I am sad and disappointed and sad how did I not like this???? It has everything I love, like beautiful writing and uh.... um. Huh.
Honestly this book I am sad and disappointed and sad how did I not like this???? It has everything I love, like beautiful writing and uh.... um. Huh.
Honestly this book really fell flat for me and I'm disappointed because everyone else is loving it and it was just a struggle for me to get through, I really had to push myself at the end there. If this wasn't a buddy read I would've dnf'ed it so long ago and saved myself some sleep.
Anyway here's a list of my thoughts, dot-pointed for everybody's convenience:
- Marco is the real villain. I hated him so much, he just felt so FAKE all the time. His 'love' for Celia was so shallow, he was completely taken with her after just meeting her (which I can excuse because of the competition) but it honestly felt like over 13 years they only talked twice and yet he was head-over-heels for her after their second conversation. Also his treatment of Isobel was cringeworthy, he strings her along for years before finally telling her he loves Celia, two years after he realised it himself. He is a new brand of asshole, and he ruined this book for me in so many ways.
- The "Love Story". I already kind of discussed this above but my god was the love story so unconvincing. Like I said, they meet twice and bam they're in love. It probably helped that they're both gorgeous. I do not know a single trait about these two characters and I don't think they do either. We never get a scene of them just learning about each other, or just talking about their dreams or aspirations other than The Competition (boy do I have a lot of thoughts about this stupid competition). Tl;dr the love story is probably the worst case of insta-love I've ever read about, with flat characters and an unconvincing love story.
- The Competition. This competition sucked so hard. We never fully get the rules (view spoiler)[ until we find out it's due to these two old guys having having a philosophical battle of whether learned magic is stronger or inherent magic is, which I really like the thought of. However!!!! Considering these two characters are polar opposites in terms of magic, they exhibit no real differences in how they use it. Apparently she's better at physical manipulation and he's better at mental manipulation, but how do either of these things relate to inherent magic or learned magic? How can you learn to mentally manipulate someone with magic???? How did Marco learn literally any of this ridiculous magic?????????? (hide spoiler)] and even when we do, it doesn't really make sense. All their "competing" is OFF-PAGE. We NEVER see Celia create the carousel, we NEVER see Marco make any of the tents, we NEVER see Celia make the Wishing Tree. It's all done off-page. The competition is meant to be the main plot-point of this novel and yet it never actually happens. We are just told it has happened. There are so many times where Marco is like "Celia is winning, she's doing so much better than me omg" and I was so confused because Celia has deadass not done anything!!! This competition takes place over so many years and apparently they make so many things for each other, but we NEVER SEE IT and it's so frustrating. Tl;dr the competition sucks.
- The magic. So if you're magic you can do literally anything. There are no limits. Celia or Marco are never even tired from exerting their magic. They can just do anything they want, even if it makes no sense. There are no rules to the magic in this world and it bothers me. They are all-powerful beings who can manipulate the world as they see fit but somehow can't find a way out of this competition. K. Also, the magic Celia uses is often shown to the public through her illusionist routine, and we're supposed to believe that the audience just thinks "wow look at the sleight of hand she's doing, this can't possibly be real despite the fact that she is altering the world itself, there must be a technical reason behind this" despite this book taking place in the late 1800s where there would be no technology available to do this kind of shit. Tl;dr: the magic sucks.
- It's overwritten. I do not need 4 pages describing Bailey smelling random jars. I do not need hundreds of pages describing the circus. I do not need so many pages of descriptions of random settings. I can picture some of these things myself. What I do need is for the author to use her beautiful words and apply them to characterisation, plot, world-building and building relationships. Thanks.
Tl;dr the entire book was not for me, I'm sorry, I didn't like it at all. Writing this review has also made me drop it to 1 star because this book just rubs me the wrong way. Beautiful writing cannot fix this.
I love Marie Lu books okay, so when I saw this book was in the Owlcrate March Box with a special cover and special edges obviously I got it because I I love Marie Lu books okay, so when I saw this book was in the Owlcrate March Box with a special cover and special edges obviously I got it because I have little to no self control.
I’m pleased to say I LOVED IT
Was it the perfect book? No, it dragged here and there. But it was still so beautiful, and it was so obvious that it was Lu’s passion project over so many years. You could tell this was a book that the author truly loves.
The book follows Nannerl Mozart and how she grew up as a musical prodigy alongside her brother Wolfgang (called Woferl as a nickname in this novel) and the magical Kingdom of Back they create to entertain themselves in their musical tours. I had no idea that Mozart even had a sister — to be fair, I’m not a big classical music person — but I don’t think many people do. But I loved her and her story, which made me angry with how unfair life was to her at the time.
This book has a quiet feel to it, quiet and ethereal and dreamlike. The writing is Lu’s best — it’s quite description-heavy, but I think it works here as Lu needs to introduce us to the strange and whimsical world of Back, which contains blue grass, trees growing upside down, two moons, white shores, and a faery princeling.
Nannerl first encounters this faery prince named Hyacinth, who says he will fulfil her dream of immortality if she helps him take back his throne. So she performs a few tasks for him, all pretty standard fantasy stuff: stealing from an ogre, stealing from a witch, slaying a sea monster. It works as Nannerl and Woferl think this is a world they’ve created, and filling with childish stories. And it all culminates in a harrowing scene that actually had me scared and I do not get scared in books easily.
Overall, such a beautiful book with an important message. This is no triumphant story about a woman overcoming gender roles in the late 1700s. This is about Nannerl Mozart, sister, musician, daughter, wife, mother, and the choices she made in the Kingdom of Back.
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