This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is Dynamic Duos and I thought I would go with duologies! I did a post not long ago about my favourite duologies but since then I have completed a few more so why not add to that list!
Daughter of the Pirate King duology by Tricia Levenseller
The Ravens duology by Kass Morgan & Danielle Page
These Violent Delights duology by Chloe Gong
These Witches Don’t Burn duology by Isabel Sterling
All the Stars and Teeth duology by Adalyn Grace
*SOME SPOILERS*
Jade Daniels is an angry, half-Indian outcast with an abusive father, an absent mother, and an entire town that wants nothing to do with her. She lives in her own world, a world in which protection comes from an unusual source: horror movies…especially the ones where a masked killer seeks revenge on a world that wronged them. And Jade narrates the quirky history of Proofrock as if it is one of those movies. But when blood actually starts to spill into the waters of Indian Lake, she pulls us into her dizzying, encyclopedic mind of blood and masked murderers, and predicts exactly how the plot will unfold.
Jade as our main protagonist is very interesting. She very much pulls you into this world of slashers and she is the kind of character that you can form a bond for pretty quickly. There’s a sense of mystery surrounding her and her circumstances about why she chose to try to commit suicide right at the start of the book and her obsession with slashers. Her relationship with her father and mother were also an interesting aspect of the story and even though it isn’t fully explored we definitely get a sense of what went on earlier in Jade’s life.
I understand how her essay’s to Mr Harvey that are inserted are a way to give us more context as to Jade’s frame of mind and just how ingrained these movies are into her psyche but they pulled me out of the story. I skimmed through the majority of them simply because after the first two or three I wasn’t interested in what she was saying. I was kind of bored and wanted to get back to the actual plot and figuring out who this killer was.
Even though the other characters are the main protagonists in Jade’s slasher plot she keeps a majority of them at a distance so we don’t get to know a lot of them in depth. I didn’t feel connected to any of them and when the killings actually started I wasn’t all that horrified that these people had died. Sure their injuries were gruesome and the descriptions certainly didn’t shy away from all the nitty gritty but because the connection wasn’t there the stakes were low.
I don’t know whether it’s Stephen Graham Jones’ writing style or just Jade’s perspective in particular but I was confused as to what was happening for the majority of the story. Where she was and what she was doing and also who she was talking to, it was framed in a way that was a bit too chaotic for me. She was kind of devolving slowly but also as people kept dying she was become more assured of her predictions. It was very much a stream of consciousness style of writing and I couldn’t really follow along and appreciate it as much as others seem to.
⭐️2/5 stars Just not for me…
*SPOILERS BELOW*
When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.
Lux was definitely an interesting perspective. She just comes across as quite lost and without a tether really holding her anywhere since her mother died. Then she met Nico and attached herself to him and his dream and is now disappointed with how things have worked out for her. She has the potential to be a very strong, independent woman but just acquiesces to Nico’s every whim and allows him to be very dismissive of her and her feelings, which then builds up until she completely unloads on him when she is at her breaking point. I don’t really like how she is so blase towards Amma and Nico and I feel like she let them off way too easily, I wanted more of a rage fuelled drawn out fight or argument.
I think what would of made me love this book more is if we had another perspective in the now. Lux got to be a bit tedious at times and even though she goes through this emotional awakening during the plot and stands up for herself and calls out the insanity that Chloe and Brittany created. She knew that something was off with how everyone was reacting to Harvey being missing and then the radio situation but just let things slide a little too much.
The dual timelines I really enjoyed. It gave a lot of these characters depth and added much needed context to the story and how all of they all ended up at this ‘off the beaten track’ island. In hindsight it’s kind of glaringly obvious who everyone was and how they are connected but as I was reading I had no idea. I ended up really despising Nico in the end and I was glad that he died but I wanted to see him actually get killed. To not get to witness it and just have Lux coming across his body like she did with Harvey and Amma was underwhelming.
I liked that we got to read about the journey to the island from Hawaii and there was some action scenes sailing through the storm. The actual setting of the island though was great. The forced proximity and isolation made the tension continuously build throughout the course of the storyline. The addition of Harvey was kind of an obvious red herring to me, I would of been more inclined to believe he was going to have more of an impact had they had just a few more interactions with him as a group. But otherwise the atmosphere was suspenseful, the twists I could not see coming at all and I was overall entertained!
⭐️4/5 stars This was a wild one!
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is books too good to review properly. Since I’ve started this blog I’ve got a habit now of reviewing all the books I read, however there are some circumstances where I just either don’t have enough to say about the book, I’ve already done heaps of reviews that month and didn’t feel a need to post another one or it was a smutty romance. So these are 10 books I have read since starting my blog 4 years ago that I didn’t post a review for!
Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski
Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray & Barbed Wired and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss
Famine by Laura Thalassa
Well Met by Jen DeLuca
The Language of Thorns; Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo
Burn by Patrick Ness
Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee
Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender
The Night Country by Melissa Albert
*Series Finale Spoilers*
Return to the City of Sin, where the perilous final game is about to begin…The players? Twenty-two of the most powerful, most notorious people in New Reynes. With no choice but to play, Enne and Levi are desperate to forge new alliances and bargain for their safety. But any misstep could turn deadly when a far more dangerous opponent appears on the board — one plucked straight from the city’s most gruesome legends. While Levi hides behind a mask of false promises, Enne is finally forced out from behind hers and as the game takes its final, vicious turn, these two must decide once and for all whether to be partners or enemies.
Enne honestly didn’t really do anything that blew me away in this final instalment to the series. She definitely goes on a roller coaster ride of emotions and self discovery throughout the course of the plot but I can’t say she was my favourite of the characters. When she was at her worst and was about to shoot Justin really soured her for me, Lola was her first and best friend and she was really about to kill him in front of everyone because she wanted to rush out and be a hero. I can understand she was very much in danger of being lynched by the people for being the last Mizer but some of the actions she took to get what she wants rubbed me the wrong way. I wish she just would of been more honest with everyone (especially Levi).
Levi also felt a bit lost for me in this book, thinking back he didn’t really do anything that is jumping out at me. Sure he was preoccupied with dealing with his emotions about Jac and how that translates for his obvious love for Enne but in terms of the new shadow game he wasn’t really a major factor in figuring out how to beat Bryce. I appreciated how the story kind of came full circle and it had to be him and Enne in the end who had to kill the Bargainer and how he has had to re-evaluate everything now that he is stuck in New Reynes.
I feel like all of the side characters really stole the show in this book. Lola making a bargain and finding out the truth about Enne and her heritage was a great twist. I like the fact that we see Lola on the outs with Enne and form a connection with Arabella because of it and how that plays out. Sophia trying to gain back the knowledge of what her side magic and inadvertently making friends with Poppy and Delaney. I liked their dynamic and it was easy to differentiate between them. Narinder I totally forgot he even existed but I was glad that he was able to influence Harvey and get him out from Bryce’s spell.
To be completely honest I forgot who Bryce was so the fact that he was the architect behind everything in this whole series didn’t make an impact on me at all. He obviously didn’t make enough of an impression on me when I read the last two books that I must of thought he was insignificant which I don’t know if that was purposely done by Amanda Foody or it’s just been too long since I read the other books. I feel like because that connection with him wasn’t there I didn’t really feel like his reasonings behind everything was enough. I do like the way everything was explained though and I wasn’t left with any questions but in the end it just felt a pointless to me.
⭐️3/5 stars A little anticlimactic for me
Amy Leigh Reads 