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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
I was in a bit of a reading slump when I read this; wasn’t a big fan of the “romance” but I did like the parallels between Errick and Andreus. Felt like there was more telling than showing.
A nice ending to the duology, though as usual I could have used a bit of a reminder of what had happened before.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not a bad sequel. It wasn't quite as exciting as the first one, but there was a lot of intrigue and wondering who you could trust and who had their own agenda. I liked seeing Carys learn more about her wind power and getting closer to Errick. Andreus finally pulled his head out of his butt and saw what was happening. Max was a cute kid and I'm glad Andreus took him in. I would've liked more information about the Xhelozi monsters and that whole storyline was left a little open I thought. The ending was a little sad but made sense. An epilogue would be nice.
So much happens in this book. Actually, too much happens in this book. Eden Conquered falls victim to something a lot of fantasies fall victim to - too many events in too short of a time, with hand-waving to explain the timing. Princess Carys is supposedly "wandering the wilderness" after faking her death in the previous book, Dividing Eden. She's also supposed to be recovering from the withdrawal effects of the drug she was taking to cover the pain of being semi-regularly beaten while at home. (I'm not even going to get into why she, a Princess, was regularly beaten...it's weird.) And yet, beyond a few pages in the beginning, she doesn't seem to have any issues with the withdrawal, and the "wilderness" is never more than two day's horseback ride from anywhere she seems to need to get to. The "War" that we keep hearing about we never see in either book. The battlefield is...somewhere else. There's no real sense of time or distance, when it really feels as if there SHOULD be.
That aside, it's a pretty good sequel to Dividing Eden. I think it would have been more satisfying to have been a trilogy, with the second book about Carys wandering in exile and Andreus dealing with the treachery in his kingdom, and the third book about Carys coming back to Garden City and reuniting with her brother. Perhaps we could have delved more into what the Xhelozi monsters are, and why the city is based on "Virtues." That's another problem I had, actually - they say, more than once, that the Xhelozi are strong because the Virtue of the city is weak, but never explain that. We don't really get into the mythology much. Had the duology been a trilogy, perhaps we could have explored their religion more as well. There's so much interesting world-building dangled just out of sight! As is, with only 300 pages, a secret is barely dangled in front of us before it's revealed, and tension doesn't have a chance to build properly.
It's a great story. It needed more space to be fleshed out.
You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.
That aside, it's a pretty good sequel to Dividing Eden. I think it would have been more satisfying to have been a trilogy, with the second book about Carys wandering in exile and Andreus dealing with the treachery in his kingdom, and the third book about Carys coming back to Garden City and reuniting with her brother. Perhaps we could have delved more into what the Xhelozi monsters are, and why the city is based on "Virtues." That's another problem I had, actually - they say, more than once, that the Xhelozi are strong because the Virtue of the city is weak, but never explain that. We don't really get into the mythology much. Had the duology been a trilogy, perhaps we could have explored their religion more as well. There's so much interesting world-building dangled just out of sight! As is, with only 300 pages, a secret is barely dangled in front of us before it's revealed, and tension doesn't have a chance to build properly.
It's a great story. It needed more space to be fleshed out.
You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.
Actual rating: 2.5/5
Just like its prequel....meh.
Which is fraustrating because good duologies are hard to come by.
I got to admit, I was more bored with this one than the first one. Not by much, but it was noticable.
Pfft. I mean, I'm not angry I've read this series, just dissapointed.
If you're looking for a series that doesn't take much brain power, this is the series for you. But just don't expect too much from it.
Again, flat characters, predictable plot, frustrating choices. Blah, blah, blah.
Meh.
Just like its prequel....meh.
Which is fraustrating because good duologies are hard to come by.
I got to admit, I was more bored with this one than the first one. Not by much, but it was noticable.
Pfft. I mean, I'm not angry I've read this series, just dissapointed.
If you're looking for a series that doesn't take much brain power, this is the series for you. But just don't expect too much from it.
Again, flat characters, predictable plot, frustrating choices. Blah, blah, blah.
Meh.
