reading 1 star reviews of books i love pt. 1

I got this idea from Books With Emily Fox and I might turn it into a TikTok…if I ever redownload TikTok lol. Anyways, I probably won’t be angry at all! Because I never get angry! Especially not when it comes to books. And of course, as a slight disclaimer, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I’m not going to hate on anyone for liking what I don’t or vice versa. This is just meant to be for fun!

Let’s start things off with The Lunar Chronicles because why not see my heart explode?

” CRESS. Oh god oh GOD i hate HATE crybabies. Seriously? She whimpers, trembles, and sobs in every single chapter or scene she appears. She was boring and uninteresting and made the book UNREADABLE. “

I’m broken. Literally. Broken. Cress was one of the first characters I actually felt like I could relate to (minus the fact that she’s smart since I barely know how to take the computer version of a screenshot). She’s not Katniss Everdeen and I really loved that about her. Yeah sure, girls who aren’t super kickbutt aren’t always the most interesting…but that doesn’t stop them from being relatable. Also her chemistry with Thorne! And…(this could go on for more paragraphs but I will show mercy and end it here).

The main thing I have to say is that If We Were Villains kind of is to books what cardboard is to food, and I failed to see the appeal of it on every single level. I should have DNFed it when I realized – and that happened pretty quickly – that I hated every single character, but I didn’t: you’re not meant to like them, and I wanted to know where the book would go with such a deliberately unlikable cast.
But the problem is, they’re not even unlikable in an interesting way. 

Not going to lie, that first sentence is pretty funny. I respect it. But also, I think this lovely reviewer git a bit muddled with words and meant to say that this book is what food is to cardboard. Yes, a lot of them are unlikable! But they’re also so much fun to read about! It’s like if Kaz and crew were in a Shakespeare theater (heaven help us all).

In short, Legendborn was a read that did not work for me primarily due to the amount of YA clichés it had. This book had all the tropes and things in books I personally hate- love triangles, insta-love, info-dumping, flashbacks and memories in first person, side-characters that fade in the background, lack of focus on platonic friendships, brooding male love interest with a tragic past, etc- all combined in one, which took away my enjoyment. But apart from this, it also has great powerful portrayal of grief, a strong black female protagonist and great writing. I would recommend it if you can look past the tropes.

I really respect this reviewer for not just hating on Legendborn but being both objective and subjective. I also totally agree with most of their critiques: they’re the main reason I couldn’t give it the full 5 stars. But…brooding male love interest with a tragic past? Yeah, I genuinely love that. That trope alone is probably at least 2 stars worth of my rating.

So that’s it for now! I’m saving a couple of heavy hitters for part 2 (aka The Infernal Devices) because I can only take so much heartbreak for now.

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