Neon Gods by Katee Robert | Why I DNFed

I’ve been thinking recently on the books I end up not finishing.

As a book reviewer, my posts all focus on my thoughts and feelings for particular books. The main reason people are reading my reviews is to learn my opinion on what I read and choose for themselves whether or not they want to pick up the book.

But what about the books I don’t finish? Aren’t my thoughts on why I didn’t finish a book also an opinion readers will want to know?

So I decided I’m going to be posting DNF reviews as well, with some rules:
1. I have to have gotten at least 25% of the way through a book to post a DNF review. Sometimes, I pick up a book and realize early on that it just isn’t for me. But by the 25% mark, most books should have already laid out their beginning sections and explained what the book is going to end up being about. If I get past this beginning section, only to realize the book isn’t for me, I will at least have sufficient knowledge of where the book is going and be able to explain why I ended up putting the book down.
2. I can’t DNF ARCs. Advanced Review Copies are given out to reviewers for free in order to market an upcoming book. I don’t like the idea of not giving an ARC every chance it can get to turn itself around, especially when I’m counted on to give an honest opinion of the book, and so I refuse to DNF an ARC.

These rules may change and evolve as I get further into my reviewing journey, but I feel as though they are a sufficient foundation for the future.

With this in mind, let’s move on to our first DNF review under these rules:

He was supposed to be a myth.
But from the moment I crossed the River Styx and fell under his dark spell… he was, quite simply, mine.
Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.
With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth… a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.
Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her—for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close…

DNF at 56%

I’m quite a big fan of Hades and Persephone stories, as well as any Greek Mythology retelling that paints Zeus as the absolute asshole he is. So, after seeing the popularity of this book never wane throughout the year it’s been out, I decided to try this book out for myself.

The plot to this book seemed very interesting. Persephone is forced into an engagement with Zeus in order for her mother to climb the political ladder and decides to run away before she can be trapped. She makes it across the bridge–a difficult journey filled with some sort of magic that forces adventurers to feel as though every step is the worst pain imaginable–and comes face to face with Hades. A man who isn’t supposed to exist.

From here on, however, the book fell into more of a “fantasy 50 Shades” type of story and stopped focusing as much on the plot I had come to enjoy. I had to read a handful of sex scenes back to back, hoping we’d get back to the plot of the story once we were done. But the sex scenes just kept on coming…

Ultimately, I realized I wasn’t enjoying myself. Even though the plot was interesting, I didn’t really care for these characters. Beyond her story, Persephone wasn’t a character I wanted to read more of and frankly, Hades wasn’t attractive to me. I feel like I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I cared even a single bit for the characters, but I think my interest in this book was more about defeating Zeus than it was reading the characters explore their kinks.

Lore by Alexandra Bracken | A Review

Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality.
Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family’s sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt’s promises of eternal glory. For years she’s pushed away any thought of revenge against the man–now a god–responsible for their deaths.
Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend of Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods.
The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore’s decision to bind her fate to Athena’s and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost–and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

After seeing this book practically everywhere earlier this year, I knew I wanted to try it out. If so many people were reading and posting about it, it must be a really good book, right?

I’m actually really ambivalent over this book. There were some interesting twists and turns I wasn’t expecting, but I think a big part to enjoying this book is liking the characters and their story. Neither of which I found myself really caring for.

Let’s start with the plot, which was a little fucked up at times. The main character has been training for this week of god killing since she was a kid. As part of this training, kids are basically tortured from the first minute in order to make them tough. And not to mention the fact that some kids are raised as concubines for the family leaders. No amount of “we won’t do anything until she’s had her first period” excuses that.

There were also a lot of twists about the characters that made me question the backstory of every character and who they really were. Often, I’d find out something about a character that changed my entire perspective of not only that character, but of the book as a whole.

One of my biggest disappointments in this book was the ending. One of the bigger parts of the plot that exists throughout the entirety of the book is suddenly solved without much of a problem. I would have rather seen the characters’ internal battles as they come to terms with such a big development, but it all just fades away in order to make the book have a happier ending.

I definitely think there are people out there who can absolutely adore this book, but I just don’t think this book was for me.

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi | A Review

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire…
But Akaran has its own secrets—thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most…including herself.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

When a book starts with an entire city blaming a young girl on the death of one of her dad’s wives, there’s nothing you can do but read on and try to figure out what the hell is happening.

Our main character, Maya, was born with a horoscope that promises a marriage of death. No one truly likes her, but that’s never more apparent than when her father asks her to kill herself during a large gathering of the neighboring country’s princes and rulers so he can blame her death on one of them and win the war.

Luckily, a Raja named Amar is there, and he whisks her away to Akaran to save her life.

And that’s when things get weird.

Of course, Akaran has secrets. But the reveal of these secrets is surprising in it’s simplicity. I had to take a couple of days off from this book just to calm myself into a more open-minded state after the reveal just because of my surprise that no one–our main character or myself–could have seen something so stupidly obvious coming.

The plot once Akaran’s secrets are revealed is completely different from the beginning, to the point where looking back at the two halves feels like two separate novels in the same series. Everything was so much simpler in the beginning, with no quests around the world to remember who you are and let go of the things holding you back.

And if I’m honest, the main villain doesn’t really feel like they need to be there at all for the plot to take the same direction. This book seems a lot more character driven and focused on the main character’s inner development than anything that happened to the world around her.

Did I like this book? No. But did I hate this book? Also no. I found it to be just “okay”. A weird adventure, but okay.

Reflection by Elizabeth Lim | A Review

What if Mulan had to travel to the Underworld?
When Captain Shang is mortally wounded by Shan Yu in battle, Mulan must travel to the Underworld, Diyu, in order to save him from certain death. But King Yama, the ruler of Diyu, is not willing to give Shang up easily.
With the help of Shang’s great lion guardian ShiShi, Mulan must traverse Diyu to find Shang’s spirit, face harrowing obstacles, and leave by sunrise⁠—or become King Yama’s prisoner forever.
Moreover, Mulan is still disguised as the soldier called Ping, wrestling with the decision to reveal her true identity to her closest friend.
Will Mulan be able to save Shang before it’s too late? Will he ever be able to trust her again? Or will she lose him—and be lost in the Underworld⁠—forever?

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I am screaming from the rooftops over this book.

I can’t even think of a way to make this review sound good and not just an outpouring of emotion. It’s just–I–Hhhhhhh.

So first of all, I was really worried Shang wasn’t going to have a hand in his own rescue. I didn’t know if Shang’s finding was going to occur near the end, with a quick exit from Diyu, or near the beginning, and have the escape from Diyu be a major part of the book.

However, I will say that Shang’s finding occurs early on. I think this is an important thing to point out, as I was hoping he’d help out, and I feel like many readers will also greatly prefer Shang’s involvement in his own escape.

With this book being mostly about the escape from Diyu, then, I will say that this is very adventurous and fast-paced. There are a lot of puzzles and enemies Mulan and Shang must face before they can leave, and I’m honestly kind of surprised you can fit that much adventure and that much detail into a book this size.

I also really loved how the tiniest details had a big impact on the story, and just how many things from the movie were incorporated in a different way into the book. One of my favorites of this is the way they called back the song Reflection. I can’t say much on it (as its an important part of the book and near the end), but I needed a break after that scene to just be in awe of what I just read.

In conclusion? I thought this book was so, so good, and I hope everyone reads it.

Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean | A Review

In a palace of illusions, nothing is what it seems.
Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace’s enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete—all except yōkai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy.
Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren’t hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yōkai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari’s fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yōkai outcast.
Torn between duty and love, loyalty and betrayal, vengeance and forgiveness, the choices of Mari, Taro, and Akira will decide the fate of Honoku in this beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat YA fantasy.

⭐

Rating: 1 out of 5.

In the beginning, I had high hopes for this book.

This book is split between three points of view, and each main character had an interesting concept. Of course, we had Mari: a yokai who is trying to win this human-only competition. Taro was our prince who, despite his father being anti-yokai, often disagreed with his father’s politics and this competition in general. Akira was probably my least favorite since the beginning, being Mari’s friend who wants to be more than friends and would follow her anywhere, no matter the consequences.

I really enjoyed the fact that this book introduced Japanese terms without forcing readers to stop and consult a glossary in the back of the book. I’ve expressed this opinion before in past reviews, but I hate having to stop reading in order to figure out what a book is saying, and so I found the descriptions of different yokai and other Japanese terminology to be perfect in their detail.

However, I can honestly say that the descriptions were the only thing I liked about this book.

To begin with, Taro’s interest in Mari as a competitor seems to come out of nowhere. This is one of those books where the boy loves the girl because she isn’t pretty and can’t quite put his finger on what he enjoys about her.

This book also contains a lot of the deus ex machina plot device, where the main character doesn’t really do anything to help herself and just happens to “get lucky”. Every problem Mari faced ended up being solved by something out of her control, most often weather-based as she goes through these season-inspired rooms.

What angered me the most about this book was the ending. The plot builds up to its climax, only for the book to suddenly end as a fourth point of view tells us what happens. Instead of following our characters as they stare down their enemy, we instead hear from a goddess who has been watching our characters for some time as she explains that the characters won and went on to live happy lives. At no point do we get that resolution of reading the characters we have come to know fight for their own happy ending.

I really tried to stick with this book in the hopes that it gets better, but upon reaching the ending, I realized I should have just cut my losses.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia | A Review

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own.
Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true.
In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.

⭐

Rating: 1 out of 5.

DID NOT FINISH

Recommended For: People who don’t mind a book about travel and finding missing body parts not being a mystery and not having conflict

So you’ve read that description, got excited about a Cinderella-esque character who opens a chest full of bones and is suddenly forced into traveling the world alongside a god of death, and now you want to know how good it actually is.

Actually… not that great.

In reading about a god who is missing a few body parts and has to go on an adventure to find them, I imagined a little more mystery. A little more questioning of where these body parts are. However, I was met early on with a scene in which our god of death summons a moth who just… straight up tells him where each of his body parts are.

What’s the point of the mystery of lost body parts if we don’t actually have to search for clues as to where they are?

“It’ll be fine,” I thought. “Let’s get a little further in and see how this goes.”

So I read up to the part where they find the first body part. Unfortunately, it’s being guarded by someone working for the enemy! Let’s gear up for a fight and–

Oh. We don’t… get a fight. We don’t really get any conflict at all. We just… tell the guy to give it back… and he does…

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What is the point?

Tides by Betsy Cornwell | A Review

When high-school senior Noah Gallagher and his adopted teenage sister, Lo, go to live with their grandmother in her island cottage for the summer, they don’t expect much in the way of adventure. Noah has landed a marine biology internship, and Lo wants to draw and paint, perhaps even to vanquish her struggles with bulimia. But then things take a dramatic turn for them both when Noah mistakenly tries to save a mysterious girl from drowning.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

My favorite thing about this book was the representation. There was surprisingly a lot for a book like this. Lo is fat, has bulimia, and is Chinese. Lo and Noah’s grandma is in a relationship with another woman.

I thought the representation Lo brings to the story was especially amazing. Asian beauty standards focus on being thin, so having a Chinese girl be a little on the thicker side and ashamed for it really filled me with hope that other young girls could see themselves in Lo and learn from this story to love themselves for who they are, no matter what they look like.

A more minor part of this book for me was the actual plot. It seemed kind of slow until the end of the book, where it suddenly ramps up in action and tells the entire conflict in a small chunk of pages. Even the book’s description says nothing of the plot, which focuses on a young selkie girl being kidnapped before the events of the novel and our selkie main character’s search for her sister. While it was really messed up and emotional, most of the book doesn’t actually focus on this conflict, which I feel is much more important than Noah and Lo meeting a selkie and becoming friends.

In summary: love this book for the representation, but don’t read it expecting to find much of the actual plot.

Circe by Madeline Miller | A Review

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Man, this is a depressing story.

Circe opens up with our main character (Circe) getting bullied by her family for being ugly and having a bad voice. She is told to stay out of the way and not talk, and lives her life as a lonely outsider in her own home.

It does not get better from here.

This story felt more like a collection of short stories than it did one cohesive plot. Throughout the book, we are treated to multiple scenes of Circe being used and abused by those around her, while she simply wants to live a life on her own terms.

I enjoyed the thought of a story about a witch growing into her power, but this book seemed less about Circe and her powers and more about the long list of bad things that can happen to her.

If anything, my only true positive about this book was seeing different myths from points of view we haven’t seen before. While Circe is in the background of many different stories, most don’t focus on her, and it’s interesting to see how these stories fit together.

But really, this book just felt like 400 pages of nothing ever going right, and I was very easily tired of it.