Tag: dystopian

Reviews

The Knight and the Butcherbird Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on The Knight and the Butcherbird Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

The Knight and the Butcherbird is a short, moody read that mixes fairytale vibes with a gritty dystopian setting. The world has clearly fallen apart and what’s left feels like some kind of medieval society where oral storytellers and knights still have a place. It’s a really cool concept and I was hooked from the beginning just trying to figure it all out.

The story is told by Shrike, a seventeen-year-old who acts as the town’s historian. A knight rocks up to kill a demon, but it turns out the demon is actually Shrike’s wife, May. From there, things get complicated. You start to realise there’s more going on beneath the surface and Shrike’s not just telling the story, she’s in it. The twist hits hard, but I couldn’t help feeling like I wanted more time to sit with it all.

That’s kind of the main thing for me. The ideas and themes are solid (grief, love, transformation, letting go) but there just wasn’t enough space to really dig into them. It’s one of those stories that makes you wish it was a full novel. The world building is interesting, with little hints about sickness, poverty and something deeper going wrong in society, but we don’t get much more than a glimpse.

I also found Shrike’s age a bit jarring. She reads much older than seventeen and her relationship and choices felt more believable for someone in their twenties. The knight, though, was a great character and brought a lot of tension and mystery.

The writing itself is beautiful, lyrical, sharp and easy to fall into. Harrow’s style definitely carried the story and made me want to keep reading. Even with the rushed pacing and lack of detail, it still had an impact.

⭐️3/5 stars If you’ve got an hour to spare and want something different, this one’s worth a look. Just go in knowing it might leave you wanting a bit more.

Updates

Restore Me Update

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Restore Me Update

IMG_2187So I had every intention of reading Restore Me this month and completing the Shatter Me series but I honestly don’t want to anymore. There were sooo many people hyping it up and saying its one of their all time favourites and I’ve found it’s quite a staple in the YA community but its definitely not what I expected.  I was very underwhelmed by the first three books and now any excitement or need to finish has fizzled out. I have a lot more books on my TBR for the rest of the year so I will move on to those and hopefully my urge to finish Restore Me will rekindle in the new year!

Happy Reading📚

Reviews

Ignite Me Review

by amyleighreads2 Comments on Ignite Me Review

Ignite_MeI thought this was a solid ending; it just didn’t really excite me though or have me on the edge of my seat.

This is the third novel in the series and it kind of left me underwhelmed. I haven’t really built an emotional connection to any of these characters and I think that’s why I didn’t really have any outstanding emotions after I finished the book.

Ignite Me focuses on the aftermath of the war. The Reestablishment won and now we see Juliette siding with Warner to kill Anderson and restore peace to the world. She finds a few who survived the attack including Adam and she now is forced to face the truth and ultimately choose which brother she wants to be with.

The only thing I really actually enjoyed in the book was Juliette’s friendship and witty sparring with Kenji. I like how their relationship has grown so much over the course of the three books and how he has opened up and given so much of himself. I also like the fact that Juliette is so raw and honest with him, I feel like most of her conversations with Kenji should of happened with Adam that way she could of explained the situation a lot more better and caused less grief on both their parts.

I just feel like she handled the situation wrong and Adam had a right to feel and react the way he did, sure he went a bit overboard, but I felt like she just didn’t care about his feelings and was a bit selfish. I get that she has grown and matured and become more self assured but I feel like she completely disregarded their history and cut him off. I think she was mean and very in your face about her new burgeoning relationship with Warner and that kind of made me like her a little less.

I do still enjoy Warner in this book though. He has stayed pretty much constant throughout the series we have just delved a bit deeper into his history and he has shown a bit more of himself. Having everything explained added a lot of context to his actions and really painted a different picture of who he is as a character, which I enjoyed.

I am a bit in two minds about this book. It was a little slow in some sections and then felt a bit overly rushed in others. We don’t have many different settings and it became a little stagnant for me. For what I think was supposed to be the conclusion to a trilogy I felt it was definitely lacking in oomph. I’m not quite sure what Restore Me has to offer but I’m still waiting to be wowed.

⭐️3/5 stars just a bit lacking for me…

Reviews

Renegades Review

by amyleighreads2 Comments on Renegades Review

*No Spoilers*

28421168Wow, what a ride!

I really enjoyed myself while reading this book. I think Marissa Meyer did a wonderful job with the characters and the plot!

Renegades is a dual perspective novel based around Nova and Adrian. Nova grew up under the care of her uncle who was the head of a revolutionary group called the Anarchists who fought against the government and the world for the way they treated the prodigies (people with extraordinary abilities), which ultimately led to chaos and anarchy. Adrian was adopted by his two fathers who are the leaders of the Renegades, a syndicate of prodigies who fought to overthrow the Anarchists and bring peace and order to the world.

I love the juxtaposition of the two characters and their back-stories and how they ultimately wove together. I think that was masterfully done and so entertaining to read. Nova was a wonderful female protagonist. She is powerful, resilient, intelligent but still mysterious and kind of relatable. I love how we see her struggle with her identity throughout the novel as well. Who is she ultimately going to be and where will her loyalties lie as Nova or Nightmare or Insomnia?

Adrian was also just wonderful. I find him to be incredibly likeable and endearing. I liked that through his perspective we really see him endeavor to be the best possible son to his fathers and live up to the expectations that the world has really set being an Everhart. To see him grapple with his own identity as well was interesting to read, we see so many sides to him throughout the book as Sketch and Sentinel and also as just Adrian.

The plot was very fast paced, there is a lot of action going on and schemes being formed and executed. There was also a lot of open ended plot lines that I think will definitely be explored in the sequel Archenemies when it comes out later this year, which I am now super pumped for! And just want to mention that huge cliffhanger at the end! OMG! I can usually spot these things a mile away; especially with YA fantasy but I really just did not see that coming!

⭐️4/5 stars a YA dystopian fantasy novel with superpowers and secret identities what’s not to like?