{Book Review} Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee

{Book Review} Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. LeeGates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee
Series: Gates of Thread and Stone #1
Published by Skyscape on August 5, 2014
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 335
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Synopsis:

In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe.

In a city of walls and secrets, where only one man is supposed to possess magic, seventeen-year-old Kai struggles to keep hidden her own secret—she can manipulate the threads of time. When Kai was eight, she was found by Reev on the riverbank, and her “brother” has taken care of her ever since. Kai doesn’t know where her ability comes from—or where she came from. All that matters is that she and Reev stay together, and maybe one day move out of the freight container they call home, away from the metal walls of the Labyrinth. Kai’s only friend is Avan, the shopkeeper’s son with the scandalous reputation that both frightens and intrigues her.

Then Reev disappears. When keeping silent and safe means losing him forever, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to find him. She will leave the only home she’s ever known and risk getting caught up in a revolution centuries in the making. But to save Reev, Kai must unravel the threads of her past and face shocking truths about her brother, her friendship with Avan, and her unique power.

I am always so upset when I have to mark a book as DNF. Especially a NetGalley book. I try extra hard to get through NetGalley books. But at some point, you have to say enough is enough.

And honestly, I didn’t hate this book or anything. I rather enjoyed the first 25% or so. But then it felt like things just ground to a halt, and I got SO. BORED. NOTHING. WAS. HAPPENING.

So the general plot goes something like this: MC (Kai) lives in this terrible dystopia/post-apocalyptic something something city with her “brother” (friend who took her in when she was little). Kai has a secret though: she can slow down time. When her brother goes missing, it’s rumored that he’s been taken by the Black Rider, who supposedly kidnaps people from the city to grow his rebel army. Kai and her friend Avan (romantic interest) go in search of Reeve (Kai’s brother) and find more than they bargained for outside the city.

So that sounds pretty interesting right? It has all the mixings of a great Sci-Fi/Fantasy adventure. Unfortunately, a few really terrible things interfere with the awesome:

  1. Kai uses her time-slowing powers like, once. And then we don’t see them again. I was at 57% and I hadn’t seen them since about the the fourth chapter maybe? Like, this was a gigantic plot point in the first 10% of the book, and then it just DISAPPEARS.
  2. Kai and Avan’s romance: I’m all about the romance. You know me. But this romance was ridiculous. I got so tired of reading about how she’s always IMAGINING scenarios and JUST GO KISS THE BOY GOOD GRIEF THIS IS RIDICULOUS. The romantic angst was suffocating. It was like the first half of Twilight but with like, 8th graders.
  3. So Kai and Avan find this super cool fortress out in the wild-like seriously, loved this section. Well, super cool fortress stops being super cool the minute they step inside and immediately becomes super boring. The whole middle portion of this book is just one long snooze fest.
  4. We were supposed to hate the bad guy based off of people talking about him. We never saw him do awful things, and we didn’t even really see his minions do terrible things. Why am I supposed to care about this super terrible bad guy who we haven’t seen do anything?
  5. Who are these Gargoyles and why are they here? If you’re going to have some cool monsters in your book, good for you, but please, make them cool monsters for a reason. Not just ‘hey, they’re here. They don’t really do anything. But they’re here. Isn’t that cool?’

The worst part is that I’m certain the last quarter of this book is probably the best part, but I just don’t care enough to keep reading.

So, the cover is awesome, I’m not going to argue about that. I guess if you really enjoy romantic angst you’ll maybe enjoy this one? I’ve seen some reviews that just gush about it, so I don’t think it’s a terrible book all around, I think it just wasn’t for me. I’d wait to try to get this at the library or borrow it from a friend before paying for it, if you can find it.

Book Review #2

 Stars

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