Book Competition discussion

Members
Deb- 40
Ari - 30 points
Ophelia
Liliana

When the day comes
375 pages
No review :)

30 points

Thank you, I will put the points when I add it so you don’t need to worry about that part only page numbers, and I will update points once I am on my computer instead of my phone since I unfortunately have less access to things through the app

Forced Bonds
490 pages

Deb ~in my Boys of Tommen era~ wrote: "Thank you, I will put the points when I add it so you don’t need to worry about that part only page numbers, and I will update points once I am on my computer instead of my phone since I unfortunat..."

Okay! I usually put the points as I find it easier lol

To Love a Beast: 219 pages
Perfect Deke: 340 pages

Saving 6
489 pages
Review: I am going to keep this simple and spoiler free. I love the characters and felt my love for them grow even as my heart broke because of what’s happening. I am so glad I reserved the next book and can hopefully get it tomorrow since I need to continue with Joey and Aoife, need Joeys idea/the last chapter to workout and I need to know what happens next. 5 stars is an understatement for every book in this series so far and I have high hopes for Redeeming 6.

Tragic bonds
542 pages

Dr.Zeus
352 pages

Brain Damage
394 pages

This Woven Kingdom- 512 pages

Little White Lies
390 pages

The Traitor Spy
325 pages

In This Moment
416 pages

The Love Hypothesis
375 pages

Do you Remember?
334 pages

The Princess Bride by S Morgenstern and William Goldman
464 pages

Review
(view spoiler)[
Ok first of all, I read this slightly biased because The Princess Bride (1987) is and will always be one of my favorite movies of all time. One of those ones I could recite by heart but this was my first time reading the book. So I will compare this to the movie as well because, in my personal opinion, it is one of those rare circumstances the movie is better than the book.

What surprised me the most was that this was not the original story. This is a deeply edited version of the S. Morgenstern’s classic by William Goldman. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by that at the beginnin, but as I read further, I actually appreciated it. For example, Goldman removed 56 and a half pages from part three because Morgenstern felt the need to describe every single article of clothing the Queen and the Princess Noreena packed for their journey. As a future author and an avid reader, unless hats are an important element to the story (which I can assure you they weren’t the entire book), that’s a bit excessive 😭 So the fact that Goldman managed to edit the thousand page manuscript to just under 400 pages is quite the accomplishment. Hence, the “good parts” edition. I also appreciate he didn’t physically change the story with his own work, but just removed the excessive bits

⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆

What I enjoyed from the book:
1) The details, as always. Some of the dialogue was cheesy, but I was thrilled to see many of my favorite movie lines are direct quotes from the book.
2) Missing plot points/details from the movie. Some of my biggest questions were answered from the book in fact. For example, the reason why Guilder hated Florin so much was how Prince Humperdinck rejected poor bald Princess Noreena. Prince Humperdinck was the one who hired the iconic inconceivable trio (Vizzini, Fezzik, and Inigo) to kidnap Buttercup. So that was fascinating to learn. It was also interesting to see the iconic “Machine” was actually not in a random torture chamber in the middle of the forest but rather, a very carefully constructed “Zoo of Death”.
3) more of the fun banter and the friendship between Inigo and Fezzik. Even in the scariest moments, they were still cracking poems lol
4)Westley. I wish he had more time in the book because he stole the scene in every part he was in. The way he talks, heck even thinks about Buttercup is just *chefs kiss* 😚 I’ll include one of my favorite quotes (boys, please take serious notes. If you expect to land a decent girl, then start living up to our standards):

“ “I have stayed these years in my hovel because of you. I have taught myself languages because of you. I have made my body strong because I thought you might be pleased by a strong body. I have lived my life with only the prayer that some sudden dawn that you might glance in my direction. I have not known a moment in years when the sight of you did not send my heart careening against my rib cage. I have not known a night when your visage did not accompany me to sleep. There has not been a morning when you did not flutter behind my waking eyelids…”

🫠 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆

What I did not enjoy from the book:
1) the yapping. Omg the yapping. Obviously this is the special edition and it has two very lengthy introductions from the 25th and 30th anniversary editions. By lengthy I mean it was already 60 pages deep and Goldman was still talking about visiting a museum and talking to Mr Stephen King. It also has a very another very long introduction to “Buttercups Baby” included at the end of the book. It feels like they belong in a memoir rather than this book, so I did skip them.
2) Buttercup in general. I feel like she is a weak character. I love me a strong female heroine but she did not meet my expectations. When I say weak, I mean by after years of basically abusing Westley, after a seemingly innocent encounter with the Countess and a cow, she lays awake overthinking the entire ordeal (to be honest though we did get a great description of Westley 🔥) then wakes up and bangs on his door super early in the morning and declares her love for him for a page and a half. Westleys reaction is to stand there then shut the door when she’s done (can you imagine being woken up at like 5am to listen to your bully declare her undying love for you in a very dramatical way? I’d slam the door in her face too lmao), which she immediately takes to heart and runs crying through the woods about. Toughen up, buttercup 😭
3) the random details, and this is where I really appreciated Goldman stepping in and removing pages. No I don’t want to read 56 and an half pages about hats or 65 pages of Florinese trees because you were mad at a lumber company. And again with buttercup holding dying Westley, sweetie why are you thinking about trees at that exact moment?!!
4) the ending; to both Princess Bride and Buttercup’s Baby. The end of Princess Bride makes it seem they’re all going to die (thank you William Goldman and Rob Reiner for slightly twisting that into a more happy ending for the movie because 6 year old me would have been forever scarred), which to be fair was fixed in Buttercup’s Baby, but that left off on a bigger plot hole. We don’t know who kidnapped the baby, what or who “invaded” Fezzik, the random part about Inigo being in love then parting ways with the woman, and truly… did Fezzik die? I hope he didn’t 😭I love that gentle poem loving giant.

⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆

Spice levels: 🔥🔥
I’m rating Buttercup’s Baby with a 2/5 for spice. To be honest, nothing happens. I was actually sitting reading and I didn’t realize exactly what they were doing until… well… yeah. All that’s mentioned is “experimenting” and then it’s fade to black. Obviously they had to do something to get the baby lol. What concerns me tho, and why I’m rating it a two is a rather… odd comment from buttercup during the situation. Another detail not mentioned in the movie is that Prince Humperdinck sent her to princess school for three years. And umm… to quote: “Buttercup took his strong hand. ‘My professors were all in favor of experimenting.’”
I’m sorry, what?! 💀
The Princess Bride itself is without spice, unless you count kissing and a tiny descriptive paragraph of Westleys muscles. Why couldn’t we have a full 56 and a half pages of that, I’ll never know 😭

⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆

And I have to review the cover of this edition. It is literally so stunning. The cover itself is paperback but it is gold etched and very detailed. The pages are also sprayed, with a picture of the ship Revenge, a R.O.U.S. (“A rodent of unusual size? I don’t believe they exist.” *proceeds to be attacked by them*), and my favorite: an outline of buttercup and Westley together and the forever iconic “As you wish”.
So 5/5 for the edition itself

⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ ⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆

So I am rating it a 3/5 (if I could I’d do a 3.5)
The three stars are mostly for William Goldman’s hard work to make this an enjoyable story, the details, etc.
Two stars removed for the plot holes and random moments.

Overall, it’s a good story. The movie is much better. In fact I’d recommend watching the movie first, then read the book. Wait… you haven’t seen the movie? INCONCEIVABLE. It’s free to stream with a Disney Plus subscription.

Or you can just do… “𝘈𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩”... (hide spoiler)]

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