meh

After seeing a trailer for a NF movie I instantly went for an audiobook. I am a huge fantasy/sci-fi fan. However being an eastern european native I got disappointed very quickly. Second chapter in and I was already weirded out by Kvass being an alcoholic drink (it is not!!). Did some research and found out that this story is loosley based on Russian and Slavic culture, so I continued on. Potentially I was too picky. Yet by chapter five my disappointment hasn't changed and not only because of poor Slavic culture depiction (considering that I come from a country which WAS occupied by USSR in the past I still think that eastern culture is amazing). My gut told me that the writer hasn't done her homework before she started this book. As much as I would love to follow the story further it is impossible. It feels like she just read some wiki articles and then the words which sounded the most "russian" she just sprinkled over the story here and there. Basically using very important cultural evidences as just instruments to make this story sound cooler. For me it felt and still feels like a real lazy writing. It is possible to take the same words, names, symbols and used them in a much more elaborate manner giving the reader the sense of discovery and amazement. Yet she failed to do that. This alone wouldn't be too big of a problem, it still would have a potential to rise to be an amazing story. Sadly in addition comes the main character's train of thought development. Poor little girl with too predictable interactions with the society and environment around her. Every thought every sentence is just too trivial. Probably just lazy writing.
Unfortunately this won't be marked finished on my audible shelf because this book was written for consuming not learning something new. This book won't give you the feeling that you have enjoyed a unique piece of art. It will give you a hint of another netflix material, so you would stay more couch locked and less outgoing.

This is a very subjective opinion based on my own life's background so take it with a grain of salt.

There are people out there who will say that this is a piece of art and their opinion is as legit as mine.

40 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Maybe I'm not the target audience...

...but this book seems terrible to me. No characterization of the characters, obvious plot twists, a school system that for some reason has to have a tribe system like any young adult book in the last twenty years.
Even the reader seems bored, speeding through the "emotional" parts and slowing down in the description parts, with no pathos. I am aware that reading a book aloud is not an easy job, but this is not a very well read book.
I couldn't finish it and I can't recommend it.

12 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

A perfectly ordinary fantasy adventure

After listening to the "Six of Crows" duology I wanted to hear more stories about the amazing grishaverse. However, since I had already heard that this book wasn't as good as the duology, I wasn't too disappointed. The main character is pretty much the typical fantasy mc and a lot of other characters also fit perfectly into this mainstream standard.

Nonetheless, the story itself was mostly exciting and didn't bore me most of the time. What I really enjoy about Leigh Bardugo's writing is the way she can make me hate the villains so much. If you are really invested into the grishaverse after reading/listening to "Six of Crows" I would recommend listening to this, too. It gives more insight to how this world works and also some background information about certain characters that briefly show up in "Crooked Kingdom". However, be prepared for less diverse and less interesting characters.

The speaker was quite good, only at the beginning I found that she emphasized certain sentences a little odd. Other than that, I thought she was lovely to listen to.

6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

lazy writing, bland characters

first off: narration
even though i wasn't in love with the narrator, she is a real pro. the range of voices could be higher and more distinctive, but good performance allround.
now the book:
i honestly just listened to this because i was extremely bored at work (manual labour). the characters have no real development, everything is happening way too quickly for any kind of atmosphere to arise. the story is predictable right to the "i save the day with my awesome powers, everybody knows i have for like 2/3rds of the book"-moment.
conclusion: if you have something better, please recommend it to me, i m really desperate, even listening to this uninspired YA-novel.
PS: the world has potential though.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

I am in love.

A beautiful book with amazing characters.
I love the Russia-inspired setting and also, hallelujah, the person reading it didn't butcher the names.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Very absorbing and interesting

Not only the story is very gripping, but also the way it is narrated is very easy to follow the various characters.

Very good

This Audio book is excellent. However, the story didn't captivate me as much as Leigh Bardugo's other work. It'd still recommend it though and the speaker is fantastic!

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Simply a brilliant

It's now one of my favorite book series so far. The story is thrilling and the world has so many details to offer that I'd wish there were even more books of this series.