bumblemee's reviews
195 reviews

Das Buch habe ich vor ewigen Zeiten gelesen mittlerweile und jetzt mein Gedächtnis nochmal aufgefrischt mit dem Hörspiel, bevor ich endlich den zweiten Band lese. Ich hatte ein bisschen Angst, dass ich es nicht mehr so gut finden würde wie damals, aber tatsächlich mochte ich es noch immer sehr, sehr gern! Auch die Hörspielumsetzung fand ich gut, auch wenn ich mich erst daran gewöhnen musste, dass zwei verschiedene Personen erzählen, je nachdem, ob wir uns gerade in Erebos oder in der realen Welt befinden.

Das Setting ist noch immer gut gewählt, die Atmosphäre angespannt und die Geschichte spannend. Abgesehen davon, dass es halt ein bisschen lustig ist, dass die sich immer anrufen, obwohl sie das heutzutage wohl über Whatsapp klären würden, hält sich dieser Jugendthriller echt gut. Oh, und es gibt einfach ein paar kleinere Sachen, wie stereotype Darstellungen, die mich ein bisschen gestört haben, aber es war noch okay.

Kann ich nur empfehlen zu lesen oder zu hören :)

This was a weird one. 

It certainly was a cleverly constructed story, but the way it was told wasn't really my thing. You get told the most important things at some point, which is why you never really feel like you're discovering something. You can try to put everything together before you're told, of course. I tried to do that in parts, but I can't really dertermine whether I succeeded or not, because at the time I suspected things, I couldn't really tell how obvious they were supposed to come across. 

Other than that, I also wasn't the biggest fan of this mix of third- and first-person narration, it irritated me a bit.
I also never really got invested in the characters, which doesn't help me being awed by a story. Must say though that Áróra is an interesting character and I liked how she isn't afraid to be a successful and unapologetic person, at least about what she does for a living and how she does it. That sure is badass. Still, I didn't grow close to her, maybe because I just didn't like how ingrained this "my older sister is weaker than me, I have to protect her"-thing is within her, even though I get where it's coming from. 

So yeah, sadly not my thing. I'm unsure whether or not I'll continue the series. If I do it'll most likely be something I start whenever I don't know what else to listen to next. 
I can recommend the german audiobook, I liked the narration. I also think the german covers for this series are really pretty. 

Okay, this was a wild ride. While I understand why many people love it so much and I did like it as well, I'm not as blown away as I hoped I would be.

In a lot of ways, it was what I imagined it would be: Characters that are fascinating, but not likeable, feeling like the coolest people around and better than anyone else, while being incredibly infuriating. I liked the way this was written, this casual way in which their elitism shone through. I also liked how their behavior is absolutely absurd, but they think they're in the right for it. (Richard saying he doesn't think they're bad people is a little hilarious.)

The way they were more concerned that Bunny figured out they killed someone in some weird greek ecstasy than that they in fact that they indeed did do that? Insane.

The writing style is very fitting, Richard is obsessed with saying things in the most complicated well-sounding way. He does succeed, but in the most pretentious way possible of course. 

All in all I was entertained and fascinated and it was fun to be enraged by these people. It was a little hard to get through for me though, since it is long and very slow, which dampens my enjoyment of books most of the time. I also thought Julian would be a bigger part of this book than he was, I would've liked to see more of him and his relationship to the characters.

Sehr spaßig! - Ich liebe Krimidinner, daher hat mir das Setting sofort gefallen. Es war schön, den bereits bekannten Charakteren in einem ausnahmsweise mal völlig harmlosen Setting zu folgen, wie sie einfach einen schönen Abend verbringen. Außerdem bereitet es Pips Charakter wirklich clever vor und erklärt, wie sie zu dem Punkt am Anfang des ersten Buchs der Reihe gekommen ist. 

Allerdings darf man sich nicht erwarten, dass es hier viel Tiefgang gibt, oder irgendwas wichtiges auf dem Spiel steht oder es eine riesige Bereicherung ist zur bestehenden Reihe. Dann ist man vermutlich enttäuscht. Es ist einfach eine nette kleine Geschichte für zwischendurch, vor allem schön, wenn man die Charaktere schon liebt gewonnen hat. Ich finde es super, dass ich es auf Spotify hören konnte und somit kein extra Geld dafür ausgegeben habe, das hätte sich für mich persönlich nicht gelohnt. - Für AGGGTM-Ultras aber vielleicht schon. 

This still contains one of the most devastating deaths of a fictional character ever. 

No matter how many times I listen to this, I never fail to tear up/cry at Gregor clinging to Ares' foot for two weeks. Like, what the fuck, Suzanne? Why would you want to break my heart like that??

If I ever felt like I am the exact target audience for a book, it was while reading this, because for me, this was very close to perfect.

Both main characters are so utterly loveable it felt like my heart was bursting sometimes. Probably because I could relate so much to their struggles. Struggling with mental illness and the way it influences how you think about yourself and yourself in relation to others. Having a hard time opening up. It was wonderful to see them be good at understanding one another. - All of that was handled with a lot of care and makes the topic of mental illness/health very accessible. And I think it's very important to have stories like this, where two equally struggling people learn that said struggles don't make them unloveable.
I also love to see some a-spec-rep, especially when done this well :)

I can't really put my finger on why this didn't feel like a 5 star read. Maybe because I still struggle a bit with romance book endings being a little too cheesy for my liking.

[my content warnings may be incomplete, bc of my meh memory]

I'm unsure of what to make of this - it sucked me in and I read it really fast, because I wanted to uncover what happened. I expected something different than what this ended up being and that disappointed me a little. The reveal was underwhelming to me, since I saw it coming and hoped to get a bit more of an explanation

a bit more of actual family dynamics or the "why" in general - you can guess the why, but I would've liked a little more "meat to it", if that is the correct saying here

.

However, the twist wasn't the fascinating thing in here, it was more of Merricat's voice and her anxieties, it was interesting to uncover more and more how her mind works. She sounds way younger than she is, the way she personified objects for example and the magical thinking of course.

It took a little while for me to understand that Constance isn't the one making the rules, but Merricat puts these rules on herself, always becoming more rigid. Then the rituals she believes are protecting her and her sister. The way this safe space shrinkes over time. It's a very smart exploration of mental illness imo and I liked the book a lot for it.

Maybe I'll love it more if I should ever read it again, I'd like to see how some things read after knowing how the story ends. Until then, I can say I liked it, but hoped to love it. 

If I read this before reading Six of Crows a few years ago, it would've saved me a lot of confusion. This book does a great job at introducing readers to the Grishaverse.
This feels like the essence of a YA fantasy novel and I had a lot of fun with it. Training sequences, a young heroine coming into her power - great. The pacing was fast, yet it felt a little random at times. For the most part though, I liked how much thought went into building the plot itself, even though I would've liked a little more build up for a certain thing.

I was a little disappointed that the big twist in the middle was simply this scene with Baghra, who explains a lot of things to Alina and then sends her off. I get that Alina didn't see it coming and was pulled in by the Darklings charisma. Still, I would've liked it if she found out some things by herself.

I also like that the author - no surprise there - doesn't shy away from letting her protagonist make morally questionable decisions. A lot of people shy away from that, especially in YA.

All in all I enjoyed my time reading and will probably continue somewhen, even if it's not my top priority right now. 

I am a simple asexual girlie: You give me dragons -> I am happy.

I first read this book in 2008, when I was 12, and remembered it as one of my favorite books ever. Given that I remembered very little of what actually happened though, I decided to finally reread it - and I am so happy to say I still love it.

Are there a lot of things I'd be annoyed at if I read it for the first time now? Yes. Did I care now? Not really. I see why I loved this book so much when I was younger, even though I am pretty sure in hindsight that a lot of things went over my head, starting with all those french names I wouldn't have been able to translate or know how to pronounce and ending with any actual knowledge concerning the Napoleonic Wars. (Sad to say the latter hasn't changed, history isn't my thing, I fear.)
Still, if you write a story about dragons forming an unbreakable bond with their riders, you got my attention instantly. I fell in love again with every one of those bonds - except for one of them of course

looking at you, Rankin, you absolute asshole

. I got really attached to the dragons in particular, they are simply wonderful.

I cried so hard when Levitas died, he was so such a sweetheart.

Laurence is one of those well-rounded characters that are hard to not like. He is full of benevolent sexism (given the time period that's accurate though, I guess) and a little arrogant at times, but you can tell that he has a big heart. His aspiration to always be a Gentleman and his helplessness in social situations that are awkward for him are a little cute even. These flaws just make him a believable character. I also love how good he is with children, it warms my heart.
Same goes for Temeraire. He also thinks a bit too highly of himself sometimes, but you can't hold it against him. In the end he's just so, so wonderful. It was always very entertaining to see how his intelligence and his view of the world clashed with the way humans build their society. I really hope this develops further and humans start to see that dragons should indeed have more of a say in a lot of things. They treat them with respect and see them as friends in a lot of ways, but in the end, humans still feel entitled to see dragons as some kind of super-pet. ... As said, I hope that changes as the series goes on. (I dnf-ed the second one back then, because I thought it was boring. I'll try again.)

The plot was interesting and found a good balance between exposition, letting Laurence adjust to his new situation, and an exciting plot around the Napleonic Wars going on. 

Ngl, I'm a little sad this series is over now. I listened to all of them back to back and had a great time with these books.

This is a cleverly constructed story, a lot of little things have been forshadowed and build up to since book one. Really well handled. There were a lot of great moments in here and the story made sense, still I felt like it fell a liiiiittle flat. I can't really explain it, but I hoped for a bit more of an epic moment for the ending. I also didn't enjoy the dual time line that much, it took me out of the story sometimes and the one that took place in the past took a little too much time. There was interesting information there, but I would've liked it to move a little faster.

I also liked how this fantasy plot still had a message about what it means to be human

like how flaws and emotions, the good and the bad, make us human

.

All in all I am happy with this conclusion though!