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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Well, that definitely picked up at the end! Wowee! I was middling through this book for about 350-400 pages of "meh" to "decent" feelings about it. It read very typical YA and was a little cliche and trite....but those last 100 pages they turn this shit up to 11 and really start to make things happen that I wasn't expecting for once. And I really found myself enjoying this! I'm giving this three stars, because I didn't greatly enjoy the majority of this first book, but the ending was so cool and opened up the world and the plot so much that I'm thrilled to pick up the next book. There's so much potential I feel for the remainder of the series.
The Good:
-Characters began as YA cliches, but by the end I could see them growing into something better. I'm excited to see where they end up for the rest of the series
-DAT ENDING. Like I said, last 100 pages were full of intrigue and pretty stellar
-I enjoyed the Clans aspect of the world and spending time there with those characters
The Bad:
-The early YA cringe is real for a while here. The lady MC falls for every boy within a mile radius, as does the male MC for every girl.
-Pacing. Felt quite slow and only ramped up after 400 pages.
-Plot felt really simplistic at first, but as I said at the end I felt we were starting to ramp up to something good.
The Ugly:
-Not too much going on here, but CW for death of a loved one, death of a child, death by arson, discussions of "purity" due to virginity, and offscreen torture and dismemberment of teenaged characters.
Overall, I'm glad I picked this up and I'm glad I did not DNF it like I contemplated doing several times. The end really came in clutch and now I definitely want to read the next one. I recommend this book for traditional YA fantasy fans, people into a reaaallly slow burn, and people who like wizards doing wizard things. Next book seems to have a magic school setting!
The Good:
-Characters began as YA cliches, but by the end I could see them growing into something better. I'm excited to see where they end up for the rest of the series
-DAT ENDING. Like I said, last 100 pages were full of intrigue and pretty stellar
-I enjoyed the Clans aspect of the world and spending time there with those characters
The Bad:
-The early YA cringe is real for a while here. The lady MC falls for every boy within a mile radius, as does the male MC for every girl.
-Pacing. Felt quite slow and only ramped up after 400 pages.
-Plot felt really simplistic at first, but as I said at the end I felt we were starting to ramp up to something good.
The Ugly:
-Not too much going on here, but CW for death of a loved one, death of a child, death by arson, discussions of "purity" due to virginity, and offscreen torture and dismemberment of teenaged characters.
Overall, I'm glad I picked this up and I'm glad I did not DNF it like I contemplated doing several times. The end really came in clutch and now I definitely want to read the next one. I recommend this book for traditional YA fantasy fans, people into a reaaallly slow burn, and people who like wizards doing wizard things. Next book seems to have a magic school setting!
Two people from two very different backgrounds unite to stop a common threat in this action-packed series.
As part of the Beat The Blacklist Challenge over at NovelKnight, I decided to read a series languishing on my TBR pile. I choose the Seven Realms series as it's complete and available at my local library. I’ll be writing an overview of the series rather than a review of each book, but I will attempt to be as spoiler free as possible.
I just don't know what to say about these books. It was good, but not great. It was fun, but not enthralling. It was action-packed, but not thrilling. It had so many elements I usually enjoy in a fantasy romance, and yet it never truly captured my attention.
I can't really pinpoint my disappointment. The characters are well-developed, particularly Raisa. She had the best character growth, although Han's character moments were not bad either. The world-building, plot, and secondary characters are all unique and interesting. The pacing at times felt too rushed or too slow, particularly in the first novel. However, I can usually overlook pacing issues if the characters and setting pull me into the story.
Perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for a fantasy romance when I read the novels. So while I didn't really connect to the series, I don't think it's necessarily the series fault. I lay the blame completely on me.
tl;dr While I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I anticipated, others interested in action-packed narrative with well-developed characters should enjoy it.
As part of the Beat The Blacklist Challenge over at NovelKnight, I decided to read a series languishing on my TBR pile. I choose the Seven Realms series as it's complete and available at my local library. I’ll be writing an overview of the series rather than a review of each book, but I will attempt to be as spoiler free as possible.
I just don't know what to say about these books. It was good, but not great. It was fun, but not enthralling. It was action-packed, but not thrilling. It had so many elements I usually enjoy in a fantasy romance, and yet it never truly captured my attention.
I can't really pinpoint my disappointment. The characters are well-developed, particularly Raisa. She had the best character growth, although Han's character moments were not bad either. The world-building, plot, and secondary characters are all unique and interesting. The pacing at times felt too rushed or too slow, particularly in the first novel. However, I can usually overlook pacing issues if the characters and setting pull me into the story.
Perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for a fantasy romance when I read the novels. So while I didn't really connect to the series, I don't think it's necessarily the series fault. I lay the blame completely on me.
tl;dr While I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I anticipated, others interested in action-packed narrative with well-developed characters should enjoy it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This wasn’t my kind of story.
There was hardly any action or plot since the focus was the characters and world building. This normally wouldn’t be problem but I didn’t feel an attachment to either protagonist. I actually skimmed the majority of Han’s chapters because I really didn’t care.
I understand what the author was doing. I can see why this series is beloved. But for me, I would have preferred a more condensed version.
While the ending did pique my interest, I don’t think it was enough for me to carry on with the series.
There was hardly any action or plot since the focus was the characters and world building. This normally wouldn’t be problem but I didn’t feel an attachment to either protagonist. I actually skimmed the majority of Han’s chapters because I really didn’t care.
I understand what the author was doing. I can see why this series is beloved. But for me, I would have preferred a more condensed version.
While the ending did pique my interest, I don’t think it was enough for me to carry on with the series.
this was full of unnecessary details, and took WAY too long to make a point. we get it, Raisa is
well-meaning but selfish. we get it, Han's cuffs are keeping in magic. and yet, there weren't ENOUGH pertinent details. for example, after finishing the book I still don't quite know what The Breaking was. physical? figurative?
and yet... the last 4 chapters were great!! I will read the next book and see if it is more like the first 500 pages, or the last 50. but I'm giving myself permission to DNF if it's the former.
well-meaning but selfish. we get it, Han's cuffs are keeping in magic. and yet, there weren't ENOUGH pertinent details. for example, after finishing the book I still don't quite know what The Breaking was. physical? figurative?
and yet... the last 4 chapters were great!! I will read the next book and see if it is more like the first 500 pages, or the last 50. but I'm giving myself permission to DNF if it's the former.
I give it a three stars, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoyed it. It was kind of slow and predictable, but I think this book was a really good foundation for the rest of the series. So yeah, I'm off to the second book because I know it's going to get better.
The book has an interesting premise and the reviews encouraged me to pick it up and while I didn't particularly love this book, I didn't hate it either. I will likely continue on in the series at some point but I'm not in a rush to do so.
Ok. This book got the point where I was getting bored enough to hit my head on the wall repeatedly. For hours. Not that the book was terrible, but I gave quite a long time for it to do what it should have, and it didn't deliver.
My main issue for the first half of the book was that Han and Raisa never met until halfway into the book. HALFWAY. They are the two main characters! And this wouldn't have been an issue if there was some serious plot underway during the first half...but there was none. I don't even know who the antagonist is (though I can guess it's the Demon King), because he hasn't even appeared in the book.
This book fails on many levels, but the main just being that it doesn't follow the rules a good book should. A) Protagonists must know each other (if they don't there should be a real reason behind it...there wasn't here); B) Antagonist should have been introduced in the first half; C) I should know what the main conflict is by now.
I really liked Han's character, and how he had sort of a troubled past but he was coming out of it. However, I detest Raisa. She seems really immature for her age and she kind of throws herself around in a middle-grade appropriate kind of way. First she's all over Micah, which was fine because they've known each other for a while and it was a sort of "secret romance." But then here comes hot Amon, and she literally KISSES HIM THE NIGHT HE RETURNS, YEARS SINCE THEY'VE SEEN EACH OTHER. What happened to Micah? And then, later, she kisses him again RANDOMLY in the middle of the street in front of people who think she's Amon's sister. WHAT. AN. IDIOT.
GO AWAY.
Anyway, I didn't love this book but I guess it wasn't terrible. It would have been fine if it moved faster and I felt like it was going anywhere, but I don't, unfortunately.
My main issue for the first half of the book was that Han and Raisa never met until halfway into the book. HALFWAY. They are the two main characters! And this wouldn't have been an issue if there was some serious plot underway during the first half...but there was none. I don't even know who the antagonist is (though I can guess it's the Demon King), because he hasn't even appeared in the book.
This book fails on many levels, but the main just being that it doesn't follow the rules a good book should. A) Protagonists must know each other (if they don't there should be a real reason behind it...there wasn't here); B) Antagonist should have been introduced in the first half; C) I should know what the main conflict is by now.
I really liked Han's character, and how he had sort of a troubled past but he was coming out of it. However, I detest Raisa. She seems really immature for her age and she kind of throws herself around in a middle-grade appropriate kind of way. First she's all over Micah, which was fine because they've known each other for a while and it was a sort of "secret romance." But then here comes hot Amon, and she literally KISSES HIM THE NIGHT HE RETURNS, YEARS SINCE THEY'VE SEEN EACH OTHER. What happened to Micah? And then, later, she kisses him again RANDOMLY in the middle of the street in front of people who think she's Amon's sister. WHAT. AN. IDIOT.
GO AWAY.
Anyway, I didn't love this book but I guess it wasn't terrible. It would have been fine if it moved faster and I felt like it was going anywhere, but I don't, unfortunately.
This book introduces a cool fantasy world with interesting characters. I like how everyone’s lives are slowly intertwined and the setting is expanded. It has a nice mix of world building through teaching the royal family’s history and showing us the different groups that live on this land now. The relationships between people and magic are very complicated, and there’s conflict going on in other areas which sets up believable stakes. The battles are happening in the background since they haven’t reached the country our main characters live in, so it’s just one part of the political climate we end up learning about.
We get two third person limited POVs and switch every couple chapters between Han and Raisa. Han is just trying to get by and take care of his family, but all these things start happening to and around him which makes that difficult. He’s scrappy and sympathetic, so I’m not trying to be mean to him, but he’s kinda stupid sometimes. He occasionally does things that don’t make sense and forgets stuff that’s kinda important, but it’s clearly a character trait rather than a writing flaw. Raisa is a good main character too because she’s strong willed, but she also makes questionable decisions due to her upbringing and lack of experience. She can tell her mother isn’t doing enough as queen, and she wants to be educated on the outside world, make her own decisions, and be a good leader. I respect that when she learned how poor some of the people in the queendom are, her first thought was “I will simply redistribute my wealth.” She’s a good mix of brave, naive, romantic, and capable. The author set these two up in a way that made me care about them and look forward to their future growth.
This is also a story about a bunch of 16 year olds that really wanna kiss each other. There’s a big focus on the romantic side plots in this but in a way I’m not used to seeing in YA. Usually, there’s one person the main character(s) like, and a love triangle is introduced, at the most. The main female character in this lets her mind wander a little more because she’s not in a relationship, so she freely thinks about what it would be like to kiss multiple people at different points. I thought that made sense with how it matched the culture they live in, their circumstances, and her personality. There’s still a small love triangle aspect to this, but both options are sort of forbidden, so she doesn’t seriously pursue them. And Han has a bit of a love triangle too, but it’s much more of a minor aspect of his story. I can feel the author’s experience with writing romance novels through this book even when that’s not the main point. She’s also good at making likable side characters and compelling villains.
The Demon King is mainly set up for the second book in the series. Even when I was mostly done with this book, I was wondering when the story was going to start. That sounds weird because things do happen, and characters make choices and teach us more about the world through their actions and conversations. There’s multiple side plots happening at once that overlap at random times. But I didn’t know what was gonna happen because the characters didn’t know what was going on, and it isn’t until 85% of the way through that things really pick up. It feels like a majority of this was an introduction to the world, characters, and some mysteries, but the plot progression is saved for the very end. We finally get explanations and reveals which catapult everyone into moving forward instead of just wondering how to make their situations better. I was waiting for a long time for the title to make sense and connect to current events, and it did a little, but it hasn’t been fully explored yet.
I like how wizards are viewed differently in this world depending on who you ask. The dynamics between the royals, wizards, and the people who keep wizards in check are well thought out. It’s a flawed political system that you can tell is being threatened, and the wizards play a big role in its history. The magic system and amulets are well integrated and complex too. I didn’t think they would range from necklaces that can make fire to rings that work like roofies, but they do.
I hope the next book focuses on grief a bit more since that’s one thing I thought was brushed over a bit in this one. Some pretty bad things happen, and the characters don’t have a big reaction to it for very long like I would’ve expected. The ending gives us a good foundation for The Exiled Queen, though. It makes me want to see them go to the different places they namedrop and figure out how to hone their skills. I think the rest of the series will be fun, and the following books will probably have more of an obvious overarching plot than this one.
We get two third person limited POVs and switch every couple chapters between Han and Raisa. Han is just trying to get by and take care of his family, but all these things start happening to and around him which makes that difficult. He’s scrappy and sympathetic, so I’m not trying to be mean to him, but he’s kinda stupid sometimes. He occasionally does things that don’t make sense and forgets stuff that’s kinda important, but it’s clearly a character trait rather than a writing flaw. Raisa is a good main character too because she’s strong willed, but she also makes questionable decisions due to her upbringing and lack of experience. She can tell her mother isn’t doing enough as queen, and she wants to be educated on the outside world, make her own decisions, and be a good leader. I respect that when she learned how poor some of the people in the queendom are, her first thought was “I will simply redistribute my wealth.” She’s a good mix of brave, naive, romantic, and capable. The author set these two up in a way that made me care about them and look forward to their future growth.
This is also a story about a bunch of 16 year olds that really wanna kiss each other. There’s a big focus on the romantic side plots in this but in a way I’m not used to seeing in YA. Usually, there’s one person the main character(s) like, and a love triangle is introduced, at the most. The main female character in this lets her mind wander a little more because she’s not in a relationship, so she freely thinks about what it would be like to kiss multiple people at different points. I thought that made sense with how it matched the culture they live in, their circumstances, and her personality. There’s still a small love triangle aspect to this, but both options are sort of forbidden, so she doesn’t seriously pursue them. And Han has a bit of a love triangle too, but it’s much more of a minor aspect of his story. I can feel the author’s experience with writing romance novels through this book even when that’s not the main point. She’s also good at making likable side characters and compelling villains.
The Demon King is mainly set up for the second book in the series. Even when I was mostly done with this book, I was wondering when the story was going to start. That sounds weird because things do happen, and characters make choices and teach us more about the world through their actions and conversations. There’s multiple side plots happening at once that overlap at random times. But I didn’t know what was gonna happen because the characters didn’t know what was going on, and it isn’t until 85% of the way through that things really pick up. It feels like a majority of this was an introduction to the world, characters, and some mysteries, but the plot progression is saved for the very end. We finally get explanations and reveals which catapult everyone into moving forward instead of just wondering how to make their situations better. I was waiting for a long time for the title to make sense and connect to current events, and it did a little, but it hasn’t been fully explored yet.
I like how wizards are viewed differently in this world depending on who you ask. The dynamics between the royals, wizards, and the people who keep wizards in check are well thought out. It’s a flawed political system that you can tell is being threatened, and the wizards play a big role in its history. The magic system and amulets are well integrated and complex too. I didn’t think they would range from necklaces that can make fire to rings that work like roofies, but they do.
I hope the next book focuses on grief a bit more since that’s one thing I thought was brushed over a bit in this one. Some pretty bad things happen, and the characters don’t have a big reaction to it for very long like I would’ve expected. The ending gives us a good foundation for The Exiled Queen, though. It makes me want to see them go to the different places they namedrop and figure out how to hone their skills. I think the rest of the series will be fun, and the following books will probably have more of an obvious overarching plot than this one.
*3.75
It took a long while for this story to actually get going. It felt a bit like a long prologue where the story only picks up at the very end. Nevertheless, this book did a great job at laying out the world, politics, characters and introduced us to the magic, of which I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot more in the sequel.
This holds a lot of promise, so I'm definitely interested in continuing the series.
It took a long while for this story to actually get going. It felt a bit like a long prologue where the story only picks up at the very end. Nevertheless, this book did a great job at laying out the world, politics, characters and introduced us to the magic, of which I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot more in the sequel.
This holds a lot of promise, so I'm definitely interested in continuing the series.