chaptersofmads's reviews
825 reviews

This was the book equivalent of a sleeve of bland crackers. It will technically feed you, but you'll be incredibly bored. 

I'm still loving this series, but I'm grateful to be done with this one.

"The stars would come and go. Fire was eternal."

Everything I hoped it would be.

This was absolutely my kind of book. A religion based magic system, unearthing corrupt history, royalty x guard romance, complex family dynamics, and the realities of how far one must go to keep what they love safe.

I loved so much about this book, but (surprisingly) my favorite part was following Leo - Ravani's king and Elena's father - as he grapples with his own humanity and the decisions he feels he has to make to be a good leader. The way his relationship with faith and life was handled was really interesting to me and it made me look forward to chapters that, written by another author, might have bored me.

The relationship was fantastic, if a bit more rushed than I'd like in a slow-burn fantasy series. (Take this with a grain of salt, they don't even hold hands until at least 400 pages in.) I loved the characters on their own and I appreciated that neither of them lost their own struggles to fawning over each other.

Also, this book is brutal and no one was safe (which I prefer!)

It was a bit predictable, but in the way that makes you feel satisfied as everything unfolds.

My main complaint would be that - despite being a rather slow-paced, 500+ page book - certain aspects were rather rushed. I can't give any examples without heading into spoiler territory, but what I will say is that I just wished things would have been given more time instead of just quickly being moved past.

Overall, though, this is exactly what I was hoping it would be and I cannot wait for the next book. If we usually have similar tastes in books, I definitely recommend this one.

"We all have magic in us - even if it never rises to the surface, it's in everyone, and everywhere."

Basically a magical swamp version of The Village (2004) with bad pacing, a focus on grief, and way too much of the plot devoted to magical snot.

That's really all you need to know.

I've enjoyed Laura Sebastian's other books, but I don't think her middle grade writing is for me. 

“For the ones who dream of stranger worlds.”

Solid, if not as life-changing as I might have hoped.

I've found a bit of a mixed bag with V.E. Schwab's works (didn't care for Addie LaRue, The Near Witch, or City of Ghosts but really enjoyed This Savage Song and Gallant) so I was hesitant going into this one, but I wanted to love it. It was one of those books that I just felt like I'd love.

And... while I can't say I'm leaving this book in love, I did enjoy it quite a bit!

This is a book that focuses a great deal on atmosphere (which I love) though it sometimes felt like it came at the price of me connecting with the characters or story. The tone of the story and the setting was incredibly well-crafted, but the villains felt evil just for being evil and the other pieces of the story seemed to fall into place rather conveniently. And the character I found most interesting was a side character and barely focused on.
(Also, side note, I see why everyone says Lila Bard has "not like other girls" syndrome, but I couldn't help but wonder if this was meant to be read as her questioning/struggling with her gender identity?)

Despite my criticisms, this is a good book. I see why it's so well-beloved, even if I didn't connect with it as much as I'd hoped. The world(s) and magic system are incredibly interesting and I could see growing to care for the characters more as I continue with the series.

Overall! This was good, I liked it. The hype may have done it a bit of disservice, but not so much that it ruined my enjoyment. I look forward to reading book 2.

Picked this up on a whim to try and help myself get into the wintery mood and it didn't exactly help, but it wasn't a bad time either. 

Not rating this because this isn't my preferred genre (it's a YA contemporary) and my rating might be unfairly lower because of it. 

“And what was freedom worth if I still felt imprisoned?”

I had such a good time with this.

With a focus on female rage, betrayal, magic, and revenge, For She Is Wrath serves as a reminder of just how thrilling and enjoyable YA fantasy standalones can be. It was so refreshing to see a main character that is actually willing to hurt people, instead of boasting about it and then... just... not.

The romance was also so much fun. It's been awhile since I've felt any fictional couples had any chemistry but they did and I loved them for it. This is partially because lovers-to-enemies is in my top three favorite tropes of all time, but also because Emily Varga did a really good job crafting their connection and tension in a rather short space.
(The Pride and Prejudice reference was also beautifully handled.)

I'm not saying this book was perfect. It can be a bit cheesy, with a main character that sometimes felt like a cartoon villain (I love and adore her though), and a plot that happens a bit too conveniently; but these aspects are genuinely easy to overlook with everything else going on.

Overall, this is so underrated and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a unique, romantic, revenge fueled YA fantasy standalone.

Cute and humorous. I see why so many people love this story so much. I think I expected a bit more due to the hype, but I didn't mind it.

Nothing's wrong with this, I'm just incredibly bored and have no urge to keep reading. 

Easily one of my most hated books of the year.

I'm too angry about what I just read to write a coherent review right now.

Imagine, if you will, that The Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, and The Infernal Devices all got together and had a baby with the magic of science. Imagine how excited everyone would be for this baby, because they really enjoy each of its parents' presences and can't wait to see the beautiful, unique little being their union has created.

Now imagine if that baby came out as a turkey with a slave kink and a tendency to bastardize its parents qualities.

Confusion! Alarm! Disgust!

Except! Everyone else really likes this turkey? They say it's even better than its beloved parents. That turkey earns a 4.16 average rating and you're left to question... am I the problem? Is there something wrong with me for not liking this turkey?

This book is that turkey.

I respect the opinions of everyone that loves the ugly little bastard, but I'm simply overjoyed to be free of it. 

“For the reckless souls who dare to love and be loved”

I never want to read the words pretend or darling ever again. :)

Powerless wasn't great, but I still saw why people enjoyed it and thought it served as a good introduction to fantasy - due to how recognizably influenced by popular YA fantasy books it was. I also think I gave it a bit of grace since it was self-published to begin with and hoped that this book would stand on its own two feet a bit better.

That did not happen.

Instead, Reckless stole feet (specifically from Dance of Thieves, Red Queen, and Tangled) and used said stolen appendages to stand on a pile of manure, into which it slowly descended through the length of the novel.

Which is to say: this was bad and I did not like it all.

Reading is subjective and I know that this was partially intended for a specific type of reader that I am not. I respect that. However! This was also objectively atrocious in literally every regard - from the writing style to the plot to the characters and their absolutely horrific attempt at romance. Holy shit.

(There were also quite a few problematic elements, particularly in regards to the descriptions/treatment of BIPOC characters. While I don't believe it was the author's intent for these lines to read that way, I'm surprised it wasn't noticed by an editor.)

I can't think of a different way to word this, so I hope my meaning won't be misunderstood: it was abundantly obvious that this book was written with TikTok in mind. And I don't mean BookTok as a whole, I mean TikTok video formats and the algorithm. The lines are written like they're all meant to be taken out of context and used to market the book, which I understand.

The problem grows when these lines don't make sense in the context, making the reader feel weirdly divorced from the situations at hand.

For example:

"I'm tired of writing from the villain's perspective."
(This is said by a royal character whilst he's writing letters/signing official documents. It is the last line of a chapter and meant to be dramatic.)


First, there is nothing.
Second, there is everything.
There is her.
"Move, and I'll sink this dagger into your heart."
No. There is hatred.


"I see none of that, because I see nothing at all.
She is no one.
I am nothing.
We are forgotten.
And this is meaningless."


But I seem him now for what he is to me---dead.


"You think so little of me, Highness."
A laugh, "No, I think so often of you."

Aside from the fact that a lot of these read like Atticus poetry on Pinterest in 2016, they also read like they're meant to have a slowed and reverbed song behind them as blurry, nondescript fantasy pictures flash in the background.

This isn't me insulting BookTok or authors that use TikTok to promote their books. I love finding new books to read through every possible platform and I can 100% vibe to some cheesy ass, dramatic fantasy edit. But the intensity of the quotes needs to exist and fit into the story, rather than exist for the purpose of having a dramatic quote.

There are a lot of other issues I have with this book, including but not limited to:

- The worldbuilding (or lack thereof.)
Why the hell did we casually mention Achilles if this takes place in a world with no resemblance to our own? And if it's supposed to be our world but millions of years in the future, that is not made clear.

- The politics.
I don't even know what to say about this, other than the fact that this is the dumbest political environment I've ever read about. The resistance is laughable and the King is... Maven but with no actual reason for being the way he is?

- The "romance".
I mentioned this earlier but it deserves repeating. I didn't like Kai and Paedyn's relationship in Powerless; I hated their banter and saw their feelings as incredibly childish. This book not only proved my point, but made me hate it even more.

There's an art to a 'will they, won't they' situation that a lot of authors don't master. In the case that it isn't done well, it just reads like characters that keep having a melodramatic internal monologue as they make out with the person they just said they were going to kill. It ends up with the same sentence being repeated five. million. times and the reader wanting to become Dobby and slam a lamp into their skull.

I didn't go into this book expecting to hate it. In fact, I really hoped to enjoy it more than the first and I'm really disappointed that the opposite happened.

As I'm saying all of this, I want to add: I've followed Lauren Roberts since before she began writing Powerless. I've enjoyed her content and have cheered for her successes along with everyone else. I'm truly happy that she's gotten to pursue her dream and has found such a loving audience for her works. This review is in no way meant as an insult to her as a person.

With all of that being said, I wanted to love this and I'm really sad that I disliked it as much as I did. I hope that Lauren Roberts continues to find readers that love and support her work, even if it doesn't work for me.