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adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As someone who has never watched critical role I was slightly skeptical about reading this yet was a fan of Guanzons other books so figured I would give it a try.
I think Guanzon elevated the grumpy x sunshine trope for me. I find that the grumpy characters often get on my nerves and their grumpiness often is unwarranted and makes them unlikable. In this book Oskar is grumpy yet he is not grumpy with or at Guinevere for the situation at hand. His grumpiness is more compassionate and is aimed at the people who have let down Guinevere. I also liked that Oskar never let Guinevere get away with apologizing for things outside of her control.
I really enjoyed the characters trek on the road yet once they got closer to the destination I lost interest and found myself rushing to finish it. I felt like the ending was a lot quicker pace than the earlier parts of the book making it feel disjointed. I feel like Guinevere “mastering” her powers at the end happened to quickly. I also wish we got a cameo of the goblin family they met on the road at the end and a got an epilogue of Oskar and Guinevere making it to his mothers homeland.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have a low tolerance for certain romance genre tropes, and this book just went one-two-three strikes with me. The hapless and naive female lead was one (I knew about that one going in, but was hoping after the introductory scenes that she'd end up being more practical.)
Two was her sneaking away from her guide to go shopping (for supplies, but still) in the middle of a city she knew zero about, and the author just...let her get away with wandering around a bad neighborhood in an increasingly implausible manner that I'm sure was supposed to make the character seem charming and cutesy and instead I just felt she was dumb as a rock.
Three was the introduction of the There's Only One Horse situation, which added Dumb as a Rock to the MALE lead as well, since he was the one who knew what he was doing and didn't speak up. They are using her money to buy two horses, and male lead doesn't....think through the implication of them having to SHARE A HORSE? Why not buy two? Or redistribute the supplies so that she can ride the supply horse?
In other words, this is a book about two people with Plot Armor who are constantly creating problems for themselves and then complaining about it. No amount of cross-species love could hold me.
Two was her sneaking away from her guide to go shopping (for supplies, but still) in the middle of a city she knew zero about, and the author just...let her get away with wandering around a bad neighborhood in an increasingly implausible manner that I'm sure was supposed to make the character seem charming and cutesy and instead I just felt she was dumb as a rock.
Three was the introduction of the There's Only One Horse situation, which added Dumb as a Rock to the MALE lead as well, since he was the one who knew what he was doing and didn't speak up. They are using her money to buy two horses, and male lead doesn't....think through the implication of them having to SHARE A HORSE? Why not buy two? Or redistribute the supplies so that she can ride the supply horse?
In other words, this is a book about two people with Plot Armor who are constantly creating problems for themselves and then complaining about it. No amount of cross-species love could hold me.