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Shattered Sky Review

Whoa. So I just finished Shattered Sky, which I got in the mail today. Hooray. Or not. 

Shattered Sky is the 3rd book in the Vision of Shadows series. As always, no spoilers. I came into this book not expecting much after the disappointment of Thunder and Shadow. I don’t know what to think.

What was good: This book was better than Thunder and Shadow. And, well, it’s not bad, but there’s nothing I can say was especially good about it.

What was meh: Due to shitty writing, all the characters in this book... well they had no character. Mistystar was completely off - she has her own novella for God’s sake! You should know how to write her! Bramblestar, Alderheart, nearly every other character, etc. were just devoid of any personality ENTIRELY. This would be in the “What was bad” section but honestly there’s too much! This writing has just gone to absolute shit. 

What was bad: I had no idea what the hell was going on after a while. The consideration that once went into describing the daily life of the Clan cats and what what happening at any given point in time is gone. You could say that this book takes place over a shorter time BUT I CALL BULLSHIT. This book is terribly written. What was bad? Nearly everything, though I wouldn’t say it was a ‘bad’ book. Ugh this just makes me want to die. Also the plot twist right at the end was STUPID. Book readers, you know what I’m talking about; Darktail’s true identity. ARGH. Clearly no care was put into the writing of this book. I’m a generous marker by the way. 

Stats:

Favorite character: WELL SEEING AS NONE OF THE CATS EVEN HAD ANY PERSONALITY I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY

Least favorite character: Again - I don’t even know.

Page count: 285 (hardcover)

Star rating: ⭐⭐

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A Court of Thorns and Roses Series

This is the second series written by popular writer Sarah J. Maas, author of the Throne of Glass series. I personally prefer this series to Throne of Glass; it doesn’t suffer the shaky start as Maas was already well into her career when she began writing it. There are currently two books in the series: A Court of Thorns and Roses and A Court of Mist and Fury, with the third book, A Court of Wings and Ruin, set for release at the start of June.

The series tells the story of Feyre, a human girl living in the small stretch of land inhabited by mortals in Prythian (it’s a fantasy UK). She thinks nothing of shooting wolf while hunting for food for her family, but she soon discovers there are consequences to her actions. She’s taken away to the fae part of Prythian, to the Spring Court ruled over by the mysterious High Lord Tamlin. The story is really engaging and a great read. 

Please note this is a mature series not suitable for younger readers.

Mature content:

- Strong gore/blood/death/etc.

- Sex scenes

What’s good: The first book is seemingly just another retelling of the Beauty and the Beast classic with a mature theme, but the second book reveals what was, to me, the greatest plot twist I’d ever read. I won’t spoil it, but suffice to say, it was really good. The characters are excellent with proper arcs, the serious topics are dealt with well, the villains are those ones you just want to punch right in their ugly faces. Sarah J. Maas is a great writer, and this series really shows it.

What’s meh: Some of the characters end up being a bit dry and ‘meh’ because they just don’t get enough time to develop. Elain, Cassain, Azriel and Amren are good examples it this. However, they’re still great characters and I’m sure by the end of the next book we’ll know a lot more about them. 

What’s bad: It isn’t necessarily bad, but a lot of the gore did make me feel physically ill. And yes, there is smut. Quite a lot, by the end. So no readers below the age of 13, I’m serious. Also the first books does have a lot of overused tropes and cliches, which are annoying even though they’re intentional. 

Overall verdict: I LOVE this series. Honestly it’s amazing. I 100% recommend giving it a go! If gore and smut isn’t that good for you though I’d give it a miss.

Stats:

Favorite character: oooh... Nesta or Rhysand (by the end of Mist and Fury)

Least favorite character: Ianthe (ps she’s a bitch) 

Total pages: 419 (A Court of Thorns and Roses, paperback)

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Hawkwing’s Journey Review

In obvious set-up for the new series, the Erins have given us a third SkyClan themed Super Edition, but this time things aren’t looking good for the fifth Clan. We jump into the story as Hawkpaw, soon to be Hawkwing, an ambitious young cat who loses his confidence after an early life tragedy. I was really glad to have another SkyClan book as they are a favourite Clan of mine, though I wasn’t quite sure about the premise for the book, especially since it had been hinted In The Apprentice’s Quest that SkyClan was coming into the main story. I was not disappointed in my worries.

What was good: I think Hawkwing’s inner thoughts were quite well written. In more recent books this isn’t something that you always get but in this case I think it was well done. He was more understandable than most characters, which I appreciated. Seeing as SkyClan is going to turn up in the new series, most likely the next book, so the existence of this book is important or we wouldn’t really understand anything that was going on. The idea for this book was good, the execution is a different story. It’s also good that we now know who Twigpaw and Violetpaw’s parents are (well, probably).

What was ‘meh’: The rushed and sloppy writing made it hard to enjoy the good bits and feel sad at the tragic bits. A lot of important moments were ruined by terrible choices by the authors. I can’t say I’m impressed by the quality of this book, but the story was good enough for me to not hate it.

What was bad: SO many characters died in this book. Probably one, maybe more, on average per chapter. The book was WAY to heavy and too much important stuff was happening too quickly. I felt a bit betrayed by the Erins to be honest. Its normal to brace yourself when reading the Warriors books for the imminent deaths of your favourite characters, but everything just went to shit in Hawkwing’s Journey. This book was also just tragic. By the end of it I felt like crying. Cats like Leafstar and Hawkwing seemed to have been targeted as the main focus points of the ‘tragedy’ and it broke my heart.

Overall verdict: I can’t say I liked this book for any reason except it being a Warriors book. So yeah, not that great. I think the Erins need to calm down a bit and focus on writing even slightly better stuff than just getting the books out ASAP. I see a lot of people talking about how they love it because it was so emotional. Yeah it was emotional but it was also rushed and poorly written. I’m disappointed.

Stats: 

Favourite character: I didn’t really like any of the characters that much

Least favourite character: No specific cat, but I was really annoyed at some particular cats by the end of it for the bad decisions they made. I hated Darktail too. This is all his fault. Also Leafstar get some sense after Sol how can you not see how evil he is???

Characters killed (and are confirmed dead): 12

Characters missing (most suspected dead): 8

Cats who left the Clan: 5-8 (uncertain)