NY-Times By the Book Tag

This tag was created by Marie Berg over on her YouTube channel. Check out the original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRpxSlKNndo

This is just a fun little Tag to discuss a few books, what I am currently reading, how I organize my books etc. I hope you guys like it! :)

1. What book is on your nightstand now?
Right now it’s Prince’s Gambit by C.S. Pacat. I usually keep more than one book on my nightstand, since I mostly read two or more book at the same time, but right now it’s just this one.

2. What was the last truly great book that you read?
This is kind of hard to answer. A “truly great book” has to be something special, something I loved through and through, and had no problems with whatsoever. But when I thought about this question, there was one book in particular that always just came to my mind: Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat. This book/series did something with me. I find myself thinking about these characters at completely random times during the day, and that is what really convinced me that this was a truly awesome book! As I am reading the second book right now, I am just falling in love with this series, the world, and especially the characters more and more. (But seriously, can I get my own Damen? Please?) 

Captive Prince Review:  HERE

3. If you could meet any writer – dead or alive – who would it be? And what would you want to know?
This is so hard for me to answer, as I have so many favorite authors (seriously, like thousands), but I think I would love to meet Becky Albertalli one time. I wouldn’t necessarily ask her a lot of things, but just chat about her book, (and her upcoming book to see if I can get anything out of her) and of course about our shared love for Oreos!
(rather old) Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda Review: HERE

4. What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?
I am usually not a big New Adult reader, so it might surprise people that I actually have the Fallen too far series by Abbi Glines on my shelf. This is the only NA series I have, and I guess that will stay that way for sometime now, as I am more of a fantasy reader.

5. How do you organize your personal library?
I do not really have a system for organizing my books, but I like to keep similar genres together. Dystopian ties into Fantasy, which ties into Fairytale-Retellings and so on.

 
6. What book have you always meant to read and haven’t gotten around to yet? Anything you feel embarrassed never to have read?
Shame on me, I have not read the whole Harry Potter series. *Tomatoes get thrown onto the stage* BUT WAIT LET ME EXPLAIN! I meant to read this series for ages, and I actually wanted to finish it this May, but then University got in my way, and I didn’t have the time or the energy to finish it. However, now that I have holidays, I shall conquer the last three books that are remaining! I promise!

7. Disappointing, overrated, just not good: what book did you feel you were supposed to like but didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
I actually never DNF books, because I think that I am only able to fully judge a book when I completely finished it. The last book I didn’t really LOVE was A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I went into this book FULLY expecting to love it (since one of my best friends is a huge fan of the series, and we usually have the same reading taste), but I guess the writing and the characters just weren’t for me, sadly.
A Court of Thorns and Roses Review: HERE

8. What kinds of stories are you drawn to? Any you stay clear of?
Fantasy is my favorite genre, and thus I guess I would always feel more drawn to fantasy stories. I love to get sucked into a completely fictional world, and just get lost in it. Anything where the main character has a supernatural power, or anything set in a medieval setting (or both combined) is the best thing in the world for me! However, I also do like contemporary stories once in a while. Technically you can say that I read everything in the YA genre. What I never reach for though, are Thrillers and Detective stories. I don’t know why, I am just not interested in those kinds of genres. And another one I hardly reach for, as I mentioned earlier, is the NA genre.

9. If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?
I have to be honest with you: I do not really read a lot of non-fiction books, or classics, which I think would fit a president best. One book I would make everyone read however, also the president, would be More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera. And I will not stop until everyone on this planet has read this book!
(Rather old) More Happy Than Not Review: HERE

10. What do you plan to read next?
I have huge reading plans for August actually, but first I have to finish the Captive Prince series, so I will continue with Kings Rising, after I’ve finished Prince’s Gambit, probably.

I had so much fun doing this tag, and I really hope you guys enjoyed reading this post! What book is currently on your nightstand?
See you guys next time!

Review: Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

“It was like watching a man smile as he surrendered himself to drown in deep water.”

“A golden prince was easy to love if you did not have to watch him picking wings off flies.”

Plot:

Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the truthful heir to the throne of Akielos, but when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.
Beautiful, manipulative and deadly, his new master Prince Laurent epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country.
For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else...

My opinion:

I SHIP THESE TWO SO MUCH. I AM ALL THE SHIPS. ALL OF THEM.

As you may be able to tell from the rating, I liked this book. A lot. I was expecting to like it going into it, despite all the controversy, and I was not disappointed to say the least.

I understand why people don't like this book, and why they think it's very problematic. I agree, some scenes really ARE problematic. People say this book glorifies rape and sex slavery, and thus they can't enjoy a book like that. However, I didn't see it that way. There is a reason why the Prince of the kingdom these things take place in doesn't participate in any of it. Do you think that's because he approves of it? Probably not. He rejects it, and because he is not the one who is ruling yet, he can't do a lot of other things about it, other than just not participating. Same with the main character Damen. He despises it, says numerous times how he is disgusted by some of these practices. These scenes were there not to glorify this, it was just part of the world building. Those scenes were written in order to understand the world they live in and the system they have. So, it wasn't that disturbing for me. Again, I do not say that things should be this way, not at all. But i understand and accept why the author did it.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the characters. I loved them, although there are like 0 women in the story. I have never read anything quite like this before, and it was definitely interesting to explore. Laurent is an interesting character and I really can't wait to see how he will develop. All the other characters were, even though the book was just 240 pages long, well described and developed, which I loved. But what I loved the most was definitely the chemistry between Laurent and Damen (OTP – status right there). Laurent, the dismissive, passive Prince, and Damen, the one who gets thrown into this whole new world and tries to cope with everything surrounding him. If that doesn’t seem like a great match, I don’t know what does. I hope all my feels will somehow get satisfied in the next books though.
Furthermore, I liked the story and how the plot unfolded in the last few pages, and I am definitely interested to see where this story will go.
What more can I say, other than I really like this book.

My version also had an extra short story at the end called "The Training of Erasmus", so I will talk a little bit about this story too.
It tells the story of Erasmus who is trained to be a slave in Damen’s kingdom, but then gets shipped to Vere.
This story again gives us insight on how this whole system works, and it again was (in my opinion) important for the overall world building and plot. You understand that whole slave-system better when reading the story, which is important. Erasmus is a great character and I really loved seeing how he came to be in Vere in the first place. In fact, I think this should always be part oft he main book, as it answers some more questions concerning the kingdom they live in.

Rating:

4,5/5 ★ (and a lot of hope for the next two books)

Review: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

“To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered.”

Plot: *SPOILERS*

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world cleaved in two.

My opinion:

Although this book was better than the first one, it again just left me feeling kind of meh.

In general I was annoyed by all the things that also weren't that great in the first book (Feyre, writing, plot -> see my review for the first book). But there are also new things I didn't like. Yes, there are.

• What drove me completely nuts this time was the fact that everything was just shoved down our throats. Every ship, every action. You didn't have any other choice than to "ship" these people, although I really didn't. Every person just oh so conveniently fell in love with another person in the main-character squad. Yay! How awesome! Just don't bring in any variety please! Variety is bad!
• Another thing I didn't like is the character development choices the author made. This book is told in first person, which doesn't give us much variety in itself, but if you chose to let a character develop like this, you also have to show us his POV, and not only talk about him through other people, otherwise this can’t be justified. This drove me nuts. Don't get me wrong, I love all the new people from the night court that were presented, but oh my, the other courts could build nuclear weapons and nobody would care! This also ties into the "everything get shoved down our throats" thing. I do not say that a certain persons actions *cough* were right, they certainly weren’t, but maybe show us his side of things too?
• If you remember my first review, you know that I loved Lucien. He is my favorite character by far, but he wasn't even mentioned in 99% of the book. What even you guys. What even.
• Plus: the plot. Even though there was more action than in the first one, it always was the same pattern. Dialogue, difficult quest, miracle happens and they get out of it, dialogue, repeat. Thus, everything was rather ... boring, because I knew they would get out of it eventually. Half of the things which happened didn't even make sense, because the author didn't clarify enough what this particular item was needed for etc.
• For my taste, the book was a bit too long. No, far too long. By page 400 I just didn’t want anymore. I wanted to put the book down and just forget about it. I didn’t care about the characters anymore (and thus chapter 55 didn’t really touch me that much), I didn’t care about the plot, I just wanted it to be over. So much describing unnecessary things, soooo much dialogue.
• Lastly, the “wow” factor that I REALLY expected to have with this one just kind of went missing. A certain thing happens between the protagonists, which was clear t me from the beginning on, but apparently not to everybody else, because they were so shocked about it. But I read it and just felt like, meh. Alright then. (“And that was that”, as it is said 1000 times in the book)

But hey, there were also good things. Like, some.

• The action was actually THERE in the first few hundred pages, not like in the last book, which made me happy. Although it always was the same pattern, it was better than when nothing happens.

• The new characters that are introduced were amazing! I love Mor, I love Azriel, I love Cassian, I love everyone, so much. Unfortunately just not the main character, so when those characters didn’t speak I was rather … annoyed I suppose. But Mor is awesome! Yay for her!

• Another thing I liked was that the “villain” concept kind of reminded me of one of my most favorite series of all time, Falling Kingdoms. They are kind of fighting a far off kingdom, same like in Falling Kingdoms, and I love me some Morgan Rhodes vibes!

• The ending was great! Although I knew something was up with that guy from the other court *cough*, I loved to see these two guys come back. And hey, Lucien was there too! Who remembered Lucien at this point? Probably nobody, as I thought he was dead because he wasn’t mentioned a single time (Okay I am sorry, I am just mad that he wasn’t there. But why wasn’t he? How about a second POV that shows us this court’s … okay I will stop.) Same as in the last book, the last 100 pages were awesome, but that’s not enough. The book could’ve ended like that 200 pages earlier, and it would have been an amazing book, but it just dragged on too long.

All in all, the real action just picked up the last 100 pages, same as in the last book, and the ending was brilliant, but 100 pages are too less for a 640-page book.
I am not sure if I am going to read the third book in the series, but honestly I kind of just lost interest.

Rating:

3 | 5 ★