val_theburrowofstories's reviews
330 reviews

Oh good Lord I'm finally free!!! (I'm literally that meme of the guy breaking the handcuffs at sunset). That's it. I am DONE with Leigh Bardugo, I don't want to know anything else from the Grishaverse omfg so average.

I have had enough of popular book series and me forcing myself to finish them even though I'm having a boring time, is not worth it and I won't go into another reading slump this year because of it.

It actually makes me so angry how I expected greatness from this but it was so average. I guess you can't never 100% trust the popular opinion.

I was so excited at the beginning getting to know them all one by one when their names appeared and I was so ready to see their dynamics and I hoped for a found family, but this was so boring… There was no growth, there was no family, at beast there are duos. Each had ONE personality trait and nothing else, they were not especial and they didn’t have any deep.

This “mission” was so long and boring, pointless in the end.

I learnt my lesson trying to force myself to continue with the second book of Shadow and Bone and I ended up despising it and DNF it, so I won’t force myself with Crooked Kingdom.

This is a 3 ⭐, like it was good? but not excellent at all. I finished this for the sake of it, but I could not care less about what happens to these characters. I have zero interest in continuing with the duology, with the Grishaverse, or with anything new Leigh Bardugo writes.

I added this book to my TBR last year and I was supposed to start it months ago, but I ended up finally picking it up because of Bridgerton (Cressida saying Penelope and Polin are like Psyche and Eros) and I just knew it was time.

I enjoy Greek Mythology retellings so much and this was not an exception.

I remember reading a bit of the story of Eros and Psyche in that book by Rick Riordan talking about a bunch of different characters from Greek Mythology. But I’m glad I picked up this book that was mainly about this couple because I learn more stuff about their lives (even if it was to the interpretation of the author). It's so interesting to see the differences the authors do in retellings, and yet some major things don't change (like who is married to who, who is child of who, who kills who, who rules what).

It was so interesting to see other characters like Atalanta, Achilles, Patroclus, and especially Clytemnestra, Iphigenia and Agamenon because I just finished the book “Elektra” last month.

I love how Psyche was such a different female character. She was trained, she was prepared, she was ready for a fight with a monster, she literally went to the Underworld for Eros even after learning the truth about the curse. My girl was the hero here.

I just remembered Queen Charlotte (Netflix) saying “I will stand with you between the heavens and the Earth” and that’s so Psyche and Eros coded.

I love how this book made it sound like Persephone was the true ruler of the Underworld. But also made me remember how much of a b*tch Aphrodite and other Goddesses can be. Like, Hecate and Medusa who have “bad reputations” were better women than them.

I enjoyed the dual pov audiobook! I really like his voice but I’m sorry to say her voice was not doing it for me.

Overall, it was a 3.5 ⭐ for my taste. I’m happy for their happy ending <3

I knew I would take my time to read this book but the fact that I was in a reading slump made it worse. Thankfully I was out of it when I finished this so I was able to enjoy it.

This book was SOOO good, it was 4 ⭐ for me.

Despite the story, I find the narrator’s voice soothing and I love how she makes a different voice for each character.

I did not expect the story to go so quickly. I’m used to books where stories usually happen in such a short amount of time but this was maybe 3-4 years? I think if the author would’ve decided to make 1 book for each year of her in the school I would’ve read them too and they would’ve been great.

The first half is Rin basically preparing for school and then getting in and being a very good student to keep her place there. I liked it so much because I was proud of her and it felt like learning history with all the information about the other Poppy Wars.

Maybe she didn’t know completely what she was doing, but I admire her for literally eliminating menstruation and all that shit to be unstoppable. I’ll be needing the formula lol

Once the war started I was so in shock that I could not even cry from the horrors (check trigger warnings!), I wonder what the author has prepared for the next books.

I want to know more about the 13th division, I want to get to know them all because I think she might be spending so much more time with them and well I need to connect to someone to cry when they die lol besides their powers seems interesting.

The only two I kinda care about if something happens to them are Kitay (bc that’s maybe her only true friend) and Ramsa (he’s literally just a kid!)

I’m so ready to see how Rin will burn the enemy to the ground 🔥

More than 500 books in my TBR and I bet not even 15 are thriller, but this was one of the few exceptions and I found it available in Libby and felt like giving it a try!

I’m glad to report that it did not disappoint. It was a 3.5 ⭐ for me!

I can see why people could find this boring but I was so intrigued and I understood the character so much that I finished this so quickly, it was entertaining for me.

The husband deserved soooooo much worse than what he got 💀

At least the women ended up thriving and living in peace away from him so I was happy with that ending.

When I started this book I was in such a horrible reading slump for about 2 months and a half. I finished this and I felt like I was cured from this curse and I feel myself again going from book to book and enjoying them.

I’ve miss reading a GOOD book, a fantasy book that made me forget about everything else and I didn’t want to put down. This is definitely a 4 ⭐ for my taste.

This series has been on my TBR since 2018 and it’s so famous that of course I already know a couple of things that will happen but it didn’t bother me at all, I still enjoyed it a lot.

I was deciding between the normal audiobook or the graphic one, but at the end I chose the one read by just one narrator because I thought it was a better choice as a first time reader of this series and I’m glad I did. I liked her voice.

One funny thing and maybe the most surprising to me is how their names are pronounced. I thought Feyre was read like “faerie” but it’s “Fair-ah” and I thought Rhysand was like “rice-and” but it’s “Riz-sand” lol at least all the other names are pronounced the same way they’re written.

I know everyone hates Tamlin by the end of the trilogy, but at least for this book I allowed myself to like him since he hasn’t done anything wrong yet and I do like him.

Feyre’s sisters were a piece of work in the beginning, but I’m really intrigued to see how their relationship will develop, I hope it improves and they become closer.

I was suspicious of everything and everyone all the time because WHO gives you such comforts after you just killed their friend? But then SJM dropped all the information in one chapter and I got it. But it did make me nervous how Feyre would be suspicious for 5 seconds and then forget about it, but poor girl was just getting out of survival mode and breaking down her walls with all the comfort so I can’t blame her that much.

I can actually understand Amarantha’s hatred for humans (justified ngl), but it’s funny to me how she treats faeries and specially the Spring Court and Tamlin that way just because he would not f*ck her 💀 so she has Rhysand literally known as his wh*re lmao

Once again, the tiny little female human saving the world, what I did not expect was for her to

actually DIE and then have the 7 High Lords bringing her back to life as a High Fae!? like that was crazy.

But my girl deserved it after everything she did for these people.

 (Tried to read this in May 2024) 

Listening to this audiobook was a little confusing because I could not recognize who was speaking from who’s pov, it would’ve helped if they said the name of the character at the beginning. Other than that, I liked the three narrators!

I always like to read greek mythology book to remember the stories and see them from different povs. Here we got the pov of Clytemnestra, Elektra and Cassandra.

I have to admit that I do not understand why the book is called Elektra when it had 3 women describing their experiences before, during and after the the Trojan War, besides she is the one I liked the least from the 3 women…

Helen can go to the deepest hell by the way 😭 (at least the one in this book) next to her brother in law Agamemnon!

This book was basically telling the story we already know but from the pov of these 3 characters, but sadly there was nothing new, fantastic, original, or really entertaining.

I almost DNF this after Part 1 to be honest, but I kept going just because it’s Greek Mythology. And I mean, it was okay?? So 2 ⭐ in my opinion.

At the beginning I thought Finley was such a smart little girl and a sweetheart, but by the end I was a bit tired of her 😅 I’m sorry but I don’t usually read middle grade from a kid’s pov, I tried to understand her and remember that she’s only 11.

It made me happy to see her finally meet her cousins and spend quality time with them. But I don’t like the grandma or the aunts ngl and the grandfather is just there.

One thing I don’t understand is how this book is sold as fantasy. I had way different expectations for the book because of it and it’s not the kind of fantasy I like (was it even fantasy at all?

I listened to the audiobook and I think the narrator did an amazing job.

Overall, I liked the book so it’s a 3 ⭐. I think it would be a good book for kids who have parents who are divorcing, if they need to understand mental health a little better or just as a form of escapism.

 (Tried to read this in May 2024) 

 (Tried to read this in May 2024)