Top Ten Tuesday #21

Created by The Broke and The Bookish
Hosted byThat Artsy Reader Girl

The 5 Books I Did Not Finish (DNF'd)

1. A Touch of Darkness

DNF at 58%. I'm getting controversial quickly, but this just felt very under-developed. The character's did not feel like real people, and the prose was clunky and childish. It was impossible to get immersed in the story.

2. The Ming Storm

I'm a big Assassin's Creed fan, and this was the first novelization I picked up. I think I made it about 35% in when I DNF'd. Unfortunately, The Ming Storm sacrifices the book's flow and charm for the sake of technical specificity. What could have been a fun action-adventure novel got bogged down by trying to name and describe every specific fighting technique, causing short fights to take up pages and pages of mind-numbing descriptions.

3. Lovely War

I DNF'd this one around the 30% mark. As a historical fiction novel framed as Aphrodite telling us a love story, this should have been the perfect book for me! Where it went wrong was the writing style. I can't stand books that are "tell, not show," best practice is to do the exact opposite! Show me things, do not merely tell them. The POV's word should at least have actions to back their claims up.

4. Cloud Atlas

This one actually held my interest for a bit, but it is SO complicated and has way too many characters to keep track of. You start with the first half of each character's story and they are lightly connected to the next character (like letters of character B being owned by character C). They then go in reverse order in the second half of the book to finish their arcs, so the book is structured like so: ABCDEF, FEDCBA. I felt like I needed a diagram to keep up and remember what everyone was doing. I think this book only works if you have time to binge it all in one weekend.

5. The Keeper of Night

This one I DNF'd at 40%. The 40% mark is when the main character finally gets to the point of no return and starts her quest. This quest-point should have been so much earlier in the book. What were we doing for the first 150 pages you ask? World building and pretty uneventful travel from England to Japan. I think I could forgive it all if the 150 pages created any sort of intimacy or attachment for the main characters, but it didn't.

What Books 

Did You DNF Recently?

ARC Review: Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim

Her Radiant Curse
by Elizabeth Lim
Publication Date: August 29th 2023
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Find This Book: Her Radiant Curse
Source: NetGalley eARC
Rating: 4/5

One sister must fall for the other to rise.

Channi was not born a monster. But when her own father offers her in sacrifice to the Demon Witch, she is forever changed. Cursed with a serpent’s face, Channi is the exact opposite of her beautiful sister, Vanna—the only person in the village who looks at Channi and doesn’t see a monster. The only person she loves and trusts.

Now seventeen, Vanna is to be married off in a vulgar contest that will enrich the coffers of the village leaders. Only Channi, who’s had to rely on her strength and cunning all these years, can defend her sister against the cruelest of the suitors. But in doing so, she becomes the target of his wrath—launching a grisly battle royale, a quest over land and sea, a romance between sworn enemies, and a choice that will strain Channi’s heart to its breaking point.

Weaving together elements of The Selection and Ember in the Ashes with classic tales like Beauty and the Beast, Helen of Troy, and Asian folklore, Elizabeth Lim is at the absolute top of her game in this thrilling yet heart-wrenching fantasy that explores the dark side of beauty and the deepest bonds of sisterhood.

Channi first makes her appearance in Lim's duology, Six Crimson Cranes. Following in its footsteps, Her Radiant Curse spins a lush tale steeped in beautiful world-building and Asian mythology. I don't think you will have to have read anything else by Lim to enjoy this one. While it is connected to Six Crimson Cranes, it is a prequel and a standalone. Perfect for testing out the waters! 

The sisterly love and friendships depicted in this book were so special, the magic system is well-developed, and the action sequences were fun. Channi and Vanna's bond is the main crux of the story, and it was so touching to see how these two girls are willing to do anything for the other, and how their relationship is shaped from childhood into adulthood. 

This did not quite get five stars from me because the plot wasn't woven together as tightly as I expected. I absolutely devoured Six Crimson Cranes, even the soft 'fluffier' scenes really added to and developed that story more, and Her Radiant Curse did not quite live up to that. I think the abundance of travel sequences took some of the sense of urgency out of this for me, which is why I have given it four instead of five stars.