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tilly_wizard's reviews
174 reviews
Only a Monster by Vanessa Len
1.0
Overhyped and underwhelming.
Despite being promoted as a monster romance and enemies-to-lovers romance, the book doesn't deliver on either front.
I picked this up on impulse thanks to the enthusiastic cover quote from CS Pacat, who wrote Dark Rise, one of my favourite books from last year. That being the case, it drives me mad that this debut has gotten the whole YA marketing circus with the book crate editions and everything, whereas Pacat's sensational fourth novel -- which outmatches this one in every regard -- has gotten much less attention, I assume due to its mid-story swerve to an absolutely electric m/m 'romance' (not really lol) slathered with glorious BDSM subtext.
By contrast, in this novel, perennial fan-favourites 'the background gays' -- a gay couple who are present and prominent at one critical moment of the plot for the sake of representation, but not present or prominent enough to risk alienating the majority straight female typical YA target demographic -- are back for the second half of this novel (the sickeningly sweet variant, in this case).
On the whole the story was inoffensive enough, but ultimately forgettable. The conceit that the heroine is the 'monster' hunted by the hero ends up feeling more than a bit toothless owing to the fact that 'monsters' in the setting appear to be just humans who have the power to time-travel by absorbing life force from regular humans. Early on, our 'hero' Nick single-handedly slays a room full of (cartoonishly villainous) 'monsters' with a sword, whereas the 'monstrous' heroine commits 'murder' in abstract by stealing short amounts of time from the lifespans of other humans without their knowledge.
One of these things is not like the other, despite all the heroine's self-imposed guilt-trips insisting otherwise, and it's hard not to suspect that the author just chickened out of having the 'monstrous' heroine straight-up kill someone because that might make her, well...too monstrous, and therefore unlikeable?
I hated the ending, which unavoidably invites comparison with what begins as the best and ends as the worst scene of The Grisha trilogy -- the ending of Siege and Storm, where Alina appears to surrender to her feelings for the Darkling and her desire to harness her own powers, only for the first-person narration to yank the rug out from under the reader when Alina 'reveals' that it was all a trick, she only played at seducing dear Darkles in order to hold him still long enough to bring the building down on both their heads.
Something similar happens at the end of this book, although not quite as viciously executed (on the part of the author, or the heroine...)
The central premise is that the power of true love is great enough to transcend the (very poorly explained) broken timeline, the slaughter of families, violences committed against one another...except at the end the heroine basically decides that, even though she doesn't completely blame the 'hero' for having slaughtered all these monsters (owing to the circumstances), they still can't be together, even though the cosmic force of time itself is trying to help the soulmates get together as they should be...
So in the end, true love wasn't enough, after all. What a downer.
It is apparently the first of a trilogy (a fact which is stated nowhere on or in the book itself), so where there are sequels, there's hope, I suppose...
Despite being promoted as a monster romance and enemies-to-lovers romance, the book doesn't deliver on either front.
I picked this up on impulse thanks to the enthusiastic cover quote from CS Pacat, who wrote Dark Rise, one of my favourite books from last year. That being the case, it drives me mad that this debut has gotten the whole YA marketing circus with the book crate editions and everything, whereas Pacat's sensational fourth novel -- which outmatches this one in every regard -- has gotten much less attention, I assume due to its mid-story swerve to an absolutely electric m/m 'romance' (not really lol) slathered with glorious BDSM subtext.
By contrast, in this novel, perennial fan-favourites 'the background gays' -- a gay couple who are present and prominent at one critical moment of the plot for the sake of representation, but not present or prominent enough to risk alienating the majority straight female typical YA target demographic -- are back for the second half of this novel (the sickeningly sweet variant, in this case).
On the whole the story was inoffensive enough, but ultimately forgettable. The conceit that the heroine is the 'monster' hunted by the hero ends up feeling more than a bit toothless owing to the fact that 'monsters' in the setting appear to be just humans who have the power to time-travel by absorbing life force from regular humans. Early on, our 'hero' Nick single-handedly slays a room full of (cartoonishly villainous) 'monsters' with a sword, whereas the 'monstrous' heroine commits 'murder' in abstract by stealing short amounts of time from the lifespans of other humans without their knowledge.
One of these things is not like the other, despite all the heroine's self-imposed guilt-trips insisting otherwise, and it's hard not to suspect that the author just chickened out of having the 'monstrous' heroine straight-up kill someone because that might make her, well...too monstrous, and therefore unlikeable?
I hated the ending, which unavoidably invites comparison with what begins as the best and ends as the worst scene of The Grisha trilogy -- the ending of Siege and Storm, where Alina appears to surrender to her feelings for the Darkling and her desire to harness her own powers, only for the first-person narration to yank the rug out from under the reader when Alina 'reveals' that it was all a trick, she only played at seducing dear Darkles in order to hold him still long enough to bring the building down on both their heads.
Something similar happens at the end of this book, although not quite as viciously executed (on the part of the author, or the heroine...)
The central premise is that the power of true love is great enough to transcend the (very poorly explained) broken timeline, the slaughter of families, violences committed against one another...except at the end the heroine basically decides that, even though she doesn't completely blame the 'hero' for having slaughtered all these monsters (owing to the circumstances), they still can't be together, even though the cosmic force of time itself is trying to help the soulmates get together as they should be...
So in the end, true love wasn't enough, after all. What a downer.
It is apparently the first of a trilogy (a fact which is stated nowhere on or in the book itself), so where there are sequels, there's hope, I suppose...
Luminous by Mara Rutherford
1.0
Truly, truly awful, this one.
In the year of our (Dark) Lord 2021, in the post-Netflix-Darklina world, with the Grishaverse in the shambolic state that it is (look at the interaction stats on Malina vs Darklina posts on Neftlix's social media for a giggle), why the fuck would anyone publish an even worse version of Shadow and Bone?
Inkyard Press, you are goddamn fools.
***
Liora is a witch with the magic of stars - the power to shed light, and heat, and to illuminate (more on that later, under spoilers). Her mother died in a freak accident on the night that Liora’s powers awakened – the night that a star fell on their home. Ever since, Liora’s father has insisted that she keep her magic hidden from the world, lest she be snatched away by the king’s warlock,The Darkling Darius – an infamous mage who forces all magic wielders into his service, and who is rumoured to be the real power behind the throne of Antalla.
When Liora’s magic is discovered, Darius unexpectedly allows her to serve an apprenticeship with Margana - the only other witch in their village, and the mother of Liora’s childhood sweetheart Evran - whilst Liora’s younger sister Mina is relocated to the palace as collateral for Liora's good behaviour.
Liora comes to learn more about Darius’ ultimate plan for Antalla, before she and her friends and allies are pressed into accompanying him on a quest into the frigid northlands. During the journey, Liora learns the truth about Darius’ powers and his past, and she must confront the likeness she shares with him, and question whether he is really as evil and inhuman as everyone believes.
Shocking no one, she decides that although she feels sorry for him, he is irredeemable, and in fact does very little to understand him or give him a chance once it seems that he has decided to try to change his ways. Rather abruptly, Liora seems to just arbitrarily decide that Darius is manipulating her (subconsciously, even) and only wants her powers, in order to...do something that is never clearly revealed.
The romance wasn't unbearable, but it had no heat and no tension whatsoever. Evran is fixed-up, squeaky-clean Netflix-Mal (right down to his knack for navigating the wilderness and communing with the animals), the childhood best friend who is totally devoted to Liora, except this time, he’s the one with shadow magic, so I guess I’m supposed to happily ship them and just ignore...every other element of the character development and symbolism that clearly points to Darius as the better choice?!?
[visible confusion]
Darius’ magic is initially presented as “emptiness” – the ability to take away emotions (including negative emotions such as fear, doubt, anger) with his touch, but it is later revealed that his true power is stellar, like Liora’s, except he has “burned out” and become a magical black hole. (If anything, it might have made more sense if Darius' power had changed from light to darkness when this happened, but instead he has to rely on other sources to procure the dark magic required for his plan).
The story takes a metaphysical turn when it is revealed that Liora’s true power is to illuminate people’s thoughts – anyone who touches her is able to have a vision of their reason for living, even if that reason is unknown to their conscious at the time.
Evran sees himself extinguishing Liora's natural flame (for the sake of causing some artificial drama before being conveniently reversed by the end), whereas Darius' vision is simply Liora, just as she is.
Liora spends most of the quest using her light powers to heal voids opened in the world by the dark forces Darius unleashed in his state of despair (which, by the way, he is said to have changed his mind about by the end), and so you would naturally assume that this was building up to Liora healing Darius' inner void, but oh no, it seems that his spiritual void is too great to ever be filled.
I'd offer begrudging praise about the fact that he doesn't die in the end, but he is stripped of his magic so he "can never harm anyone ever again" (in an unholy amalgam of one of the worst aspects of the endings of both AtLA and R&R) and then we never hear any more about what happens to him - is he imprisoned for life? On the path to redemption as a mortal man? Mysteriously disappears? For all her supposed "sympathy", Liora doesn't seem to care, and so I have to assume, neither does the author. Liora is desperate not to lose her own powers, as this will mean losing her strength and her selfhood, but she suffers no guilt inflicting the same fate on someone else.
There's plenty more I could say (especially about that fucking apple scene, that was heinous), but this is a review, not a ship manifesto.
All this hand-wringing about his alleged powers of MaNiPuLaTiOn is maddening – Darius’ century's worth of nefarious deeds is almost entirely told, not shown, and as far as wizard villains go, he’s not particularly sinister nor ambitious – there are plenty of wizard protagonists more dastardly than him.
Now onto the minor complaints -
The prose is the typical YA standard, uncomplicated but serviceable, neither exceptionally painful nor memorable.
The secondary cast feels bloated for a standalone – of course, we must have diversity, but not for the main pairing, that might affect sales and/or mean that the author actually has to write gay characters for more than a sentence at a time. The Background Gays are good enough, right? Right?
The ending is rather rushed, with about half a dozen plot threads being tied up in just the last couple of chapters, several of which were barely even developed throughout the course of the novel, and the novel ends with the characters setting off on a new adventure. Which is to say, the author wanted to stretch this out to a duology or even a trilogy, but the publisher wasn't confident enough to guarantee another book (which seems odd considering this isn't a debut and the author has already completed a previous series. I suppose we'll see...)
***
In closing, to their credit, neither the publisher nor the author has pretended that the good ship Liora/Darius was ever going to have a chance to set sail - Rutherford has the book labelled as "friends to lovers" on her Instagram.
“A dark heart. A pure soul. A love that will last forever.” - Me, on my deathbed when I’m 90, probably.
***
Original comment 09/10/2021:
rtc rtc rtc once I have cooled the fires of rage.
But for now, just one question -
In the year of our (Dark) Lord 2021, in the post-Netflix-Darklina (not to mention, post-Reylo etc etc) world, with the Grishaverse in the shambolic state that it is (see below, or look at the interaction stats on Malina vs Darklina posts on Neftlix's social media for a cackle), why the fuck would anyone publish an even worse version of Shadow and Bone?
This (segment of the) industry has learned nothing since 2012, when my old nemesis Leigh's "bad boys" blog post caused a YA agent to have a hysterical meltdown.
http://www.onceuponabookcase.co.uk/20...
https://web.archive.org/web/202103210...
(Ironically enough, she has misread the post, because reading comprehension is apparently not a required skill for publishing agents in America).
In the year of our (Dark) Lord 2021, in the post-Netflix-Darklina world, with the Grishaverse in the shambolic state that it is (look at the interaction stats on Malina vs Darklina posts on Neftlix's social media for a giggle), why the fuck would anyone publish an even worse version of Shadow and Bone?
Inkyard Press, you are goddamn fools.
***
Liora is a witch with the magic of stars - the power to shed light, and heat, and to illuminate (more on that later, under spoilers). Her mother died in a freak accident on the night that Liora’s powers awakened – the night that a star fell on their home. Ever since, Liora’s father has insisted that she keep her magic hidden from the world, lest she be snatched away by the king’s warlock,
When Liora’s magic is discovered, Darius unexpectedly allows her to serve an apprenticeship with Margana - the only other witch in their village, and the mother of Liora’s childhood sweetheart Evran - whilst Liora’s younger sister Mina is relocated to the palace as collateral for Liora's good behaviour.
Liora comes to learn more about Darius’ ultimate plan for Antalla, before she and her friends and allies are pressed into accompanying him on a quest into the frigid northlands. During the journey, Liora learns the truth about Darius’ powers and his past, and she must confront the likeness she shares with him, and question whether he is really as evil and inhuman as everyone believes.
Shocking no one, she decides that although she feels sorry for him, he is irredeemable, and in fact does very little to understand him or give him a chance once it seems that he has decided to try to change his ways. Rather abruptly, Liora seems to just arbitrarily decide that Darius is manipulating her (subconsciously, even) and only wants her powers, in order to...do something that is never clearly revealed.
The romance wasn't unbearable, but it had no heat and no tension whatsoever. Evran is fixed-up, squeaky-clean Netflix-Mal (right down to his knack for navigating the wilderness and communing with the animals), the childhood best friend who is totally devoted to Liora, except this time, he’s the one with shadow magic, so I guess I’m supposed to happily ship them and just ignore...every other element of the character development and symbolism that clearly points to Darius as the better choice?!?
[visible confusion]
Darius’ magic is initially presented as “emptiness” – the ability to take away emotions (including negative emotions such as fear, doubt, anger) with his touch, but it is later revealed that his true power is stellar, like Liora’s, except he has “burned out” and become a magical black hole. (If anything, it might have made more sense if Darius' power had changed from light to darkness when this happened, but instead he has to rely on other sources to procure the dark magic required for his plan).
The story takes a metaphysical turn when it is revealed that Liora’s true power is to illuminate people’s thoughts – anyone who touches her is able to have a vision of their reason for living, even if that reason is unknown to their conscious at the time.
Evran sees himself extinguishing Liora's natural flame (for the sake of causing some artificial drama before being conveniently reversed by the end), whereas Darius' vision is simply Liora, just as she is.
Liora spends most of the quest using her light powers to heal voids opened in the world by the dark forces Darius unleashed in his state of despair (which, by the way, he is said to have changed his mind about by the end), and so you would naturally assume that this was building up to Liora healing Darius' inner void, but oh no, it seems that his spiritual void is too great to ever be filled.
I'd offer begrudging praise about the fact that he doesn't die in the end, but he is stripped of his magic so he "can never harm anyone ever again" (in an unholy amalgam of one of the worst aspects of the endings of both AtLA and R&R) and then we never hear any more about what happens to him - is he imprisoned for life? On the path to redemption as a mortal man? Mysteriously disappears? For all her supposed "sympathy", Liora doesn't seem to care, and so I have to assume, neither does the author. Liora is desperate not to lose her own powers, as this will mean losing her strength and her selfhood, but she suffers no guilt inflicting the same fate on someone else.
There's plenty more I could say (especially about that fucking apple scene, that was heinous), but this is a review, not a ship manifesto.
All this hand-wringing about his alleged powers of MaNiPuLaTiOn is maddening – Darius’ century's worth of nefarious deeds is almost entirely told, not shown, and as far as wizard villains go, he’s not particularly sinister nor ambitious – there are plenty of wizard protagonists more dastardly than him.
Now onto the minor complaints -
The prose is the typical YA standard, uncomplicated but serviceable, neither exceptionally painful nor memorable.
The secondary cast feels bloated for a standalone – of course, we must have diversity, but not for the main pairing, that might affect sales and/or mean that the author actually has to write gay characters for more than a sentence at a time. The Background Gays are good enough, right? Right?
The ending is rather rushed, with about half a dozen plot threads being tied up in just the last couple of chapters, several of which were barely even developed throughout the course of the novel, and the novel ends with the characters setting off on a new adventure. Which is to say, the author wanted to stretch this out to a duology or even a trilogy, but the publisher wasn't confident enough to guarantee another book (which seems odd considering this isn't a debut and the author has already completed a previous series. I suppose we'll see...)
***
In closing, to their credit, neither the publisher nor the author has pretended that the good ship Liora/Darius was ever going to have a chance to set sail - Rutherford has the book labelled as "friends to lovers" on her Instagram.
“A dark heart. A pure soul. A love that will last forever.” - Me, on my deathbed when I’m 90, probably.
***
Original comment 09/10/2021:
rtc rtc rtc once I have cooled the fires of rage.
But for now, just one question -
In the year of our (Dark) Lord 2021, in the post-Netflix-Darklina (not to mention, post-Reylo etc etc) world, with the Grishaverse in the shambolic state that it is (see below, or look at the interaction stats on Malina vs Darklina posts on Neftlix's social media for a cackle), why the fuck would anyone publish an even worse version of Shadow and Bone?
This (segment of the) industry has learned nothing since 2012, when my old nemesis Leigh's "bad boys" blog post caused a YA agent to have a hysterical meltdown.
http://www.onceuponabookcase.co.uk/20...
https://web.archive.org/web/202103210...
(Ironically enough, she has misread the post, because reading comprehension is apparently not a required skill for publishing agents in America).