books, travel, nursing, and all of life's in-betweens
Second books in a series/trilogy/duology usually fall in one of two categories: exceeding the magic captured in the first book or falling short of expectations, leaving readers unsatisfied. Unfortunately, When Night Breaks by Janella Angeles lands in the latter category. Look, my friends, I adored Where Dreams Descend, but I can’t say the same about When Night Breaks. The final book in the Kingdom of Cards duology disappointed me. So now I’m left asking:
C+ | Oh man this book is pure, entertaining garbage fire. The book is fast-paced and easy to read. I would have finished it in less than a day. But I had things to deal with. This book is ridiculous and over the top, but I adored that! I had fun reading it. But dear lord God. Even though it is a fun read at face value, there are so many issues with this book from plot to worldbuilding to the characters. It never reaches its full potential.
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A+ | There aren’t enough words in any language that I can speak — English, Tagalog, and German — that can describe how much I adored this book. It is simply spectacular, beautiful, lush, and stupendous. It is a million times these words. Elizabeth Lim’s writing shines and there is no rest in this novel. Maia is absolutely my favorite protagonist, hands down. And I didn’t think I would love Lady Sarnai more than I did in the last novel. It is everything I want in a book, but especially everything I want to see in a sequel/conclusion to a series.
This is a spoiler-free review as part of the Caffeine Book Tours #UnravelTheDuskTour. Make sure to check out the details for the international giveaway below!
Read moreC+ | This is a hard book for me to review because I am very conflicted. I kept flipping between giving the star rating for Goodreads. Why? This book is a mixed bag of good, bad, and what in the heck is happening? I don’t hate the book. If anything I actually enjoyed this book, even though it is very slow and drawn out. It’s entertaining, has decent worldbuilding, and it certainly got reactions out of me. However, this book is a lot of telling and not enough showing with very awkward pacing. It’s just mediocre. Entertaining, but mediocre nevertheless.
Read moreB+ | It is well-paced and a well-plotted mystery YA novel. The characters are compelling. The historical setting is wonderfully researched and it shows in the writing because Hur brought Joseon Korea to life through her characters and descriptions of the setting. Hur does a fantastic job with its plot as it explores loyalty and family.
Read moreA-/B+ | This book is another perfect example of how villain origin stories should be done. While the worldbuilding is pretty damn cool, what really makes this book work for me are the characters themselves, specifically Xifeng. However, the pacing can be far too slow at times, making it a drag to read when it does. Still, I think that Dao comes out strong in this debut novel.
Read moreA | A marvelous end to this outstanding trilogy that stayed consistently strong throughout the whole trilogy, Ember Queen is a great example of how to write the last book in a series. The book’s strength lies in Sebastian’s writing and her ability to make me care about all the characters — even those that I found annoying and even those who I should feel no sympathy for — as well as the relationships between them.
There will be spoilers below.
Read moreC-/D+ | While this book has a great premise, its execution was choppy and poor. The book’s saving grace is the writing. However, beautiful diction can’t hide the fact that there was no structure to this book, that the pacing was all over the place, and that the characters and their relationship didn’t feel genuine.
This review will contain some spoilers.
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C-/D+ | This is such a disappointing book. I actually threw this into my DNF shelf but after drinking iced coffee, I decided to just finish the rest of the book because I was so close to finishing it. I’m only writing this right after I finished reading the book cuz it’s like almost 9pm here in Manila and I’m still on the coffee high. Will this review make sense??? Idk !!
You know what the saddest thing is? I was REALLY enjoying this book. I was in love. But then NOTHING was happening plot wise. Yes, I am all for character driven stories, but if I’m at 40% or something into the book, I should already see ACTION. Instead, about 55% of the book is introductory stuff with nothing major happening. Then when the plot does occur, it just is so ridiculously rushed?
Both Mina (the Queen/Stepmother) and Lynet (Snow White) are interesting characters who did feel alive (Mina more so than Lynet which is lmao), but at the same time, they weren’t fully fleshed out enough. Mina did feel more fleshed out, but wow Lynet just felt bland.
The character motivations thus felt super — idk, subpar. I didn’t and couldn’t believe them, especially Lynet. I didn’t feel like Lynet was in danger at any moment because she had such quick control over her magic which is just ridiculous to me.
Overall, Mina was a better written character but even she suffered at the half way point. The jump between past!Mina POV and present!Mina POV was just a whiplash. It helped because at least it was easier to understand her motivations, but lord after the halfway point when the action happened, I just cringed. Her emotions just didn’t feel REAL and it’s such a shame because I did enjoy Mina’s backstory.
The worldbuilding was also lacking.
The entire thing just felt rushed and wow I’m honestly sad that I didn’t like this book.
B- | Simply put? This book is a fun, immersive, and easy read. Kira is a believable teenage protagonist who struggles with school, bullies, and family drama along with the supernatural drama she’s entangled in. The plot is interesting, but predictable. There is romance, but it doesn’t overpower the plot or Kira’s struggles which I am absolutely thankful to see. Still, while I enjoyed this book, I don’t believe it reached its fullest potential which was disappointing. I would definitely give this book a shot, especially if you were once super into manga/anime, too.
Make sure to read about the giveway!
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