panbo's reviews
154 reviews

The storyline was legit. But it ran too wax poetic for my liking. Too verbose without really adding value. If anything, I sped read through the majority of the inconsequential details just to get to the crux of the story. Because of this, I was bored for the majority of the time. The last 20 pages however is where all the excitement occurs which is a bit disappointing that you have to wait that long to get excited. 

Cute lil YA story of teenage boys in the 80s. It was alright but nothing super noteworthy. Makes me think that this might've been loosely based on the author's experience, but I don't know that for a fact bc I didn't look it up nor am I that curious. 

A very "meh" book to complete a "meh" trilogy. Fionn has been my fave Kane brother, but Rose has not been my fave love interest in this series although she is def a funny character. But I'm a sucker for love letters so this was my most enjoyable part of the book. 

This was severely overhyped. Not as thrilling as I expected. Really slow movement. Things didn't get exciting until the last 20% of the story. None of the characters are likeable nor did I really feel that much sympathy for them. I can't tell if I didn't like Grady or the narrator. I mean he was an awful character but was it the writing that made it a bore or was it the narrating from the audiobook..

Wow what an emotional rollercoaster of stress & depression, with few fleeting moments of temporary relief. There was def a lot more action and movement in this book over the second book which is very much appreciated. I loved seeing more of Ridoc in this book bc he is my fave character. He has the best heart of everyone. I expected more out of the Dain arc which was clearly set up in Iron Flame, but seeing as how he has not yet redeemed himself fully in my eyes, I'm ok with his minimal development in Onyx Storm. Despite the emotional turbulence I experienced, I'm looking forward to my second reading.

The integration of Russian folklore in an American novel is quite interesting. I was fascinated but utterly lost having zero Russian folklore background. I wish the author did a better job on the world building in this regard. It also didn't help that the glossary is placed at the end of the book in the digital version, bc this would've been helpful to know going in. I can't tell if it's a result of my confusion or tiredness but every time I picked up this book I immediately got sleepy. Take that piece of info for what it's worth. 

The story is slow which surprises me further that the explanation of folklore was lacking. If the exposition is going to take up half the book, then I should be able to understand the world completely.

Around the halfway point, the plot picks up and I started to get into it. And it's pretty good up until the end. The ending was quite anti climactic and once again it started to put me to sleep. Overall there's maybe only 35-40% of the entire story that was actually riveting. Although this is trilogy, the ending tied up very nicely so I don't feel compelled to continue reading on. That's not to say that I'm completely deterred. The second book takes place in a much shorter timespan as opposed to this one where it really goes into the main character's family lineage before she was even born, so perhaps it won't be as slow. Regardless it's important to note that the ending, although anticlimactic, allows me space to end here instead of forcing myself to continue with the trilogy. 

This is my second reading of Iron Flame. Rating this slightly less than Fourth Wing bc this was slower paced. All the big action happens in the last 25%. And Violet is annoyingly insufferable picking fights with Xaden over what exactly, I honestly can't even tell anymore. (I do admit that I am less annoyed in my re reading than I was the first time around) The only reason why I excuse it is bc I remember she's only 21 and I picked stupid fights over shit I'm too afraid to know the answers too. The immaturity is quite realistic in this regard. You can tell Dain has entered his character arc here and I don't want to see it. Sloane was also less annoying the second time around, but perhaps that is bc I welcome her character's development unlike Dain. Cat, however, remained as triggering for me as the first time. Wow she is one nasty b! Lol

Although depressing and places a very realistic fear that our current politics will lead us to the world seen in this novel, this is a fantastic book worth multiple re reads. I love the idea that the main character's version of god is Change and I find myself agreeing to her beliefs. It's thought provoking and I know that if I wasn't in such a rush to finish this book then I would really let the material marinate with my own thoughts. Perhaps in my next re read, I will have time for marination. I just know that this is a book that I will pick back up again at a different age with new thoughts and opinions. 

A bit of a slow start and started to ramp up halfway through. Some of the context was mature in nature, but the writing felt pretty juvenile. I enjoyed it nonetheless. 

I'm a little biased in my rating bc I love Peter Pan adaptations. There wasn't anything that really stood out in the book and one can probably skip this without missing anything. But I just really enjoy Peter Pan.