Nuncanoche

Ho iniziato questa saga perché qui su goodreafs ad un certo punto (due-tre anni fa?) ha spopolato e avevo bisogno di una storia che mi prendesse.

Il primo capitolo è veramente un po' uno shock, sia per il linguaggio basso che per la struttura. Ci sono due eventi narrati in parallelo in maniera superba, qualitativamente lo sforzo narrativo si vede. Andiamo: la prima volta della protagonista e il suo primo assassinio sono raccontati di pari passo; in uno a colare è il risultato dell'atto, nell'altro è il sangue. Ma proprio che usa le stesse espressioni prima per l'uno e poi per l'altro alternando i paragrafi. Ma che meraviglia una narrativa con impegno!

I capitoli successivi diventano meno elaborati, ma comunque l'esistenza di questo autore che vive nelle note (non nuovo, certo, ma mai così strano) è passato dal darmi fastidio all'essere desiderato nei capitoli meno annofati.

Ora via con il secondo!

I did not finish this book.



Here is the reason:



The writing is atrocious (to me, who knows, you might like it), the plot convoluted and barely detectable between the clusterfuck of prose. With an inexplicably small (borderline unreadable) font size and tons of footnotes about various mundane details in made-up high-fantasy history felt condescending and pretentious and so monotonous, not to mention like a crime against sentences. The sex scenes made me cringe (and I’ve read Jay Kristoff described as a male author capable of writing full, realistic female characters, but after the way Mia sexualized, I must beg to differ).



It is what happens, a man writes a book with a female protagonist. She would have absolutely no healthy friendships with women. Nonstop description of how beautiful her body part is, and the terrible smut that goes with it.



Kristoff was trying too hard to make this book grand. I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately they did not meet.



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A traitor's just a patriot on the wrong side of winning.

I found the first quarter of this book extremely difficult to get through. My biggest concern was the italicized narration that would start a chapter off. The first couple of chapters where the narration would summarize the chapter in happier tones felt needless. After time the narration focused on the past and I appreciated the backstory, but the prose felt dense and intentionally complicated.

At this point I wondered if I was reading the right book, so I would double check the reviews, read the blurb of what the story was about and convince myself that it must get better.

Thankfully once the first "book" was completed the story took off. Unfortunately I may have been blinded by frustration in the beginning that I didn't commit to memory certain characters or motives, but that didn't prevent me from continuing on.

The story has some very peculiar magic but this nest of assassins in the Red Church is far from typical. The book really shines as it focuses on the different Shahiid's, their specialities and following Mia as she uses her strengths, and weaknesses, to succeed.

Any comparisons to the typical "kids in school learning their craft" story was easily discarded as the book had gruesome and somewhat gratuitous parts to it.

I would rate the book higher if I enjoyed the first quarter more. However, I liked how the story finished, I'm intrigued by where it can go next so I look forward to jumping in to the next in this tale.

So the prose is a little on the nose in places. I want to like it, I loved Gideon the Ninth & there are similarities here, but it tries a bit too hard to be edgy & falls into ‘fellow kids’ territory. I’m still glad I pushed past the first chapter (admittedly I rolled my eyes so hard I think I strained something) because I ended up really enjoying it.

The worldbuilding is excellent. The concepts are bitchin. The characters are a little eh but go in with light fun in mind & all will be well. It’s a pleasant patchwork of GRRM, Pratchett, Rowling, & internet fic. It’s violent, it’s horny, there’s magic. Delightful.1

3.5 stars rounded up to a 4, I’ll probably read the next.

1. Footnotes are awful. They don’t translate well into digital or audiobook & only Terry Pratchett, may his name be forever spoken, is allowed to use them.

I tried to read this book a long time ago, got just past the first chapter, looked up reviews, and returned my kindle book. The writing style is very distinct and not everyone’s cup of tea. It certainly wasn’t mine! I thought it was ridiculous, then I read the one star reviews agreeing with me and figured they must have read on farther and it doesn’t improve.

I told some book friends of mine that loved it that I tried to read it and couldn’t and they suggested listening to the Audiobook.

Listen, friends... the writing style is a bit poetic, and only the best poetry is meant to be read aloud, right? Reading Shakespeare never gives you the thrill that hearing or seeing it performed does.

That’s how this book is. I just finished the audio book and let me just say, it was WONDERFUL. So good. Well crafted and spoken aloud the writing style is amazing. The story you can tell was written with the intention of having two more books, beginning, middle, and end. Those two books are now out and I’m so glad that I’m not going to have to wait for them!!!

If you don’t like this book, try the audio. Good advice from some good book friends that I now pass on to you.