A blog of my running thoughts while reading. *Warning: Spoilers*
Pen can be more than a little blind at times. She believes the wrong people all too easily. She’s got to open her eyes at some point, I just hope that it’s sooner rather than later, since time is seriously running out! And I can’t believe that Niall is just going to sit back and do nothing! He’d better get his act together before too long, too!
Jessie had fun at her first D&D session and I’m super glad! It was a great session! The guys (because of course it’s mostly guys) showed off a little, but didn’t treat her like an idiot at all. They were (for the most part) helpful, but not condescending. It was like a perfect first session. Jessie wasn’t made to feel stupid or out-of-place and she was given the chance to feel like her character was powerful and fun. It was awesome!
Pen (and Percy, for that matter) is uncommonly good at getting herself into sticky and confusing situations. I’m not super enthralled by her romance with Niall, but I think that’s because his mother worries me a great deal. The drama with the scholars, including Mr. Doherty’s political problems, has me far more interested right now!
I find it really interesting that the books Jessie is reading throughout this book are not only real books, but recent teen novels. Even more interestingly, she talks about them – what they’re about, what she likes about them and even her favorite scenes and lines. I can’t remember another book that’s done that (especially with recent books), but I like it. People obviously read recent books and have reactions to them all the time, so it makes sense to see fictional people doing so!
I missed Percy at first, but I like Pen a lot – possibly even more than I liked Percy. I’m finding her studies about the triple goddess and everything particularly fascinating. I’m enjoying this book a great deal so far and I look forward to seeing where the story goes!
Jessie is definitely on her way to making some new and hopefully better friends. I like Dottie and Henry and even Polly and the band geeks. I am really glad that Jessie finally realized that Bizza and Char weren’t good friends to her. I really like Chloe and hope that we get to see more of her. It’s fun to read a book set near home (and set there well) and full of fun things that I can relate to!
This ended well. I was kind of sad that she couldn’t end up with Oswald and then she did! I’m also glad that Ironheart found his own true love. I love that the kingdom turned out well and the princess was actually able to sort of return home. I also love that we got to hear what happened after the kiss – what “happily ever after” was like for them. I really enjoyed this book.
I’m really enjoying this book a lot! It’s clear that the author actually plays (or is at least very, very familiar with) Dungeons and Dragons. That means a lot. If Dottie’s descriptions of the game weren’t right it would have seriously hurt this book. But she even wears a d20 necklace, which is awesome, and describes gaming-related things (like a date at a gaming session) perfectly. This is a great book so far!
Of course they were the two halves of the same story. It seems odd that they didn’t figure it out themselves until after the fact. Well, not so surprising in Ironheart’s case, since he only knew his half while Aurore got to know both halves. I do have to wonder what’s going to happen once they get home. What has happened in one hundred years? Will Aurore rule?
Jessie’s friends aren’t very friend-like. I like her classmate Dottie, though. Hopefully she’ll manage to ditch the “poserettes” and find some real friends pretty soon. The two “friends” she has treat her awfully, like everything she does and likes is really stupid. Real friends shouldn’t do that, even if they don’t share the interest.