The Bad
~Did not build emotional investment for reader to care when things happened.
~Did they build this story to be something it is not? Did they make it seem like Zafira dressing up as boy was going to actually be something more than it was? I feel they built Zafira dressing up as a guy to not only be this feminist point but also as being more present in the story than it turned out to be.
~Wastes setting, wastes fantasy
A. It could have been a good series (with the world potential) but it’s not structurally written well
B. There is barely any fantasy- and the fantasy present is defeated anticlimactically.
C. Nothing happens for large parts of the story- This book is way too long for nothing to be happening. Noticing a trend of a book that should have been/ could have been a standalone being stretched by nothingness happening so it can be a series.
~Reveals that was always told by someone instead of discovered.
~Short chapters, repetitiveness, and the multiple point of views that says the same things. This issue reminded me of Children of Blood and Bone
~Feminism
I definitely don’t have problem with messages in books but when it is poorly done, gets in the way, and feels hollow… There is a bigger discussion that needs to be had about how feminism is being done in ya fantasy. One of my status updates sums up my issues:
Remember when they made it seem the ground was going to shake with Zafiras supposed strong action girl feminism. All of it for her to cower and spend pages and pages on a guy. For her to be incompetent and stupid for plot. For her to be rescued by men 99% of the time. Listen this whole talk authors got they characters doing about feminism this feminism that without action hate to see it.
-me, 241 pgs (aka 51%) in
~ Style over substance- the author has flowery writing which is not bad necessarily but the fact that it is overused and is around structurally bad writing is ugh. The flowery writing got in the way of the story a lot.
I think people (imo) are focusing on the Arabic words seeing them as the thing that is alienating them in the story when it is the writing.
~ Monologues on monologues
A. Info dump that amounts to nothing?
B. Like she said goodbye to her friends and family like fifteen times (I’m serious)
C. So much repetitive useless dialogue!
~Needed to be shortened
A. snip Deen from entire story
B. The beginning 125 pages was too long for reader to wait for the meat =for the plot to get started
Thoughts
I realized more pet peeves I have in fantasy/ current waves in ya fantasy I don’t like:
Trend of fantasy books doing nothing/barely anything for an entire story just to be able to stretch book(s) into a series/another book.
Trend of basic/not well done feminism.
I also realized what type of reader I am and how that can possibly (more than likely) not translate well to fantasy.
~Did not build emotional investment for reader to care when things happened.
~Did they build this story to be something it is not? Did they make it seem like Zafira dressing up as boy was going to actually be something more than it was? I feel they built Zafira dressing up as a guy to not only be this feminist point but also as being more present in the story than it turned out to be.
~Wastes setting, wastes fantasy
A. It could have been a good series (with the world potential) but it’s not structurally written well
B. There is barely any fantasy- and the fantasy present is defeated anticlimactically.
C. Nothing happens for large parts of the story- This book is way too long for nothing to be happening. Noticing a trend of a book that should have been/ could have been a standalone being stretched by nothingness happening so it can be a series.
~Reveals that was always told by someone instead of discovered.
~Short chapters, repetitiveness, and the multiple point of views that says the same things. This issue reminded me of Children of Blood and Bone
~Feminism
I definitely don’t have problem with messages in books but when it is poorly done, gets in the way, and feels hollow… There is a bigger discussion that needs to be had about how feminism is being done in ya fantasy. One of my status updates sums up my issues:
Remember when they made it seem the ground was going to shake with Zafiras supposed strong action girl feminism. All of it for her to cower and spend pages and pages on a guy. For her to be incompetent and stupid for plot. For her to be rescued by men 99% of the time. Listen this whole talk authors got they characters doing about feminism this feminism that without action hate to see it.
-me, 241 pgs (aka 51%) in
~ Style over substance- the author has flowery writing which is not bad necessarily but the fact that it is overused and is around structurally bad writing is ugh. The flowery writing got in the way of the story a lot.
I think people (imo) are focusing on the Arabic words seeing them as the thing that is alienating them in the story when it is the writing.
~ Monologues on monologues
A. Info dump that amounts to nothing?
B. Like she said goodbye to her friends and family like fifteen times (I’m serious)
C. So much repetitive useless dialogue!
~Needed to be shortened
A. snip Deen from entire story
B. The beginning 125 pages was too long for reader to wait for the meat =for the plot to get started
Thoughts
I realized more pet peeves I have in fantasy/ current waves in ya fantasy I don’t like:
Trend of fantasy books doing nothing/barely anything for an entire story just to be able to stretch book(s) into a series/another book.
Trend of basic/not well done feminism.
I also realized what type of reader I am and how that can possibly (more than likely) not translate well to fantasy.