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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It was a tad slow to begin, but it's a good story and feels like Game of Thrones for kids in a way. But I may be drawling more parallels since I just finished that series. Either way I liked it and am moving on to the next one. It's an easy read with like-able characters and a decent plot although it is a bit predictable. Definitely a good book for kids.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
pretty cool plot line abd the characters were really amazing gosh Raisa would be a great best friend.
Althrough i thought the ending was a bit predictable but that was ok in the end
Althrough i thought the ending was a bit predictable but that was ok in the end
1 ☆
I can read pretty much anything but I found this very hard to get through. If this wasn’t a bookclub read I would have DNF’d it. Perhaps if I read this book when I was 16 I probably would have enjoyed it? Fantasy is definitely a genre of choice for me but this didn’t hit the mark.
The characters had no depth and I found their plot lines quite dim. Hans - a retired street lord at 16? Raisa - a bratty princess heir who was more concerned about spending a few years kissing boys than the fate of her kingdom. However I have no issues with an FMC doing whatever the heck she wants but in the context of the story this made absolutely no sense. I needed Raisa to be more, I needed her to be a badass FMC…she needed some serious Aelin energy!
There was so much inner monologue for each of the characters and this went on for a good chunk of the book with really not a lot else happening. Han lost his mum and sister and there was absolutely no emotion there? But yet there were stretches of writing that described the ground or the way a skirt moved?
I could see glimmers of opportunities for character development but it just never got there. Maybe this is explored in the rest of the series but I won’t be continuing on.
I can read pretty much anything but I found this very hard to get through. If this wasn’t a bookclub read I would have DNF’d it. Perhaps if I read this book when I was 16 I probably would have enjoyed it? Fantasy is definitely a genre of choice for me but this didn’t hit the mark.
The characters had no depth and I found their plot lines quite dim. Hans - a retired street lord at 16? Raisa - a bratty princess heir who was more concerned about spending a few years kissing boys than the fate of her kingdom. However I have no issues with an FMC doing whatever the heck she wants but in the context of the story this made absolutely no sense. I needed Raisa to be more, I needed her to be a badass FMC…she needed some serious Aelin energy!
There was so much inner monologue for each of the characters and this went on for a good chunk of the book with really not a lot else happening. Han lost his mum and sister and there was absolutely no emotion there? But yet there were stretches of writing that described the ground or the way a skirt moved?
I could see glimmers of opportunities for character development but it just never got there. Maybe this is explored in the rest of the series but I won’t be continuing on.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Enjoyed it a lot, but definitely felt like the beginning of a series. Can't wait to read the second one!
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm at just over 110 pages and don't know if I'll continue. It's not awful, but 100 pages in there's no hook, major conflict, or distinct plot arc pulling be into the story, and the characters have done nothing much to make them stand out.
Han used to be the boss of a street gang, but I still don't understand what made him quit, especially when he has the added drive of having to support his sister and mother. Also, you don't meet him in the streets, you meet him out foraging in the wilderness, so it was a big 'huh?!' when his street-gang past is mentioned and then not explained or expanded on for dozens and dozens of pages. Like, why is he out here now? How long ago was that, and how far are we from the city? Oh, so he lives out here with the traditional-living people now, was he adopted? Wait, no--he's going back to the city now?! What's the deal with him???
The princess is, so far, just a standard bland fiction-royal; nice enough, chafing a bit at the restrictions her rank places on her, and annoyingly dangling a flirtation with a guy she doesn't trust enough to show her secret hideouts (fyi, girl...that's a sign that you should probably drop that flirtation, eh?) who by the way is a magic-user and so is not allowed to marry a queen (so you should REALLY drop the pointless dalliance!). I still can't quite tell apart her mother and her sister (or cousin? I don't know, they're both so vague and forgettable). Her father is away doing dangerous trade mission stuff in a politically unstable region, which sounds interesting (yay! something interesting!), but judging by the other reviews we're not going to hear much more about :(
I don't know, man, I'm not engaged at over 100 pages in and I've got literally over 100 other books piled up and staring me down right now...
UPDATE: Nope, couldn't do it. DNF at 130 pages.
Han used to be the boss of a street gang, but I still don't understand what made him quit, especially when he has the added drive of having to support his sister and mother. Also, you don't meet him in the streets, you meet him out foraging in the wilderness, so it was a big 'huh?!' when his street-gang past is mentioned and then not explained or expanded on for dozens and dozens of pages. Like, why is he out here now? How long ago was that, and how far are we from the city? Oh, so he lives out here with the traditional-living people now, was he adopted? Wait, no--he's going back to the city now?! What's the deal with him???
The princess is, so far, just a standard bland fiction-royal; nice enough, chafing a bit at the restrictions her rank places on her, and annoyingly dangling a flirtation with a guy she doesn't trust enough to show her secret hideouts (fyi, girl...that's a sign that you should probably drop that flirtation, eh?) who by the way is a magic-user and so is not allowed to marry a queen (so you should REALLY drop the pointless dalliance!). I still can't quite tell apart her mother and her sister (or cousin? I don't know, they're both so vague and forgettable). Her father is away doing dangerous trade mission stuff in a politically unstable region, which sounds interesting (yay! something interesting!), but judging by the other reviews we're not going to hear much more about :(
I don't know, man, I'm not engaged at over 100 pages in and I've got literally over 100 other books piled up and staring me down right now...
UPDATE: Nope, couldn't do it. DNF at 130 pages.