Fire and Lynburn Trilogy Thoughts
Jan. 31st, 2015 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaFire by Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg, second Engelsfors book
I loved it. I enjoyed the first book but found this one even better.
+ The fact that it switched between all the girls with more frequency probably played a part. But also the fact that this book finally had the girls becoming friends. With this book all the girls were finally creating bonds and trust with each other and I loved it. I love that all the various relationships got some development.
+ The body-switch was awesome and not as confusing to read as I was expecting. I did think it was obvious about why it happened and was shaking my head at the girls for not figuring it out for so long. I also loved how the bodyswitch helped the girls to understand each other better (Anna Karin - Ida), allowed the girls to help each other (Minoo - Linea, Vanessa - Anna Karin) or helped create a favourable impression (Minoo - Linea).
+ The biggest character growth and my own personal view of a character was Ida. I'm actually really impressed with what the writers did with her. I still disliked her when the book began. I continued to dislike her for most of the book. But then towards the end as she herself was slowly changing (slowwwly) I began to feel for her more and more. I think the scene at the centre with Eric and her fear and then her choosing Linnea was the turning point.
+ One thing that really stuck out was the comparison between Ida and Vanessa and specifically how they treated their friends. Of all the girls they are really the only ones we see with 'close' friends outside of the group and their behaviour with and attitude towards those friends couldn't be more different. Ida doesn't appear to even like her 'friends', she doesn't care about their opinions, finds them annoying most of the time, and finds her own comfort more important than their happiness. Meanwhile, Vanessa's friendship with her best friends is lovely. They close, caring and have each others backs. I loved it. The scene at the party where Vanessa leaves a hook up in order to comfort Michelle, succeeds, wipes her face with her dress (getting snot and mascara on it) and then goes dancing with them was great and highlighted how close they were.
+ I was really suprised when Ida died at the end. I guess after Rebekah I shouldn't have been surprised and now I'm worried about what could happen in the final book. At the same time with Ida apparently semi-sticking around - and I am so curious about what's happening with her and Matilda, and their role - I am also excited with the idea that we could see Rebekah again. I know it was stated that she and Elias passed but as Chosen Ones couldn't they have stuck around too?
+ I loved how Vanessa's realisation that Linnea was everything she wanted in a partner and that she didn't love Willie anymore played out.
+ I liked Adriana choosing the girls, Minoo erasing her memory to save her and that she agreed with it. I hope she gets it back next book.
+ I'm really, really hoping that Erik gets some sort of punishment in the next book. I don't care how but he tried to murder Linnea and is such a horrible person that it needs to happen.
Untold and Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan
For the most part I quite enjoyed this trilogy. I liked the writing which I found very light and breezy, occasionally humourous and an easy read.
+ I liked all the characters especially Kami.
+ For the most part I liked Kami/Jared but by the third book their constant miscommunications was getting very old. I was over it.
+ I loved what the books did with the Ash/Jared/Lillian relationships.
+ I liked how Holly/Angela played out and Kami's friendships with both of them.
+ My biggest issue came about mid-way through the final book. Now all the characters do some really dumb stuff in the series but for the most part it makes sense for the character and it didn’t bother me much. And then we get Jon shooting Rob purposefully in the leg, which was dumb but understandable. Which was then followed by Claire giving all of Rob’s sorcerers food poisoning, and only food poisoning not any other kind, in order to free Kami and Jon, also understandable. They’re regular people and yes they’re under attack but murder is hard for some people so while it annoyed me I understood it.
What ended up pissing me off so much was that after incapacitating Rob and his sorcerers, enough to cause the protective flames around Aurimere to go down, Kami and her parents just kind of shrug their shoulders and go ‘eh, deal with him tomorrow’. When I read that I literally thought – “are you kidding me? What the fuck are you doing you idiots?! That’s it, you all deserve to die. I don’t give a crap”. Just… seriously?? Their side is outnumber and outpowered to a ridiculous degree, Kami was the one who wanted to do a surprise attack on Rob in the previous book, this was the freaking best time to attack Rob.
It’s actually made even worse in the following chapter when it’s revealed that a) they didn’t tell anyone on their side about what happened (minus Ash who Kami asked to keep quiet about it) which could have been very bad if Rob had directed his anger at them, and, most importantly, b) they literally went back to their house and went to bed. WTFF?!!! I thought the chapter before it pissed me off but that one felt like a last straw. There are so many layers of stupidity here. Kami even acknowledges it by musing how stupid she was not to expect them to recover so quickly. Yeah, especially considering that after leaving the Manor she even thought that they would have to go into hiding. WTF were her parents thinking? It actually feels super out-of-character with regards to Claire. Kami ends up thinking ”This is what came of standing against Rob.” - no, just no. This is what comes with being a freaking moron. Ugh. It annoyed me so much I had to stop reading just to write this.
+ I found Rob’s defeat rather lackluster. I felt like considering how powerful he was throughout and with Rusty’s sacrifice he didn’t prove to be the expected level of threat at the end and I didn’t really get Kami’s role (why did she go driving around the town on Holly’s bike?).
+ Rusty's sacrifice seemed a bit unnecessary.
+ For the most part I liked how the series ended and I really liked that end scene with everyone together - Jon and Claire not automatically back together but both trying, Lillian an accepted part of the group, lazy Angela with her girlfriend, Kami and Jared together and her reveal that she didn't break their link.
I loved it. I enjoyed the first book but found this one even better.
+ The fact that it switched between all the girls with more frequency probably played a part. But also the fact that this book finally had the girls becoming friends. With this book all the girls were finally creating bonds and trust with each other and I loved it. I love that all the various relationships got some development.
+ The body-switch was awesome and not as confusing to read as I was expecting. I did think it was obvious about why it happened and was shaking my head at the girls for not figuring it out for so long. I also loved how the bodyswitch helped the girls to understand each other better (Anna Karin - Ida), allowed the girls to help each other (Minoo - Linea, Vanessa - Anna Karin) or helped create a favourable impression (Minoo - Linea).
+ The biggest character growth and my own personal view of a character was Ida. I'm actually really impressed with what the writers did with her. I still disliked her when the book began. I continued to dislike her for most of the book. But then towards the end as she herself was slowly changing (slowwwly) I began to feel for her more and more. I think the scene at the centre with Eric and her fear and then her choosing Linnea was the turning point.
+ One thing that really stuck out was the comparison between Ida and Vanessa and specifically how they treated their friends. Of all the girls they are really the only ones we see with 'close' friends outside of the group and their behaviour with and attitude towards those friends couldn't be more different. Ida doesn't appear to even like her 'friends', she doesn't care about their opinions, finds them annoying most of the time, and finds her own comfort more important than their happiness. Meanwhile, Vanessa's friendship with her best friends is lovely. They close, caring and have each others backs. I loved it. The scene at the party where Vanessa leaves a hook up in order to comfort Michelle, succeeds, wipes her face with her dress (getting snot and mascara on it) and then goes dancing with them was great and highlighted how close they were.
+ I was really suprised when Ida died at the end. I guess after Rebekah I shouldn't have been surprised and now I'm worried about what could happen in the final book. At the same time with Ida apparently semi-sticking around - and I am so curious about what's happening with her and Matilda, and their role - I am also excited with the idea that we could see Rebekah again. I know it was stated that she and Elias passed but as Chosen Ones couldn't they have stuck around too?
+ I loved how Vanessa's realisation that Linnea was everything she wanted in a partner and that she didn't love Willie anymore played out.
+ I liked Adriana choosing the girls, Minoo erasing her memory to save her and that she agreed with it. I hope she gets it back next book.
+ I'm really, really hoping that Erik gets some sort of punishment in the next book. I don't care how but he tried to murder Linnea and is such a horrible person that it needs to happen.
Untold and Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan
For the most part I quite enjoyed this trilogy. I liked the writing which I found very light and breezy, occasionally humourous and an easy read.
+ I liked all the characters especially Kami.
+ For the most part I liked Kami/Jared but by the third book their constant miscommunications was getting very old. I was over it.
+ I loved what the books did with the Ash/Jared/Lillian relationships.
+ I liked how Holly/Angela played out and Kami's friendships with both of them.
+ My biggest issue came about mid-way through the final book. Now all the characters do some really dumb stuff in the series but for the most part it makes sense for the character and it didn’t bother me much. And then we get Jon shooting Rob purposefully in the leg, which was dumb but understandable. Which was then followed by Claire giving all of Rob’s sorcerers food poisoning, and only food poisoning not any other kind, in order to free Kami and Jon, also understandable. They’re regular people and yes they’re under attack but murder is hard for some people so while it annoyed me I understood it.
What ended up pissing me off so much was that after incapacitating Rob and his sorcerers, enough to cause the protective flames around Aurimere to go down, Kami and her parents just kind of shrug their shoulders and go ‘eh, deal with him tomorrow’. When I read that I literally thought – “are you kidding me? What the fuck are you doing you idiots?! That’s it, you all deserve to die. I don’t give a crap”. Just… seriously?? Their side is outnumber and outpowered to a ridiculous degree, Kami was the one who wanted to do a surprise attack on Rob in the previous book, this was the freaking best time to attack Rob.
It’s actually made even worse in the following chapter when it’s revealed that a) they didn’t tell anyone on their side about what happened (minus Ash who Kami asked to keep quiet about it) which could have been very bad if Rob had directed his anger at them, and, most importantly, b) they literally went back to their house and went to bed. WTFF?!!! I thought the chapter before it pissed me off but that one felt like a last straw. There are so many layers of stupidity here. Kami even acknowledges it by musing how stupid she was not to expect them to recover so quickly. Yeah, especially considering that after leaving the Manor she even thought that they would have to go into hiding. WTF were her parents thinking? It actually feels super out-of-character with regards to Claire. Kami ends up thinking ”This is what came of standing against Rob.” - no, just no. This is what comes with being a freaking moron. Ugh. It annoyed me so much I had to stop reading just to write this.
+ I found Rob’s defeat rather lackluster. I felt like considering how powerful he was throughout and with Rusty’s sacrifice he didn’t prove to be the expected level of threat at the end and I didn’t really get Kami’s role (why did she go driving around the town on Holly’s bike?).
+ Rusty's sacrifice seemed a bit unnecessary.
+ For the most part I liked how the series ended and I really liked that end scene with everyone together - Jon and Claire not automatically back together but both trying, Lillian an accepted part of the group, lazy Angela with her girlfriend, Kami and Jared together and her reveal that she didn't break their link.
