Reading Glasses - Fan Group discussion

Finished the whole book? Already read it previously? Ready to discuss it in it's entirety? This is the place for you!

This is your place to discuss the entire book, spoilers and all!

I went ahead and decided to just read all that was left the other day. Overall I thought it was enjoyable. I don't plan on reading the sequels right now (YA and/or Fantasy isn't really in my wheelhouse), but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this one.

I wasn't enamored with it or anything, but I certainly wasn't hate-reading or regretting starting it. I thought it was very obvious where the story was going once Alina was separated from Mal and constantly wished he'd come save her. The remainder of the book after that point was just filling in the blanks I thought.

Has anybody read the sequels and can comment on if they are better than this one, or at least more unpredictable?

I just read a different book (The Selection) where the 'torn between two lovers' plot didn't resolve the way this one did, so I didn't find it as predictable as Grayson, and, generally, when it didn't follow my expectations, it was in ways that I liked. My favorite part of the book was when the protagonist was out on her own, finding her way, before Mal tracked her down. I also liked how she started to try to find potential allies after she was captured -- those were some fun interactions, for me.

On the downside, Mal just seemed like kind of a jerk, especially after he reappeared in the last part of the book, and I would have liked that to have been addressed. (I mean, he apologizes, but I didn't really think that was sufficient.) Like, I understand that childhood bonds can be strong, and I suppose that the heart wants what it wants, but him taking his guilt and jealousy and anger out on her, after she's revealed that she's written him a letter every day for months, didn't seem like a great basis for a relationship. He seems kind of controlling and immature.

This is more nitpicky, but it seemed weird to me that she had to realize that she had the power to break the Darkling's hold on her all along, in order to draw on that power -- I feel like he just shouldn't have been able to control her, if her bond to the stag was that much stronger.

Like Grayson, I enjoyed reading it well enough, but probably won't seek out the sequels on my own (unless for another readalong or something).

The new poll for next months read along made me realize I never really finished up this one. I figured I'd come back and drop some of my thoughts.

I'll start by saying that I never actually finished the book. I had to return it to the library which I really didn't have an issue with. About chapter 13 was a breaking point for me. I kept giving this book the benefit of the doubt and I just lost all patience around that point.

It really annoyed me how suddenly Alina can control her powers and her life is now magically better. If there'd been some build, if she'd learned things about herself and come to some realizations I might have been less annoyed but it was all about the magic and nothing about self growth and understanding. Not even the idea that she'd been repressing something for so long and how that could have physically affected her ever seemed to be even thought about.

I must have read further than that because I did get to where we find out the Darkling is playing her and that part I did actually appreciate. It made several encounters make a lot more sense.

This is one of those books I might pick up again and finish it out but I'm not rushing to do it now. I said at the beginning this is a book I would have liked when I was younger but I feel like even then I would have been wanting more out of it. There are some good and interesting ideas but I didn't love the execution overall.