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laucat067
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Comments by laucat067
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I found myself (unexpectedly) obsessed with the first two books in this series. However, by the time I got to

The Last Star,

everything seemed stale and melodramatic: Yancey's prose (The philosophic musings:

"For some, death is the midwife to faith. For others, it is faith's exocutioner." The short, choppy, stream-of-conciousness sentences:

"And cold. Not the cold of a walk-in freezer or the cold of this never-ending f***ing winter. The cold of dry ice. The cold that burns." The over-the-top metaphors: thinking of chains, sharks, and

"I'm thinking of the night I

landed on the shores of Evanland and planted my flag upon that sculpted beach

."); the characters (Cassie was starting to drive me insane); and the plot (it doesn't seem like a lot of progress has been made since the start of the series, and after so many twists I got bored of the whole

what's-the-purpose-of-them-ending-the-world debate).

That being said, I still really enjoyed the series and the ending was fantastic. And I still smiled while reading some of Yancey's dreamy, romantic renderings:

"His forehead touching mine and the stars turning over us and the Earth beneath us, and time silpping, slipping." At the end of the day, what else can you ask for?

I read this as a kid and I still remember that magical last line: "The hat filled up with stars."

Unfortunately, this was a disappointment. While it was a quick read that kept me engaged, it was missing many of the elements of John's personality that initially got me hooked on the series. In the earlier books it was fascinating to watch John struggle with his serial killer tendencies, but in this installment he was more or less an empty shell. I understand that characters evolve, but it's unfortunate that John evolved to be so.....

boring.

Renee Ahdieh has the rare gift of being able to describe tiny details - the way footprints disappear quickly on a black onyx floor, the never ending sand and sun - in a way that shows enough to be utterly absorbing without being distracting or burdensome.

I vaguely recall reading a quote about how the best writers will show you the room but allow you to paint it. In other words, they will give context but allow your imagination to fill in the details and take command of the story. This is one of the things that is most endearing about the written word over visual mediums, and Ahdieh is a master at taking advantage of it.

I will say that she does take some liberties in her use of the English language and twisting the meanings of some less common words, but I'll call it "artistic license" and roll with it.

Laini Taylor doesn't disappoint: as always, her stories are haunting, her settings are immersive, and her prose is breathtaking.

Each of the three short stories contained in this collection is a standalone, so I am going to review them as such.

Goblin Fruit

5 stars

By far and away, this first story was my favorite of the three. Taylor's writing is as wild and eclectic and colorful as Kizzy, and she manages to put into words that which we all, I think, have felt:

Kizzy wanted it all so bad her soul leaned half out of her body hungering after it, and that was what drove the goblins wild, her soul hanging out there like an untucked shirt.

Who hasn't wanted to be someone else or, more powerfully, to

be wanted by someone else?

Combined with swan wings and pearl handled stiletto knives and ghosts dancing deasil round the living.....this was beautiful and powerful and, yes, I cried.

Spicy Little Curses

4 stars

If

Goblin Fruit was wild and eclectic and raw,

Spicy Little Curses was more exotic and romantic and, well, spicy.

Kissing can ruin lives. Lips touch, sometimes teeth clash. New hunger is born with a throb and caution falls away. A cursed girl with lips still moist from her first kiss might feel suddenly wild, like a little monsoon. She might forget her curse just long enough to get careless and let it come true. She might kill everyone she loves.

She might, and she might not.

What an opening. The sense of atmosphere is amazing - I could

feel India - and the characters are more slow and deliberate, as is the romance (well, as slow and deliberate as a short story will allow). It is beautiful and amazing, if slightly less profound for me. If only these were published in a different order!

Hatchling

3 stars

The longest of the three, and boy does it feel like it. Of course, it's impossible to truly dislike anything written in Taylor's style, but the characters, plot, and, yes, even the settings - usually so decadent and enticing - failed to grip me. It was almost - dare I say it? -

bland. Annnnnnnnd......that's all I have to say.

I read this in middle school....I still remember the beginning passage describing the sun as an egg yolk.

DNF @ 15%.

Too weird for me. I didn't really realize how much of the story was historical fiction about Pontius Pilate. Maybe I'll come back to it at some point.

DNF @ 7%.

I just didn't find this very engaging from a storytelling perspective. I'd rather just read Lewis's nonfiction theology.

DNF at 17%.

I love VanderMeer's prose, and the characters felt like they had real depth, but the world was just too weird. Not for me.

DNF @ 40%.

This was truly terrible, and I am absolutely shocked to see all the positive reviews. The first quarter of the book was completely pointless and could have been left out entirely, and it didn't pick up much after that (40% of the way through, after nothing much had happened, I skipped to the end. I have NEVER done this, but it was the best decision I made tonight since the big ending with all it's "revelations" was entirely expected and not at all surprising or scary). Maud was truly a terrible person who I couldn't stand--she was vicious and whiny and judgmental. And the prose..... I had such high hopes, but the prose was less engaging than many of my college textbooks. I never felt immersed in any of the scenes, which felt like they had been dutifully recorded with the skill of a teenager marking down what they had for breakfast in their journal.

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