While I'm saddened to see this fantastical adventure come to an end, what a way to go! Crown of Thunder gives us the end of a magical journey, but also a hopeful beginning of sorts that is just as important.

One of the things I found most enchanting about this addition might not be what you would expect. Can we please take a minute to talk about the storyline between Evie and Jackie Faercourt? I never in a million years could have envisioned their inevitable culmination to play out the way it did. Absolutely brilliant! I'm at war with myself a little where this is concerned because the ultimate reconciliation was EPIC, but there's also a part of me that really would have LOVED even more Jackie. That's really a testament to just how well written a character he was and also how he surprisingly added more depth to Evie as well. I was not prepared for him to rise to these all new heights in this book. I thought I knew him. I thought I knew how things would go when their paths crossed again. I thought wrong. At one point I thought PLEASE LET THIS BE A SET UP FOR A SPINOFF ANTIHERO STORY. He ultimately became one of the most interesting characters to me, and although I do not see any antihero redemption stories in his future, the way that things played out was really quite perfect. Evie suddenly becomes all of us, confused by the warring emotions swirling around inside of her and unexpectedly battered by this sadness that was so unexpectedly powerful where Jackie is concerned.

I was so glad to see just how much Evie had grown as a person in this one. Her wild adventure to find her way back home took a young, sheltered, naive girl and helped shape her into a fierce, compassionate, prudent queen. She found herself out on the road, (air and sea too!) and she found her people and her purpose.

I also found that I enjoyed the few quiet moments, in between the chaos. The moments where she strolled with a friend and they reminisced on their childhoods and let themselves think of the homes they desperately missed in a way they haven't in so long. Or stolen moments with her heart's desire that even in a war they took the few moments to remind each other what else they were fighting for.

I just love this whole world, so full of magic and mayhem, so vibrant and full of the most colorful people. I would be enamored by any one of their tales, I'm sure of it! I'm sad to say goodbye to it, but a girl can always dream that maybe instead it is, until we meet again one day.

You guys, I have good news! There here is a Harry Potter book I actually liked! You were beginning to think it wasn’t going to happen, huh?

My string of short reviews isn’t over quite yet, since I finished this book more than a year ago. I have definitely learned my lesson that my reviews are next to worthless if they aren’t written within at least a month of finishing the book (unless I’ve taken extremely detailed notes, which I certainly didn’t do here). Considering I’ve been a few chapters into Order of the Phoenix for almost a year now, I might just reread this one to get back into the swing of things; if that’s the case, I’ll definitely write a more detailed review then!

This is where Rowling’s writing finally begins to mature and Harry starts to feel some genuine emotion. Goblet of Fire has always been my favorite of the Harry Potter films, and I’m incredibly relieved that I enjoyed the book. The overall plot of the series finally began to kick in, and it felt much less like a string of happy-go-lucky mysteries than the first three books. My biggest complaint with the series has been that I don’t love Rowling’s writing (still true) and I feel I have no emotional connection with Harry. While my feelings on the writing haven’t changed quite yet, I am ecstatic to see development from Harry, and I’m thrilled to know that whatever happens in the next book, at least I’ll finally see Harry actual feel something genuine and realistic. This book cracked him open so much more, and it’s nice to begin to feel excited again about reading these books, which I know contain stories I already love.

Overall: The more I think about it, the more I believe I should reread this book before diving into Order of the Phoenix again, just so I can get the excitement back again (and write a better review than this). I was told when I started the series that I should consider just skipping to Goblet of Fire, and boy, turns out they were right! I’m finally excited to be reading Harry Potter instead of wondering why I don’t just watch the movies instead.

Read the review on my blog:

http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/168547037247/harry-potter-and-the-goblet-of-fire-review

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This book was AMAZING! I rarely give a first book in a series 5 stars, but if I could give this book a million stars I would!

The world building was TOP NOTCH. I kept telling my friend this was Ilona Andrews level world building. For those that don't know, that is like the be all end all of world building, in my book at least. It was so vast I kept thinking I could stay in this world forever. I can see where there would be no shortage of stories to be told in this world that McAtee has created. There was a supernatural POWERHOUSE in this book, with plenty of beings that are familiar, shifters, witches, demons, necromancers etc. and some new and fascinating beings I haven't read about before! I enjoyed the fact that Ember was new to this supernatural world too so you got to learn everything about this new mesmerizing place and all its colorful inhabitants side by side with her.

The characters were so diverse and plentiful. There were a lot of people in this story, and there wasn't one that didn't have me completely engrossed in their life. I could not get enough of them! We get a few different POVs in this story, and they are perfectly executed. I am so particular about multiple POVs. If they aren't clearly recognized each time, rather by each voice being distinguishable and unique enough to stand on their own obviously, or by marking it at the chapter changes, I tend to be disappointed. I had no problem with that here. I was honestly kind of blown away how seamlessly the shift was made each time, and even more impressively, how loveable each person was! I was always happy to spend time seeing things through any of their eyes and that is no easy task!

It also needs to be said that this cover is stunning as well! I really can't even do this book enough justice with a review. I loved everything about it, plain and simple. And if any of this sounds even remotely like something you may enjoy, pick this book up because I have a feeling you are going to fall in love with it too.

Alright, once again, I finished the book almost two years ago and because I was in school and had other nonsense going on, I took very few notes and put off writing the review until now. I have few details to give, which is especially depressing when you’re giving a low rating to a book that is beloved by thousands, if not millions, of readers. You want to have more to say to defend your opinion, but… well, yeah.

When I first tried to read this series at the age of thirteen or fourteen, Prisoner of Azkaban killed me. I quit partway through, and this is a big deal because I never just quit a book. I have not finished exactly two books since Prisoner of Azkaban all those years ago, and both of those were because they had graphic sexual content—obviously not the case here. Even the second time around, it took me months to finish this book.

This book is just boring. There’s not a lot happening, and it follows a very distinct pattern from the first two books. I enjoyed Lupin, but that was about it. There’s an incredibly interesting story lurking somewhere underneath the side plots and downright boring writing. Without the nostalgia of reading this as a child, I don’t have a lot of patience for the childish nature of the side stories and writing. Most of the story happens in a few exciting chapters, but everything else is muddled and boring. I get that these books are sentimental to lots of people, and I know there are things I love to read that others find boring, but this one was just kind of painful to get through.

Overall: Fortunately, I’ve already read Goblet of Fire, and I actually enjoyed that one. For me, this is where the childishness ends and we can move forward into a grown up and intricate plot. I’m relieved to put this one behind me and move forward with the series. I can’t count how many people told me to skip to Goblet of Fire to begin with, and they’re certainly right.

Read this review on my blog!
http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/161793118862/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban-review

Okay. So, you know how sometimes you read a book that is beloved by almost everyone on the planet, but you’re not really as into it as everyone else because you have absolutely no nostalgia attached to the book itself or the author, but it’s also been so long since you read it that you can’t really put into justifiable words why you thought it just wasn’t that awesome, and you’re kind of afraid all the raging fans will jump down your throat but you’ve got no defense because of the aforementioned long-ago reading of said book?

That’s basically where I am with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

I absolutely can’t wait to be done writing reviews for books I finished almost two (!) years ago because I feel kind of like an idiot for how few notes I took and also for waiting so long to type up how I felt about these books. The Harry Potter series is one where I know I’m in the minority (like…way, way down there), but I don’t have much I can defend my opinion with because, like I mentioned, I made the amateur decision to take no notes.

So here is a short and simple review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Fortunately, I know I felt very similar to it as I did to Philosopher’s Stone in most regards. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it just didn’t stick with me. My complaint with Rowling’s writing style in these early books is that they’re far too immature, and they focus more on action-action-action than any thought process or reflection in the characters. This book was even slower than Philosopher’s Stone in reaching a climax, so I was pretty bored by the time we got anywhere exciting.

One of my favorite parts of the first book was the world-building, but that took a backseat to everything else in the sequel. There wasn’t the same draw into the wizarding world because we already knew it existed, so this book lost a lot of sparkle for me. In addition, I felt like there was an increase in annoying characters and a decrease in the ones I enjoyed—Hermione wasn’t around for a good chunk of the book, but I really sometimes cannot stand Ron or Ginny. They are easily two of my least favorite characters in the series so far, and this book focused in large part on them (either because Ron was always with Harry or because Ginny was involved in a large part of the conflict).

Overall: Definitely not my favorite Harry Potter novel, and unfortunately, I’ve already read Prisoner of Askaban prior to writing this review, and I know I enjoy that one even less than I did this one. However, I’m certainly not giving up on Harry Potter this time around; I’m determined to see this series through to the end at least once, and hopefully fans will forgive me since I’m reading these books for this first time with no childhood nostalgia.

http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/160495884247/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-review