Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy The Dragon Waiting. I'm one of 'loved it' people - when I first read it as a teen back in the 80s I did find it confusing at first, but I was totally obsessed with the Wars of the Roses and Richard III etc, so once they got to England it was easier. Now, after studying history at uni and lots more reading, I still love the book and find something I missed every time I read it. I can totally understand if it's not for you, but if you did want to give it another shot, my suggestion would be to read some related stuff for context, maybe a historical novel about Richard III (eg, The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Penman), The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart (for Mithraism), Lent by Jo Walton (for Florence and Savonarola). Which I guess is a lot of effort to appreciate one book 😀
I mean, your comment totally makes me want to try again, of course! I did read The Crystal Cave at one point, and I've been going through a lot of Jo Walton lately, so...maybe I'll get there :)
Read House of the Cerulean as a break from the longer books I had been reading and thought it worked out well, enjoyed more than expected. I had a Jane Austen class in college. Persuasion was the first book we read. It worked well as an introduction to Austen.
For all the historical periods that Addie lived through and the places she apparently visited, we spent a shocking amount of time revisting the small french village she came from. I also get what you mean about the house in the cerulean sea. It WAS cute, but it wasn't life changing like some people made it seem
Happy new year!! I felt very similarly about Addie LaRue, it was just ok to me and seemed a bit overhyped for what goes on or also... doesn't go on throughout all the years she is alive. And Mask of Mirrors was similar as well, though I DNFed it and may not pick it back up since I just didn't love it.
I feel like if I hadn't had such high hopes for Mask of Mirrors, I wouldn't have been disappointed, but I did almost DNF it. But instead I put it down for about 7 months and then read the last 100 pages....
I'm not surprised the burning god is on your list I have read Mansfield park and sense and sensibility I really didn't like Mansfield park but I did like sense and sensibility I'm planning on reading persuasion in February because there's a new adaptation coming out on Netflix
You are one of the only other people that I've found that also did not like Addie LaRue: I loved A Darker Shade of Magic and Vicious, but Addie LaRue was just...beyond frustrating. There was one scene that was emotionally evocative, but the story and characters surrounding it did not really uphold it, if that makes sense. Persuasion was the first Jane Austen novel I read, so I had nothing to compare it to. If I had read it after Pride & Prejudice or Emma, I probably wouldn't have loved it nearly as much. I find it hard to argue the merits of Persuasion myself, so I totally get it: it's slow, nothing really happens, but it's my favorite nonetheless.
Here's my worst books of 2021 The secret history Witches steeped in gold The drawing of three by Stephen king The honey don't list The ballad of songbird and snakes A court of silver flames
![เปิดบ้าน โคตรสวย ป๋องกพล รู้จักตั้งนาน เพิ่งรู้ว่ารวย!!! l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tmgCF_2HfYI/mqdefault.jpg)
Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy The Dragon Waiting. I'm one of 'loved it' people - when I first read it as a teen back in the 80s I did find it confusing at first, but I was totally obsessed with the Wars of the Roses and Richard III etc, so once they got to England it was easier. Now, after studying history at uni and lots more reading, I still love the book and find something I missed every time I read it.
I can totally understand if it's not for you, but if you did want to give it another shot, my suggestion would be to read some related stuff for context, maybe a historical novel about Richard III (eg, The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Penman), The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart (for Mithraism), Lent by Jo Walton (for Florence and Savonarola). Which I guess is a lot of effort to appreciate one book 😀
I mean, your comment totally makes me want to try again, of course! I did read The Crystal Cave at one point, and I've been going through a lot of Jo Walton lately, so...maybe I'll get there :)
Read House of the Cerulean as a break from the longer books I had been reading and thought it worked out well, enjoyed more than expected. I had a Jane Austen class in college. Persuasion was the first book we read. It worked well as an introduction to Austen.
For all the historical periods that Addie lived through and the places she apparently visited, we spent a shocking amount of time revisting the small french village she came from. I also get what you mean about the house in the cerulean sea. It WAS cute, but it wasn't life changing like some people made it seem
Haha yes exactly! Most boring take on immortality I think I've ever seen.
Happy new year!! I felt very similarly about Addie LaRue, it was just ok to me and seemed a bit overhyped for what goes on or also... doesn't go on throughout all the years she is alive. And Mask of Mirrors was similar as well, though I DNFed it and may not pick it back up since I just didn't love it.
I feel like if I hadn't had such high hopes for Mask of Mirrors, I wouldn't have been disappointed, but I did almost DNF it. But instead I put it down for about 7 months and then read the last 100 pages....
I'm not surprised the burning god is on your list I have read Mansfield park and sense and sensibility I really didn't like Mansfield park but I did like sense and sensibility I'm planning on reading persuasion in February because there's a new adaptation coming out on Netflix
You are one of the only other people that I've found that also did not like Addie LaRue: I loved A Darker Shade of Magic and Vicious, but Addie LaRue was just...beyond frustrating. There was one scene that was emotionally evocative, but the story and characters surrounding it did not really uphold it, if that makes sense. Persuasion was the first Jane Austen novel I read, so I had nothing to compare it to. If I had read it after Pride & Prejudice or Emma, I probably wouldn't have loved it nearly as much. I find it hard to argue the merits of Persuasion myself, so I totally get it: it's slow, nothing really happens, but it's my favorite nonetheless.
Here's my worst books of 2021
The secret history
Witches steeped in gold
The drawing of three by Stephen king
The honey don't list
The ballad of songbird and snakes
A court of silver flames