Addicted to YA discussion

This buddy read will start on November 1st.

How much do you typically read in a day? ☺️ Had a buddy read last month where we had different reading speeds and it made it hard to discuss without spoiling anything.

Thats a great question. It truly depends. I work full time and have kiddos and coach 😅. I try to read 20-40 pages a day. Most of my reading is done on the weekends. I plan to get 50-100 pages read tonight during this reading sprint on YouTube. Would you rather we do checkpoints, so many page by a time? I work better with deadlines 😂

I'll be curious what you guys think of this one being YA or not... Officially it's not YA... but.. over 600 people have marked it as YA on Goodreads and BookRiot recently sent out an email from their YA announcements about it..... I haven't read it yet so I'm just super curious. (sorry to barge in on ur buddy read 😬)

I wouldn’t call any book with detailed spicy scenes in it. I don’t know how spicy it gets because I skip over those parts but it is definitely a great book and worth the read 🤷🏼‍♀️☺️

Made it to chapter 7 tonight.

Rudi, nah, do it in your own tempo. We could just say how far we've come and then put the rest as spoilers? ☺️ There's a big time difference between us as well, so we most likely won't be able to discuss it in "real time" anyway.

PS! Spoilers will show when using the app on your phone. :(

I got to page 47 last night and my initial thoughts are (view spoiler)[ it's written in a quite "simple" language, compared to other fantasy books I've read, so maybe that's why people tend to call it YA. Sometimes it's nice to read something straight to the point without heavy world building and massive info dumps. So far I'm definitely interested in where this goes and am picking it back up tonight! (hide spoiler)]

Maixpaix wrote: "Rudi, nah, do it in your own tempo. We could just say how far we've come and then put the rest as spoilers? ☺️ There's a big time difference between us as well, so we most likely won't be able to d..."

Oh, I see. Yes, I am on EST (New York time).

I agree with you. I would also mark this as a young adult. I just finished a reread of the Twilight series and the writing is similar. It is very easy to read for it to be a fantasy book. The plot is fast-paced with a lot of tropes in the first chapter of the book, which is what makes it "captivating."

(view spoiler)[
up to chapter 7:
I like it so far. I used to be a strictly high fantasy book reader and I am not sure if this should be considered that, since the world-building is lacking I'm not sure. Anyway, I tend to be overly critical of fantasy. Violet the main character seems much younger than 20. She reads like a teen to me, 16-18 years old. It bothers me a bit ☺️

The death in the beginning was crazy. I loved it though. I like the nature of "violet" and her will. I hope to see her character develop more. The story itself is giving me Hunger Games and Divergent vibes all in one. I think it's the style of writing that also brings that. The climb up to the parapet and the crossing is what triggered that comparison. It is interesting to me that they can kill one another though. You would think they would want to see who the dragons would select and not just allow them to kill each other off throughout training. Why not just let the training do that?
(hide spoiler)]

I have exactly two shades when it comes to the sun... pale and burned!

Instant kinship, lol.

(view spoiler)[ I totally agree about her age, she sounds very young (what's with all the cursing?), but I don't necessarily mind and hopefully there'll be some character growth. I'm hoping for some romance between her and Xaden. Because yes, mentally, I myself am 16 sometimes and don't we all love a bad boy?

And about the killing, it's probably just to add some tension. A conscious choice by the author, I would assume. Higher stakes and all, but I agree it doesn't necessarily make sense to the story. I also got Divergent vibes, although it's even more brutal here. But I do love the "weak girl surprises everyone by coming into her own power" trope, so fingers crossed. (hide spoiler)]

Ah, so you're 6 hours behind me then (Norway, so CET). You're up early!

Maixpaix wrote: " I have exactly two shades when it comes to the sun... pale and burned!

Instant kinship, lol.

I totally agree about her age, she sounds very young (what's with all the cursing?), but I don't ne..."

(view spoiler)[

I am definitely thinking we are going to have a love triangle thing happen. Dain is her "first" love but then there is a forbidden love with Xaden. I am excited to read more after work. (hide spoiler)]

Crazy.

Up to chapter 18 spoilers are below.

(view spoiler)[

Bonding to two dragons... insane! What is funny is that I thought she would bond with the black dragon and then when they introduced the small dragon, I thought that one.

Another thought:
The concept of being able to kill one another to take each other's dragons is crazy to me! Of course, it keeps the story interesting but still a crazy concept. You would think if they were at war, they would want to keep anyone in the dragon's bonds and make killing each other off-limits.

I love the signet section. This is really a fun read. I am interested to see what hers will be.
(hide spoiler)]

I'm up to chapter 22. But nothing I'm about to write will spoil anything for you.

(view spoiler)[I still find the language a bit lacking and very immature. A bit lazy and a little too modern for my taste. And in light of a recent interview with the author, who has chosen to use Scottish Gaelic in her books, but purposefully mispronounce everything because "that's how she wants to pronounce it", I'm annoyed with her as a person as well. If you're going to use someone else's minority language, at least do the research and show some respect.

Aaanyway, language rant over. I do enjoy the plot. I am having fun. I have a weak spot for curmudgeons and the curmudgeon in question being a dragon only makes it better.

This is not gonna be a 5 ⭐️ read for me and I don't feel like I care about the characters as much as I should after 300+ pages. But it's fun, I do like the dragons, the training and the flying and I like tje fact that Violet is really putting in the work to improve. Now it's up to the remaining 200 pages to make me love these people and care whether they live or die.
(hide spoiler)]

Maixpaix wrote: "I'm up to chapter 22. But nothing I'm about to write will spoil anything for you.

I still find the language a bit lacking and very immature. A bit lazy and a little too modern for my taste. And in..."

I love your language rant.

(view spoiler)[

I actually convinced some people on Instagram to read it but I clearly stated that the writing is not great. I compared it to the same books as I stated before.

As I am reading this, I keep thinking that I would love this as a TV show, or a two-part movie for the first book, yet with better character development. I still forget how old they are most of the time. I also think as I have gotten older I don't relate with characters in their early to mid-20s anymore. They irritate me more than they used to.

I also am not sure it deserves a 5-star rating, but still quite entertaining. I am also reading the Wheel of Time series and The Expanse series so I think my mind likes a break from the complexity of that writing which may be why I am enjoying it so much. LUL

(hide spoiler)]
My goal has been 10 chapters a night but it's been more like 7-8. I hope to get to 30 this evening since I don't have any obligations tomorrow morning.

How's it going, did you reach chapter 30? ☺️ I just started it and I have the need to write something in all caps, but it's a major spoiler, so I don't wanna risk it.

I actually finished last night 😆 I got a new Diamond art kit and was up late. All caps away!

(view spoiler)[ LIGHTNING WIELDER!
(hide spoiler)] That was kind of awesome.

hi umm sorry for barging in but i recently started this book so thought that i might join you?

im at that part when the first year stars their sparring and violet gets hurt

Maixpaix wrote: " LIGHTNING WIELDER!
That was kind of awesome."

Yes, it was!

iffat;) wrote: "im at that part when the first year stars their sparring and violet gets hurt"

I am glad you joined. I just finished it but would love to continue the conversation with you as you finish.

How are you liking it so far?

Oh, you finished the book? I thought you meant chapter 30. Cool. I'm doing the last chapters as audiobook. There's a storm here, and my anxiety won't let me concentrate, so I'm blocking out the noise. I have about an hour left. (view spoiler)[ I'm much more invested now than I was earlier. The stakes are higher, there's been character growth and I've gotten used to the swearing. I'm enjoying myself immensely! (hide spoiler)]

Welcome iffat ☺️ I hope you're using the desktop version of goodreads, so you don't accidentally read all our spoilers.

Thank you guys yeah I’m using the desktop version well, it’s meh so far. Violet getting her brother’s journal made my day though…it nearly made me cry

how far is everyone in? I don't want to read the chat cause I'm afraid of spoiler

I finished it last night.

okay so i just finished the book and well
I do see why there is a hype people like it because it presents the fantasy genre to them in a good and accessible way and it shows them something new that they didn't think would interest them and yet it did
but as someone who loves fantasy and romantasy already and have read a lot of it it just didn't hit like that
so I don't really know what to think

I had a long weekend celebrating my sons birthday so sorry for the late response. With that, I am gonna sit down and share my thoughts on the book tomorrow 😂 I’m so tired and the dang time change has me irritated.

SPOILERS!!

(view spoiler)[ First of all, I suck at writing reviews, but I'll give it a go.
I rated it 3 stars.

Cons: I didn't like the writing style, I really like lyrical language in fantasy, or at least a bit more complex than this. It was a bit lazy and the constant swearing bugged me. I mean, even the dragon? Come on now.

Violet's inner monologue read more like a hormonal girl of 14, than a 20 year old woman. And the scalp prickling every time Xaden looked at her got old - fast!

It was predictable. Her brother being alive came as no surprise, to say the least. I also assumed Liam would die, because I actually liked him and we got to know him better than most of the others.

Pros: Liam. The dragons. The training, flying and eventually fighting. I did have a lot of fun, once I got over the fact that this was, in no way, the high fantasy I thought it'd be. But it was a nice palate cleanser and overall I enjoyed it, but I won't be continuing the series.

I get why this is popular, and no hate to people who love it, it just wasn't exactly what I hoped for. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[

I loved it more than most in this chat, but I am very easy to please. I rated it based on how it made me feel and the fact that it was a good time, I will think about it often and would recommend it. I rated it 5 stars. (Though: I hate how much smut there is in books these days. So many books I want to recommend to my students, ruined by s3x.) I completely agree with everyone's reasoning despite my rating. I am also a high fantasy and science fiction reader. The writing has no comparison to the Wheel of Time (one of my current reads) or The Expanse series. It is very lazy and immature writing. The world building is nonexistent. It actually reminds me of books like Eragon, but those have excuses because the authors were like 14.
I digress.

I loved the pace of it. This reminds me of the novellas I rank high simply because the plot moves quickly, I can binge it and I could read it again quickly.

My favorite parts were the dragons and Liam. I would love a deep dive into dragon history. I loved the end battle but still disliked Violet with a passion. Her character is quite irritating. I actually like Xaden but his development could have been better. Violet reminds me of how much I hated Bella in Twilight but I still love that series. LUL.

My biggest con was how useless Violet was with her amazing power. Even if it didn't make sense, I was hoping to see her just become a Violet-THOR of sorts, but her presence was as useless as Harry Potter in 98% of the books.

All that said, I would honestly read it again, but when I say I am easy to please, I truly am. I am more critical of my preferred genre of books and have found that YA might not be for me anymore but sometimes I come across something like this, which just keeps me going because of the constant tropes. (hide spoiler)]

So I have kinda a lot to say
(This first paragraph I've commented before so skip it if you've read the comment) Lets start with that that I understand what the hype is about people like it because it presents the fantasy to them in a good and accessible way and it shows them something new that they didn't think would interest them
but as someone who loves fantasy and romantasy and have read a lot of them it just didn't hit like that

With that being said let's talk about my thoughts on the book:

Okay so the love triangle first it felt like there was so much difference with who Dain was to Violet before the book and during the book, it felt like Rebbeca wanted to represent him as the bad guy so within the love triangle we'll know not to root for him but I felt like it could have beed done differently - instead of telling us he's the bad guy it could have been more shown. And Violet could have been more understanding with the fact the he knew her for years and now she was chainging a lot within a very small amount of time and she didn't let him understand it, he was her friend for years upon years, why couldn't she take him aside and talk like adults it private about everything? why just decide he is the bad guy?

Now Xaden, I felt like we didn't know him well enough, I felt like there was too much talk about how good looking he is (I mean it was mentioned multiple time every time we saw him, it became very annoying very fast), Rebbeca did give us enough moments with him so it wouldn't feel purely physical but I still felt like we didn't get enough

And as for Violet, there were moments where she was a strong person but why were there so many moments when she *desperately needed* to feel love and attraction from Xaden? Why didn't she feel strong and independent and chose to want his love and attraction - not need it to keep going

I think the book would have been more interesting if we would have gotten more flashbacks with her father and brother and would have dived in more on the side storys

I don't know yet if I will be reading the next book
And after just discovering it's a five book series I'm not sure if I'll make it that long

Maixpaix wrote: "Oh, you finished the book? I thought you meant chapter 30. Cool. I'm doing the last chapters as audiobook. There's a storm here, and my anxiety won't let me concentrate, so I'm blocking out the noi..."

I suppose we are done with this reading. I wasn't sure how to archive it or mark it as done.