fruitea's reviews
78 reviews

the power this has, the intelligence this has, the clearance this has, the access this has, the influence this has, the profile this has, the international implications this has-

love this book. love it. adore it. from the characters to the worldbuilding to the plot... i really can't recommend this book enough. i feel some parental instinct to look after the crows, like i am not a motherly kind of person and i'm the same age as them, but i don't care. i will be a parental figure. a fun one. i don't care if they break the law lol i just wanna be cool like jesper.

starts off quite slow and is a little confusing at first, but it picks up after the first couple of chapters. i feel like you have to take your time with this book. everything begins to make sense as you read on, if you pick up on the subtle hints. it was quite satisfying to fit the pieces together like a puzzle. also big secret library??????? yes please.

tacky. misogynistic. dull. did i mention misogynistic? 

listen. i make fun of my brothers for being so invested in real life sports (and i'd do it again!!) but haikyuu. haikyuu is different. did i ever think i'd cry over volleyball? no. but i did because i'm an emotional wreck and these characters are like my children and i am their proud mother. haikyuu invented character development.

i didn't really know what to expect going into this book, since i only read the first sentence of the synopsis ("a princess isn’t supposed to fall for an evil sorceress"). what i definitely was not expecting was to be an emotional wreck when it was over, to have my heartstrings tugged at so many times. i really sympathised with alyce, for the most part, because she has so many conflicting thoughts and emotions, she hates being the dark grace but she was forced into that role. you get an insight into her thoughts, how she justifies her actions, how she resents everyone.

ok this is a weird one because we actually read the ending chapters as a class but i wasn't paying attention so i've put it as dnf. sorry ms williams it was just infuriating to sit through nearly 2 hours of people reading aloud so monotonously and you never saw me playing solitaire on my phone anyway.
anyway. i did not like this book. evidently. the whole premise seemed so flimsy and i feel like briony's stupidity ignorance was used as a plot device.

besides, i'm sure there's more nuance to police investigations than taking the word of a thirteen year old as infallible. also she wasn't entirely truthful.

 
speaking of briony, she was so annoying. she never grew out of her immaturity, she always played the victim, never taking responsibility for her actions. i get that 13 years old is young to witness such a crime, but also at that age you know not to lie to the police about these things????????? she knew it herself??????? so what was the reason? because i never found any explanation for that. listen briony my dude, you made a mistake, you knew it was a mistake but still did it anyway, and then blame others for the consequences of your own actions. also, it's a pretty forgettable story except for those major plot points. like the middle of the book felt like filler, it didn't add much to the story. briony had no character development either. so basically it's not worth the read, watch the movie instead. keira knightley and james mcavoy redeem it.