Would you leave a bad review?
Feb. 28th, 2024 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jajalalaOkay, so I finished reading Nascent Witch and... hmm. I hate to say it, but not a fan.
So the story is about a woman with a bunch of jobs kind of struggling through life who discovers she is a witch around her 28th birthday. A familiar comes to her (in the form of a cat, then sometimes a human), she has to deal with a bunch of magic stuff going weird, and she tries to balance a budding new relationship with a hot dentist while also meeting a bunch of other witches and familiars along the way. There is also a stalker situation where this guy is kind of chasing her along the way and is the majority of the actual tension in the book. I thought it would be a chaotic, fun read with some shenanigans and magic in the context of a woman in a similar stage of life as mine struggling to balance the magic and mundane.
As I got into it though, I found a lot did not vibe with me. Everyone around the character seemed to exist just to hype up or support her or deliver relevant exposition at key moments. At some point the main character is like "Okay I have time to do [X]" and then all of a sudden her sister calls to be like "So excited to come visit you next week!" and then just a few lines after saying that, her sister is like "Sorry I'm at the club right now, I have to hang up!" Which feels so transparently like... the author needed the main character to be reminded her sister is coming by, so the sister calls, but also did not want to take up space by having to do a whole convo, so has the sister hang up bc she's at the club. But why did she bother calling in the first place if she's busy dancing?? It's just to be a "natural" reminder in the scene.
The sister in general had a lot of issues. She's painted as someone who kind of has life going easy for her, landing great internships easily and being so attractive but also her Big Flaw is that she sleeps around a bunch and falls for guys way too easy and gets her heart broken... which is not an issue with me, this is something that could be explored in depth, but the WAY that the main character talks to her sister about it feels SO condescending, and her sister just kinda vibes and agrees that she's so messy or whatever? Like they make some sort of deal which really is just the sister hyping the main character up like "Hey you should make an online shop or something and really try to build your own business" and the main character is like "I'll do that IF you cool off for a bit and don't go chasing after boys for awhile" and the sister just agrees?? Like the sister doesn't seem to have a mind or thoughts of her own in regards to her own behavior, she just agrees with the main character's assessment of her all the time.
And don't get me started on the love interest! He literally is just like... perfect. That's it, he's a perfect guy. The main character white lies some things to hide her witchiness, but at the end of the book that's never really addressed or has any consequences. Even tho she mentions wanting to reveal her witchiness to him at some point, the book just ends with her having kind of blown him off for a night (bc she went through some unexpected dangerous witch stuff) and the other witches are like "Ehh it'll be fine tell him you lost your phone" and then the book ends without ever mentioning how he felt or if they re-established their connection? It felt like I was just supposed to assume it would work out since he's perfect? I literally in my head was like "Okay he's TOO perfect, the big twist is going to be that she magically manifested him without realizing it and she has to decide whether to keep this spell alive or face reality" but NOPE he's literally Just A Real Perfect Guy. He takes her on perfect romantic dates and tells her how lucky he is to be with her and compliments and hypes her up all the time even though by the end of the book they've only been on 3-4 dates??? Like let's be for real WHY does he like her even?
All the characters just felt like CARDBOARD. Just standing in to help the main character and fulfill various roles in relation to that. There was no depth; people loved the main character the moment they met her. It was just so hollow and BORING.
Positives: I liked the magic in the book. It felt fun and had lots of details, and when her magic was going wrong it was cool to see the ways in which it was going on. And when the actual IMPORTANT PLOT POINT of why her magic was so funky was finally revealed, it was legitimately engaging and kind of hilarious. Basically, back when she was a tween/teen she liked to do "spells" with some of her friends, so she cast a bunch of silly spells that obvi did nothing. However, now that she's a nascent witch unlocking her powers, ALL the stupid spells she cast back then are suddenly happening--for example she suddenly gets lavender tips in her hair bc she wanted that as a teen but her parents wouldn't let her. Scarily, a love spell she cast way back then is now happening, and the rando guy she cast it on is magically compelled to stalk her, which makes for some good threat and tension. So she NEEDS to learn magic to undo these spells, especially the one on her now-stalker.
The problem is... this big driving force isn't introduced until literally HALF WAY THROUGH THE STORY... like the whole rest we're just kinda Vibing as she slowly discovers how to unlock her witch power and bond with her familiar. Like the mysterious stalker is mentioned a few times, but it took SO LONG for the story to get to the actually intriguing PLOT of the matter.
I wouldn't mind so much if I had enjoyed the characters or ride on the way there, but because I was so unimpressed by them it just felt like wasting away time until the one part of the book that interested me finally appeared.
The ending was predictable and resolved so smoothly and without the main character really doing anything that I'm not even going to get into it. And there's weird plot threads totally dropped (like no closing scene/reassurance with the love interest, and a thread about her sister being freaked out by stalkers but refusing to tell the main character why is brought up several times but never elaborated on) and then in literally the LAST TWO PAGES a new dude is randomly introduced who has a voice she recognizes from her dreams? And he just kinda says hi and seems charming or whatever? It felt like gearing up for a sequel I guess where this new guy is either the new love interest or a rival, but there's no mention in the book or on the author's website of an intended sequel, so it just felt like threads were left hanging or new things were introduced instead of wrapping things up neatly.
The book is over 300 pages. I feel like if the introductory stuff was trimmed back a bit, the exciting plot and driving tension could have been introduced sooner, and then there would have been more time at the end to actually wrap things up.
Now I've happily written in my journal why I don't like it--it feels juvenile, like a teenager's wish fulfillment power fantasy where the main character just kind of stumbles around while the surrounding cardboard cast fixes all their problems and reassures them every other chapter with some hype-up speech EVEN THOUGH the main character is like 28 years old.
The problem is, I'm feeling conflicted about whether to leave a bad review on sites like goodreads.
I got this book at Boskone, a convention, in an "artist's alley" where authors were directly selling their books to con-goers. The author of this book was tabling next to my dear roommate, and she was really nice, had a great vibe, and inspired my roommate with her tabling skills. I so desperately wanted to like the book so I could give back some of the positivity and support a small author.
Unfortunately, I don't like it overall. I could give it two, maybe three stars for the cool magic stuff and the occasional moments that legitimately made me laugh. And the writing was fine and flowed well. And I'll admit I just might not be the right audience--I'm not at a stage in my life where I need/want wish-fulfillment fantasies where everyone around me exists to give me a pep talk every two chapters. I think there is a certain kind of person who would love this book... but that person is NOT me.
It feels wrong to rate a small author low on book websites though. Especially since there aren't a huge number of reviews, so each review has a big effect. I don't want to jeopardize the author's budding career as an author by tanking her ratings, especially since I've literally met her in person and liked her! But also I feel like reviews should be a place where people can share their thoughts and opinions authentically... so hrghhmm. I felt a little strange looking at the currently existing reviews on goodreads which are overall quite positive. They made me feel like "did we read the same book???" I would have felt a little less alone if I saw at least one other person complaining that the characters felt flat.
Ugh it's hard to decide. I'm glad for DreamWidth bc it means I can bitch here without changing ratings on any sites that affect the author more directly. I'm just struggling to decide if it makes sense to be authentic and express what I thought on those sites, especially if I want to have Goodreads/Storygraph accurately reflect my reading history.
Have any of you ever faced this kind of problem? Do you have opinions or thoughts on what the appropriate move is here?
So the story is about a woman with a bunch of jobs kind of struggling through life who discovers she is a witch around her 28th birthday. A familiar comes to her (in the form of a cat, then sometimes a human), she has to deal with a bunch of magic stuff going weird, and she tries to balance a budding new relationship with a hot dentist while also meeting a bunch of other witches and familiars along the way. There is also a stalker situation where this guy is kind of chasing her along the way and is the majority of the actual tension in the book. I thought it would be a chaotic, fun read with some shenanigans and magic in the context of a woman in a similar stage of life as mine struggling to balance the magic and mundane.
As I got into it though, I found a lot did not vibe with me. Everyone around the character seemed to exist just to hype up or support her or deliver relevant exposition at key moments. At some point the main character is like "Okay I have time to do [X]" and then all of a sudden her sister calls to be like "So excited to come visit you next week!" and then just a few lines after saying that, her sister is like "Sorry I'm at the club right now, I have to hang up!" Which feels so transparently like... the author needed the main character to be reminded her sister is coming by, so the sister calls, but also did not want to take up space by having to do a whole convo, so has the sister hang up bc she's at the club. But why did she bother calling in the first place if she's busy dancing?? It's just to be a "natural" reminder in the scene.
The sister in general had a lot of issues. She's painted as someone who kind of has life going easy for her, landing great internships easily and being so attractive but also her Big Flaw is that she sleeps around a bunch and falls for guys way too easy and gets her heart broken... which is not an issue with me, this is something that could be explored in depth, but the WAY that the main character talks to her sister about it feels SO condescending, and her sister just kinda vibes and agrees that she's so messy or whatever? Like they make some sort of deal which really is just the sister hyping the main character up like "Hey you should make an online shop or something and really try to build your own business" and the main character is like "I'll do that IF you cool off for a bit and don't go chasing after boys for awhile" and the sister just agrees?? Like the sister doesn't seem to have a mind or thoughts of her own in regards to her own behavior, she just agrees with the main character's assessment of her all the time.
And don't get me started on the love interest! He literally is just like... perfect. That's it, he's a perfect guy. The main character white lies some things to hide her witchiness, but at the end of the book that's never really addressed or has any consequences. Even tho she mentions wanting to reveal her witchiness to him at some point, the book just ends with her having kind of blown him off for a night (bc she went through some unexpected dangerous witch stuff) and the other witches are like "Ehh it'll be fine tell him you lost your phone" and then the book ends without ever mentioning how he felt or if they re-established their connection? It felt like I was just supposed to assume it would work out since he's perfect? I literally in my head was like "Okay he's TOO perfect, the big twist is going to be that she magically manifested him without realizing it and she has to decide whether to keep this spell alive or face reality" but NOPE he's literally Just A Real Perfect Guy. He takes her on perfect romantic dates and tells her how lucky he is to be with her and compliments and hypes her up all the time even though by the end of the book they've only been on 3-4 dates??? Like let's be for real WHY does he like her even?
All the characters just felt like CARDBOARD. Just standing in to help the main character and fulfill various roles in relation to that. There was no depth; people loved the main character the moment they met her. It was just so hollow and BORING.
Positives: I liked the magic in the book. It felt fun and had lots of details, and when her magic was going wrong it was cool to see the ways in which it was going on. And when the actual IMPORTANT PLOT POINT of why her magic was so funky was finally revealed, it was legitimately engaging and kind of hilarious. Basically, back when she was a tween/teen she liked to do "spells" with some of her friends, so she cast a bunch of silly spells that obvi did nothing. However, now that she's a nascent witch unlocking her powers, ALL the stupid spells she cast back then are suddenly happening--for example she suddenly gets lavender tips in her hair bc she wanted that as a teen but her parents wouldn't let her. Scarily, a love spell she cast way back then is now happening, and the rando guy she cast it on is magically compelled to stalk her, which makes for some good threat and tension. So she NEEDS to learn magic to undo these spells, especially the one on her now-stalker.
The problem is... this big driving force isn't introduced until literally HALF WAY THROUGH THE STORY... like the whole rest we're just kinda Vibing as she slowly discovers how to unlock her witch power and bond with her familiar. Like the mysterious stalker is mentioned a few times, but it took SO LONG for the story to get to the actually intriguing PLOT of the matter.
I wouldn't mind so much if I had enjoyed the characters or ride on the way there, but because I was so unimpressed by them it just felt like wasting away time until the one part of the book that interested me finally appeared.
The ending was predictable and resolved so smoothly and without the main character really doing anything that I'm not even going to get into it. And there's weird plot threads totally dropped (like no closing scene/reassurance with the love interest, and a thread about her sister being freaked out by stalkers but refusing to tell the main character why is brought up several times but never elaborated on) and then in literally the LAST TWO PAGES a new dude is randomly introduced who has a voice she recognizes from her dreams? And he just kinda says hi and seems charming or whatever? It felt like gearing up for a sequel I guess where this new guy is either the new love interest or a rival, but there's no mention in the book or on the author's website of an intended sequel, so it just felt like threads were left hanging or new things were introduced instead of wrapping things up neatly.
The book is over 300 pages. I feel like if the introductory stuff was trimmed back a bit, the exciting plot and driving tension could have been introduced sooner, and then there would have been more time at the end to actually wrap things up.
Now I've happily written in my journal why I don't like it--it feels juvenile, like a teenager's wish fulfillment power fantasy where the main character just kind of stumbles around while the surrounding cardboard cast fixes all their problems and reassures them every other chapter with some hype-up speech EVEN THOUGH the main character is like 28 years old.
The problem is, I'm feeling conflicted about whether to leave a bad review on sites like goodreads.
I got this book at Boskone, a convention, in an "artist's alley" where authors were directly selling their books to con-goers. The author of this book was tabling next to my dear roommate, and she was really nice, had a great vibe, and inspired my roommate with her tabling skills. I so desperately wanted to like the book so I could give back some of the positivity and support a small author.
Unfortunately, I don't like it overall. I could give it two, maybe three stars for the cool magic stuff and the occasional moments that legitimately made me laugh. And the writing was fine and flowed well. And I'll admit I just might not be the right audience--I'm not at a stage in my life where I need/want wish-fulfillment fantasies where everyone around me exists to give me a pep talk every two chapters. I think there is a certain kind of person who would love this book... but that person is NOT me.
It feels wrong to rate a small author low on book websites though. Especially since there aren't a huge number of reviews, so each review has a big effect. I don't want to jeopardize the author's budding career as an author by tanking her ratings, especially since I've literally met her in person and liked her! But also I feel like reviews should be a place where people can share their thoughts and opinions authentically... so hrghhmm. I felt a little strange looking at the currently existing reviews on goodreads which are overall quite positive. They made me feel like "did we read the same book???" I would have felt a little less alone if I saw at least one other person complaining that the characters felt flat.
Ugh it's hard to decide. I'm glad for DreamWidth bc it means I can bitch here without changing ratings on any sites that affect the author more directly. I'm just struggling to decide if it makes sense to be authentic and express what I thought on those sites, especially if I want to have Goodreads/Storygraph accurately reflect my reading history.
Have any of you ever faced this kind of problem? Do you have opinions or thoughts on what the appropriate move is here?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-29 03:05 am (UTC)I don't track my reading, so I don't know the specifics of how to navigate something like this, but I hope you're able to figure out what feels right for you to do.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-01 05:35 pm (UTC)I haven't seriously tracked my readings on goodreads/storygraph before, but this year I made a new year's resolution to try reading more, so I like the idea of being able to look back at the end like "I read this!". I'd hate to exclude this book just bc I didn't like it.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-29 03:25 am (UTC)Did you commit to reviewing it? If not, I'd say just skip posting a review. If you did, I think you can still share the points from this post - it's not unduly harsh imo. This is profic and not fanfic. Honest feedback is, imho better than a sugarcoated review.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-01 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-02 02:51 am (UTC)Sounds like a great compromise!
no subject
Date: 2024-02-29 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-01 05:42 pm (UTC)I'm trying to use Goodreads/Storygraph more seriously this year (as part of a general "read more!" new year's resolution) so I think I'll record this story on there in some way... still figuring out the details on how though.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-29 03:47 am (UTC)I don't think there's any harm in leaving a mixed review, particularly along the lines of what you've said here. There are things you can point to that you liked - it made you laugh, the writing flowed - and then just explain you're not the audience this book is looking for.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-01 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-29 06:33 am (UTC)The only reason I haven't deleted my goodreads altogether is because I have reviews there for small indie authors and I don't want to remove them, and I might want to write more for them in the future (though only honest ones, of course). I don't think I'd leave a negative review, for the reasons you said. Also you might meet her again?? Numbers sadly have way too much weight, and Amazon also shows the goodreads average. Another option could be to just mark it as "read" with just a private review and no stars haha but yeah it's tough to navigate. In theory, Goodreads is a reader's space, in practice it does have an impact on authors' careers especially for the smaller ones.
Good luck, and at least I enjoyed your review here :D "Okay he's TOO perfect, the big twist is going to be that she magically manifested him without realizing it and she has to decide whether to keep this spell alive or face reality" -- Hahaha that would have been a great twist :D
no subject
Date: 2024-03-01 05:56 pm (UTC)I haven't used goodreads super seriously before, but I have a new year's resolution to read more this year, and I find the idea of tracking the amounts and statistics appealing, so I'm trying to record more deliberately.
I love reading indie books, Sex Bunker Apocalypse was self-published and I was thrilled to be among the first people leaving rave 5-star reviews on it, but when I encounter one I DON'T like I'm still learning how to balance authenticity while not punching down. It feels like sanding down my own edges somewhat to never express a negative thought, but I do think it's legitimately hard to be self- or indie-published and don't want to necessarily add onto the many stressors that come with that. At the same time, I don't want to treat it as less worthy of critical thought, as if this person is not an author and professional who put out a work into the world that people get to have opinions on. Balance is hard!
Thanks for the thoughts!