I’ve thought long and hard to determine if there was a single aspect of this book that I even liked.
The characters, the story-telling, the writing, the themes… was there anything?
No. I tried but this book was painfully bad. I am not at all exaggerating when I report that I fell asleep twice within the first twenty pages. This book was highly reminiscent of both Buffy and Bleach. So what? Pretty much half the things published in YA these days are reminiscent of Buffy. Unfortunately, you want to at least stand up a little in the comparison. This is not comparable to Buffy. This is Buffy if Buffy weren’t Buffy but Dawn was Buffy.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind people that there is nothing wrong with writing a realistic teenager. Ellie was certainly realistic – for a certain type of teenager. She was vapid, shallow, thoughtless, completely stuck in her own world and helplessly self-centered. This is a problem for two reasons.
1. Nobody takes issue with this. Will mentions twice that she doesn’t take her duties seriously enough but this is laughed off and treated by the text as if he takes them way too seriously.
2. The fucking world relies on her and her alone.
Look, I don’t want to be nitpicky, but this girl has our lives in her hands. What I want to know is, is there a way that can…not be the case?
She’s so boring, and the novel becomes boring because of how boring she is. This is supposed to be a book about an immortal warrior girl who fights Reapers to save humanity. It ends up being Gossip Girl with the occasional monster. What continually amazes me is that Ellie even has friends – because she has all of the wit and charm of a mouldy mop. Yet Requisite Bestfriend and Requisite Friendzone Freddie just hang off every word she says.
We have Will who is one of those annoying, brooding male romantic interests. There’s not much to say about him because he’s like ALL brooding male romantic interests.
They could have overcome the insurmountable obstacles to their love and found a way to be together but he was too busy brooding and she was too busy shopping. Also the world ended along the way.
The writing is boring and the plot is painfully slow. The plot is barely there and Moulton completely fails to marry the overtly long and complicated world building with any kind of reasonable story arc. The only method she knows of conveying information is in massive info dump conversations. After you finish wading through meaningless, vapid social interaction after meaningless, vapid social interaction you discover that the few fight scenes there are in this book are painfully short and boring. How am I supposed to care about the end of the world and the possibility of a Reaper consuming my soul and condemning me to an eternity in hell when all Ellie fucking cares about is her parties and social standing? Oh, I’m sorry. She also cares about Mr Tall, dark, mysterious and broody. They spend a lot of time talking. A. Lot. of. time.
It’s not like I expected her to go from 0-kickass in five seconds. But Ellie never at any point in this novel has a real revelation about the fact that she’s got a divine fucking mission here. And it’s not to attend parties. Think about it. Every time she’s going to the movies with friends or coffee, or a party, someone is out there dying. And not just dying. Their soul is going to burn in hell and suffer eternal torment and be used in Lucifer’s fight to condemn ALL the souls. Every time Ellie decides to take a break and not be so serious about her duties, which she does with alarming frequency – a child, a woman, a man, SOMEONE will suffer forever for it. Every time she needs to investigate something or train and she says, “Oh, I’m busy at the movies tonight, can we do that in two days time?” she’s personally letting people down.
The horror she experiences every time she faces off against one of the Reapers (the horror for which we are meant to sympathize as one of her struggles) yeah… well, she has both Will and a couple of kick arse swords when she faces off against them. Think of the children who have had to face that horror on their own and have not survived.
I have no sympathy or emotional investment in her at all. Sure, she doesn’t have her memories, but even in flashbacks she is completely disingenuous as an immortal warrior fighting for humanity. When Buffy got her mission, she woke up fairly quickly and realized that her hopes and dreams and free time was all completely inconsequential compared to her mission. Ellie did not have that realization in this entire novel. Everything took a backseat to her social life and school calendar. Everything. And this was not perceived to be a problem. Not even by the narration which gives far more time and invests far more heavily in Ellie’s star-crossed lovelife than it does in the fact that there is an apocalypse coming.
There is something supremely wrong about that.
Rebs @ Book Rants
I get sick of these female main characters that the authors try to write as a “real” teen but then end up coming across as vapid and shallow. And what is with these brooding sulking men? Do people find that attractive, because I sure don’t!
BarklessWagMore
OMG, for reals? Seriously, not another one. When will it stop?
Why do so many YA author’s think all teenagers are shallow creatures who must engage in a friggin’ love triangle. Groan. Thank you for sparing me from this one because I have learned I am not the target audience for this trend that will not die.
Nancy
Whew, I thought it was just me who felt this way! After seeing so many 4 and 5 star reviews on Goodreads, I wondered if anybody was actually READING this book! Nice to know I’m not alone.
Lexie B.
1. The graphics made me laugh. A lot. And said laughing earned me many strange stares.
2. Thank you for this review. Really. Thank you. I was debating whether or not to pick this one up, and now I know for certain that I will not be touching this with a 10-foot stick.
The thing with Buffy is that the few times she does slack on her responsibilities in favor of a social life, she gets heavily reprimanded for it. She gets reminded that while she’s out having fun, people–people she could save–are dying. The worst problem with all these vapid heroines is that none of the other characters call them out on it. They worship the ground the MCs walk on. It’s just . . . ich. This is why I fall in love with any author that actually provides a decent heroine to read through.
Rogue
I couldn’t even finish this book. I read about fifty pages than dropped it. Bye bye.
Kat Kennedy
Yeah, Rebs, mr tall, dark and mopey is SO not my style!
BLWM – I don’t know. I admit to being a fairly brainless, vapid teen but a lot of the kids I knew weren’t.
Nancy – I know! I have to wonder what I’m missing because, to me, this was scarcely readable.
Lexie, you’re welcome!
Rogue – you made the smart choice! It didn’t improve over time.
Katie @ Blook Girl
Okay, first, I just discovered your blog and already LOVE it 🙂 There are certainly no punches pulled here, and it’s admirable. I think sometimes bloggers (myself included) can be a bit too kind and forgiving of a “meh” book.
Second, I literally “laughed out loud” at some of your graphics and text descriptions. Thank you for brightening my day 🙂
Finally, I actually met Courtney Allison Moulton this past weekend at a local Dark Days event and found her to be charming and witty. Before this weekend, I wasn’t interested in reading the Angelfire series, but after meeting her, thought I’d give it a try. However, after reading this review… maybe not.
What cinched it for me was the following:
“When Buffy got her mission, she woke up fairly quickly and realized that her hopes and dreams and free time was all completely inconsequential compared to her mission. Ellie did not have that realization in this entire novel. Everything took a backseat to her social life and school calendar. Everything. And this was not perceived to be a problem.”
I don’t like people like this and I don’t like fictional characters like this, either. If this is really how the main character is portrayed, I might just chuck the book at my wall. No thanks.
Great review! I give it 5 Stars 😉
Kat Kennedy
Katie – it’s a shame. There are several authors who I’m convinced are really nice, wonderful people. Alas, if only I liked their books! Moulton made some unfortunate comments about Goodreads that I severely disagree with, but I was still kind of hoping I’d like this one.
Alas, no.
And you’re right – that kind of characterization drove me batty. It’s just not realistic. You can’t fit divine missions in with a normal life. It doesn’t work like that.
Cyna
Yes, thank you. I couldn’t rain on Ellie for not being realistic, because I’m sure there are plenty of petulant brats out there, but as a superhero? She was pretty fail. The premise was good (if a bit reminiscent of Blood+), but Moulton need a little less time with bratty Ellie and little more time with warrior Ellie. And OH GOD, the stupid, arbitrary reasoning Will used to put a kibosh on the sexy times between him and Ellie was the worst I’ve seen in a looooooooooong time. I hate that authors seem to think that no YA series can succeed without the will-they-or-won’t-they element. And now we get a love triangle with Mr. Bad Boy Awkwardly Shoehorned Into This Book Just So I Don’t Come Out of Nowhere. I hope that he’s into her because she’s the Preliator, and not because he’s somehow enchanted by her charming personality. I might throw up.
Also, A+ on the memes.
Keru Faye
Hey there! I just discovered this blog. It’s wondrous. 😀
I know this post is old, but I really want to comment on it.
I picked up this book because of this review (who said negative reviews don’t sell books?). I’m an aspiring author and the plot sounds similar to the project I’m working on. If nothing else, I might be able to learn what NOT to do.
Thanks again for the wonderful reviews.