The Book Forums

These past few weeks I’ve been on a bit of a Sarah J Maas binge. After I liked A Court of Thorns and Roses and LOVED A Court of Mist and Fury , it was while reading A Court of Wings and Ruin and Throne of Glass that I started noticing some trends I wasn’t a fan of... Fear not, I won’t be spoiling any of the books previously mentioned, but I will be discussing some issues I’ve found in them and other similar books and shows. As someone who LOVES action-packed novels that constantly have me on the edge of my seat, I cannot stress enough the importance of STAKES in a novel. The characters must have something to lose and we must fear the characters might actually lose it. Something that seriously hinders my investment in a character and their safety is when resurrection is cannon within a universe. It kills off all future tension and leaves me no longer fearing for a character’s life, since they could simply be brought back. This issue can be found in a lot of media lately, but...

Hello my fellow readers!!! As most of you know, I recently finished part one of Les Misérables (titled Fantine) and I really enjoyed it! Of course this is only part of a story so I will be talking about it as that— a part for the story to build off of. I was very excited to start Les Mis after having listening to the Broadway show music on repeat and seeing the movie, so I came into this with high expectations, but also knowledge that Victor Hugo does go on tangents. This was great to know since Victor Hugo does in fact like to harp on about things of little relevance to the subject— some of these tangents add to the experience… and some you can just skip. Characters were great, as to be expected, and Victor Hugo spares no page developing them— he takes his SWEET time showing you their EVERY LITTLE inner conflict. Again, at times this is rewarding, but other times it just drags. Overall, I enjoyed reading this first part (even the parts that dragged) and I’m excited to...

Hello readers! I was thinking about things to talk about and I settled on a topic that’s is old as summer reading itself, does the requirement of reading ruin reading? This is an interesting topic to me because I don’t necessarily take a side, as there have been required book that I have LOVED and required books that I have HATED! Honestly, some of my favorite books were required books… so if the required element didn’t ruin them, then what happened with the other books? Maybe I just genuinely didn’t like them? Just some thoughts! Please chime in and tell me your thoughts on required reading and if you think it ruins books? Keep Reading… Meagan!