This book was NOT my favorite. I read the first two in the series and adored them both, but this one was disappointing. I'm not sure if that's because it just wasn't as good as the others or because I've just gotten picky recently as to what I read, but I came away pretty dissatisfied. First of all, the writing really bothered me. The story takes place sometime in the 1800's, I think, so George tried to have the dialogue be consistent with that, but frankly, she just couldn't pull it off. It also seemed like she was trying really hard to have the narration sound sophisticated, but it came off choppy and a little forced. I admit that I'm choosy when it comes to writing style, but with these issues as well as several instances of poor wording, I definitely wasn't thrilled about that aspect of the book.
The other thing I didn't like about this book was that it was so predictable! After the first page, I knew who was going to end up with who, and after the first chapter, I'd already anticipated the gist of the entire plot. Of course, part of this was due to the genre, and part to the fact that this was the third in a series, but there were neither exciting plot twists, serious drama or action scenes, nor anything else to really keep my interest as the story "progressed," and, to be totally honest, I was SO bored that by the time I got to the climax, I didn't even feel like it was worth reading.
So it's clear now that this book has a few weaknesses. But the biggest problem I had while trying to read it was that I felt ZERO connection to the characters, including Petunia. In fact, I didn't feel like I knew much about them at all. Aside from a three-to-five word description, I couldn't really tell you about any of them. The author didn't focus on characterization or explaining how the characters felt in specific situations, so when there were scenes when they were in danger, I sort of just thought, "Eh, go ahead and kill off Petunia. She's kind of drab, and I don't care about her besides." And then I would think, "Yep. Kill her off." This was UBER annoying to me especially, because I really think that having a relationship with the characters is what makes reading worth it.
Overall, I wasn't a fan of this book, and was really pretty bummed, because a lot of George's other work I've found to be quite enjoyable. I would recommend this book to those who can't NOT finish a story and who have read the first two books, and anyone who doesn't have an issue with the items mentioned above... D.
4 comments:
You said you weren't a fan of this book, while personally this was one of my favorites. You said it was predictable... Aren't most fantasy books? I mean, give George a little credit. She's woven a whole new fairy tale while she has to incorporate an already existing one.
Although I don't agree with all of the things you said, this was an excellent review.
Good point. Looking back on my review now, it was probably too harshly worded as well as graded, though I stand by the basis of my previous opinion. However, I agree about George's creating a new fairy tale and incorporating aspects of another one. I guess the problem of the book's being predictable may have been an issue of it being too similar to the first book in the series. Thanks for a new perspective.
I laughed when I read your comment. In a good way! I think she made it so predictable because it's a fairytale. In all fairy tales, the princess has a problem and the problem is fixed by the man she will marry. I think both of us would find this book predictable simy because we have read enough fairy tales to understand this, and many other simple things that often go into each story.
Agreed. But is it not reasonable to expect some kind of plot twist? Even if it hadn't changed the ending, that definitely would have helped keep my attention.
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