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3.5

I recommend this for anyone looking for:
- Enemies to lovers
- A good dose of angst
- Middle-Eastern fantasy
- A sassy protagonist done well

I wish I liked this a little more than I did. I grew to like the romance (me? like romance? who am i becoming??) and overall enjoyed my time. There was a lot of other stuff going on that I didn't really find engaging, but Shahrzad and Khalid's story was pretty compelling. My biggest gripe was with the writing style, but I think a large part of it is probably personal preference. I generally don't like too much description especially of the setting and the author has this weird fixation on describing eyes and their colour repeatedly throughout.

I think in general the book really picks up a bit over a third of the way through and it's pretty quick to get through. Some of the aspects I was more hesitant about, I came around to by the end. I will say that the very end of the book was a little messy and maybe even a tad rushed, but oh well. Not a favourite, but I'm at least considering reading the sequel

1.5

At this point I don't know why I keep trying with SJM. Hey SJM superfans, what do you see in her that I don't??

I only read this in case it had relevant stuff for A Court of Silver Flames. I dunno maybe some of it will be relevant but this book was a Bad Time

It feels more like fanfic of the ACOTAR series, than something officially released by the author. I know it's just a supplementary novella, but it was so unenjoyable despite being mostly fluff (and the smut wasn't it either).

I think I'm just done with Feyre at this point. By the end of ACOWAR I had lost all interest in Feyre as a main character. Thank god the author seems done with her too. This felt like rehashed themes clumsily thrown together.

Side note: of course SJM who can't write a succinct book to save her life releases a novella longer than some novels. If I couldn't have gotten it from my library as an audiobook, I wouldn't have even bothered to waste my time.

I'm a little disappointed. At times this read a bit too much like a children's book tbh. While there were some cute little moments, all of it felt very shallow because it was literally one sentence per idea, not a cohesive message throughout. The blurb reads so nicely that makes you think you might get a lot out of reading it but there is little to no exploration of anything brought up and has next to no narrative either. The drawings are a little too minimalistic for me. They didn't really add anything since there was almost no facial expressions or body language. Each scene/panel takes up an entire page so that the book felt a little sparse and picture book like. "Nothing" was a theme in the book, but it doesn't justify how lacking I found the art to be. When you have minimal words AND minimal art, you truly are left with "nothing" much.

All that said, there are some cute moments and the positive messaging that is there some people might find comforting. I can see it as a book to come back to whenever you're feeling down to have a wholesome escape for 15 minutes. Not for me, but for some people I guess lol.

[4.5]
In which we learn to love Adam, Gansey is having sad boy hours, Blue is going Through It, and Ronan maybe achieves some chill and direction.

I can't say I liked this as much as The Dream Thieves, but considering how low my expectations were going in because the general sentiment seemed to be that this is the least good of the Raven Cycle books. Well I still loved it. For such a complex and subtle work, it's hard to pinpoint what didn't work as well and the things I can think of kind of feel like nitpicks. Like even though the prose was a step down imo from TDT, it was still really effing good. And the character work was a little weaker, but maybe that's just because Ronan already had his major moment and he's my favourite character. I also Did Not Like Greenmantle and Piper, but that was the desired effect so like yeah of course I don't like the asshole bad guys. Also I for once wish a book was a little longer and more slow paced, but do I really want that? Or am I just enjoying it too much to want it to be over?

These books continue to be a masterwork in surrealist magical realism and complex character dynamics. I'm starting to get sad that there's only one more book after this. I've stretched out my reading so much and I'm not ready for it to be over.

I recommend this book for people who like:
- mulit-POV
- soft magic systems that are surreal and beautiful
- stories where so many threads manage to come together in a satisfying way
- a book that'll make you feel something all of a sudden without realising it had been working it's magic on you all along

This book was one of the most masterfully written that I've read in a long time. The setting was so unique and surreal, but still solid and easy to fall into. The characters slowly grew into people who I came to love and care for over the course of the story.

I'm struggling to put any thoughts beyond those into words lol

I couldn't give it five stars simply because this isn't the kind of book that works for me as well as it does for others. I tend to struggle with books that are a bit more removed from the characters' direct experience. The Victorian setting didn't totally do it for me either. Don't get me wrong, it works for the story, but it's not my usual vibe. And lastly, it took me until well after the halfway mark for me to get invested in the story and I suspect I would've given up if I hadn't been reading along with the audiobook.

I'm going to have to check out more of this author's work for sure, because they have a gift for writing.