1 star

BOOK REVIEW: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

/ E.A. Hoffmann / Leave a comment

Title: A Court of Mist and Fury

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Audiobook Length: 23 hours and 16 minutes

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult

Read Start Date: August 31, 2021

Read Finish Date: November 29, 2021

Number of Book in Series: 2

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads:  The seductive and stunning #1 New York Times bestselling sequel to Sarah J. Maas’s spellbinding A Court of Thorns and Roses .

Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she’s now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre’s hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world in turmoil.

Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas’s masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.

My Review: A Court of Mist and Fury is the second book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. It continues the story of Feyre Archeron, a mortal girl who becomes entangled in the world of faeries.

The book begins with Feyre suffering from the aftermath of her traumatic experiences in the first book, A Court of Thorns and Roses. She is struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and feeling trapped in her engagement to Tamlin, the High Lord of the Spring Court.

Rhysand, the enigmatic High Lord of the Night Court, claims Feyre as part of a bargain they made in the previous book. Feyre is taken to the Night Court, where she gradually begins to heal both physically and emotionally. She forms deep bonds with Rhysand and his inner circle, which includes Amren, Azriel, Cassian, and Mor.

The book also delves into the politics and power dynamics of the faerie courts, as well as the looming threat of an ancient evil.

The central romance between Feyre and Rhysand is a significant aspect of the story, and I found it excruciating to read about. At nearly 24 hours long, this book is so long and painful. Everyone goes around “hissing” and “snarling,” calling each other “prick,” “bastard,” and “whore,” and the plot is just pointless. Snore. I also found it disturbing that the main character is supposed to be a teenager (19 years old?), and her fairy lovers are grown men. And I don’t mean that they are like 1,000 years old, but in fairy years, that’s a teenager…I mean, they are (maybe) 1,000 years old, and in fairy years, that makes them at least 30, if not 40 or 50! I don’t understand how this book is a YA novel (according to Goodreads). I wouldn’t want my teenager to read this book. There are way too many graphic sex scenes! I also don’t understand why people are so thrilled at the relationships between the main character and the 2 fairy lovers…they are abusive! The relationships are abusive! How many times in the book did we hear that Tamlin “locked me up!” (like 100…we get it! He LOCKED YOU UP!!) Even though Feyra left one abusive relationship, she is a “traitor” for getting into another relationship? What?? Great message: leaving an abusive relationship is wrong…huh? Rhys is suddenly a great guy, when in the last book, he was a class-A jerk, because he is Feyre’s mate? (another word beat into the brain: mate, mate, mate, mate, mate). “My mate”…yes, we get it, Maas, Rhys is Feyre’s mate…you don’t need to repeat it 200 times. And then Feyra stopped referring to him as Rhys and started saying, “My mate.” I had a giant eye roll at that. Sorry for venting, but I could not even with this book.

I didn’t really like the first book, but thought that I would give the second book a try. I liked the second book even less than the first.

Stats: As of the writing of this post on October 9, 2023, this book has a rating of 4.64 on Goodreads. So clearly, my review is not tot typical reception that this book usually receives.

Recommended? No, but as stated above, my opinion is the minority.

BOOK REVIEW: Killing Floor by Lee Child

/ E.A. Hoffmann / Leave a comment

78129._SY475_Title: Killing Floor

Author: Lee Child

Book Length: 474 pages

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Suspense

Read Start Date: January 15, 2022

Read Finish Date: March 3, 2022

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is a drifter. He’s just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he’s arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Jack knows is that he didn’t kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn’t stand a chance of convincing anyone. not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.

My Review: Okay, so there are spoilers in this review because I’m giving it a 1 star and no one should read this book. I picked up this book because of the movies and the series about Reacher. They are pretty decent, and since books are usually better than the on-screen adaptations, I figured I was in for a good time. Wrong!

First of all, the summary from Goodreads is not what the book is about. Reacher convinces the police that he wasn’t the killer in the first part of the book, and then spends the rest of the book investigating the murders alongside the police. It’s totally misleading.

Additional plot points: It turns out that Reacher’s brother Joe (who worked for the treasury department) was investigating the biggest counterfeiting ring in the US and it got him killed. Reacher has to find out the who, the why, and the how, to solve the case.

While the premise sounds ok for an action book, I just couldn’t get into the story. The first main issue with the book is that the prose was terrible. I felt like I was reading a freaking Trump speech. A prime example of this is below:

“We found the right street. Found the right house. Decent Place. Well looked after. Neat and clean. A tiny one-storey. Small yard, small single-car garage. Narrow gate in the wire fence. We went through. Rang the bell. An old woman cracked the door against the chain.”

This is how the WHOLE BOOK IS WRITTEN! It made it really hard to read without wanting to tear my eyes out. Would it kill the guy to use a freaking comma once in a while?

The second and third issue that I had with this book, was that the main character Jack Reacher is completely unlikeable and the premise behind the plot is just ridiculous. Jack Reacher is a highly trained army veteran who got laid off from the army, so he just wanders around the country. In one of the biggest coincidences of all time, he ends up in some small backwater town in Georgia the day his brother (who he hasn’t spoken to in years) is murdered. Seriously? I think the odds of winning the lottery are better.

After being mistakenly arrested for this murder, and killing a few guys in the county lockup, he is removed as a suspect. He then hooks up with the hottest girl in town, Roscoe, who happens to also be a cop.

Their relationship is on the fast track. Then we start to get scenes such as the below:

“So we showered. Put us in a better frame of mind. We soaped up and started fooling around. Ended up making love in the stall with the water beating down on us. Afterwards, I just wanted to curl up in the glow.”

So we go from hardened army veteran willing to kill remorselessly and violently (ok it was in self defense, but still) to snuggle bunny. Is this the author’s way of making the main character balanced or well rounded or something? Guys, he might be a viscous killer, but he also likes to cuddle! He has depth!

And speaking of depth, Reacher doesn’t even know how to do his own laundry…he just throws away his clothes! He’s so cool (not).

“Next stop was the basement. I fiddled around with the furnace until it kicken in. Then I stripped off and shoved all my clothes in Charlie’s electric dryer. Set it on low for an hour. I had no idea what I was doing. In the army, some corporal had done my laundry. Took it away, brought it back clean and  folded. Since then, I always bought cheap stuff and just junked it.”

Even though Reacher has fallen head over heels for Roscoe, in the last chapter of the book, after a night of talking (so he’s a snuggle bunny AND a good listener…), we get this. I have to say, I thought: “WTF?” Reaches waxes eloquent about this woman for the whole book and then after a night of talking is like, oh well. What happened to the snuggle bunny? What happened to the sensitive guy he was supposed to be? Doesn’t he care at all?

“It didn’t work out for Roscoe and me. It never really stood a chance. There were too many problems.”

The main problem? Apparently Roscoe doesn’t like that Reacher is capable of remorselessly and viscously killing like 10 people. Makes her a little uncomfortable. I wonder why. What annoys me a little bit, is that the reader is supposed to think that this guy is cool or a major badass or something. He just comes across as a little bit of a psycho. This book is written in the first person, so these thoughts are HIS thoughts, what REACHER is thinking. It’s not the narrator giving us a blow by blow of what is happening. So like, when the book is describing how he has to saw the knife into the guys neck to kill him, this is what REACHER is thinking about as he’s doing it.

“Hauled his head back. Cut his throat. You don’t do it with one elegant swipe. Not like in the movies. No knife is sharp enough for that. There’s all kinds of touch gristle in the human throat. You have to saw back and forth with a lot of strength. Takes a while. But it works. It works well. By the time you’ve sawed back to the bone, the guy is dead. This guy was no exception.”

Serial killer much? Would have been fine just to stop at “cut his throat.”

And all these problems made it really hard to get into the story, let alone enjoy it. It wasn’t even that the background story was so interesting either. Sigh.

Would I recommend this book? No. Do yourself a favor and just watch the movie instead.