I found Bitterblue absolutely fascinating, but the whole side-plot with the ciphers felt a little bit didactic to me, and THAT's what I found distracting. Then there was the disturbing content, which I wasn't exactly bothered by, but I don't feel like I can really recommend it to its intended YA audience. That's some disturbing shit up in there. Thankfully most of the disturbing shit wasn't ever actually 'on camera' as it were.
Fire was actually my least favorite, just because it felt like such a departure. As you pointed out, it wasn't so much plot-driven, which I found to be a weakness. Also I got very confused about how this kingdom is RIGHT THERE and yet you can only get to it by... falling through the mountains? So nobody knows about it?
On the other hand, I did like how balanced Fire herself was, and how she knew explicitly from the beginning that she never intended to have children. Yet she still found someone, and that person accepted her and didn't try to convince her or change her mind in another direction. Good message!
Graceling is still my favorite, though, because of how plot-driven it is while still character-focused, and it doesn't have nearly so many "Wait, what?" moments.
Meanwhile, I recommend you don't ever go read the commentary on GoodReads, because there are so many people who whine and carry on about how anti-feminist this series is. It flabbergasts me. Are they reading what I'm reading?! Or even, how it's such a loud attempt at feminism that it's pushing a feminist agenda while being full of things that make it BAD FEMINISM. I can't stand it. Augh.
no subject
Fire was actually my least favorite, just because it felt like such a departure. As you pointed out, it wasn't so much plot-driven, which I found to be a weakness. Also I got very confused about how this kingdom is RIGHT THERE and yet you can only get to it by... falling through the mountains? So nobody knows about it?
On the other hand, I did like how balanced Fire herself was, and how she knew explicitly from the beginning that she never intended to have children. Yet she still found someone, and that person accepted her and didn't try to convince her or change her mind in another direction. Good message!
Graceling is still my favorite, though, because of how plot-driven it is while still character-focused, and it doesn't have nearly so many "Wait, what?" moments.
Meanwhile, I recommend you don't ever go read the commentary on GoodReads, because there are so many people who whine and carry on about how anti-feminist this series is. It flabbergasts me. Are they reading what I'm reading?! Or even, how it's such a loud attempt at feminism that it's pushing a feminist agenda while being full of things that make it BAD FEMINISM. I can't stand it. Augh.