MC > Recent Status Updates

This opened kinda bland and uninspired, and I said I’d give it to 100 to get better, and here we are at 50 and it’s got a hook. Little hook but still, hook.

This has beautiful writing and a great open. The FMC isn't flighty or a stereotype teen.

MMC is a bit wishy-washy.

For the reviews that say this is very flowery and hard to follow, I am getting the flowers but not the hard to follow part. This is pretty and twisted but lyrical. I’m liking it.

Oh, this is dark. It’s very fantastical and well written, like a Grimm Fairytale.

I see what the hype is about. To be fair, I read and enjoyed her stand-alone, The Demons Prince book, so I knew this would be good. It is set before that one though and I am remembering bits from it, but it’s not spoiled for me, I don’t think.

Dnf, no rating. The writing is underdeveloped and yet wordy at the same time.

Going to dnf. The writing isn’t good and the characters are hollow.

On book 2

“…he realized he couldn’t pull his eyes from Ellsbeth’s face, her narrowed eyes and the curl at the corner of her mouth. Sometimes, Ellsbeth said carefully, I like being told what to do.”

Um, hello, yes please. The atmosphere of this is HOT and they are talking about her dissertation thesis. It is so academic and so provocative at the same time.

The FMC is so naive and selfish. Her character flaws are impeccably written and the way she’s grasping at “clues” for her own self promotion makes me want to shake her. Gullible, irresponsible, innocent, and too smart for her own good.

I am SO into this. Many dark academia books skip the academia and go quickly into whatever other pull or trope is being implemented. This doesn’t do that. The writing presumes a level of intelligence in the reader, like Babel by R.F. Kuang but with a less heavy handed approach. Covertly writers as though knowing the reader is competent or at least clever enough to figure it out.

Well, it feels very academic and the email correspondence is on point. I also feel like it is inspired by a school I am familiar with, so probably going to be a good read.

Page 10. Interesting BaTB retelling

This definitely reads like a YA fantasy. Ps 92

The writing is middle of the road but the world-building is lackluster, the characters are rushed, and there intro to the MMC is obvious. Pg 25

79

Pg 71

Pg 60