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Welcome to Tatiana, my new co-blogger and her first review: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

2/6/2012

23 Comments

 
I've been on Goodreads for a few years now and I've made some wonderful friends during that time, some with whom I converse daily and share inside jokes, international mail, and long, long conversations about books. There are people on the social media site whose opinions I trust and who I look to for insights as to why I might or might not enjoy a book. Sometimes they disagree with me and sometimes they capture the essence of a book in cases where I couldn't figure out what to say. Everybody has something to say and very rarely do we agree on all counts. Since I joined the site, I've enjoyed Tatiana's reviews. She always takes the time to discuss what worked (and what didn't work) for her about a book and I've devoured tens of books based on her recommendations.  The two of us have very different reviewing styles and sometimes a different opinion on books but I honestly think that can only be a positive from a blogging standpoint. We hope to do monthly tandem book reviews (reading the same book but posting two separate reviews) and she's already posted several reviews to our archives for titles I'd previously reviewed and some new ones as well.  (I've marked every review with the first initial of its author) I look forward to the dynamics of our new blogging partnership and I hope two opinions are better than one. To me, that is already the case--Tatiana has given me wonderful suggestions on how to improve the organization of the blog! I hope you all will enjoy her reviews as much as I do. So, without further ado, I'll let her get to it!
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Thank you, Flannery!

I've been toying with the idea of blogging for a while. Probably everyone who spends as much time as I do talking about books, researching books and writing about books, is. After consuming so much information about books, it's only natural to want to share this knowledge with others. I adore Goodreads and it's my favorite place to be on the net, but it has some limitations, which I feel a blog platform could compensate for.  So yes, blogging interested me, but I was skittish to undertake it on my own. I have neither computer savvy nor courage to start such a project by myself. This is why I'm so happy to have Flannery as my partner in crime. She's been my close Goodreads friend for a long time now. Although we don't always agree, we share not only the love of literature, but eclectic reading tastes as well. We both dabble in almost any genre you can think of.  I'm absolutely sure we'll make a great blogging team and I look forward to all the fun times this joint project is bound to bring and, of course, to getting to know you better, our followers and friends.

And now, my first official review for The Readventurer.

Bitterblue Kristin Cashore cover
Bitterblue (Seven Kingdoms, #3)
Author: Kristin Cashore
Publication Date: 5/1/12
Publisher: Dial

Blurb (GR): Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past. Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

Review: 
It's with a heavy heart that I'm giving Bitterblue only 2 stars. This book was one of the most anticipated reads of the year for me and will go down my personal history as one of the most massive disappointments. It has to be acknowledged, though, that most of the reviews of Bitterblue so far have been very positive and contained words like "genius" and "masterpiece" in them. My opinion appears to be out of norm.

After recently rereading both of Kristin Cashore's earlier books, I feel that with each new one she moves away from the simplicity of her debut Graceling (and what I personally like to read) and in a direction that I can't follow. I enjoyed the action/romance/magic mixture of Graceling and mostly liked Fire, even though some of it was boring and over-complicated (I'm talking about the ball conspiracy scene), but Bitterblue is a completely different beast, a story that is confusing and indulgently long.

I've always felt after finishing Graceling that Bitterblue's story had to be told. She carries such a dreadful legacy - a deranged, mind-manipulating father, a country damaged by the 35-year long abuse by Leck's twisted magic, Bitterblue's own childhood traumas. All of this is in the novel.

Bitterblue is 18 now, a rightful queen of Monsea, running her kingdom efficiently enough with the help of her advisers who urge her to forget the horrors of the past and look ahead. But then she starts noticing that there is something really wrong going on around her. People act irrationally, they lie about the smallest things, they make no sense. She ventures outside the walls of her castle, to meet regular people and to find out the real state of things in her country. Bitterblue comes across an even bigger amount of odd behaviors and crimes. She does her best to untangle the web of lies, puzzles and madness...

The truths Bitterblue uncovers are powerful, and they have to be explored. But I feel like Cashore arrives at those truths by a route that is too complicated, convoluted and scattered. Too many side plots, too much talk of ciphers and codes, too many characters coming and going, too many illogical occurrences that instead of making the story more intricate, end up making it too busy and messy.

I am definitely a fan of twisty, complicated plots. Bitterblue has that, it strives to be something akin to Megan Whalen Turner's and Melina Marchetta's fantasy novels (these three authors appear to draw inspiration from each other's works). But whereas I was consumed by Turner's and Marchetta's mysteries, trying to spot what was wrong and who was lying and why and guessing the connections among the characters, reading Bitterblue was mostly a confusing and irritating experience. Events and characters in this novel are completely insane. They make no sense, they defy logic, they stand out to any person as odd. Most of the book I spent repeating Bitterblue's own thoughts: What is going on? And why is everyone acting so crazy? As a mystery, Bitterblue did not work for me at all. Untangling a mystery in which no one even makes an effort to pretend to act normally is too much of a challenge for me.

There are things I did like in Bitterblue. The prologue, containing a scene of Leck mind-raping Bitterblue and her mother is, in my opinion, the best piece of Cashore's writing, horrifying and affecting. We also meet quite a few characters from the author's prior novels. Many, I am sure, will be happy to see Po and Katsa again (although they seem to be a lot more... animated than they were in Graceling). And the last hundred pages, where some secrets are uncovered and things start coming together, are much more pleasurable to read. But even keeping the positives in mind, I can't say I enjoyed reading Bitterblue. It was a challenge, it was a struggle.

I am waiting for more readers to review the novel to see if there are people out there who share my assessment of it or my reaction to Bitterblue is just a result of a severe case of reader/book incompatibility.

2/5 stars

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23 Comments
Wendy Darling link
2/6/2012 12:27:44 pm

Congratulations on officially becoming co-Readventurers, ladies!

It's always good to have different perspectives, so I'm sure we'll start to see more BITTERBLUE reviews that aren't all raves. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it more, Tatiana, especially since you liked the first two so much.

***

Author Nova Ren Suma shares her <a href="http://backinthemidnightgarden.blogspot.com/2012/02/literary-swoon-day-one-nova-ren-suma.html">favorite romantic book scene</a> at The Midnight Garden!

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Wendy Darling link
2/6/2012 12:30:30 pm

Congratulations on officially becoming co-Readventurers, ladies!

It's always good to have different perspectives, so I'm sure we'll start to see more BITTERBLUE reviews that aren't all raves. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it more, Tatiana, especially since you liked the first two so much.

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Flannery (The Readventurer) link
2/7/2012 12:02:52 am

Thanks, Wendy:) I am excited that there are two of us now. I'm hoping to like Bitterblue a little more than Tatiana but I've recently been let down by some YA fantasy so my hopes aren't too high. (at least, I hope they aren't!) Bitterblue is one of my most highly anticipated reads coming up.

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Holly link
2/6/2012 12:42:14 pm

Welcome, Tatiana! I've seen many of your reviews on Goodreads and I'm happy you'll be posting here as well.

I'm very sorry to hear that Bitterblue didn't work for you. I'm trying to have reserved expectations, since I really liked Graceling, and after having sky-high expectations for Fire, it let me down a bit (a matter of which I still feel very awkward about because everyone around me seemed to love it). Thanks for your honest review! I'm sure there will be at least a few people who feel the same way.

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Juanita
2/13/2012 10:17:49 pm

Fire let me down a bit too since I loved Graceling. I liked it more after rereading it though, when I wasn't expecting as much. I'm trying to not be so excited about Bitterblue, but it IS the book I'm most looking forward to. Darn expectations.

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
2/13/2012 10:42:31 pm

Juanita, I keep seeing positive reviews of Bitterblue, so maybe my opinion is an odd one out and it is actually a great book, whose brilliance I am not able to appreciate?

Chachic link
2/6/2012 02:28:45 pm

Congrats Tatiana! We're already friends on Goodreads but it's nice to see you over here at The Readventurer. Looking forward to seeing more of your reviews and blog posts. :)

Sorry to hear that Bitterblue didn't work out for you. It's one of my most anticipated releases this year and I'm hoping I will love it as much as Graceling and Fire. The MWT and Melina Marchetta comparison made me more curious. I love MWT's books but didn't love Melina Marchetta's fantasy novels (I'm a big fan of her contemporary ones though).

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Nomes link
2/6/2012 03:18:31 pm

TATIANA!

hey, congrats on your first blog review :)

i am so excited for this co-blog. You two girls are both awesome YA (and other genre) reviewers and so different in style but equally impressive.

Love the little name tag/badge thingys.

Ahh, I get where you're coming from with Bitterblue (in fact, some of what you said I can relate to when I was reading Fire, so it doesn't bode well for me).

I also hang out to read more reviews of a book that I feel disappointed with :/ So, looking forward to hearing some other perspectives, too

x Nomes

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jowearsoldcoats link
2/6/2012 06:23:27 pm

Congratulations on your first post, Tatiana!
I'm sorry this book was such a disappointment for you. I really want to read this series :)

(ps. I love the name badge things too :) )

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Tommy
2/6/2012 07:28:57 pm

Love it. The new digs look good on you, T. Have fun.

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Tatiana link
2/6/2012 09:57:26 pm

Thank you for the warm welcome!

And nice to meet you, Holly. I don't think we've met before.

I look forward to reading your perspectives on "Bitterblue." I feel that those readers who prefer "Fire" over "Graceling" might be drawn to it more .

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Tatiana link
2/6/2012 10:01:53 pm

And speaking of connections between Kristin Cashore and Melina Marchetta, it appears they are actual real life friends. Marchetta blogged about it a little while ago:

http://melinamarchetta.com.au/main/page_news_and_stuff_news_and_stuff_1.html

It's interesting to see how these women keep inspiring each other.

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Lucy link
2/7/2012 05:16:40 am

Welcome, Tatiana! I've seen your reviews on Goodreads and think you and Flannery make an excellent Readventurer team.

Sorry to hear Bitterblue was disappointing. I'm such a big fan of the first two books but I'll try to keep my expectations in check. I did prefer Fire to Graceling so maybe there is hope that I'll like it after all! (Although the problems you outlined definitely are concerning)

Have fun blogging and I look forward to reading more of your reviews.

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Tatiana
2/7/2012 08:55:11 pm

Hi, Lucy! Nice to meet. I don't think we were GR friends, but now we are for sure.

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Maja link
2/7/2012 04:12:01 pm

I don't know why I never even started this series. I was thinking about it a lot after finishing The Queen's Thief last week, but every time I decide to try, something else seems more important. Great review, Tatiana, I'm sorry you didn't like it more.

And congrats to both of you, of course.

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Tatiana
2/7/2012 09:42:55 pm

You know, Maja, this series might be a perfect fit for you. It has a Maja aura around it:) (I sure hope I won't have to eat my words if you end up disliking it.)

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Tatiana
2/7/2012 08:56:59 pm

You know, Maja, this series might be right up your alley. It has a Maja aura around it:) (I sure hope I won't have to eat my words if you end up disliking it.)

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Rachel
2/12/2012 02:05:48 pm

Congratulations Tatiana on your co-blogger status with Flannery. I'm pretty new to this blog but I look forward to reading more of your posts. I've read both yours and Flannery's reviews on Goodreads and I always enjoy them.

Sorry you didn't enjoy Bitterblue more. I am looking forward to this book as I loved both Graceling and Fire. I'm hoping this will be a different experience for me than it was for you. :)

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
2/12/2012 08:48:51 pm

Hi, Rachel!

It's nice to meet you:)

I am hoping everyone experience with Bitterblue is better than mine, and I am just an aberration.

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Angie Godsey link
5/28/2012 06:46:36 am

I am sooo glad Tatiana is blogging!! She is my co-mod on the YA Book Club on goodreads and does such a great job!!!!

Anyways... I thought the book was WAY too long!! Which is really too bad!!

Angie

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