Really bad writing quality, I can’t believe the ratings are so high on goodreads. I’m just expressing my opinion, so unless you also didn’t like it I’d not keep reading this post, because I hate when people talk shit about my favorite book lol… Anyways, the main character, Violet is the most annoying insufferable whiny girl I’ve everrrrr read about. The “chosen” trope was honestly very overused, Violet apparently has a bone Illness but Rebeca never mentioned it on the book. So her fans and her thinks that I have a crystal ball to guess?! I just thought she was very ANNOYING. She could at least actually train and improve instead of waiting for her 7ft boyfriend to save her or poisoning her enemies please. Also the thunder thing while they have love is very cringy sorry, I hated it. The world building is horrible and the plot is messy. I wanted to know more about the school system but the author just skipped through it. The best part of the book is for sure the dragons. The characters are very basic with no personality or depth…they felt like exactly what they are (fictional). I like books that makes me feel like I personally know the characters. That’s more of a rant than a review. And apparently the second book is even worst according to some of my friends… And the author is very problematic, honestly Sarah just Maas 2. But to call her Sarah j Maas is actually an insult to Sarah because I actually like almost all of her books…

  • LivingGrab9298@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Honestly my only complaint about your complaint is the MC is disabled and doesn’t have a bone illness. She has EDS which affects connective tissue. And the reason the author doesn’t “spell it out” for you is because the book is set in a time where they don’t know wtf EDS is. It’s still very difficult for EDS suffers in this day to get a correct diagnosis, some fighting for literal years to get answers to their suffering.

    You call the author problematic but then turn about and complain about disability representation in an MC which we rarely see. So maybe do some introspection on that one.

  • woolyboy76@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I bought this book knowing nothing about it except that it was a really popular fantasy series that was selling well.

    I’m about 100 pages in, and I’ve decided to stop reading. It’s clearly written for a target audience that’s not me. But I swear, I gave it the ol’ college try! Once I was about 15 pages in, I realized what kind of book I was reading so I cracked my knuckles and said, “Alright, it’s fine, I can enjoy a low brow YA book with Twilight-level writing. Lower your expectations, make fun of it a bit, and we’ll just have fun.” But as the pages progressed, I just got bored. The world, the characters, the plot progression. It’s all just rather tedious. There’s no joy, no sense of wonder. It’s just an author racing to get to the next scene of sexual tension.

    Not for me. If I were 14, I probably would thought it was great.

    • HumanYogurtcloset941@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I felt the exact same way! I’m probably in the target age for it (17yrs) but still there are so many better fantasy books, with an “easy to read” + popular tropes, that is written much better both in plot and characters

    • throwaway1749279@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I was so close to stopping at page 100 but kept going and the story got much more entertaining. The writing is definitely crap but once you get past the gauntlet the plot becomes more interesting.

    • HumanYogurtcloset941@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Well I also have my guilty pleasure tv shows like “the penthouse”. Is a Korean show which is honestly even worse (in terms of plot) than riverdale gahahah. People keep coming back from dead for no reason and is extremely dramatic but I do love it

  • RLGrunwald@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Eh, this is one of those incidents where I try not to judge what people are reading to hard. While, these books have absolutely no appeal to me I’m just glad it’s getting people into reading in the first place. I have a feeling this will be a stepping stone book for a lot of people to get into dip their toes into the literary world before taking the plunge. Back when I was in high school the twilight books had just come out and people had a lot of the same opinions as this about those books (at least from my memory). Yet, they did a incredible job at creating new readers. Now look at it! It’s having a renaissance! Which is great! Haha

  • lazydaysjj@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Yeah I fell for the hype and started reading this last week… it is pretty bad and I’m only like 20% through it. I probably won’t finish. The writing is very basic YA but not in a good way. It’s very predictable and the characters are so flat.

    • HumanYogurtcloset941@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Exactly! There are good YA and easy to read/not heavy in world building that are just good. I really like the shatter me series, although the plot is very messy the characters are so well written

  • MysteriousCorvid@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I really liked Fourth Wing and it was a fun read, but the sequel is terrible. I’m about halfway through and am having trouble finishing it. I will excuse mediocre plot and world building if the character development and romance is good, but everything is terrible about this book. Nothing the characters do makes any sense, the pacing is way off, the romance is so boring, the characters are so one dimensional, ugh I could go on…I was so excited for this to come out and am so disappointed.

    • Past-Wrangler9513@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Ugh same. I very much enjoyed Fourth Wing as a fun, shut off your brain kinda read. The same way I enjoyed Twilight. I’m not going to argue it’s great writing lol but it was enjoyable to read as light entertainment

      But Iron Flame is killing me. I got it from my library the day it came out and I’m still not even half way through. I’m so bored. I was hoping she’d improve on some of the world building issues and flesh out the characters a bit more in this book but she definitely hasn’t. I’m pushing through but unless the second half is somehow amazing there’s no way I’m reading any more of this.

    • RyanTheQ@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I’m convinced the sequel was an unplanned rush job to strike while the iron was hot.

  • cafe-bustelo-@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    ok i read the book with no expectations and it met them honestly. i knew what i was getting into.

    however, i really need someone else to talk about the fact that there’s literally two chapters of American Ninja Warrior because i cannot get over it

    • Kibethwalks@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Lmao yes the ninja warrior chapters were hilarious. I did not take this book seriously at all, it was recommended by a coworker and I thought what the hell? Why not? So I had 0 expectations. It is not that well written and it drags on for too long but I can’t say I wasn’t entertained. The dragons are fun. It’s a junk food book. Not high quality but still enjoyable if you turn your brain off.

    • finnreyisreal@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      The fact that Violet goes through all her Ninja Warrior scenes reciting her history lessons just made it all the more ridiculous to me.

      Like, yeah, it’s totally realistic that this girl is info-dumping world building for us readers because the author couldn’t figure out how to do it in a different way repeating what she’s read over the years while climbing, flipping, running, jumping, using ropes and shit lol. Breathing doesn’t seem to be an issue in that book!

      • -futureghost-@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        someone compared it to reciting rote, grade-school level facts about american history and geography, and it’s honestly so accurate and hilarious because it feels like the author is using it as a way to “prove” that Violet is intelligent and has a great memory.

        like

        “George Washington was the first president of the united states.”

        “canada borders the US to the north, and mexico borders it to the south. the US is made up of 50 states.”

      • MollyWeasleyknits@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        That was one of the few things I liked in the book! I thought it was genuinely clever way to add some world building. Maybe because I’m a huge nerd.

  • Diligent_Promise396@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I just finished ‘The Last Letter’ and also thought it was rated way too high. While I loved her writing style in terms of the romance, she had way too much tragedy added purely for shock value that I didn’t enjoy it.

    Not sure I could read anything else by this author. Her random tragedies lead to me just not enjoying the book.

  • AnaONeves@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    The ratings sure are weird. They almost convinced to read the book, but some comparisons with Eragon (my all time favorite book) made me hesitant. I think my experience would be ruined because I would keep comparing them both.

    • Leaper15@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I loved Eragon and its series while a teen but I think I would have a hard time rereading them now without nostalgia glasses. Not that they’re bad at all, I just reread them so much as a teen and now I have a creative writing degree, I don’t want to taint my memories of them by seeing what could have been done better.

      That all being said, I’m so excited to read Murtagh, which came out this month. I’m hoping Paolini’s writing has grown with him so that I don’t find it too young for me now (I’m almost 30).

      And I promise I’m not trying to shit on Eragon, I adore it and it was very formative for me!

    • thejennadaisy@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I’ve read both and really the only similarity is that there’s dragons so I don’t think that would be a problem. To me Eragon was a LOTR style high fantasy and Fourth Wing is more like a fantasy Hunger Games.

      The reviews did save you from reading a mediocre book, tho

    • finnreyisreal@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      As someone who likes to look at the reviews for tea, I’ve seen quite a few people on Goodreads talking about how their 1 Star reviews for Fourth Wing have “gone missing”. Not saying it’s actually happening, but it makes the high rating it’s currently sitting at look a bit suspect.

    • Book_1love@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Just have a big following on TikTok, write a bunch of smut in a semi-unique setting (like a university for elven archers or whatever). Hot guy, meh girl who everyone is obsessed with, give them dumbass names (Eliannabellah and Blayde, she has to go by Annie or Ellie so she’s relatable though).

      And then watch the piles of cash roll in.

      You’re welcome.

  • artymas@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I bought it after falling for the hype, read a few pages, and then saw the audiobook was available from the library. I immediately returned it and checked out the audiobook because three pages were enough for me to know that I did not need to own this book. I’m almost halfway through the audiobook and am seesawing whether or not to finish it or cut my losses. I just cannot suspend my disbelief enough to buy into this army being okay with prospective riders killing each other. My brain has stuck on that and refuses to let go.

    If you want a better war+dragons book, I recommend His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novak. There’s no steamy romance in it, but it’s a better story in every way.