snowseau's Book Journey

I'm going to start this review off with what I liked about this book: The premise had so much potential. I thought Pax was funny.

Now on to everything I didn't like: -Darrow is a Gary Stu, and he knows and is proud of it. He’s constantly bragging about his abilities, looks, smarts, etc. -He’s always going on about how hot and how much he loves his fourteen-year-old wife -There is so much misogyny in this book: -The use of rape and sexual assault as motivation/anger fuel for Darrow and the other men -The way said rap and sexual assault was handled by Darrow (i.e. bringing it to the attention of everyone, and pulling Nyla into the spotlight to do it -Trying to justify Titus raping everyone because he had to watch someone he loved get raped?????? -Everyone just forgives Tactus for it because he received a punishment????? -Using “like a girl” as an insult -Since Mustang is female, and not the ArchGovernor’s son, the Proctors were absolutely ok with kidnapping, poisoning, etc. They only cared about his son, not his daughter -Gold women are still weak and oppressed by men -He sees himself as some god come from on high to save everyone because he knows hardship, so he’s automatically better than everyone -So many made-up words with no explanation or even context at some times -Does the author have a piss kink? -There’s an entire race of people that are literally just sex slaves, and it’s fine and ok?? Darrow gets mad at the rape and sexual assault of Golds, but if it’s a Pink, it’s ok??? -He was chosen to help fight (and represent) a cause he didn’t even agree with and comes out believing he’s humanity’s last hope -He’s never been educated, yet he’s the most intelligent person of the 1200 students chosen for the Institute because he has street smarts -He “learns quickly” how to swim and has zero problem -The Golds in the Institute are all boys/girls/children because they haven’t faced true hardship, even at the end of the book, when, I’m pretty sure they all endured the same thing. All Reds are men and women, even if they’re only fourteen -Everyone idolizes him??? How does no one hate his guts???? -The narration said “drunker than Narol on Yuletide” twice in as many pages -Pacing was bad: some things went on forever, and others were two sentences even though it was a decent chunk of time -Eo was a “martyr,” but they kill Reds all the time, and no one of import really noticed. Mustang only noticed the song, and she could barely remember it or the context (she said she heard it on the HC) -He finally learns what justice is, but as soon as something bad happens, he goes right back into vengeance mode -So many “important” characters died off-screen without explanation -Darrow forgot about his cause and his wife so many times just to talk about how great he is and how much he wants to win and shove it in the Golds’ faces -No emotional depth; I had no emotional stakes, and didn’t care for any of the characters -Was Mustang being the Jackal’s sister supposed to be a twist??? -It was all tell and no show -The author is (or was trying to make Darrow) an edgelord. It comes off so strongly in the writing -The book is supposed to be about freeing the oppressed and standing up to the authority, but it’s actually about Darrow being super cool and smart and handsome and strong -There is no hook in this story. The only reason I kept reading it was because I had to. I wanted to put it down after the first few pages, and it did not get better -Short sentences. Only short sentences. No rhythm -The Greek/Latin stuff is really overdone -Darrow thinks Mustang betrayed him just because he found out she was the Jackal’s brother, but when she actually betrays her brother, it’s all good. She’s not even mad at him for doubting her -Darrow doesn’t struggle at all in adapting to life as a Gold (because when he was a Red, he already thought he was all that) -How many times does the word “slave” need to be said? Casually referring to his peers as slaves as if that’s a normal thing to do -They were told ideally they wouldn’t kill each other, but they all took that to mean battle to the death -Titus being a Red was never touched upon again. Darrow just accepts the fact and moves on once he’s dead -All “plot twists” (i.e. Titus beind Red, Mustang being Jackal’s sister) weren’t unexpected because we knew next to nothing about either character -We knew Titus was cruel and angry -We knew Mustang was weak because she’s a woman, but if she was a man, she’d be a great leader -A lot of chunks like “this happened to this House. This happened to these people.” Telling the reader what happened instead of us reading it for ourselves -Darrow finds out Mustang (the girl he fell in love with after his wife died, and he tried to kill himself over) is the ArchGovernor’s daughter (the man who ordered his wife dead), and he suddenly thought that Mustang is the ArchGovernor, and she wanted Eo to die -I don’t know what anyone looked like other than: -Darrow is oh-so handsome -Cassius looks like a god -Pax is a titan -Sevro is short -Mustang is beautiful and also short -Eo is pretty and has red hair -Fitchner looks like an old war general guy?