Fantasy Reads discussion

This is for me and El to Buddy Read "An Unkindness Of Magicians". If anyone wants to join us, you can tell us here :)

Hey El! I started the book. Did you?
And Oh God, the POVs are changing so fast it's giving me a whiplash :D

Hey I just read till Ch 11 and (view spoiler)[Laurent is such a cinnamon roll( ˘ ³˘) (hide spoiler)]

Really sorry! Crazy awful weekend (finally over), I've started "an unkindness of magicians" and I'll read a lot more in the next few days ;)

I read Ch23 (view spoiler)[and I don't think of myself as a person who enjoys gory death but I'd be lying if Grey's death didn't give me Oh so muchhh pleasure. I just wish it could have been Harper. (hide spoiler)]

Chap 3 (view spoiler)[ Oh my god, Grey is a fucking serial killer!! I was NOT expecting this, especially from the best friend of a seemingly-nice main character. Very good development, I'm really eager to see what comes next. Beside that, so far : I'm interested in the story, quite curious about the challenges 😉 and really satisfied by introduction to the system of the Houses and the Turning (we don't know everything yet but so far it's clear, developed and consistent : which I love). As for the characters, there are many of them, so they haven't been all properly presented and so I'm not invested in any of them so far but it's only the beginning (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Hey El I'm really sorry, but now the book is picking up pace and I think I'll finish it today. I'm physically incapable of not reading now.
Which chapter are you on?

(view spoiler)[I wish Miles could have been killed by Grace. (hide spoiler)]

I'm in the middle of chapter six but do finish, I'll finish before saturday ;) and we can talk about it.

And I'm supposed to be the fast reader ;)

😅 In my defense, our teachers aren't giving enough homework to keep us busy, and this pandemic isn't allowing me go outdoors (not that I wouldn't have stayed at home to read books anyways)
I've got nothing better to do, you take your time and savour the book. Saturday it is!

Ashi✿TheAvidReader wrote: "Hey I just read till Ch 11 and [spoilers removed]"

So true ;) but where the hell did he live for the past 10 years ?!

I'm not surprised that Laurent didn't know about the nasty shadow business, it's obviously one of those things that everyone knows but no one really talks about.(view spoiler)[ Human sacrifices aren't a polite topic of conversation. But yeah, Laurent is too oblivious.
Possibly, Grey specifically avoided telling him such things. (hide spoiler)]

I read it! (view spoiler)[Honestly, I felt ot was a little anticlimactic. The ending was exactly as expected. Actually, the entire book was pretty straight forward. No twists, no turns, nothing unexpected. (hide spoiler)]

Finished it as well ;) ! (view spoiler)[ I completely agree with you ! Everything is so smooth, with almost no bumps in the road. It's satisfying to see them succeed with everything they do but on the other hand, there's not much tension. And I was expecting at some point that we would understand Sydney's masterplan but in the end (she can say whatever she wants) there wasn't a real plan at all (and she mostly just got very lucky, learning the right things at the right time although she did use well these informations).
Oh and there really wasn't enough character development and relationships development : grey was well done, we get sydney's character throughout her actions in the book and she's cool but I didn't love her, I think that was my problem with all the characters, they're not bad at all, you kinda like them but you don't love them and so basically I was okay with everything that could happen to them because I didn't feel connected enough to them.
But in spite of it flaws, I was interested in the plot and the world and read it quite easily so it's a 3,5 stars for me. How about you ?
(hide spoiler)]

Oh! That's nice you finished early! I was getting restless with the need to talk to somebody!
Yeah, I agree(view spoiler)[ Sydney did not have an actual plan. She got lucky so many times, like what if Miles hadn't held her hands before her duel? What if she had not got the spring magic at that time of duel? She would have remained bound to shadows? What if Miles/Grey hadn't interrupted between her duel with Ian? Would she just have killed him? And what if Lara hadn't agreed to work with them, if she was evil or power-hungry? Her plan hinged on chances too much.
And that duel with Ian, she should have made a plan with him. Like couldn't they just not cast a spell and pretend magic wasn't working? Then Ian could have forfeited on the grounds of failure of magic. Challenging Ian then ignoring him a tad cruel.
I too did not connect with any of the characters. There were too many perspectives for a 300 page book. The plot was convulated too, so none of the characters got proper attention and they felt 2D.
It was 3/3.5 read for me too. I had heard a lot of praise for this one so I had high expectations... (hide spoiler)]

I love so much to buddy read, it's so nice to be able to talk to someone right after finishing a book! (view spoiler)[ You're so right! That's exactely what I meant. And yeah : the duel with Ian, just, no. We didn't even see Sydney struggle internally about it! The fact that she's so compassionate towards Grace balanced it a bit but she was just cold blooded with Ian, and it was just stupid : she had no plan and it was her only ally. And their argument afterwards : like she's blaming him for not forfeiting : he might have if she had at least explained to him she had no choice but to challenge him, or, like you said, even better, thought of a plan.
Yeah, same for the characters, and some people are like : it's okay it's just no a character driven book, but I'm sorry all really good books have to be in parts at least, characters driven, or you don't like them and thus don't care about what happens to them, and thus don't care about the plot.
Yeah, me too, I don't know if you follow Murphy Napier, she's a booktuber I often (although don't always) agree with and she loved this book so I also had a lot of expectations... But I don't regret reading it, although it has many flaws, it's the kind of fast paced book nice enough to read, and I had an okay time reading it. Besides, I think I would have read it at some point this month (i was too curious) and I'm happy I buddy read it with you this way, it would have been just disappointing alone but my frustrations are eased by the fact that I can share them with you (and you agree with me ;) ) I hope you feel the same way and don't resent me for offering to read this book...
(hide spoiler)]

Yeah I heard of this book from one of Murphy's video only. She gave it 5 stars, so I thought i'd like it too, probably.
[I've seen some one her videos, but I don't follow her (I don't watch youtube videos much)]

NO! Ofc not! why would you think I'd 'resent' you for suggesting this book? (And actually i had suggested it first I'm partially to blame too)
Anyways it's all part of the reading experience...

And as for the book I wasn't frustrated with it, more like disappointed. But although the characters weren't fleshed out, I loved the magic system and world-building. The plot of the novel was amazing, I felt it hadn't been executed properly. There were too many moving parts and sub-plots to be contained in one 300-page book. Maybe author could have made this into 2 books? To give the characters the flashlight they deserved (for ex. Harper's entire story revolved around Rose so it would have been better if we got some Rose+Harper flashbacks or something Or some more Ian+Lara scenes) (view spoiler)[ Or Grey being friends with Laurent, so his serial-killer reveal could have been more shocking, (which I think was revealed too early to be impactful.) (hide spoiler)]

Yeah , you're right ;) ! If you want to buddy read again (now or ever), I'm your girl ;)

(view spoiler)[ What did you think of that Grey's death? I was so disappointed! The ghosts illusion was cool, but his death still felt too sudden. Just like that scene where Sydeny duels Shadows House. THAT WAS SOOO ANTI-CLIMATIC! The whole book we had been reading about how cruel, and powerful Shadows is. Then Sydeny just goes there, challenges the house, and wins! EASILY! Couldn't she at least prepare a bit for that life-changing duel, or a least break a sweat!
Sydeny is so over-powered, I'd like to read the next book just to see how she's coping up, lol......Anyways, I'm not sure the next book will be any good, Generally, if the author tries to make a sequel of a stand-alone it doesn't go very well. (hide spoiler)]

El wrote: "Yeah , you're right ;) ! If you want to buddy read again (now or ever), I'm your girl ;)"

Sure, I'm gonna read 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, or Mexican Gothic or some other Thriller kinda book......are you interested?

I already read the 7 husbands of evelyn hugo (really good ;)) but I wanted to read "Dark Matter" (sci-fi thriller I heard great things about) and "The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" (also kind of a mystery/thriller I heard good things about ;) ), would one of them interest you ?

Ashi✿TheAvidReader wrote: "And as for the book I wasn't frustrated with it, more like disappointed. But although the characters weren't fleshed out, I loved the magic system and world-building. The plot of the novel was amaz..."
(view spoiler)[
I also really liked the premises and the overall plot but same, disappointed by the execution. And also a bit frustrated by some holes in the world-building and tournament (like how they are judged : if the magicians of the unseen world themselves vote, aren't they supposed to all assist to every challenge and isn't it problematic if there are alliances (like you could vote for the one you want to win, whether their performance was impressive or not).
And yes! flashbacks and informations on the past! A part of me thinks she doesn't want to read these flashbacks that much but that's probably just because, as I don't really like the characters, I don't want to see more of them but in the end that's precisely why we needed these bits . It wasn't super clear, did you get what I was trying to say ? (hide spoiler)]

Dark Matter seems interesting...When are you gonna start reading it? I'm gonna have to ask around for that book, let me see if I can get it...

El wrote: "Ashi✿TheAvidReader wrote: "And as for the book I wasn't frustrated with it, more like disappointed. But although the characters weren't fleshed out, I loved the magic system and world-building. The..."
Yeah I got it, you don't wanna read about characters you don't care about, but you won't care about them if you don't read them. Catch-22 😂...(view spoiler)[ yeah some basic things about The Unseen World were left unexplained. Like who decides when the Turning should be? Miranda was surprised, so obv the Heads of Houses don't. Neither Miles decided that. So who did? Magically decided? (hide spoiler)]

Ashi✿TheAvidReader wrote: " What did you think of that Grey's death? I was so disappointed! The ghosts illusion was cool, but his death still felt too sudden. Just like that scene where Sydeny duels Shadows House. THAT WAS S..."
I totally agree with you, so quick and easy! And I really wished Grey had suffered more! And I just realised : Sydney had that power before the challenge with Ian, she could have just detroyed the House before the challenge and problem solved !
Other inconsistency : the author never tells us how Sydney and Verenice got out of Shadows and I find it weird they were able to go out at all, why would they be trained or allowed to go out in the first place ? I mean, what could Shadows gain from that ?

Ashi✿TheAvidReader wrote: "Dark Matter seems interesting...When are you gonna start reading it? I'm gonna have to ask around for that book, let me see if I can get it..."
Whenever you want. I actually read mostly ebooks so I get books in one clic ;) but I have other books to read in the meantime if you don't find it easily

Ashi✿TheAvidReader wrote: "El wrote: "Ashi✿TheAvidReader wrote: "And as for the book I wasn't frustrated with it, more like disappointed. But although the characters weren't fleshed out, I loved the magic system and world-bu..."
I hadn't even thought about that but you're right! Same for when it ends!

El wrote: "Ashi✿TheAvidReader wrote: " What did you think of that Grey's death? I was so disappointed! The ghosts illusion was cool, but his death still felt too sudden. Just like that scene where Sydeny duel..."
Oh yess! Why did she wait even one second, as soon as she was alright, she could have gone and destroyed the house!
I think that the sacrifices are given brutal training to enhance their magic, so Shadows can get more out of them (as Sydeny said, most don't survive) So the few who don't die would have to be exceptionally powerful. And as Shara can not leave the Shadows she sends those few who to do her bidding in the Unseen World, in return of their eventual freedom.

Ashi✿TheAvidReader wrote: "El wrote: "Ashi✿TheAvidReader wrote: " What did you think of that Grey's death? I was so disappointed! The ghosts illusion was cool, but his death still felt too sudden. Just like that scene where ..."
Thanks for the explanation, makes sense this way !