Hello there! For this week's Friday Reads I'm gonna have another two mini reviews! Novellas are so much fun to read, and sometimes they can change your whole vision of a series!
Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As usual, Tahereh Mafi shows us how amazing her writing is. This novella is Adam's POV of the ending of Unravel Me and it's a complete change of style from the rest of the series, Adam's voice so different from Juliette's!
The power of different POV's and how they come across from other character's POV's is very well shown here. We met Adam in Shatter Me and he ended up being Juliette's ally & friend and way more than that. And I was Team Adam if I had to choose from that triangle (which curiously enough is one of those triangles that are relevant and not so annoying). But then came Destroy Me, and I started to warm up to Warner much to my surprise, and then Unravel Me with its many twists and revelations and I find myself a bit more on Team Warner. I was hoping to see if Fracture Me would do for Adam the same thing that Destroy Me did for Warner, and maybe it did, but for me the reaction was quite the opposite.
Adam annoyed from the first page itself with his treatment of James, his kid brother. Yes, there's a lot of tension and stress but you don't treat your only family like that! And even though he redeems himself a bit on that front, it's clear through the pages of this novella that he just doesn't understand Juliette and despite his hoping for a HEA, he's be beyond frustrated with Juliette and her issues. He clearly can't begin to understand what Juliette issues really are, and with his protectiveness there's no way he'd help Juliette control and develop her powers.
This novella has done a wonderful job at bringing us into Adam's head, it might not have been what I would have hoped for, but you can't say that Mafi didn't do a fantastic job of giving him his own voice.
Well deserved 4 stars for this novella, and now I can't wait for Ignite Me even more than before!
The Last Stand of the New York Institute by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I think the closer we get to the events of TMI the more I like these novellas, and this one I will have an even bigger amount of love because we get to spend some more time with Tessa, and I really love Tessa Gray!
We get to see the start of the Circle and Magnus facing some of Valentine's allies and Valentine himself. We also are introduced to the doubts in Lucian and how the seed of his doubt in Valentine's great purpose might have been planted. We meet quite a few Shadowhunters that we will hear about later on. And we also get to meet Clary and her mum, and not only that we discover the origin of the last name that Jocelyn and Clary are using when they live as mundanes.
Magnus has some really conflicting feeling about this new generation of Shadowhunters and even more for some of the families that he once knew, but despite everything he seems to be quite prone to niceness the older he gets and less likely to hold a grudge. I guess when you live centuries it might seem quite pointless.
A very short but entertaining read, quite enlightening adding some more perspective to the Circle and the Uprising. A 4 star read.
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Fracture Me by Tahereh MafiMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
As usual, Tahereh Mafi shows us how amazing her writing is. This novella is Adam's POV of the ending of Unravel Me and it's a complete change of style from the rest of the series, Adam's voice so different from Juliette's!
The power of different POV's and how they come across from other character's POV's is very well shown here. We met Adam in Shatter Me and he ended up being Juliette's ally & friend and way more than that. And I was Team Adam if I had to choose from that triangle (which curiously enough is one of those triangles that are relevant and not so annoying). But then came Destroy Me, and I started to warm up to Warner much to my surprise, and then Unravel Me with its many twists and revelations and I find myself a bit more on Team Warner. I was hoping to see if Fracture Me would do for Adam the same thing that Destroy Me did for Warner, and maybe it did, but for me the reaction was quite the opposite.
Adam annoyed from the first page itself with his treatment of James, his kid brother. Yes, there's a lot of tension and stress but you don't treat your only family like that! And even though he redeems himself a bit on that front, it's clear through the pages of this novella that he just doesn't understand Juliette and despite his hoping for a HEA, he's be beyond frustrated with Juliette and her issues. He clearly can't begin to understand what Juliette issues really are, and with his protectiveness there's no way he'd help Juliette control and develop her powers.
This novella has done a wonderful job at bringing us into Adam's head, it might not have been what I would have hoped for, but you can't say that Mafi didn't do a fantastic job of giving him his own voice.
Well deserved 4 stars for this novella, and now I can't wait for Ignite Me even more than before!
The Last Stand of the New York Institute by Cassandra ClareMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I think the closer we get to the events of TMI the more I like these novellas, and this one I will have an even bigger amount of love because we get to spend some more time with Tessa, and I really love Tessa Gray!
We get to see the start of the Circle and Magnus facing some of Valentine's allies and Valentine himself. We also are introduced to the doubts in Lucian and how the seed of his doubt in Valentine's great purpose might have been planted. We meet quite a few Shadowhunters that we will hear about later on. And we also get to meet Clary and her mum, and not only that we discover the origin of the last name that Jocelyn and Clary are using when they live as mundanes.
Magnus has some really conflicting feeling about this new generation of Shadowhunters and even more for some of the families that he once knew, but despite everything he seems to be quite prone to niceness the older he gets and less likely to hold a grudge. I guess when you live centuries it might seem quite pointless.
A very short but entertaining read, quite enlightening adding some more perspective to the Circle and the Uprising. A 4 star read.
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I haven't actually read any of those Bane Chronicles shorts - even though I like the TMI and TID series - and I don't think I really plan to. But I'm glad you enjoyed this one! And I can't get hold of Fracture Me, but I'm oddly relieved as I get the feeling Adam will frustrate me here too (as he has most people, it seems), which I don't want to put myself through. I'm still firmly Team Adam. I like Warner's character, but not as a love interest. :D It'll be interesting to see what happens in Ignite Me next year! Great reviews, Pili. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Sam! I guess you can always get Unite Me after reading Ignite Me so you can read both POVs if you feel like it.
DeleteI'm kinda scared to see what Ignite Me will bring, no matter what is gonna be a tough book to read I'm sure!
I still haven't read the Bane Chronicles. I hope they put all the novellas together so I can read them in one seat! Anyway, I agree. I think I'll like them more when they're close to TMI.
ReplyDeleteAs for Fracture me, I also agree with you. Tahereh did an amazing job creating Adam's voice in a very different way.
She's amazing, and I still hope Adam has a happy ending in Ignite me but I go for Warner :)
As far as I remember from Clare's post when she announced the Bane Chronicles, there will be a physical book with all the stories. I've liked reading them while waiting for City of Heavenly Fire...
DeleteAnd I agree with you, Warner all the way, but I hope Adam will not get any heartache about James!