastic. I was so enraptured in her life, her stubbornness, her strength, her vision and so much more. We see her battle Luc over many years as he tries to get her to surrender her immortal life so that he may claim her soul.

We begin to see a startling similarity between the two as they both find their own ways of stoking the fires of artist throughout time, but done so in very different ways.

She missed him the way someone might miss the sun in the winter, though they still dread its heat.

The nuance in which she is so eloquently written was fantastic. The way she battles Luc with her mind and words, but then how she struggles with still wanting to/ having to face him. After all he is the only person that can remember her, that can say her name. That is until Henry...

Blink and you're halfway though, paralyzed by the idea that whatever you choose to do, it means choosing not to do a hundred other things.

Henry is my least favorite part of the book. He is introduced as the only person that has been able to remember her in 300 years. It teases us slowly as they spend more time together, which I didnt mind because we still jump back to Addie's past in France, Germany, Italy and so on. But soon it gets to a section that is all about him, and that's when the book slowed down for me a lot. His story didnt grip me, I didnt really for sorry for him, and I found him (to be blunt) weak. I didnt feel the passion for him. I also began to worry that the book may not address the question, "Does Addie only like him because he is the only human that can remember her?"

Easy to stay on the path when the road is straight and the steps are numbered.

But by the end I was very happy that it wrapped up very nicely in a way I appreciated Addie's story. It really secured the 5 star rating from falling to a 4. 

And this is what good-byes should be.
Not a period, but an ellipses, a statement trailing off, until someone is there to pick it up.
It is a door left open.
It is drifting off to sleep.

It was a story beautifully written, a strange long life wonderfully captured.