Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow starting April 10, 2021.

Perfect timing since I started it today. Thanks Niki.

Hailee wrote: "Perfect timing since I started it today. Thanks Niki."

Phew! You're welcome :)

Thanks Niki...

I read some of the first chapter on the way to work yesterday...

Seems like it's gonna be a rough book (for the characters)...

I read Part 1 today:

I'm finding the characters and the story interesting. The writing style isn't quite my cup of tea but I can ignore that easily enough.

(view spoiler)[I like that we have started to get to the bottom of why the sisters seem to distrust each other. Now I really want to know now though Bella thinks that "[Agnes] can't be trusted when it counted" (hide spoiler)]

Good to hear... I think I agree about the writing style... half the reason I paused mid-chapter 1ish, is I didn't think it was a book I wanted to listen to at work...

I've read the first 3 chapters and I liked how they introduced each character in a similar way!
I'm excited to read more but I'll be pretty slow.

no worries

Ohh I might join in on this one! that’s very last minute 😅 I gotta finish some other books quickly 🙈

Siobhan wrote: "I've read the first 3 chapters and I liked how they introduced each character in a similar way!
I'm excited to read more but I'll be pretty slow."

I liked the symmetry of those chapters as well.

Just finished chapter 14

(view spoiler)[So we've found out why Bella distrust Agnes. I'm guessing by her story that it wasn't her that ratted Agnes assignation with that boy then (hide spoiler)]

I don't feel like this book is clicking with me... somehow, the narration feels fast, even at 2x speed, my slower listening speed of late...

The characters/story feel like they're passing me by without me retaining much detail...

I'm about 15% in now.. (view spoiler)[ and the sisters have reunited... not much has come of it... the first sisters is contemplating abortion, the witchy sister is joining the suffrage movement... and I'm not sure who/what the other sister is doing... is she the one getting seduced by the older married woman?... (hide spoiler)]

The most catching thing, for me, has been that the Brothers Grimm are the Sisters Grimm, and the stories hide truths?

Yeah basically the oldest sister Bella is (view spoiler)[having a "thing" with the Miss Quinn (the married woman), Agnes is considering abortion and Juniper the youngest is joining the suffragists (hide spoiler)]

I'm a lot further along now at the end of chapter 22.

I find myself constantly find myself kind of interested in what is coming next but yet being bored with what is happening. It a weird book. I definitely don't like the writing style and don't truely care about the characters.

(view spoiler)[They have just found the tower now, so again kind of interested in how that pans out but the finding of it was still not really holding my interest (hide spoiler)]

If this book wasn't for a reading challenge I might have been tempted to DNF by now even though I'm not hating it I'm reading two meh books at the moment. Still at least I've passed the 50% mark now.

I paused after my last post... I'm on the fence about continuing...

I updated my spreadsheet and got better track of my BRs this month and found myself a bit overbooked, with my much curbed reading/day...

Been loving Kings of the Wyld, and have Bones of the Past, Wake Me After the Apocalypse, and Empire in Black and Gold on my plate around now, too...

And then I realized I stopped updating GR in March 2020... I've got like 400 books to rate................................................. I did January 2021s books, but that's it...

Wow that sounds like a task to get yourself caught up. I don't envy you. I'm like 12 books behind on my CAWPILE rating spreadsheet and that intimates me.

If you are struggling to decide whether to DNF maybe give yourself another 50 pages and then make a decision. Don't force yourself to continue if you don't want to... too many books for that.

I'm hoping to start Empire in Gold and Black as soon as I've finished The Witch's Boy so either tomorrow or Saturday 🤞

Just reached the end of chapter 30:

(view spoiler)[Shit has really hit the fan now that Hill has taken office. I'm rr3ally curious to find out more about Hill.

When he talked about the original 3 hiding the tower, he made it sound like he was there at the time... maybe he was. (hide spoiler)]

Hailee wrote: "I read Part 1 today:

I'm finding the characters and the story interesting. The writing style isn't quite my cup of tea but I can ignore that easily enough.

[spoilers removed]"

I just finished part 1 and I'm really interested to know that too! (view spoiler)[ It seems they all have incorrect notions about what the others did. Hopefully they can sort out all of their grievances. (hide spoiler)]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I don't feel like this book is clicking with me... somehow, the narration feels fast, even at 2x speed, my slower listening speed of late...

The characters/story feel like they're passing me by wi..."

The Sisters Grim... Yeah I noticed that too! And other little mentions of old stories etc, whenever they would have been male are changed to female.

Gosh, I'm kind of behind on this book 🙈

I finished chapter 4 only at this point, but hope I can get on track soon, looking forward to see how everything unfolds!

Siobhan wrote: "I've read the first 3 chapters and I liked how they introduced each character in a similar way!
I'm excited to read more but I'll be pretty slow."

I really liked the first three chapters as well :)

I'll put some effort into reading some more of this soon, as a bit of a final chance @Hailee...

Interesting how many more people showed up... maybe they'll inspire me with comments :D

It's a happy coincidence that you guys planned a buddy read! ☺️ I planned a read with a friend from bookstagram!

I finished this on Wednesday and forgot to say. I rated this a low 3 stars. Closer to 2.5 to be honest. The ending was quite satisfying but it didn't affect me emotionally like I have seen it do for some people.

Shame really. All the other group books for the reading challenge have been winners despite them normally being outside my comfort zone but this one was the one I was least sure about and I guess it proved me right.

Hailee wrote: "I finished this on Wednesday and forgot to say. I rated this a low 3 stars. Closer to 2.5 to be honest. The ending was quite satisfying but it didn't affect me emotionally like I have seen it do fo..."

That seems to be a theme in the non-glowing reviews, from what I remember... "I didn't love it like everyone else seems to"

Ugh, I have to pause this and come back to it at a later time. Suddenly there's so many BRs in May of books that I've really wanted to read for a while 😅

Hailee wrote: "Just reached the end of chapter 30:
"

I just reached this part now. (view spoiler)[ It feels pretty bleak with Hill in office! I don't know how they're going to survive. I'm scared for Eve too with her fever :(
I feel like the pacing has been really slow, but that might be just because I'm reading so slow. (hide spoiler)]