To start off my review, some of my comments are going to be probably unpopular opinions. I feel like I’ve seen this before. On a movie. With pirates, only the main character in that was a lot more entertaining, and I actually liked him. I won’t say exactly what I’m talking about, but it felt very similar to an already existing franchise. And that’s okay. I did enjoy this book, it just felt like I had seen it before when I’d liked it a lot more.
Wins
- Ryan Van Loans writing style is very rich. I don’t know how else to describe it, but his setting the scene, and world building was super impressive. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of fluff like I’ve noticed with books lately, and the writing flowed very easily.
- Some of the characters were amazing. Chan Sha has got to be one of my top 15 characters of all time. She was absolutely amazing and I loved her
- The fact that we got a book that swears as often as these characters do. It was extremely refreshing, but maybe it’s just the YA books i read. I did enjoy that Ryan didn’t mind going there
Opportunities
- I didn’t like Buc in the slightest. She was meant to be a very strong female hero who pushed the boundaries, and I just felt like she was a spoiled, know-it-all rude character. Eld was super uninteresting and I’ve met him before, and didn’t like him then either.
- It wasn’t super original. What actually happens is different (obviously) but it just felt like it’d been done before
- I don’t know why this is becoming a trend, but I really don’t like it. When we go from first person for 90% of the book, but there’s 10% that’s in third person. Those parts are extremely jarring in any novel, and I really don’t like it, and don’t understand why it’s becoming more common.
- How “smart” Buc is. I’m doing a separate bullet on this solely for the fact that it wasnt a plot device to advance the story, it wasn’t necessary, but we heard a lot about the books she had read and what quotes came from it. It felt unnecessary to me. And it annoyed me the way she flaunted it. especially when she was all about books in the beginning and that’s never brought up again.
- I didn’t love the ending. This would’ve been better as a stand-alone in my opinion. I will check out the second book when it comes out to see if I like it, but it could’ve definitely stood alone.
All in all, I didn’t hate this book. I feel like this review is very criticizing at this point, but I did enjoy the story. It was a fun quick little read that I would’ve enjoyed a lot more when I was a bit younger. I probably would’ve liked Buc as a teenager, but as an adult she was far from one of my favorite characters. Ryan’s writing style is very unique and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the world, and hopefully the next book centers around a certain character whom I loved!
Wins
- Ryan Van Loans writing style is very rich. I don’t know how else to describe it, but his setting the scene, and world building was super impressive. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of fluff like I’ve noticed with books lately, and the writing flowed very easily.
- Some of the characters were amazing. Chan Sha has got to be one of my top 15 characters of all time. She was absolutely amazing and I loved her
- The fact that we got a book that swears as often as these characters do. It was extremely refreshing, but maybe it’s just the YA books i read. I did enjoy that Ryan didn’t mind going there
Opportunities
- I didn’t like Buc in the slightest. She was meant to be a very strong female hero who pushed the boundaries, and I just felt like she was a spoiled, know-it-all rude character. Eld was super uninteresting and I’ve met him before, and didn’t like him then either.
- It wasn’t super original. What actually happens is different (obviously) but it just felt like it’d been done before
- I don’t know why this is becoming a trend, but I really don’t like it. When we go from first person for 90% of the book, but there’s 10% that’s in third person. Those parts are extremely jarring in any novel, and I really don’t like it, and don’t understand why it’s becoming more common.
- How “smart” Buc is. I’m doing a separate bullet on this solely for the fact that it wasnt a plot device to advance the story, it wasn’t necessary, but we heard a lot about the books she had read and what quotes came from it. It felt unnecessary to me. And it annoyed me the way she flaunted it. especially when she was all about books in the beginning and that’s never brought up again.
- I didn’t love the ending. This would’ve been better as a stand-alone in my opinion. I will check out the second book when it comes out to see if I like it, but it could’ve definitely stood alone.
All in all, I didn’t hate this book. I feel like this review is very criticizing at this point, but I did enjoy the story. It was a fun quick little read that I would’ve enjoyed a lot more when I was a bit younger. I probably would’ve liked Buc as a teenager, but as an adult she was far from one of my favorite characters. Ryan’s writing style is very unique and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the world, and hopefully the next book centers around a certain character whom I loved!