{"id":980,"date":"2018-11-16T07:00:19","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/?p=980"},"modified":"2021-03-28T19:11:59","modified_gmt":"2021-03-28T23:11:59","slug":"review-of-as-i-descended-by-robin-talley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/review-of-as-i-descended-by-robin-talley\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of As I Descended by Robin Talley"},"content":{"rendered":"This book. Chills. It was definitely the perfect Halloween\/October\/Fall\/Creepy book, so thanks to everyone on facebook who voted for it!\n\n<!--more-->\n\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/as-i-descended-cover.png\" alt=\"Review of As I Descended by Robin Talley\" title=\"Review of As I Descended by Robin Talley\" class=\"ubb-cover-image alignleft\"><strong>As I Descended<\/strong> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/authors\/robin-talley\/\">Robin Talley<\/a> <br><strong>Published on<\/strong>  September 6, 2016 by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/publishers\/harpercollins\/\">HarperCollins<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/publishers\/harperteen\/\">HarperTeen<\/a> <br><strong>Genres:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/genres\/paranormal\/\">Paranormal<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/genres\/retellings\/\">Retellings<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/genres\/ya\/\">YA<\/a> <br><strong>Pages:<\/strong> 370 <br><strong>Format:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/formats\/ebook\/\">eBook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/formats\/kindle\/\">Kindle<\/a> <br><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/reviews\/sources\/amazon\/\">Amazon<\/a> <br><strong>Add to <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/28218948-as-i-descended\" target=\"_blank\">Goodreads<\/a> <br><span class=\"star_rating\"><i class=\"fa fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fa fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fa fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fa fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fa fa-star\"><\/i><\/span> <br><blockquote class=\"ubb-synopsis\"><p><i>\u201cSomething wicked this way comes.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school\u2019s ultimate power couple\u2014even if no one knows it but them.<\/p>\n<p>Only one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey.<\/p>\n<p>Golden child Delilah is a legend at the exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize. She runs the school, and if she chose, she could blow up Maria and Lily\u2019s whole world with a pointed look, or a carefully placed word.<\/p>\n<p>But what Delilah doesn\u2019t know is that Lily and Maria are willing to do anything\u2014absolutely anything\u2014to make their dreams come true. And the first step is unseating Delilah for the Kingsley Prize. The full scholarship, awarded to Maria, will lock in her attendance at Stanford\u2015and four more years in a shared dorm room with Lily.<\/p>\n<p>Maria and Lily will stop at nothing to ensure their victory\u2014including harnessing the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school.<\/p>\n<p>But when feuds turn to fatalities, and madness begins to blur the distinction between what\u2019s real and what is imagined, the girls must decide where they draw the line.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n\t\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n\t\"@type\":\"Review\",\n\t\"datePublished\": \"2018-11-16T11:00:19+00:00\",\n\t\"description\": \"This book. Chills. It was definitely the perfect Halloween\\\/October\\\/Fall\\\/Creepy book, so thanks to everyone on facebook who voted for it!\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nThe Good, The Bad, and The GIF\\n\\n\\nThe Good: Macbeth is \",\n\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\"name\": \"Kait Plus Books\"\t},\n\t\"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\\\/books\\\/review-of-as-i-descended-by-robin-talley\\\/\",\n\t\"itemReviewed\": {\n\t\t\"@type\": \"Book\",\n\t\t\"name\": \"As I Descended\",\n\t\t\"author\": {\n\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\"name\": \"Robin Talley\",\n\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"\"\t\t},\n\t\t\"isbn\": \"0062409239\"\t},\n\t\"author\": {\n\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\"name\": \"Kaity\",\n\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\\\/books\\\/\"\t},\n\t\"reviewRating\": {\n\t\t\"@type\": \"Rating\",\n\t\t\"ratingValue\": 5,\n\t\t\"bestRating\": \"5\"\n\t}\n}\n\n\n\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The Good, The Bad, and The GIF<\/strong><!-- \/wp:post-content --><\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<strong>The Good: <\/strong><em>Macbeth<\/em> is my favorite Shakespeare play, so I was really hyped for a modern femslash retelling and <em>As I Descended<\/em> did not disappoint! I really enjoyed guessing who all the characters were based on as I was reading (I had sparknotes open to <em>Macbeth<\/em> so I could keep checking), and then guessing who was going to live and who was going to die. I was almost entirely wrong, but that just made it even better! The relationships in this book were well developed, and I liked that it focused as much on the friendships as it did the relationships.\n\n<strong>The Bad: <\/strong>I think it may have been trying to do too much. The characters were great, the plot was great, the setting was fantastic (I mean, it was a Robin Talley book, so how could it not be), but even though everything was great, it was all &#8230;. shallow? I&#8217;m not sure if that&#8217;s quite the right word, but I just really felt like there could have been more emphasis on certain things and less on others. Then again, I&#8217;m trying to come up with specifics and I can&#8217;t think of any, so&#8230;\n\n<strong>The GIF:&nbsp;<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1122\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tumblr_nhgk1hGr8v1tweui5o1_250.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"270\"><\/strong>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Judging a Book by its Cover<\/strong><\/h2>\nThis cover is gorgeous. The gradient colors, the font, the tagline, the southern moss (I realize this has a real name, but I don&#8217;t know what it is and I don&#8217;t feel like looking it up) in the silhouette- everything about this cover is perfect. I wish whoever designed it designed like 79% of book covers. 10\/10 stars.\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Read Alikes<\/strong><\/h2>\nFor more Shakespearean retellings, read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/6393834-lady-macbeth-s-daughter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Lady Macbeth&#8217;s Daughter<\/em> by Lisa Klein<\/a>\n\nFor more girls in secret relationships, read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/28003097-georgia-peaches-and-other-forbidden-fruit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit<\/em> by Jaye Robin Brown<\/a>\n\nFor more atmospheric creepiness, read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/38255342-the-dark-descent-of-elizabeth-frankenstein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein<\/em> by Kiersten White<\/a> <em>(review coming next week!)<\/em>\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Let&#8217;s Discuss<\/strong><\/h2>\nWhat&#8217;s your favorite fall book? I tend to go with thrillers and witchy fantasy during these months, but maybe you do something different. Tell me in the comments!\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1254 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/wellwishescandyfishes003.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/wellwishescandyfishes003.png 600w, https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/wellwishescandyfishes003-300x160.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p>Reading this book contributed to these challenges:<\/p><ul class=\"ubb-contributed-challenges\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/challenges\/7501-2018-reading-challenge\">2018 Goodreads Challenge<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/category\/book-review\">2018 Reviews<\/a><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This book. Chills. It was definitely the perfect Halloween\/October\/Fall\/Creepy book, so thanks to everyone on facebook who voted for it! Reading this book contributed to these challenges:2018 Goodreads Challenge2018 Reviews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[476,12,477,462,8,147,478,198],"reading-challenges":[20,508],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","tag-as-i-descended","tag-book-review","tag-fall-reads","tag-kait-plus-books","tag-kaitplusbooks","tag-lgbtqia","tag-retellings","tag-robin-talley","book-author-robin-talley","book-publisher-harpercollins","book-publisher-harperteen-harpercollins","book-genre-paranormal","book-genre-retellings","book-genre-ya","book-source-amazon","book-format-ebook","book-format-kindle","reading-challenges-2018-goodreads-challenge","reading-challenges-2018-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/As-I-Descended-1.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11466,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions\/11466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=980"},{"taxonomy":"reading-challenges","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaitgoodwin.com\/books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-challenges?post=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}