Megan > Recent Status Updates

Probably not going to finish this before it gets returned on Hoopla. Not sure I will bother renting it again to finish it. It's not holding my interest. Annoyed with the FMC for pining after the MMC when he's being a tool but keeps alluding to having "good reasons" to act the way he does. Plot is plodding (literally, they're just walking through a forest for 1/4 of the book). Yawn.

3.25 stars so far. Not bad, but not amazing, either. Nothing very original, as it's literally just based off a bunch of faerie (faen) stories. I don't like that it's in 3rd person, and I feel the audiobook would be improved with a male narrator as well, since the cast are mostly male. I'm really hoping this doesn't turn into a why choose situation with the love triangle.

Dnf. Not really grabbing my attention.

It says this is book one of a series, but it is very clear it's actually the second arch of a previous series. There's clearly a lot of history that is implied but not explained, so it would probably be a lot easier to follow this story if you've read the first arc. While it makes sense, it would be a richer experience if I'd known to read the other books first. Feels like jumping in on season three of a TV series.

Putting this here as a bookmark because I'm not going to finish it before it gets returned automatically on Hoopla.

1 star so far. Should be far more interesting than it is. I don't know if it's because it's in the 3rd person or what. Shouldn't matter. The last book I rated 5 stars was in the 3rd person. And there are plenty of fun elements to it. Viking witches, dragon riders, criminal rebels, magic and familiars. But it's not engaging at all.

I think this one is going on the dnf shelf. It's not bad, it's just... Not interesting me at all. By 70%, I should care about at least one of the characters but I just don't. It has a ton of political intrigue, similar to GoT, but all of the story is taking place in one city, so there's not much world building, just name drops of other locations.

I like both of the narrators of the audiobook, but some of the names are quite hard to follow.

Kind of lost interest at this point. I feel like the plot is meandering quite a bit.

5 star so far. Equal parts Skyward, The Expanse, Firefly, and Star Trek. The humor and sarcasm are hilarious. Best dialogue I've read in a long time.

Dnf. Holy cow this is boooooring. We just got to the "political intrigue" and I just cannot. Vampires are stronger than humans, we get it. And yet even though they can't go outside for 12 hours of the day, they manage to enslave humanity. Uh huh. Humans are born with magic, but still fight with swords to the death for the entertainment of the emperor. ...'kay. Winners join his personal guard. ... Why?

One star so far. Zero action, plot is split between flashbacks of childhood and a gym membership to prepare for America Ninja Warrior.

It's been good until the 90% mark. I swear the last 100 pages have been the villain monologuing/mansplaining the very obvious "plot twist" that everybody but the FMC saw coming since page 1.

Going to DNF this one. Very tedious and repetitive. The FMC and world building are all very insubstantial. I see why people compare it to the handmaid's tale, but it's not as good IMO, mostly because there isn't really a backstory to how we got to this dystopian future, just "a war ruined the human population." This feels like a rough draft of a handmaid's tale fanfic.

Steampunk and magic. Easily 4 stars so far.

Probably going to dnf this. Already the writing style is grating, repetitive explanations and corny dialogue.

I thought it was a fantasy book when I picked it up, didn't expect sci Fi, but I'm not mad about it.

So far it's just all over the place. The names are a bit difficult to follow on the audiobook.

Not holding my attention nearly as much as the first one.

Probably gonna dnf this. Just wanted to record my percentage in case I decide to borrow it again later, but it's about to auto return on Libby.

Two stars at the moment because I'm feeling generous. I'm going to try to push through but I didn't realize this was an age gap romantasy. Why is it always 19 year old girls with 45 year old men? *Cringe*

3 star read so far. Basically a Temu version of Quicksilver.

Okay, this was a 4.5 right up until about 75%. Now I have the distinct impression the author isn't sure how to wrap things up. The writing has also plunged in quality in the last 15%.

3.5 stars so far. It's fine, but nothing amazing. And I understand wanting to make a fantasy world feel different from ours, but why do some authors insist on coining new terms for everyday objects with simple names? Examples in this book: seater instead of chair or couch or just seat, younglings instead of kids or children. Also aurorafall, slumber, and turns for night/years. Feels unnecessarily jarring.

I've waited over a year for this audiobook on Libby. Everyone says the banter is just as good as Lights Out, so I have very high expectations. Hopefully not setting myself up for disappointment.

Duet narration, which is my favorite kind. Lots of drama already. Social structure reminds me of Daggermouth, but instead of masks, the ruling class are all about dire wolves.

Trudging through. Not engaging.

Hasn't improved since the first book. Still no world building and now I expect it's a lost cause because the romance has completely overtaken any plot development. And the MC pairing still gives me the ick, so I can't even enjoy that. If you're looking for just vanilla spice with dragons' feelings encouraging their riders' feelings, this is it. If you want anything deeper, look elsewhere.