mxcopmy's reviews
106 reviews

The official first book club pick! 🤩 what a ride!
**MINI-SPOILERS AHEAD**

Fredrik Backman is known for his heartwarming stories full of eccentric characters and deeply human themes. Unfortunately, Anxious People fails to fully live up to this promise for me. While the book certainly offers moments of wit and humor, it ultimately gets bogged down in an excess of chaos and a lack of depth.

The story revolves around a failed bank robbery that culminates in a hostage situation during an open house. The group of hostages consists of a motley crew of characters, each with their own problems and quirks. On paper, this sounds like an excellent basis for a compelling and empathetic novel, but in practice the execution feels messy.

One of the biggest weaknesses is the tone of the book. Backman tries to combine humor and emotion, but this often leads to an imbalance. One moment heavy themes such as suicide and loneliness are broached, and the next moment they are abruptly interrupted by light-hearted, slapstick dialogues. This sometimes feels forced and detracts from the impact of the emotional moments.

The characters are also too cartoonish here for me. While some scenes show their vulnerability, they often get bogged down in superficial stereotypes. Their development feels artificial, as if they serve more as plot devices than as real, tangible people. This makes it difficult to connect with them on a deep level.

What is admirable is Backman’s attempt to tackle complex topics, such as the human need for connection and understanding. There are moments of insight that resonate and make you think as a reader. Unfortunately, these are often drowned out by the confusing structure of the story, which jumps back and forth in time and perspective in a way that is more tiring than enriching. This was my biggest struggle through the book.

But despite these critical points, I want to end this review nicely with some wisdom: "We need to be allowed to convince ourselves that we're more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too, all of our tomorrows."

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

For me a 2.5 stars. It wasn't so much bad, but rather the neutral feeling that is central to me with this book. I have a lot of thoughts running through my head and I will share them with you! 

I knew ACOTAR was more romance based and generally had more spice. Now, as we know, I have never been the biggest fan of fast-romance and smut, so I had certainly already figured out for myself that this might be a difficult turning point for me. But to my surprise, the problem wasn't with the spice per se, but rather the overall nature of the story.

First of all, I thought that SJM made too clear a distinction between the two halves of this story. The first half was a lot of fluffy romance and being in spring court, without much boo or ba, where suddenly a quick turnaround was made to something very dark and deep. This really confused the mood I was supposed to feel about this book. To me it would have felt like a better whole if this had been woven together. Also, there was not enough or correct foreshadowing in the story, which is the element of SJM that draws me to her books. For example, I thought that the fairy with his wings pulled off and the one with his head on a stick brought little to no relevance to the story. I'm still not sure what the meaning of this was. In addition, I didn't feel any fireworks between Tamlin and Feyre at all. As a result, I couldn't bring myself to properly digest their romance or “feel” it at all. This was also most likely because I felt that the story didn't follow a very logical timeline and, for me personally, it came together way too quickly. To me it's illogical that you fall madly in love with your captivator... and honestly, it's just a creepy kink.

I must honestly admit that the steamy pieces made me feel warm for a while, which was super unexpected and gave me a lot of hope. In addition, I am still absolutely amazed that Maas is an excellent writer. At the beginning where Feyre was not yet taken to Prythian, I was drawn into the story and had high hopes. It was just a shame that it had toned down as it went on. Maas also always writes her action with a good dose of tension that keeps you reaching for the next pages. Furthermore, the part about the reason for killing Andras and why Tamlin took good care of her was well presented. At least here was the foreshadowing I expected and I felt like everything I had read before was useful.

If this book had been at least 200 pages longer, it would have been an easy 4 stars for me. The story just lacked the necessary body it needed to really stand up well. Since the next books are of that thickness, I have enough hope that she will succeed this time!

**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Review later, now just crying because it's done and for this ending   ❤️‍🔥

Update 18/02/2024:
After a night of sleep, I can start my final review for the throne of Glass series. What an adventure this has been! This series will always have a special place in my heart, especially because this is my very first fantasy series that had a strong storyline and distinct characters. Throughout KoA I laughed, was angry and shed a lot of tears. Although I must admit that I had to lower my rating to a 4 after reviewing my recorded thoughts and seeing that there were quite a few parts that disappointed me. So strap in, this is going to be a very long review (including ratings at the end!).

I dove into the first part of KoA with full courage and a small heart, which got off to a good start. You also immediately notice that KoA is much more gruesome in terms of violence than the previous books. When Aelin was tortured several times by Cairn, I often had to swallow hard and look away from the pages. Especially because you built up a hellish bond with her through the books, so you could feel her suffering through the pages. There was also a huge build-up of tension throughout part 1 with the fights, the scene where Aelin escapes from the army camp and the iron coffer (I could really see everything in front of me! This was really a MASTERPIECE) and the parts where Manon found her way to her people , the Crochans. I absorbed everything in part 1 very hard and was really blown away at several moments. But unfortunately I have to admit that part 1 was one of the highlights of KoA.

First of all, I would like to agree that the romance between the characters seemed very repetitive. The couples had sufficient chemistry, but many sentences were reused to explain their love, such as: “I Will always be with you, I am always here for you” or “from the moment I saw you….” which, to me, made the relationships no longer unique. I also noticed that as the half went on that this romance also became sort of a focal point in the story and it became quite grueling. All romances were lumped together for description, while this could also be spread out over the length of KoA.
One of the biggest disappointments of KoA was how easily Dorian was able to retrieve the third wyrdkey from Morath and deceive Maeve, while Erawan and Maeve as two powerful people were usually described as 'always one step ahead'. Morath was also always described as inaccessible and how the third wyrdkey was simply in a girl's arm... SJM really let me down here. I expected more of a spectacle, because ofcourse getting the third wyrdkey back is something you've been aiming for since the very first book. So to keep it so incredibly short made me even think about whether a 7-book series was necessary to get to this point (hell, my thought?).
As a final negative point, I also thought that KoA did not show enough coherence. You felt physically and figuratively that there was a division between part 1 and part 2. It would have been nicer if the quest and war were somewhat mixed up throughout the story, because part 2 was too weak and described too quickly for me .

But back to some positive points, because you might start thinking “why the 4 stars?!”. Well, SJM made me feel emotionally connected to the characters on an even higher level for 80% of KoA than in the other books. You literally feel that you want to stay with these people or that you want to keep this series for a long time. In addition, there was so much good foreshadowing that was already given in book 1 or even in TaB and fed back in KoA. This gave you the feeling that you had fully 'experienced' Celaena/Aelin and that you were there from day one. Everything hit me a thousand times harder because of this. The amount of detail was very satisfying and felt very complete. Not a single moment throughout KoA (which was 980 pages long) did I feel like it was boring or that I wanted it to end. So with that said, KoA was the correct length for the ending!
And oh god... how Maeve and Erawan were defeated made me forget all the disappointments, because this was so phenomenally presented. I was actually genuinely happy that for once it wasn't just Aelin who was presented as 'hero', but that it was genuinely a team effort. How friendship was reflected in this... wow! This really warmed my heart and had tears streaming down my cheeks. You experience an adventure with these people in an evil world, so it was only right that they also contributed with defeating them. Simply POWERFUL! I just spent the last 100 pages crying every 5 minutes because of how beautiful the ending was and how happy I was for these characters that they have found their home, but also a bit out of sadness that I now have to leave them for a while...

With that said, KoA, and therefore the entire series, was a keeper for me. Overall a 5 star series that I would recommend to everyone. For now on, I will let these characters have their peace and let it all sink in for a while. In any case, it is not goodbye to them and their world, because I am convinced that I will grab this series again in a few months. So, see you soon…

Ranking of the books in the serie (it was so hard to rank the books, hence many shared ranks!)
1. Queen of shadows
2. Crown of midnight & Tower of dawn 
3. Kingdom of Ash & The assassins blade & Empire of storms
4. Heir of fire
5. Throne of glass

I really can't describe how much love I felt for this book, OMG! I really liked the slower pace this book had, the therapeutic impact of it. I know opinions are quite divided on this as there is sometimes some Chaol hatred, but I have never really had a problem with him (despite the fact that he can be insufferable at times, but I do have that with several characters lmao). I also remember writing in my review of TaB that I hoped so much that Yrene would show up again in the books someday without knowing that ToD was going to be almost a complete dedication to her. So, that's why I really liked it! As well as their love energy is insanely sketched, despite the enormous predictability that they will end up together.

Chaol's literal and figurative therapeutic process was interesting to follow, as well as how Nesryn welcomes her homeland. It made this fantasy series a lot more tangible and realistic in some way?
I also thought for a long time that I didn't really feel connected to Sartaq until the moment he was taken away by the kharankui. Oh god, how many tears I shed there. Huge!
The only negative point I have is that the part with the kharankui reminded me a lot of the part where Frodo in Lord of the Rings was paralyzed and taken away by the spider where he is also saved by Sam. No idea why, but it really gave me similar feelings. However, I thought this was a shame because I could not dissociate the two stories from each other... in addition, the beginning parts of Nesryn were somewhat boring and superficial. I found myself not really interested in her part of the story.

Objectively speaking, a solid 4.5/5 stars after the critical point! But a 5/5 subjectively!

And now, on to the very last thing... I'm SO not ready for this!

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

I apologize if there are some translation errors in this review. English is not my first language so there may be some linguistic errors.

I can hardly believe that the next entire book I will read will simply be the end of this entire quest, of this incredible adventure that I have been able to experience. EoS, the beginning of the adventurous end…

Also a quick throw in: halfway through ToD & EoS, I decided to try the tandem read. Ultimately, I really regret doing this, because it made me feel like I couldn't sink my teeth 100% into one adventure. I blame the 4/5 stars a million percent on the tandem read, because of this I missed a lot of the emotional impact that EoS should give you. The tandem read was too big of a thing for me. It was very tiring to switch between 2 continents and have to remind yourself where the other book ended. Also, I didn't think EoS ended on the “huge” cliffhanger that was said. Okay, something very impactful has happened, but I don't get the impression that you HAVE to start KoA right away to get an answer. I also just think that the end of EoS was relatively closed and that you then have to discover further (as in every book, I think) how it goes. I would perhaps recommend the tandem read as a re-read kind of thing rather than as something you do for the first time as a reader of the ToG series.

As already mentioned, EoS did not have the emotional impact that I had thought or perhaps even hoped for. Only the ending that we know that Aelin would actually have to pay for her life to bring everything to a successful end really made me gasp for air. I also have to admit that I sometimes found it difficult to understand what happened towards the end. I also don't think I've 100% figured out where it all ultimately led yet... 
Another reason why EoS wasn't worth 5 stars for me was because I felt like SJM was a bit repetitive when it came to one plot. The fact that Aelin had secretly slipped the wyrdkeys into Manon's pocket so as not to give Maeve the opportunity to receive them was so similar to the event when she saved Chaol by secretly putting the ring in his pocket during the end of QoS, I thought was a bit floppy. When I read it I thought 'not again... we already know this'. So, in other words, not strong enough to really bring it out like the OMG-feeling.
A final criticism was also the sex scenes... don't get me wrong, SJM really pulled me to a level where I was really eager to get to the more spicy books. I had the expectation that it would still be constructive and romantic, but I actually thought that they were thrown in more. For example, I found the spicy scene between Manon and Dorian to be quite intense without, in my opinion, any reason for them to come to that part so quickly. I expected SJM to start more with the romantic ending than the sex-kind-of-stuff. Except for Rowan and Aelin it was welcome, hu-hummm.

BUT as always, every SJM book is quite strong. I found it so thrilling that every page was so action-paced! Once again this book was a page turner, like almost all the others! She certainly did not disappoint me about the relationships between Lorcan-Elide and Lysandra-Aedion. I freaking love them!! Also how the ending settled you in having to continue to KoA gave me an empty pit in my stomach... I'm so curious, but also so sad that the series almost has come to an end.
But first I will read the other half of ToD before we get to the real shit! Controversial perhaps, but I'm still looking forward to having to read a slower and more character-development part now before I delve into the dark side of the ending.

I apologize if there are some translation errors in this review. English is not my first language so there may be some linguistic errors.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Those trying to tell me this was a bad book...GET OUT! Because I think I can already say with certainty that this was a new favorite for me from this series. I really have no words of criticism for this book, completely speechless. 

I was so hooked from page 1. I was so sucked in and, let me start by saying this, if I hadn't had finals, I would probably have devoured this book in 3 days. The way Maas was able to merge the entire story into the beautiful book that 'queen of shadows' gave, gave me a satisfying feeling. Everything that I did not understand or could not appreciate in 'heir of fire' now came in or I could better understand SJM's chosen paths in HoF. QoS was honestly very impactful and exciting for me, full of new character development, coupled with hellish sadness and anger. And btw, the tension between Aelin and Rowan?! Hell yes... 

I'm also very grateful for reading TaB first. As a result, QoS hit me more like a sledgehammer in the face and brought with it a lot of reminiscent emotions. From ToG onwards you will start to appreciate and understand every tiny detail and you will not be betrayed in the sequels about the plot that takes place in TaB. That's why I would also recommend reading TaB first. 

And we're all just going to be honest: Arobynn honestly received too peaceful a death. For all I care, they were allowed to cut out his balls and kneecaps. Thank you and goodbye!

what. the. fuck.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Heir of fire is an immediate introduction to a more complex story with a top notch writing style.

I have to honestly admit that the first 250-300 pages were pretty boring. Maas throws several new characters at you only to write the book from multiple perspectives. This often left me with a "heh????" feeling which at times left me not quite grasping the story. For me personally, it then also took too long when the story had really settled down, I didn't feel throughout the story that there was a build up to a climax/end point (obviously the ending was like that, mais bon). In addition, Manon's POV was superfluous to me personally. There was no connection anywhere to Celaena's story or other parts of the world, only the very last tiny piece, which I found regrettable. Because that really pulled down the added value of the book. But don't worry, because Manon had an intriguing personality and I am already looking forward to reading more about her. Furthermore, Dorian's new romance was really only written from the bland side and Chaol's perspective really left me hungry, which really made both characters lose their accumulated charm.

Besides the boring parts, I also have to admit that this story has shed new light on the ToG series. You feel that Maas took you to a different and new level of story that really let you create a deeper understanding of who Celaena is and how the politics of the world really work. There was more work done on world building, character development, emotions and details that were a new addition to the story, so I'm really a sucker for that. The world I'm currently hiding in is one I'm far from wanting to pass up!
And, as expected, miss Maas again introduced several top plots at the end that brought the story back to the surface and had me blown off my socks again. Despite Dorian and Sorcha's shallow romance, I still shed a tear when she was killed. Her plotline was also phenomenal.
Still, I have 1 question that sticks in my mind: how could Dorian use his magic, when all magic is repressed other than black magic? Still a question I ask myself, but it's perfectly possible I missed a part in the book that explained this.

This book was still better than 'throne of Glass' itself and therefore still a sollid 3 stars!

I apologize if there are some translation errors in this review. English is not my first language so there may be some linguistic errors.

WHAT THE HELLL. Finally, its living up to its hype and delivering chef's kisses!

This book was the balance I was looking for in "throne of glass" itself. It was powerful, romantic, sad, fast-paced and thrilling all in one. The perfect balance between these themes. It's been a long time since I was so on the edge of my seat with every page I turned. AND THAT END! Wow! Even though I knew there were 5 more books to follow in the series, I didn't want the book to end.

1 word: it was awesome!

My feelings during this book with the hours: 📈📉📉📈

In "the assassin's blade" I was introduced to the brave, suspicious and sincere badass personality of Celaena Sardothien. I was immediately sucked in by her character and fell in love with the way she was portrayed, so I then immediately picked up the next book in the TOG series. As the pages progressed, however, I became confused. Celaena suddenly became hugely naive and easy going, laughed a lot (believe me, this was a miracle when she did this in TAB) and was portrayed in a feminine light. All aspects of the promised "most feared assasin of the continent" were taken away from you. I was really deeply disappointed by this. This made it very difficult for me to place myself in the book because it felt more or less like I was diving into a new character I hadn't read about in the prequel.

In addition, the story was also just... okay. The reason I had taken up the throne of Glass series was because I was promised (by social media admittedly) that romance was not considered a main topic, whereas I felt that it absolutely was here. 2-0 for the painful disappointment in my heart. The tests Celaena had to pass to become "Champion" of the King were also very superficially written out, while I thought this should be the main focus of the book. With this, the world building was again weak and a lot of details were missing. Then the love triangle became the ultimate centerpiece of this first book. Bleh.

The only thing that still pushed me through in the book were the mysterious and magical elements. Even though I was still quite perplexed by the "at random" throwing of this route in the middle, I started to appreciate it more and more as the end approached. Only in the last 150 pages did you still get the suspense you expected and the duel that was powerfully set up. So those last 150 pages just put me over the top not to give 2.5 stars as I was very hooked here!!!

To be honest, had I not read TAB as a prequel, I might not have continued the series. The only thing that still gets my hopes up is the fact that Celaena may yet change into what I had read/thought/hoped for. Then again, I did end the story with a lot of open questions that I want answered. On to crown of midnight!