This book immediately caught my attention—it's a YA Sci-Fi retelling of The Wizard of Oz with a sapphic romance. Sounds great, right? I did enDNF @36%
This book immediately caught my attention—it's a YA Sci-Fi retelling of The Wizard of Oz with a sapphic romance. Sounds great, right? I did enjoy the worldbuilding and setup in the beginning, establishing Dora's life on the farm and the political assassination that affects her life more than anyone else in the galaxy can ever know. However, as the story moved into the rising action and subsequently the WoO retelling, I kept falling asleep within fifteen minutes of reading three nights in a row and therefore started suspecting that this book isn't for me. Right away, it's clear that the retelling aspect is sandwiched into the story and follows the same plot as the original, and I think it was this predictability that made me consistently lose interest and focus.
All-in-all not for me, but if the premise sounds appealing to you I'd encourage you to give it a try!
Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op via Netgalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own....more
The violence against women in this book was exhausting, so I set it aside with the intention of returning to it later aaaaaand have since decDNF @ 54%
The violence against women in this book was exhausting, so I set it aside with the intention of returning to it later aaaaaand have since decided I'd rather not continue. The fact that this book has such a high average rating baffles me. I struggled to push past the (view spoiler)[ fridging of a woman early on in the story (hide spoiler)], but continued hoping it would somehow get better. Instead it just went from bad to worse TW: (view spoiler)[ rape, mutilation, torture (hide spoiler)]. Here's to putting my time and energy into much more deserving books....more
I’m going to be honest; I’ve only ever poked around Wattpad out of curiosity, but until now I’d never read any stories from the site. It’s al3.5 stars
I’m going to be honest; I’ve only ever poked around Wattpad out of curiosity, but until now I’d never read any stories from the site. It’s always reminded me a lot of Figment from the early 2010s, a site I used to love (RIP), and therefore I think it’s so cool that Wattpad works with their authors to publish their stories. Because of this, I decided it was finally time to give one a chance. As my first real experience with Wattpad, Kassandra Tate’s The Famoux left me pleasantly surprised and will encourage me to pick up other Wattpad books in the future.
I would best describe this dystopian YA sci-fi as Divergent meets reality TV. Sixteen-year-old Emilee Laurence longs to escape her miserable life. She already feels like a burden to her father and siblings, and since her mother disappeared two years ago it’s been even more difficult to face the bullies at school. When Emilee is offered the chance to join the Famoux (pronounced Fame-ecks, much to the dismay of my francophile brain), a glamorous group of the most high-profile celebrities in the world, she takes it without a second thought. She gives up her old life and body to become Emeray Essence, and she quickly learns that being a member of this elite clique is not as freeing as she’d hoped. As the book blurb perfectly puts it, becoming a Famoux means that “being popular really is a matter of life or death”.
The mystery/ ticking clock element of this book is by far it's strongest element and made it impossible to put down. It felt fast-paced and added a lot of intrigue, giving me a whodunnit vibe and making me eager to to see what would happen next. This raised the stakes around even the most mundane of tasks throughout the book, from what Emeray and the other Famoux wore or with whom they went to coffee. While some of the later twists seemed a bit contrived or unnecessary, others shocked me and made for a whirlwind of an ending.
I’m happy to say that I found the romance very sweet. It didn’t oversaturate the story and left room for the characters to grow in later books. I also liked Emeray’s friendship with Foster, and I hope we get to see her relationships with the other Famoux grow in the second book. It would be great to see them all team up rather than being pitted against each other! Plus who doesn’t love strong female friendships, and this series has the perfect opportunity to give them to us.
Another disclaimer: I almost DNF’d this book at the beginning. The first chapter consists mostly of heavy info dumps, as if Tate wanted to get all of the necessary info on Emilee’s life and world out of the way so she didn’t have to worry about it for the rest of the story. Fortunately, this changes about a chapter or two into the book, and from then on the exposition is better sprinkled into the action. The worldbuilding is pretty typical for a YA dystopia, with futuristic technology and genetic abnormalities caused by a past war, along with other details that don't really make sense if you think about them too hard, but as long as you go in expecting this it doesn’t detract from the book at all.
This book made me think about the implications of fame and what it would be like to have every aspect of your life scrutinized. The Famoux is a fun and easy to read page-turner that I would recommend for lovers of YA Fantasy and Sci-Fi. Since it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, I will definitely be on the lookout for book two!
Thank you to Wattpad Books via Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own....more
I loved horse books growing up—Black Beauty, Misty of Chincoteague, Pony Pals…if it had horses, I probably read it— so to this day anything that combiI loved horse books growing up—Black Beauty, Misty of Chincoteague, Pony Pals…if it had horses, I probably read it— so to this day anything that combines horses and fantasy is right up my alley. With its dystopian Wild West vibes and phoenix horse races, Ashlords was no exception.
The worldbuilding is by far the best part of this book. I absolutely loved the idea of phoenix horses that must be reborn each day, meaning their riders must strategize to ensure they make it through the race. Not only this, but the characteristics of their horses are determined using alchemy, so riders must also have the scientific knowledge to combine elements and create the fastest and strongest mounts. It made the race about more that just strength and riding ability, which was super unique and made the different elements that affected the horses so intriguing. You could tell Scott Reintgen had a lot of fun coming up with these combinations.
Reintgen is an engaging storyteller and skilled writer whom readers of any age could enjoy. He paints each chapter vividly, making it was easy to keep turning the pages. Although the book dragged a bit towards the end of the first half, since it takes until about the 50% mark for the race to start, I otherwise felt very invested in the plot and could not wait to see who would win the race. The race itself delivered action-packed, high stakes scenes, and once it began I didn’t stop reading until I finished the book.
As for what I didn’t like; I’m still not sure why Reintgen chose to write two of the POVs in first person, but the third POV in second person. Unless there’s an unexpected twist to be revealed in book #2 (who knows, we’ll see…), it came off as an attempt to be unique in a world where so many YA Fantasy books are told in first person POV. You get used to the second person POV as the book goes on, so luckily it wasn’t too distracting, but it still had me questioning this choice.
In addition, while I liked the three MCs and found them each interesting in different ways, I wouldn’t say I felt too attached to any of them. Because of their backstories and personalities, combined with the cowboy dystopian setting, their stoicism made them unreadable at times. Perhaps this was Reintgen’s intention, as due to circumstances each character presented themself to in a way that was expected of them, but as the reader it felt like I barely scratched the surface of who they truly were.
Lastly, I didn’t love the gods/religion of the Ashlords. I found it all confusing and thought it didn’t quite fit into the world. However, this might come down to personal preference, as I often think gods/religion feel forced in YA Fantasy. It sometimes seems like authors feel the need check off a “religion” box on their worldbuilding sheet, but instead of complementing the story their additions ultimately oversaturate what would otherwise be very successful worldbuilding. This was the case for Ashlords.
Overall, this was a likeable read, and I’m interested to see what happens next. Perhaps in book #2 we’ll get to know the characters better, or find out just why Pippa’s perspective is told in second person POV. Either way, I’m hoping for more action, even higher stakes, and, most importantly, more phoenix horses....more
dark, haunting, heartbreaking, poignant, and so, so relevant. not a book i will pick up again for a long time but that i know will stick with me forevdark, haunting, heartbreaking, poignant, and so, so relevant. not a book i will pick up again for a long time but that i know will stick with me forever. ...more
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