V.Verminov > Recent Status Updates

DNF

DNF

100p - DNF

DNF

DNF

DNF

30% in, and I can already tell the remaining 70% will likely bring more disappointment. There’s nothing promising on the horizon, and what’s been served so far is the dullest possible cliché: a rebellious princess escaping a forced marriage, a lovestruck childhood friend, an arrogant young mage hungry for power, and of course, a village boy destined for greatness. I’ve read too many fantasy books like this. DNF.

Three-Chapter Checkpoint – Bordering on Boredom (2/5)
Nothing exciting has happened yet. Nothing fresh either. It’s shaping up to be a very cliché fantasy story. There’s some potential - conflict brewing, a small mystery hinted at - but it's unclear whether the slow pacing is intentional or if the book simply has nothing interesting to offer. I’ll give it a couple more chapters before I decide.

DNF, str. 42, 3 rozdziały - nudna, nie chcę się dalej męczyć

Mid-Book Checkpoint – Sweet Cringe (1/5)
What started off with a promising hook has crashed straight into cliché. Just another angsty romance: two hot boys (one possessive and troubled, the other nice and safe), and a “special” teenage girl caught in between. It’s easy to read, sure, and I might ride it out for the delicious cringe. But the intrigue? Gone. Actually, it never really was there.

End-Book Checkpoint – 1/5
I started skimming after the first third, but stuck around just to see how ridiculous the ending might get and I was not disappointed. It’s impressive how a book with such a promising premise managed to say absolutely nothing.

The ending was laughably bad, the message shallow, and Addie? One of the most bland, entitled, and emotionally immature protagonists I’ve come across in a while.

Mid-book Checkpoint – 1/5
Repetition. Repetition. More repetition. Sprinkle in some vague moping. Nothing happens. Then Henry’s confession momentarily jolts the story back to life. Then comes the explanation. And oh boy. Turns out Henry’s tragic flaw is… he felt too much. His heart? Too big. His soul? Too tender for this cruel world. So naturally, he made a deal with the devil.

Finally, an Inciting incident (2/5)
If your inciting incident happens at page 180, your story has a pacing problem.
Addie meeting Henry finally shifts the story forward. But why did it take nearly a third of the book for something genuinely interesting to happen?

100-Pages Checkpoint – Regress, Not Progress (1/5)
Repetition, repetition, repetition.
Yes, I understand the curse: people forget Addie the moment she’s out of sight. That was clear in chapter one. I didn’t need fifteen more examples driving the same point home with no added depth or variation.
The story isn’t developing - it’s looping. The book is regressing, not progressing.

6-Chapter Checkpoint – Tripping Over Structure (2/5)
I think there’s an interesting story buried under a poorly chosen structure.
By this point, the momentum has completely stalled. We get two more retrospective chapters, and just when things almost start to get interesting again, we jump back to the present for another brief, uneventful slice of the MC’s life.

3-Chapter Checkpoint – Lost Momentum (2/5)
The first chapter introduces the protagonist’s curse and sets up a promising mystery. But instead of building on that momentum, the next chapters veer off into uninteresting tangents. It’s aiming to weave a story from present and past threads, but the transition comes too soon—before there’s any emotional connection/narrative hook. Without that anchor this feels chaotic.

100-Page Checkpoint – Cold Ashes (2/5)
I’ve seen this story before—many times. And by page 100, it’s clear this version won’t offer anything new or exciting. The writing isn’t actively bad or boring, but it never sparks. No heat, no fire—just cold ashes. So why stick around? DNF.

100-pages Checkpoint - Fading spark (2/5)

What felt like careful pacing is beginning to feel like a lack of substance. The reveal is moving too slowly and I’m starting to suspect there might be very little there to uncover and it seems like it was just a veneer masking a weak core idea (or no solid idea at all). The initial spark is fading fast.

End-Book Thoughts – Frustration (1/5)
This book had all the ingredients for something great. And yet, at every turn, it managed to undermine itself.

DNF 2/5

Everything that happens I have seen somewhere else but done better.

100-Pages Checkpoint – Soft tension and gentle intrigue (3/5)
So far - a pleasantly low-stakes read that has me gently intrigued. Looking forward to seeing how the prince turns out, how America’s relationships evolve, and what Aspen is hiding.
I’m dropping the score slightly—not because it’s bad, but because it lacks a layer of depth or emotional weight that would make it truly cozy or memorable.

3-Chapter Checkpoint – Cute (4/5)
Pleasantly surprised. The caste system—feels a thin and unrealistic, but the emotional threads are warm, grounded, and refreshingly low-drama. It’s nice to see actual family bonds in YA for once.
The characters are coming through naturally—more showing than telling. The end of Chapter 3 is a great little hook: is he saving for a wedding, or something more nefarious?

3-Chapter Checkpoint – Murder, Vomit, and Mild Intrigue (2/5)
A diverse cast and familiar tropes (false friend, kind prince with a tyrant dad) are handled decently—for now. A key death in chapter 2 falls flat due to rushed emotional setup. The romance seems to begin with vomit on a man—my DNF point in Fifty Shades. But I’ve since built some tolerance for cringe, so I’m sticking with it… for now.

3-Chapter Checkpoint – Distinctive (3/5)
The voice is undeniably unique—unfiltered, mathematical, obsessive. The protagonist’s isolation is clearly taking a toll, and her intense fixation on numbers may suggest neurodivergence. It’s refreshing for now, a bold narrative choice that stands out. But if the whole book continues in this manner, it might become unberable. For now, I’m intrigued and cautiously optimistic.

Mid-Book Checkpoint – Tomatoes (1/5)
This book’s a clear DNF in the making, but since I’ve got some tomato repotting to do, I figured I’d suffer through the audiobook on the off chance it gets better. At least my plants will grow, even if this book won’t.

Chapter 6 - Eye-Roll Moment 2
Delilah summons a copy of Kell and forces it to strip.
That was uncomfortable and added nothing but cringe.

Also I don’t get why Kell didn’t forcibly take the stone from Lili. Why is he being so nice and helping her when he has no reason to? Is it beceuse he is wet noodle? Or so the plot can happen?

100-Pages Checkpoint – There’s No Magic in It (1/5)
I thought it was impossible to go wrong with such a great concept—magical travel between four parallel worlds.
But the execution fails on every level.
The main character is boring, the female protagonist annoying, the villain rulers one-dimensional, and the rival pitiable.
The plot drags, the world feels unimaginative, and the magic of reading is completely absent.

Chapter 3 - Special Eye-Roll Moment
Apparently, every female protagonist’s rite of passage now involves killing her would-be rapist. Lazy unimaginative authors - can't you think of an actual interesting way to show how "badass" your female character is?
Should have stopped and the policeman introduction of the character. That was quite good.

3-Chapter Checkpoint – Disappointing (2/5)
The premise had me excited—magic, parallel worlds, lost cities—all the things I love. But the execution is painfully underwhelming. The writing feels immature, which drags down both the worldbuilding and the characters. The setup doesn’t engage, and the tone feels oddly mundane for a story that promised such epic themes.