Finding the positive in negative spaces

After reading Rebel Angels, which I loved, Labyrinth is a disappointment. Have been trying to get into it for several months now but I keep reading other books in between. That will become a great review to write... Two of my favourite reviews to re-read (not so much to write, I was pretty annoyed at the time):

Land of the Living by Nicci French


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I had to read this book for my English class, and that kind of ruins everything (it even made reading the Hobbit boring), but that aside, I didn't think this was a good book at all.

The writing was fine. The editing was fine. The point of view was fine. Even the characters were okay. It was the plot that bothered me.

It starts off interesting: Abbi awakes, doesn't know how she got there or why she's bound and hooded. Then she spends pages and pages being afraid and, well, tortured. Then she escaped.

And that's when the story takes a total unrealistic turn. Abbi just runs around being crazy, finds out she left her whole life behind for no reason. She leaves her friends because they don't believe something happened (and to be honest, I started doubting her too; I'm not sure if this was the writers intention or not, but if it was, they did a good job). 

Some spoilers ahead: those few last days she finally manages to reconstruct are just ridiculous. It's totally out of character and a strange thing for a person to do. Live with someone you don't know? And then the conclusion... talk about a failure. The writers could have saved the book by making a believable ending, but they manage to make the whole search for her captor pointless. Good for her that she saves that other girl, but to be honest, I didn't really care at that point any more. And pushing your thumbs in some ones eyes? That's just plain disgusting. Complete let-down.

I wouldn't suggest this book to anyone. Just go read something else. There are way better thrillers out there than this one. I will read something else of Nicci French in the future, to see if my problem was just with this particular plot or with the writers, but I won't be breaking my neck to get my hands on one.

*****

I just noticed the other reviews about this book, and I just can't disagree more. Realistic? Really?! I don't know how many people you know that leave their normal lives behind, go crazy and spend all their money, decide to live with a total stranger, get hit on the head and held captive for no reason, then manage to escape, and forget how they got there in the first place!
And, no, this isn't a light or fast read. It took me days to wade through this over the top "no one believes me!" crap.

Don't get tricked into reading it like me. It will let you down.

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Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book is just disappointing. Characters just change, the HEA is weak, and my poor poor Jacob gets abused.

I did like the first part of the book though. It was just more of the same, but oh well, that worked for her other books too, didn't it?

Jacob's book was fun. I loved seeing more of him, as he is my favorite side character. Through his eyes, I actually began to like Bella. He has a genuine love for her, but isn't afraid to say what he thinks.

But then, oh god. Spoilers ahead.

Getting pregnant was just so.. predictable. It probably was necessary as Meyer wanted to get the Volturi back to Forks, but it felt really forced. Then the friggin baby starts to bruise stuff. And break ribs. And drain Bella. And really, that's way too disturbing and disgusting. No, that's not okay at all.
Then my poor, poor Jacob IMPRINTS on this thing?! Oh dear god. I liked it when he was still in love with Bella. I liked the banter with Edward. The "burning man" thing was a bit weird, but oh well. We are used to Meyer's repetitiveness.But in Breaking Dawn she went too far out of her way to create a HEA... And, it wasn't even well done.

I didn't know Jacob had imprinted until it was actually said. That is what I call bad writing.

Another thing that bothered me was the enormous difference between vampire Bella and human Bella. When she turns vampire, she suddenly loses all her "oh, I'm not good enough for him, why does he love me?" crap. How the hell did that happen? I though that was part of her personality, and that was supposed to stay... She makes some vague comments on "still not liking surprises and presents" but she didn't whine about it at all! And she isn't bothered by her beauty? I though she didn't even want to look in a mirror because of her ultra-low self-esteem. That's just horrible. Never thought I would miss Bella's complaining.

Off course, Edward becomes even more pretty pretty! Ugh. "I never saw him before". So wait, all that omg-he's-the-most-beautiful-thing-in-the-whole-wide-world was an UNDERSTATEMENT? And there isn't even an explanation for us mere humans why he is even more gorgeous. But maybe that's because we see everything murky and unclear.

Why is there so much tension building throughout the book, to be let down as an anti-climax afterwards? First, you have the threatening war between the bloodsuckers and the wolves. After waiting and waiting and patrolling and waiting it turns out... that everyone is good friends. Where is my fight? Then, the Volturi is coming. Oh no! So we prepare and wait and practice and wait and ponder and worry and wait and guess what... Dea ex machina Alice saves the day! Every one cheers and parties, and I'm sitting in a corner crying. I just wanted a tiny fight. Just a little one. Please?

Renesmee turned out okay. She had some cool powers and I liked she wasn't a normal kid and well, she likes Jacob. Though, the bond between Renesmee and Bella wasn't strong enough. We always get told there isn't any bond stronger than one between a mother and her child. Well, for all I know, Renesmee could have been just another member of the Cullen family. I don't think that's a good sign... I see more mothering instincts from Esme than from Bella, and Bella is the narrator for god sake!

I'm disappointed. When I started reading, I expected light, fast and a teen-vampire romance with a lot of insecurities and angst. What I got was Meyer's artificial depressingly different trick to get to the HEA she wanted. There were way to many pages that you could do without. If you just read the first hundred, Jacob's book, and the last fifty, you didn't miss out on anything. Don't think I will ever read it again. Maybe I can make someone else happy with my copy.

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