Reviews
I technically read this twice - once last year with the first edition and once a few weeks ago with the revised version. I wasn't inclined to pick up the sequel with the first read, and I still feel the same way even after the reading the revised version.I think my gripe is that everything still feels too big, we're thrusted into a dystopian future with an alternate history with psychics, and then we're thrusted into what feels like that game We Happy Few - people are in poverty and drugs are used to forget the pain while they are oppressed by the Rephaim. Meanwhile, Paige is going through trials and trying to not die. And I'm over here trying to play catch-up in double time. By the end, I'm not invested enough to care what happens to our characters. I really doubt I'll read the sequel - however I did start The Priory of the Orange Tree a while back, so I'm hopeful different characters and settings will have me give Samantha Shannon another try!
🤔 I know I am late to the party but I am on a self imposed (economy related) book buying ban, so I am utilizing the library.(if you read my updates ) you would have seen that the book was so full of ' clairvoyant terms' and convoluted sayings that I (thankfully having reviewed the full content list,) knew there was a glossary. BUT It is inefficient to keep zigzagging back and forth 🙄🧐. thank goodness I was reading the ebook and the best way to help was to highlight the offending word right click and search dictionary (which then linked to Google) this book wasn't original as it's made out to be, it's reminded me very much the hunger games plot, but with clairvoyants as the main victims rather than the mass poor of the sectors. (in a Penny dreadful inspired distopian London)it took me a long while to get Involved with this book, it was at least halfway before a chapter focused on the what the clairvoyant and aether were about... why the editors didn't move that to an earlier chapter as a flashback I don't know 🙄.Paige was hard to like, and wasn't really my favorite character at all. and Warden was an enigma... and you would think that the Enime ( the other monsters other than most of the humans in charge of London (Scion) and of course the Rephaim, the aether vampires secretly controlling the country/world.in the end I was interested enough to try book two, but if it doesn't do more explaining about how the world became secretly overrun by the Rephaim better, I'll probably get Fed up.
I really liked this book! Hope my library gets the rest of the series at some point
La historia me llamó mucho la atención y, aunque me resultó algo caótica por la gran cantidad de términos extraños (incluso teniendo el glosario al final del libro me perdía bastante), creo que es una historia interesante. Otra "pega" por mi parte es que sentí que algunas partes se alargaban demasiado, así que por eso a veces perdía un poco el interés. Pero esto es una opinión personal, por supuesto. En absoluto debe tomarse como algo generalizado, ni mucho menos.Esperaba, eso sí, un poquito más de salseo romántico. No veo mucha química a la pareja, pero quizá me equivoque y luego sea distinto.
During the first few chapters I wasn't sure that it was my bag. Whilst I normally revel in stories based on normal day to day life with a slight element of sci-fi/fantasy thrown in, but still predominantly 'believable' if you see what I mean, I started off struggling with this story because the world created seemed a little too 'out there' and too divergent from reality. However, the idea and storyline slowly but surely grew on me and I ended up being enthralled. Can't wait for the next installment!