Book reviews: Disappointing edition
Jan. 30th, 2022 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkYikes...after a relatively strong start to my reading journey in 2022 with Network Effect by Martha Wells, I've had a disappointing streak lately with respect to the books I've read. Sigh.
The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Adult thriller
This is an Adult thriller retelling of Jane Eyre. At first, I super dug this—the idea that Jane was kind of a conwoman grifting her way into Eddie Rochester's money was a great spin.
After the first part in this book, though, I felt like the pacing slowed down a lot, for two reasons:
1. The whole subplot of Jane trying to ingratiate herself among the rich housewives of Thornfield Estates just felt incredibly unrealistic to me. I kept wondering why all the housewives accepted her, at least a little, instead of assuming she was a conniving gold-digger. That really killed my interest in Part 3 of the book.
2. There was no real slow build of tension regarding Eddie's wife (not a spoiler if you're familiar with Jane Eyre) because the book reveals that Eddie's wife is in the attic early on, and I thought this was a major misstep. Even if you know how Jane Eyre goes, I felt like the book could have at least tried for that gothic, "is something creepy happening in this huge mansion" vibe.
In the end, my biggest problem with this book is...well, I guess this is a spoiler, but I wanted to say this to adjust people's expectations: This is definitely not a retelling of Jane Eyre with respect to the gothic romance. Which disappointed me because I eventually shipped Jane and Eddie in the end. Sigh.
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Genre: YA, thriller (?)
I'm glad I picked up this book before I saw that it was described as Cinderella meets Knives Out, because that Knives Out comparison would have severely disappointed me.
I wanted a fun, escapist read full of puzzle-solving, something akin to The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. Instead, this book is 25% puzzle-solving, and 75% high school life (including shenanigans from a Mean Girl character) + love triangle angst + Hunger Games-style makeover/media training for the rich heiress + a murder mystery that was honestly pretty boring and seemed to exist mostly to add tension to the love triangle.
So, in the end, I found this book incredibly slow. Possibly, if I read the book instead of listening to it on audio, it might have felt faster, since I'm a very fast reader, but I was tempted to DNF this book multiple times out of boredom.
Also, I know I already mentioned that the murder mystery subplot was boring, but I just wanted to say it again: That subplot was boring and it sucked. It was like the author decided that she needed an extra thread of tension and angst for the romantic subplots, so she dropped a dead girl in the story out of nowhere to make the Hawthorne brothers feel guilty and come off as shady—since it's not really a murder mystery the protagonist investigates; the murder is straightforward, it's just that the brothers never clearly state what happened and Avery never asks.
This book felt wildly unrealistic in several areas, which made me very much cringe. Avery's lawyer not telling her about all the implications of the will was straight-up legal malpractice. Avery's bodyguard seemed incredibly incompetent, especially when he put her life in danger to use her as bait to lure out her attacker. Like...come on. No actual bodyguard would do this.
The big twist of the book was pretty meh. Yes, it's a subversion of what the general reader was expect, but the subversion ended up being pretty boring in and of itself.
Two out of five star read for me, would not recommend (although maybe teenagers who haven't read as many books as I have might enjoy this more). The Gilded Wolves has better pacing and more puzzles, and this book doesn't even come close to touching the murder mystery genius of Knives Out.
The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart
Genre: Adult/crossover, epic fantasy
This is looking like a DNF ~42%.
Epic fantasy and I don't really get along. I dislike the style of fantasy that has five (or more) POVs, and I'm a reader who needs either fast pacing or compelling tension (e.g. I'm happy to read suspense and slow-burn romance books).
I enjoyed the first book in the Drowning Empire trilogy, The Bone Shard Daughter, so I thought I'd enjoy the second book, but...not really.
I get that this trilogy is considered YA/Adult crossover, but I found the political intrigue part of TBSE kind of...juvenile? Basically, every time Lin visits a major island, the governor says "I don't need you" and Lin is stuck trying to figure out how to earn the governor's respect. The fact that Phalue and Ranami tell Lin to her face that the only thing they want from her is for her to abdicate made my jaw drop, and not in a good way.
I like well-done political intrigue. TBSE is not it.
I think the reason why the first book worked better for me is that there were underlying mystery threads that provided tension even when plot events were moving slowly. Those mystery threads are, for the most part, gone; I mean, Lin and Jovis are trying to figure out more about the Alanga and why some islands are sinking, but that's about it.
Sigh. Maybe I'll come back to this book at a later point, or maybe not.
A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske
Genre: Adult, historical fantasy/romance/mystery
DNF ~10%. This was a hot mess.
I wasn't interested in picking this one up until I heard that the sequel was being comped to Knives Out, and even though I think the books are meant to mostly stand alone, I became curious.
I seriously don't understand why this book has so many rave reviews. Again, IT'S A HOT MESS.
There's a trend I've noticed with Tor's fantasy books with murder mystery plots, at least among this book, Magic For Liars by Sarah Gailey, and A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark: They all begin with a scene from the murder victim's POV right before they die (or, in the case of Magic For Liars, a scene of some rando discovering the dead body soon after the murder).
I think this is a narrative device that should be used carefully, not just as a cheap hook for the reader's excitement. If you can't get the reader excited in your murder mystery by introducing your main character, then...I don't know what to say.
The first chapter of this book (which was a prologue, and I don't know why they didn't just call it a prologue) was a horrible introduction to the story. It immediately removes any possibility of slow-burn suspense; the reader instantly knows Reggie Gatling has been murdered, and so Robin and Edwin wondering what happened to him loses any impact. Plus, it was just a boring creative choice to open the story with a complete rando (to the reader) being tortured for information right before he's killed.
The fantasy aspect? Was confusing as hell. I don't understand why the author set up this society so that there are *public government offices* that deal with magic, yet most people are still unaware of magic. What? And because of this oxymoronic premise, the reader is given no context to understand that Edwin doesn't have enough magic and is discriminated against because of it. You're just told that's the case, and you have to believe it, I guess.
The romance sucked. The "meet cute" between Robin and Edwin had no spark whatsoever—not of attraction, not of fascination, and not even of enemies-to-lovers initial hostility, beyond just a vague irritation on Edwin's part (for no real reason—the book does not clearly explain what Edwin's relationship was with Reggie, so his annoyance with Robin literally makes no sense). The opening chapters did nothing to establish either Robin or Edwin's characters; they both had the personality of a wet towel, except Edwin likes reading books, I guess. By the time Robin was the subject of an attempted kidnapping in Chapter 4, I was so bored that I DNF'ed the book. I don't even know who Robin is at all, and you expect me to care that he's being kidnapped???
Like. I am just baffled that this was (a) published, and (b) acclaimed. I don't know if people are so starved for traditionally published gay romances that they'll read anything, or what.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Genre: Adult, sci-fi
DNF. This novella has such rave reviews, but I was completely turned off by the jarring difference between the very literary narrative prose and then the extremely snarky, slang-heavy letters. Which also felt very flirty from the get-go, which is generally not what I want from an enemies-to-lovers romance.
The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Adult thriller
This is an Adult thriller retelling of Jane Eyre. At first, I super dug this—the idea that Jane was kind of a conwoman grifting her way into Eddie Rochester's money was a great spin.
After the first part in this book, though, I felt like the pacing slowed down a lot, for two reasons:
1. The whole subplot of Jane trying to ingratiate herself among the rich housewives of Thornfield Estates just felt incredibly unrealistic to me. I kept wondering why all the housewives accepted her, at least a little, instead of assuming she was a conniving gold-digger. That really killed my interest in Part 3 of the book.
2. There was no real slow build of tension regarding Eddie's wife (not a spoiler if you're familiar with Jane Eyre) because the book reveals that Eddie's wife is in the attic early on, and I thought this was a major misstep. Even if you know how Jane Eyre goes, I felt like the book could have at least tried for that gothic, "is something creepy happening in this huge mansion" vibe.
In the end, my biggest problem with this book is...well, I guess this is a spoiler, but I wanted to say this to adjust people's expectations: This is definitely not a retelling of Jane Eyre with respect to the gothic romance. Which disappointed me because I eventually shipped Jane and Eddie in the end. Sigh.
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Genre: YA, thriller (?)
I'm glad I picked up this book before I saw that it was described as Cinderella meets Knives Out, because that Knives Out comparison would have severely disappointed me.
I wanted a fun, escapist read full of puzzle-solving, something akin to The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. Instead, this book is 25% puzzle-solving, and 75% high school life (including shenanigans from a Mean Girl character) + love triangle angst + Hunger Games-style makeover/media training for the rich heiress + a murder mystery that was honestly pretty boring and seemed to exist mostly to add tension to the love triangle.
So, in the end, I found this book incredibly slow. Possibly, if I read the book instead of listening to it on audio, it might have felt faster, since I'm a very fast reader, but I was tempted to DNF this book multiple times out of boredom.
Also, I know I already mentioned that the murder mystery subplot was boring, but I just wanted to say it again: That subplot was boring and it sucked. It was like the author decided that she needed an extra thread of tension and angst for the romantic subplots, so she dropped a dead girl in the story out of nowhere to make the Hawthorne brothers feel guilty and come off as shady—since it's not really a murder mystery the protagonist investigates; the murder is straightforward, it's just that the brothers never clearly state what happened and Avery never asks.
This book felt wildly unrealistic in several areas, which made me very much cringe. Avery's lawyer not telling her about all the implications of the will was straight-up legal malpractice. Avery's bodyguard seemed incredibly incompetent, especially when he put her life in danger to use her as bait to lure out her attacker. Like...come on. No actual bodyguard would do this.
The big twist of the book was pretty meh. Yes, it's a subversion of what the general reader was expect, but the subversion ended up being pretty boring in and of itself.
Two out of five star read for me, would not recommend (although maybe teenagers who haven't read as many books as I have might enjoy this more). The Gilded Wolves has better pacing and more puzzles, and this book doesn't even come close to touching the murder mystery genius of Knives Out.
The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart
Genre: Adult/crossover, epic fantasy
This is looking like a DNF ~42%.
Epic fantasy and I don't really get along. I dislike the style of fantasy that has five (or more) POVs, and I'm a reader who needs either fast pacing or compelling tension (e.g. I'm happy to read suspense and slow-burn romance books).
I enjoyed the first book in the Drowning Empire trilogy, The Bone Shard Daughter, so I thought I'd enjoy the second book, but...not really.
I get that this trilogy is considered YA/Adult crossover, but I found the political intrigue part of TBSE kind of...juvenile? Basically, every time Lin visits a major island, the governor says "I don't need you" and Lin is stuck trying to figure out how to earn the governor's respect. The fact that Phalue and Ranami tell Lin to her face that the only thing they want from her is for her to abdicate made my jaw drop, and not in a good way.
I like well-done political intrigue. TBSE is not it.
I think the reason why the first book worked better for me is that there were underlying mystery threads that provided tension even when plot events were moving slowly. Those mystery threads are, for the most part, gone; I mean, Lin and Jovis are trying to figure out more about the Alanga and why some islands are sinking, but that's about it.
Sigh. Maybe I'll come back to this book at a later point, or maybe not.
A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske
Genre: Adult, historical fantasy/romance/mystery
DNF ~10%. This was a hot mess.
I wasn't interested in picking this one up until I heard that the sequel was being comped to Knives Out, and even though I think the books are meant to mostly stand alone, I became curious.
I seriously don't understand why this book has so many rave reviews. Again, IT'S A HOT MESS.
There's a trend I've noticed with Tor's fantasy books with murder mystery plots, at least among this book, Magic For Liars by Sarah Gailey, and A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark: They all begin with a scene from the murder victim's POV right before they die (or, in the case of Magic For Liars, a scene of some rando discovering the dead body soon after the murder).
I think this is a narrative device that should be used carefully, not just as a cheap hook for the reader's excitement. If you can't get the reader excited in your murder mystery by introducing your main character, then...I don't know what to say.
The first chapter of this book (which was a prologue, and I don't know why they didn't just call it a prologue) was a horrible introduction to the story. It immediately removes any possibility of slow-burn suspense; the reader instantly knows Reggie Gatling has been murdered, and so Robin and Edwin wondering what happened to him loses any impact. Plus, it was just a boring creative choice to open the story with a complete rando (to the reader) being tortured for information right before he's killed.
The fantasy aspect? Was confusing as hell. I don't understand why the author set up this society so that there are *public government offices* that deal with magic, yet most people are still unaware of magic. What? And because of this oxymoronic premise, the reader is given no context to understand that Edwin doesn't have enough magic and is discriminated against because of it. You're just told that's the case, and you have to believe it, I guess.
The romance sucked. The "meet cute" between Robin and Edwin had no spark whatsoever—not of attraction, not of fascination, and not even of enemies-to-lovers initial hostility, beyond just a vague irritation on Edwin's part (for no real reason—the book does not clearly explain what Edwin's relationship was with Reggie, so his annoyance with Robin literally makes no sense). The opening chapters did nothing to establish either Robin or Edwin's characters; they both had the personality of a wet towel, except Edwin likes reading books, I guess. By the time Robin was the subject of an attempted kidnapping in Chapter 4, I was so bored that I DNF'ed the book. I don't even know who Robin is at all, and you expect me to care that he's being kidnapped???
Like. I am just baffled that this was (a) published, and (b) acclaimed. I don't know if people are so starved for traditionally published gay romances that they'll read anything, or what.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Genre: Adult, sci-fi
DNF. This novella has such rave reviews, but I was completely turned off by the jarring difference between the very literary narrative prose and then the extremely snarky, slang-heavy letters. Which also felt very flirty from the get-go, which is generally not what I want from an enemies-to-lovers romance.
