
I was just recently tagged by Sweaters and Raindrops to do the Contradictions Book Tag! It looks super interesting, so I’m diving right in. This tag was originally made by Daniela at Only If For a Page. I’ll tag some people at the bottom so we can keep this going! Heeeeeeere we go!

1) I love this genre but I didn’t like this book

It’s no secret I love just about every sub-genre of fantasy there is. I absolutely adore the whole secret-magic-school trope, but I detested A Deadly Education. It was my first foray into Naomi Novik’s work, and I’m really sad to say that it did not make me want to pick up another of her books.
I hated the main character, I hated that the school was so dangerous, I hated a lot. But, what can you do? Not every book is for me!
2) I rarely read this genre but I loved this book

I’m not a huge historical fiction reader — though I do enjoy it! At the Water’s Edge is an interesting little book about searching for Nessie in Loch Ness. The relationships are fascinating, and the history is, too! This takes place right smack-dab in the middle of WWII.
I picked it up not knowing what it was really about, and wow, I remember just falling in love with the main character. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve read this, but I really recommend!
3) I love this trope but I didn’t like this book

I’m an enormously huge sucker for anything remotely similar to Hades and Persephone. This book should have hit all the buttons for me, but I wanted to scream basically the entire time. It’s poorly written, the main character is quite dumb (and I mean that literally, she makes the worst decisions ALL OF THE BOOK) and the world-building is…well it leaves much to be desired.
I need more people to write retellings of the Hades and Persephone myth, but I need them to write well. (Lore Olympus is fantastic, please go read it.)
4) I hate this trope but I loved this book

This is kind of a bogus answer to this question, because I had never read a progression fantasy before. My husband read the Cradle series before me, and kept telling me I had to read it. I had heard it described as anime in a book, and boy is that the absolutely perfect description of it.
If you like anime even a little bit, you’ll like the Cradle series.
5) I love this author but I didn’t like this book

This is another bogus answer, I guess. I liked Gallant fine enough, it just didn’t stand up to Schwab’s other works for me. Her works have such a lushness to them that you can almost feel them like velvet against your skin, and Gallant just wasn’t quite long enough for that. You can read my whole review here.
6) I previously disliked a book by this author but I loved this book

I really, really liked the world of Eidolon a whole bunch. It was a beautifully crafted world with an absolutely excellent villain. However, I was meh on the first Grace Draven book that I read — Phoenix Unbound. There was entirely too much rape in that book. It felt like every character on page had been raped or was doing the raping, and it was just… too much. Thankfully, Eidolon was much better.
7) I love this cover but I didn’t like this book

In a Garden Burning Gold has the prettiest cover I’ve seen in a long, long time and I just…could not get into it. I wanted to like it, I really, really did! But it ended up being too political, and every character was just an awful person. I hate books like that. You can read my full review here.
8) I don’t like this cover but I loved this book

Wolfsong‘s cover is entirely too bland compared to how excellent the book is. It’s okay, really, but I feel like there could be some seriously amazing art to back this book up.
I had a hard time picking a book for this one, tbh. Most of the books I read really do have gorgeous covers!

Those are my answers for the Contradictions book tag!
I’m going to tag the following people:

Yep, I wasn’t a fan of Gallant either! And it’s so expensive for such a small book.
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I feel like she should have either cut some of the filler out and published it as a novella, or worked at it more to make it worth calling a novel!
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Ooh, this is fun! I’m probably going to struggle to recall titles BUT I think I’m going to enjoy filling this out 😂 I’ve seen some people say the same thing about Gallant, which makes me a little nervous since I absolutely love Schwab but I also haven’t read her most recent books. I’ve also a lot of people dislike Deadly Education but I’m still hoping to check it out, haha. Great answers and thanks for the tag! 😍
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It just wasn’t up to her usual standards, unfortunately!! The story itself was good, it just wasn’t polished? Enough? Or long enough, IMO. Good luck filling it out — I had Goodreads open the entire time LOL.
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Oh no! I love Schwab and Novik and both Galant and Deadly Education are on my short list TBR 😂 Hopefully they don’t make it onto my contradiction list 😂
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I hope not! I love Schwab’s work so much. Gallant ultimately disappointed me when I compared it to everything else by her that I adore. Sadly, A Deadly Education was my first foray into Novik’s work, and now I’m hesitant to read more!
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If you want to give Novik another chance I would suggest Uprooted! I know a lot of people like it and its one of my favorite books. I haven’t read A Deadly Education yet, but I didn’t like Spinning Silver by her so I know her books can be hit or miss
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I’ve tried two of Novik’s books so far (Uprooted and Spinning Silver) and hated them lol I thought A Deadly Education might be an interesting read since it seems a bit different, but every person I know who has read it also disliked it 😂
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I just hate books where the main character is completely unlikeable, and the school just seemed ridiculous. I’d give it a pass, if I were you.
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Ohh what a fun tag! Surprised how some of the books you didn’t like are ones I see so highly talked about, it’s kind of refreshing really.
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I’m glad to hear that I’m refreshing!! I’m not going to pretend to like a book if I didn’t like it, so you’ll get complete honesty here!
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What a fun tag! Thank you for tagging me. <3. So, I did not like Deadly Education. I DNF'd it at around 30%. I wasn't sure if it was the writing style since it was my first by her.
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Yeah, it was my first by her, too! I’m not sure I’ll be picking up another of her books for awhile…
I hope you have fun filling the tag out, if you choose to do it!
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Thanks!! I have it saved in my drafts but we will see how long it takes me to do it! haha
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