So let’s talk positives first. I had the same passion for this book that I had for the Harry Potter series when I first read it. Perhaps it was the reSo let’s talk positives first. I had the same passion for this book that I had for the Harry Potter series when I first read it. Perhaps it was the relatable trio that felt familiar. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for these fantasy novels that follow a group of kids with superpowers. Maybe. After mulling it over for a few days I’ve narrowed it down to this. The Green Boy has heart. Many books that I’ve read since I started reviewing were wonderful. Their world building was right on. Characters were perfectly developed. I could taste the food. Smell the perfumes. See the characters as they danced across the backs of my eyelids. Despite this many of them lacked heart. It felt like the author had lost interest and so eventually I too lost interest. I highlight this because there were many things, I took issue with in The Green Boy but if a sequel was released tomorrow I would be at my bookstore in minutes. Despite all of it’s flaws The Green Boy was very easy for me to enjoy. The biggest issue I had with The Green Boy was the grammatical errors. As an editor myself I attribute these errors to the editor rather than the authors. These grammatical errors often stood out like a sore thumb and distracted from the overall writing. Things like changes in subject verb agreement mid-sentence interrupted the overall flow. The dialogue as well always felt very stilted. Considering the book follows children this overly proper English feels out of place. The presence of anything resembling slang was completely absent from any conversations had by teen protagonists. Perhaps it would be better fit for a historical plot taking place in 1700’s wealthy England, but a fantasy/Sci-Fi novel that follows teenagers? Seems odd. Now it is worth mentioning that the dialogue was very consistent throughout the novel meaning this could be attributed to a stylistic choice on behalf of the authors. However due to what we know of the world and characters it’s just hard to tell. The last thing I want to touch on is the execution. The idea for this story is a good one. It’s interesting and has so many possibilities, unfortunately the execution was a bit off. The plot was easy enough to follow for the first two hundred or so pages, but the novel was littered with plot holes both major and minor. Alright let’s wrap this up. On a whole I thoroughly enjoyed The Green Boy both for it’s intriguing plot and it’s use of plot elements that I am fond of. The character chemistry was well done but as mentioned above it was absolutely not supported by the way in which the dialogue was written. The Green Boy is undoubtedly an interesting book, that pulls you in from the start. And while appropriate for readers of all ages I think the younger side of YA readers will find more interest, perhaps eleven and up. Readers will fall in love with the main characters and truly enjoy watching these relationships grow into friendship. As this is the first installment there will likely be more than a few more books in this series. Keep your eyes open for the next installment in The Chronicles of Agartha series. ...more
**spoiler alert** I think that there is allot to discuss regarding Kingdom Of Ash. But first lets go back to book one and the novellas.
Novellas- 3/5 **spoiler alert** I think that there is allot to discuss regarding Kingdom Of Ash. But first lets go back to book one and the novellas.
Novellas- 3/5 They were mildly interesting but very few characters stuck around for the main series and of the few that did only Yrene became a main player.
Throne of Glass - 5/5 This book was amazing, with action, romance and world building tied together perfectly... this book was everything I could ever want from a fantasy novel. Excellent character building combined with superb storytelling combine for a wonderful book.
Crown of midnight - 4/5 I loved this book, a bit slower perhaps than Throne of Glass but many of the love triangle issues from the first book are somewhat resolved. However this is the last book with the "original gang". The stakes are high and all decisions have severe repercussions.
Heir of Fire - 5/5 Wonderful continuation to the series, interesting new love interest as well as some new supporting characters.
Queen of shadows - 3/5 Slow but interesting. This book has it's moments where it absolutely shines but overall it fell short of the stranded set by the first three books in the series.
Empire of Storms - 4/5 This book was epic it had me laughing and crying it definatly brings back some of my favorite aspects from the first two books. In this book we begin to see a small erosion of the male characters (their personalities fall short of what was originally established) which was more than a little disappointing.
Tower of Dawn - 1/5 Oh god this book was just horrible. So many characters introduced last minute, trying to remember their names just gave me a headache.
Kingdom of Ash - 2/5 The beginning aka Aelin in the coffin dragged on FOREVER. The thought of her losing all her scars felt a bit like a cheap shot. Nox is back (yay!) Elide refuses to forgive a man who was a slave for a large part of his life and made a decision in his own favor but still regrets it. Besides her drama with Lorchan, Elide plays no role in this book. Gavreal is amazing as always but his death was insignificant and poorly written. Connal's death was too swift. Aedon and Lysandra have perhaps the most realistic relationship. Lysandra lies to Aedon therefore losing his trust. Aedon is constantly warring with his emotions because he does love Lysandra but the fact remains that he cannot trust her and he is still angry with her. Evangiline acts as their child and brings together. This book was well done. Manon and Dorian never had a relationship in the first place it was just sex. Glad they broke up. The thirteens death was poorly explained and even more poorly written. I've never cared much about the thirteen so I was actually glad to see them be killed off. They were annoying and added nothing to the story. Yrene's relationship with Chaol felt rushed. And why was she pregnant? What's the point of having a pregnant character if your just gonna send them into the worst of the battle? The best part of the book was when Dorian became a woman and groped himself. I laughed so hard. Then the moment was over and it was boring again. Anyways there's also the fact that this book had absolutly no stakes. Here is a short list of characters I would have killed off in this book: 1. Ren - adds literally nothing to the plot 2. Dorian - Should have been killed off while closing the gate 3. Lorchan - Has been reduced to Elide's punching bag. 4. Yrene - She is pregnant, and annoying. Her death could have tugged at our heart strings. 5. Chaol - As one of the original three (Chaol, Dorian and Celeana) his death would have pulled at every readers heart strings. 6. Manon - She is annoying 7. Evangaline - Show that there are stakes and that death does not discriminate by killing off a child. This would also make or break Lysandra and Aedon 8. Lysandra - If not Evangaline then Lysandra. She is annoying and a pawn in the later books. Loved her in Queen of Shadows but after that her character just diminished. 9. Hassar - Annoying 10. Nesryn - Nesryn is so freaking annoying. She was barely introduced properly and tbh I forgot she exsisted. She adds nothing to the story. 11. Sartaq - He is literally just Nesryn's manic pixie dream boy.
And here is a list of characters I have chosen to live. 1. Maeve - She had good reason to flee her valg life I think that she should have been banished to another realm opening up the oppertunity for a novella 2. Erawen - He said he loved his brothers I would love to see them reunited. See what valg life in their original dimension. Maybe have Erawen redeem himself and see the light. I could totally see him as an old storyteller. Or flee and pull and Ender Wiggen.
Just to clear some things up, I ship:
1. Dorian x Sorcha
2. Chaol x no one, ( him and Yrene just don't work)
3. Elide x Nox (They are closer in age than her and Lorchan and may have had the potential for immediate chemistry as they are both from Perranth)
4. Aelin x Rowan (or Fenrys they just went through so much together, however they do seem more like best friends.)
5. Manon x No one ( All she wants is sex and despite what most people have convinced themselves, she was never lesbian. She treats Elide like a little sister. She seems like the type of woman who would be a miserable partner. I'm glad Dorian got away.)
6. Aedon x Lysandra (Enough said)
Now to address one thing that absolutely ruined this book: the overwhelming, unending feminism. This book was pact full with feminism and it made the story almost unreadable. Here is a list of all the feminist ideas that made an appearance. 1. Men are nothing but disgusting dirt bags 2. Woman are their boyfriends/husbands keepers and their men should do as they say and not question them. They should also worship the ground they walk on or they are a dirtbag. 3. Women don't need men in their life 4. Men cannot be complex characters like their female counterparts. Instead they must be one of three generalizations: A brute, A love interest, or A jerk. 5. If a man likes sex he is a whore if a woman likes sex she is empowered. 6. Woman should rule, men should bow to them (there are 5 queens and 1 kings) and though these queens have husbands, not one of them is called king. Rowan is a freakin consort, what the heck. 7. If a woman lies repeatedly and/or betrays her friends it is presented as being heroic, if a man lies and/or betrays his friends it is presented as them being an awful person. 8. Only women can REALLY fight. Even the untrained female fighters are better than the ancient males with superpowers! 9. Guys only want sex The feminist ideals really messed the characters up. The amazing character development for characters like Chaol, Lorchan and Aedon were tossed to the wind in this book and they just became annoying, pining for their girlfriends. Again annoying. There were however a few male characters that weren't totally stripped of their personality for example Darrow and Fenrys and that is about it....more
Allow me to begin this review by saying that I loved Beneath The Earth. Having read All That Remains Of Me (another fantastic novel by H.S. Stone) I hAllow me to begin this review by saying that I loved Beneath The Earth. Having read All That Remains Of Me (another fantastic novel by H.S. Stone) I held a fairly high bar where Stone's writing is concerned before I even considered reading Beneath The Earth. So, I wasn't surprised when I found myself binge reading the book in my spare time and being whisked into a fictional land of monsters and drama. I was surprised however, when I finished the book and found myself less than thrilled with the ending. Let me explain... The novel revolves around a senior in high school, Laura as she faces off a monster that is pure nightmare fuel whilst trying to resolve an ongoing love triangle. Both themes by themselves make for an amazing novel but I found that the presumed romance in Laura's head left little room for her to emotionally react to the horrors going on around her. I found my willing suspension of disbelief slowly dissolving into frustration towards the end. I just couldn't believe any young woman would put her casual high school boyfriend and her popularity before her survival or before the survival of her friends. However, Beneath The Earth sports many well written elements. Stone excellently taps into the horror of the unknown. I could feel my pulse rushing every time I felt that Laura and her friends were in danger. Horror fans will love this book. Or, if you’re like me and your new to the genre this is a good place to start. It’s a nice thriller if you want to sit back and just enjoy being scared but still have to wake up early tomorrow. I would likely recommend this to friends and family because I think that everyone should read something now and then that gets their blood pumping and this book is perfect for that. For a horror novel it is surprisingly age appropriate. Beneath The Earth relies on the fears in the backs of our minds like a classic horror story however doesn’t take these fears to an explicit or otherwise inappropriate level. All in all this is definitely a good way to introduce yourself or a friend to the genre of thrillers. ...more
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