Elle > Recent Status Updates

At 35% Xilian suddenly drops that she has asthma. I don’t think this was ever mentioned before? Feels odd.

I can’t work out what Performers refers to. No Face’s ch's made it sound like people who perform at the theatre. But on arrival Xilian refers to multiple people on the streets as Performers, so is it a term for everyone who lives in Opera? Suddenly less certain of the world & culture at 36% than I was at 10%.

Wow, the author is really coming for his pet peeves about books this time! First round was banning books, second round was "flood the market with books that have no meaning so people don't read the old books that matter" *shocked cat gasp* I think he just declared war on most modern readers, publishers & authors :O Can't wait to see who he's coming for in round three...

Still more Tell-y than I'd like - I'm adjusting to it, but I also keep wishing for Showing even if it would have meant lots of flashbacks & memories. Xilian is one of my least fav MC types, "indecisive", but at least she realises it & has finally started doing things. Meanwhile No Face talks a big game but hasn't done anything yet either. 25% on setup feels a bit too much, but I'll see if picks up.

A bit overly Telling and info-dump-y, but this is a really cool and really strange world being established, so I'm rolling with it for now. I'm not sure how necessary all the explanations are, if there wouldn't be a better spot for some of these facts & personal histories later on... but I won't know til I get there. There's a lyricism or sense of Chinese opera to the tone/prose, so I'm a bit more forgiving.

THE AUTHORS JUST INSULTED PHYSICAL CARD CATALOGUES AND PRE-COMPUTER LIBRARIES, THIS IS WAR.

(If you're too dumb to manage the systems pre-computer, that is a YOU problem, not a library or organisational problem. Libraries, librarians, and users/borrowers, existed just fine for thousands of years before computers.)

Ok, we just went from lust to "I've never wanted to protect someone like this before" like 10 minutes into a first date. And since Tobias can't magically influence people afaik (only read their emotions), then this doesn't make sense & feels incredibly forced. Also LMAO at the authors' "he told the magic tragic tale I've ever heard" so they didn't have to write something emotional. What editor let this pass???

I don't mind the insta-lust at end of ch2 because it's a deliberate lure by Tobias, targeting Alex's preferences based on centuries of his chosen lovers. That's actually incredibly smart, go Tobias! But everything is still very Telling & that worries me about developing a proper romance.
... So far this novel feels like a first draft, waiting for authors to come back & edit in the Showing, subtext, & emotions.

(Not my palette-cleanser between ML Wangs', btw. Juggling arcs with physical books.)
A bit Telling to start, but I'm here for the revenge goal of ruining someone's life "right fucking back". I like that Tobias doesn't let his self-loathing (UGH, LOUIS! so cliche) get in the way of his plan. I don't know yet if I care for Alexander, the cliche disappointing-son-who'd-rather-whore-about - or at least from his intro.

Close to the end! Every single twist so far I saw coming miles away--maybe there's one good surprise to finish the book off, but otherwise it's really just for character exploration & worldbuilding. (Also I miss characters having friends, like in Sword of Kaigen. Neither Sciona or Thomil have ANY friends, just 1 or 2 family members. I don't understand how Thomil in particular doesn't have a Kwin support network.)

Plot is finally picking up (maybe?), but still very flat in terms of characters and emotion. I don't know how book one did such a good romance, and book two is so completely lacking emotional at all??? I'm trying to get through it, but I didn't have this much trouble with the Blackbeard story and that was a right mess.

Big twist finally revealed, feels slightly late but not too bad. Magic system was overexplained several times: if FMC was going to teach MC, we didn't need as much explanation as we got during her test. Reactions to the twist were great, in that they made FMC worse, which is always more interesting than a bland 'good' char. Thomil's POV again--putting crossing ch here as flashback would have made twist less obvious.

I could guess the "big twist" from the first chapter, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out. Hopefully it doesn't take too long--when something is obvious to readers but characters take forever to figure it out, it gets draining. I like both leads. The antagonists revealed so far are very cartoonish, so I'm expecting some hidden 'nice' ones later on.

This is so flat and boring compared to book 1. Where did all the emotion go? I don't feel the romance, I don't feel the fear/horror from the villains anymore either. I felt a tiny bit of fear when a human girl appeared, because the fae king might kill & trap her like he did other humans in book 1. But other than that, no emotional response to this book at all.

I feel like the author heard my hate-rant on Yiran in book1 & desperately wants haters to like him this book. But it's only enforcing his 1% mentality, like being mad that the enemy he turned race-traitor for won't immediately give him everything he wants WOW THE NERVE /s. Also, Rui's dad is a gaslighting dick to her, but immediately opens up to Yiran on 1st meeting? Author, stop trying to make fetch (Yiran) happen.

Fantastic magic system, I am so here for magical tarot cards. FMC is decent, tho sadly "the best EVER at [magic thing] as a young teen". It's ok in YA, but keep that out of Adult, plz. Unfortunately MMC is all my most-hated Romantasy MMC tropes, & I bet rather than make him complex it's going to be a fake personality required to survive his family who are the TRUE evil & everything will be fine once HE is king.

And everyone's lost me again. I thought we were heading somewhere cool for about 10-15% of the novel, but then people revealed what they were actually planning and I am SO BORED. Lost my interest, lost my emotional connection to the single character I (previously) liked. I don't understand how this novel keeps driving itself into the ground.

It took almost 40% in to make me care about a single character. But the problem with multi-POV books is that now every time it swaps away from the only character I care about, I literally groan. At the start I thought it would be Jacen who got interesting & proactive, but no, the guy who wanted specifically to NEVER be an abusive drunk is still an abusive drunk, no change almost halfway through an entire book ._.

This really picked up after entering the fae realm. The mix of chess games with fae magic & threats is A+ high tension. (It's a shame the human world opening was so slow & meh.) This is also an excellent enemies-to-lovers (in the works). None of YA romantasy's favourite "I hate them but omg they're so hot". Just hate, with a side of noticing when the other changes appearance & appreciating moments of decency.

We skipped all the important setup scenes: sister's abduction, fmc meeting her love interest, fmc playing the best chess game of her life against her love interest... But I like the concept, so I'm giving it more time. I'm looking forward to seeing how the actual chess games are handled--praying they're not glossed over with all content actually OUTSIDE the chess competition ._. Over-explains, but that's YA I guess.

Another suggested arc that seemed interesting. The premise worries me a bit that it might wind up a little too "isekai lit-rpg" power fantasy. The fact it has 25 reviews, all of which are 5-star, all very short, and saying the same generic things that tell me absolutely nothing about the novel also raises a few red flags. This might wind up a quick dnf, we'll see.

I'm reading too many books at once, send help.

This isn't what I'd expected it to be in my head based on blurbs and random info nuggets picked up here and there. It's a good read so far, though I'm not sure how long my tolerance will last with systemic slavery & abuse/torture of slaves. Please don't be another "99% suffering 1% female rage fighting oppression" book. At least it's not specifically misogynistic?

The world and lore is really interesting, but so far not emotionally invested in any of the characters. I really hope that changes because if I don't care what happens to anyone, it doesn't really matter how cool the desert parasite-demons are or what they're up to. That said, there's are least nothing BAD about this one so far, which is more than I can say about a lot of recent reads.

A rare non-fiction read! I needed a cleanser, and this looked interesting when it popped up on NetGalley. So far a good mix of personal anecdotes, small doses of actual science/studies, and some family tales that still withhold a lot of details to protect the privacy of the family (which is a nice change from some of those desperate parents exploiting their kids' lives and secrets as content).

Honestly I'm really looking forward to this novel, have been since book 1, but I've been quite ill lately & not had the headspace to be able to follow everything I need to for this novel, especially as a sequel. I'm going to pause for a while, not because of any issue with the book itself, just waiting for the brainfog & exhaustion to clear a bit first. There might be an increase in YA or easier reads for a while.

"Flaccid hair cringed tighter to her head"

... what the fuck did I just read?

Wow, this is not gonna work at all.

Only in prologue but the voice is not working for me. I hope it shifts when POV does--so far I HATE the majority of description, it's too modern for the world being described. So much "shimmying", confusing ballrooms with raves, "wriggled through his guts like a bad breakfast". Almost every metaphor & simile makes me grimace. Also, overdoes sex & drugs to make the world 'adult & gritty', to the point it's a joke.

Plot recap of book one at the very start of this, organised by major characters, BLESS YOU AUTHOR ;A;

This took an odd turn at 40%, suddenly manipulation & kidnapping despite clear fae warnings NOT to do that. Also a brand new POV character with ptsd, & a fae attaching herself to him in his grief. None of this is going to end well, with two fae desperate to have mixed-blood children & two humans essentially forced into marriage under non-con or dub-con circumstances. I miss the cosy story we started with.

A wild plot appears!

Normally I would hate that it took almost a quarter of a book to get to the plot. But it's been such a lovely journey to get here. It's not that the prose is particularly beautiful or poetic, but the author has woven such a wonderful tapestry of this world and these characters that I haven't really FELT the length it's taken to reveal the actual main goal/problem/quest of the novel.

Technically this is a slow start, I don't think we've hit any plot yet -- I've complained about this same problem in so many other books recently. But for some reason I'm enjoying it anyway here?? The lore and politics slowly building up in Angus' fae chapters are enthralling - so many different fae types & courts. And I also adore the worldbuilding for "medieval Ireland" & hypocrisy of nobles in Rhiannon's chapters.