Lesley Barklay > Recent Status Updates

And... they're in!

In an unrelated note, Jesper has to have ADHD, right?

Still loving pretty much everything about this book, except the ages of the characters (which I find totally unbelievable—with the possible exception of Wylan. He can stay 15 in my mind,).

After hearing so many good things about Six of Crows (and purchasing the paperbacks about two years ago), I have finally picked it up.

So far, I'm really enjoying the characters and the world. The only thing that has me shaking my head a little bit is the age of the characters. 17? Really? I love everyone I've met so far. They are so real they leap off the page, but I have to constantly pretend they're at least 24.

Okay, so Emma gave Hugo the locket, so that confirms my theory that Marchand is Hugo, and that Maggie is Emma's mother.

It's an interesting narrative choice to tell the story this way. I'm not sure how I feel about it, although if we'd done it chronologically we wouldn't have all of Emma's questions drawing us along through the narrative. Maggie's story is much slower paced, so this was probably the right way to go.

Another prediction. I think Hugo might be Captain Marchand. At first I thought he might be Emma's father, then it was said that her father was a dangerous man, so now I'm wondering if Mags was maybe forced to marry someone else, and that man is Emma's dad.

But I'm not sure from the blurb, since it makes it seem like the two girls meet up. I guess, perhaps, that might refer to Emma meeting her adult mother?

I'm definitely intrigued, though. I'm loving both of these characters (and their love interests, although I feel like perhaps Charlie knows a lot more than he's letting on).

I'm having to take an emotional break at the moment, since I really don't want Maggie and Hugo to go down the miscommunication route, when they're both clearly keen on one another. Awkwardness isn't cute when it leads to jealousy and avoidance.

So, I'm assuming Emma is the main character considering we get her POV first, and we get more of it, but we're halfway through and I really can't see how these characters are going to connect.

Their story lines aren't occurring concurrently, since when we start with Maggie, she's only 12 years old, and now she's 16. Emma's storyline is more detailed.

At first I thought maybe Maggie might be Emma's mum, but not sure

I'm not sure how I feel about this one.
So far we have crossed paths with the brooding, hot, dark haired love interest.
We have the essential ride-or-die bestie (True King, Piper's fellow camp counsellor).
We have the incredibly beautiful "Queen Bee" mandatory bully, who I assume is about to make her dislike for the main character known.
Oh, and hints of the weird secrets of the camp are coming out.
We'll see.

The amount of times Coriolanus refers to Lucy Gray as "his" or "belonging to him now" is truly concerning.

I'm calling it right now. This is *not* a love story.

Well, Coryo's in District 12, and he's appreciating Sejanus a little more, so there's that.

I begin to understand Dean Highbottom more. I'm almost getting a Haymitch vibe in the way he hides in a drug-ridden stupor. I can imagine how badly you'd feel if your friend betrays you and submits a drunken idea to kill district children with your name attached to it. The guilt would eat you alive.

If you just judged Coriolanus by his actions and words, he seems like an okay guy, but in the books we get to see his thoughts.

I'm wondering if this is one case where the movie might actually be better than the books, because you only get his action and dialogue...

"Did you tell your best friend his crush was a cannibal? Never a rule book when you needed one."

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, I was not expecting that!

Collins hasn't done the greatest job in writing a character I could root for. I wish Coriolanus had actually been Sejanus's friend. That would have been a 'Save the Cat' moment for him. It would make me like him more if he had genuine friendship and loyalty for someone.

This is just reminding me that I don't like villain origin stories. Snow & Lucy Gray are supposed to be the MCs, but Sejanus is more compelling.

I'm nearly halfway through this, and I don't know what to think.
After re-reading the Hunger Games series, I'm finding the 3rd person past tense narrative a little jarring, but I think it was a clever choice to give the reader a bit more distance from Coriolanus, and the action.

I'm finding some similarities between Coryo and Katniss: they are both survivors, but her survival is motivated by love, his is by power.

Poor Caroline! She just wants to write her romantasy, but the pesky plot keeps getting in the way, and her characters are refusing to pine for one another like they should.

What's an author to do?

The intrigue is heating up, and with it, the romantic tension. I love a good fantasy masquerade ball

The more I read, the more I'm loving this book. I wasn't sure how it was going to work, being such a mash up of different bits and pieces, but Bearup has managed to maintain the heart of the fantasy heroine series in written format. So good!

This is a lot slower paced than I was expecting, and I was expecting more fantasy (this reads more like a contemporary romance, with a very minor fantasy element: Ancient Egyptian healing honey).

I'm about halfway through, but I'm wondering if there might be some aspect of reincarnation in the story due to the supernatural feeling magnetic attraction between the two main characters.