jaylee > Recent Status Updates

The writing style is a bit cringe and it’s honestly really distracting me; I’m having a hard time getting into the story at all. The writing feels far too self-serious and it’s giving pretentious, in a cliched and wannabe-poetic way. I like a good lyrical writing style, but this is just so overdone and certain devices are so overused that it feels way too “try hard” for me to enjoy.

It always takes me a little while to get into a Dickens novel, bc even though I like his writing it is admittedly a lot.

(Fitz’s loneliness, isolation, and othering)

A bit slow through the middle, but I’m still enjoying it overall. The characterization and dialogue are not great; the characters still seem a bit shallow (as in, surface level) and their voices kinda blend together (and the way Sanderson tries to differentiate their dialogue through little catchphrases has gotten old and feels cheap). I’m also worried that not everything will be resolved in this standalone.

The setup is intriguing and the plot is promising. I’m not loving the writing style: it’s a bit too “hit you over the head” with some things, like he obsessively needs to over-explain or justify every little thing. It makes the world building robust and compelling but also feels overdone. And the world-building through characters “touring” the cities is a bit cliche, sometimes borderline boring.

Ooh things are heating up! I think I know who regal’s spy is, if not his assassin. I think I know what happened to the coteries and the older generations too. But what really annoys me is everyone’s passivity/inaction, like things have been DIRE for so long and no one is DOING anything about any of it. Then again I suppose fitz is only a teenager, but still.

Well colour me intrigued! I thought it’d be Fitz going, not Verity, and not until the third book. A bit frustrated with Fitz’s inaction in this book tbh. Also wondering how the oarsman bit will fit in / become more important? But the plot is plotting, the political intrigue and all the little mysteries are just so darn captivating! But what has Chade been up to? And is Rosemary the spy? I’m over Molly tbh.

Phew I feel like so much more is happening in this book than in book one, which is great, bc it feels like the plot is plotting…and yet, objectively speaking I feel like there’s not actually that many “events” happening in this book lol. So odd that I feel like the pace has picked up so much and yet when I take a step back I’m like huh yeah still really not a lot going on here *shrugs*

I’m loving this so far. A lot more political maneuvering/intrigue/craftiness, which is not exactly the way I expected this story to go but is definitely keeping things interesting. And even better that it starts so much earlier on in this book (compared to the last book)

So far so good. Fitz is a bit too whiny and self-pitying at the start for my taste, but I suppose his feelings are quite justified lol and in any event he is just a teenager so I suppose it’s quite a realistic portrayal even if I found it a bit overdramatic

Well I loved that! Though I think a lot of people would be disappointed by the ending because the payoff is kinda small: it kinda feels like everything is just undone and there were no real consequences? This definitely feels like a set up book, with little plot of its own. But it does give us very well developed characters; I’m surprised I liked it bc I generally prefer plot-driven over character-driven books

We started to get a little bit more plot in the last 100 or so pages but it’s more like little hints or mysteries just laying some groundwork for what I assume will be the main conflict of the trilogy (not necessarily the main conflict of this book). So it’s still very slow paced but there’s enough little hints and mysteries of what’s to come to intrigue me and I’m thoroughly enjoying it

It’s definitely a slow-moving story but I’m still fully immersed in it