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2.9 AVERAGE
2.9 AVERAGE
This book was extremely disjointed. Granted it's broken up into sections, but the sections have trouble meshing and creating a cohesive storyline. Also even after finishing the book I have no idea what a Seeker is, of a Dread for that matter.
I liked Quin she's sweet and fiercely loyal to those she cares about. She goes through a major change after her oath but you never learn what caused it. I'd appreciate more details fleshed out. Granted you get a couple in flash backs but not many.
I also liked Shinobu, you get to see him evolve, devolve, and evolve again in a very nice character arc. John I wasn't so fond of if he'd have just manned up and told Quin everything he knew a lot of trouble could have been spared.
Overall I did like the book, I just want more details. Hopefully the next book adds more and can truly bring this world to life.
I received this book from NetGalley and Random House Kids in exchange for my free and honest review.
I liked Quin she's sweet and fiercely loyal to those she cares about. She goes through a major change after her oath but you never learn what caused it. I'd appreciate more details fleshed out. Granted you get a couple in flash backs but not many.
I also liked Shinobu, you get to see him evolve, devolve, and evolve again in a very nice character arc. John I wasn't so fond of if he'd have just manned up and told Quin everything he knew a lot of trouble could have been spared.
Overall I did like the book, I just want more details. Hopefully the next book adds more and can truly bring this world to life.
I received this book from NetGalley and Random House Kids in exchange for my free and honest review.
So after a little break from this book (I only read two chapters and then I got caught up in another book) I picked it up again and I loved it!
The story develops wonderfully and I love the way all the characters change threw the story. I also like the way love is involved. It really isn't a high priority in this story but the little things ad so much that it makes the dull moments bloom. Their friendship seems much more important which it is in this strange world where everything they got told doesn't seem to be true at all.
The fighting scenes and the weapons got right into my fantasyheart. They were only for very brave people to use and you could seriously get killed. Which the characters did realise for once! They were even afraid and that felt very realistic for me.
So you may be wondering why I didn't gave this book 5 stars. Well it was slow fantasy at the beginning. I had to get into it and it took a while. But when I got into it, it truly was amazing. The story itself could have been more describing sometimes because I got confused by the way they live in Scotland and the way they live in Hong-Kong. Scotland was so behing with their little cottages and hunting and stuff like that but in Hong-Kong they had all the hightech stuff. So I guess the story is in the future and the Seekers just live behing their time but I felt like that could've been explained better.
So I definitly recommend this book! I can't wait untill I have the sequel in my hands and I can't wait untill I meet the author at an event in April :).
The story develops wonderfully and I love the way all the characters change threw the story. I also like the way love is involved. It really isn't a high priority in this story but the little things ad so much that it makes the dull moments bloom. Their friendship seems much more important which it is in this strange world where everything they got told doesn't seem to be true at all.
The fighting scenes and the weapons got right into my fantasyheart. They were only for very brave people to use and you could seriously get killed. Which the characters did realise for once! They were even afraid and that felt very realistic for me.
So you may be wondering why I didn't gave this book 5 stars. Well it was slow fantasy at the beginning. I had to get into it and it took a while. But when I got into it, it truly was amazing. The story itself could have been more describing sometimes because I got confused by the way they live in Scotland and the way they live in Hong-Kong. Scotland was so behing with their little cottages and hunting and stuff like that but in Hong-Kong they had all the hightech stuff. So I guess the story is in the future and the Seekers just live behing their time but I felt like that could've been explained better.
So I definitly recommend this book! I can't wait untill I have the sequel in my hands and I can't wait untill I meet the author at an event in April :).
This is book is not really what I was expecting, and unfortunately, that is not a good thing in this case. I skimmed a good chunk of this book, mostly in the middle. I will say that the last third was pretty interesting and I wish that that had been spread out through the whole story.
Where to start.
First of all, I have to say that the beginning of the book feels like we're being thrown into the middle of the story. Now, sometimes that does work, this is certainly not to say that being flung headlong into action is not at all a way for a book to ever start. It can work and I have read books that approach it the right way.
This is not one of those books. Unfortunately, this was the start of a trend, which was that for a good chunk of the book I felt as though we didn't know what the hell was going on, and the world building and plot weren't necessarily compelling enough to make up for that fact.
The book is structured in a way that we go from point of view to point of view, written in the third person. Now, I'm not a particularly big fan of this type of writing - in GoT, for example, I ended up quite often just reading one character's story all the way through because that happened to be the one I cared the most about. I know it's common in fantasy, especially high fantasy, but it has to be very compelling to work. This book doesn't quite get that across, instead the jumps are rather disjointed and it didn't lend itself to the flow of the book at all.
A lot of this would be something that I could deal with if the world building was compelling enough, but unfortunately I found this lacking as well. This is mostly towards the beginning of the book, but this is crucial, and were it not for the fact that I got this as an ARC through Netgalley, I might not have finished it at all. I have a feeling some readers out there will find it too much of a slog and the early reviews seem to back that up.
Basically, there are too many questions and not enough answers, or more importantly, not enough depth to make the reader curious enough to keep on going. I had so many questions. Where is this set? When is this set? What's the explanation behind the technology and the culture? What's the background behind Quin's family, besides the fact that she's a 'Seeker'? Where did they come from? Why? The answers to a lot of these do come, but they come very late in the book and that left me stewing in frustration for much of the read.
Now, even all of this would be forgivable by me if the characters were fascinating and made me care, but they didn't quite hit the mark here, either. I mean, I guess I cared about Quin, but not overly so, because she wasn't strong enough against the backdrop of the confusing background, the lack of world building, and the plot that wasn't quite clearly laid out enough for me.
So all of this ended up with the book being a rather 'meh' experience for me, which was why I am giving it two stars. I know that it's going to be made into a movie, so maybe they can more more of it and skim over the bits that made it feel like a chore rather than a joy to read.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Where to start.
First of all, I have to say that the beginning of the book feels like we're being thrown into the middle of the story. Now, sometimes that does work, this is certainly not to say that being flung headlong into action is not at all a way for a book to ever start. It can work and I have read books that approach it the right way.
This is not one of those books. Unfortunately, this was the start of a trend, which was that for a good chunk of the book I felt as though we didn't know what the hell was going on, and the world building and plot weren't necessarily compelling enough to make up for that fact.
The book is structured in a way that we go from point of view to point of view, written in the third person. Now, I'm not a particularly big fan of this type of writing - in GoT, for example, I ended up quite often just reading one character's story all the way through because that happened to be the one I cared the most about. I know it's common in fantasy, especially high fantasy, but it has to be very compelling to work. This book doesn't quite get that across, instead the jumps are rather disjointed and it didn't lend itself to the flow of the book at all.
A lot of this would be something that I could deal with if the world building was compelling enough, but unfortunately I found this lacking as well. This is mostly towards the beginning of the book, but this is crucial, and were it not for the fact that I got this as an ARC through Netgalley, I might not have finished it at all. I have a feeling some readers out there will find it too much of a slog and the early reviews seem to back that up.
Basically, there are too many questions and not enough answers, or more importantly, not enough depth to make the reader curious enough to keep on going. I had so many questions. Where is this set? When is this set? What's the explanation behind the technology and the culture? What's the background behind Quin's family, besides the fact that she's a 'Seeker'? Where did they come from? Why? The answers to a lot of these do come, but they come very late in the book and that left me stewing in frustration for much of the read.
Now, even all of this would be forgivable by me if the characters were fascinating and made me care, but they didn't quite hit the mark here, either. I mean, I guess I cared about Quin, but not overly so, because she wasn't strong enough against the backdrop of the confusing background, the lack of world building, and the plot that wasn't quite clearly laid out enough for me.
So all of this ended up with the book being a rather 'meh' experience for me, which was why I am giving it two stars. I know that it's going to be made into a movie, so maybe they can more more of it and skim over the bits that made it feel like a chore rather than a joy to read.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Boring and disjointed, I stopped as soon as the love interested wanted her to remain after she discovers nothing is as she has been taught (and had to do something awful which I think was killing a bunch of innocent people but we don't actually now because nothing is properly explained) simply so he can steal the dagger and have his revenge.
An interesting story where the dark hints become reality as Quinn is swept into a destiny far different than she thought. Love triangle, steampunky elements, some time travel and a lot of questions about power and morality. A good read.
Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.
Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.
4 stars. This was more interesting than I thought it would be! Fantasy novels are pretty similar to each other - obviously, since they're the same genre - but this story felt very fresh to me. I really enjoyed it! It was darker than I expected it to be. Not super dark, but there wasn't much comic relief so it definitely read as a more serious book. It wasn't hard to read though! There was still some action and adrenaline-pumping scenes. My only complaints are how the world wasn't fully explained. I went into this expecting it to take place in a typical fantasy time period, you know when people wear tunics and stuff, and I was a bit surprised when TVs and steel doors were mentioned. Aircars and airlifts were never described in detail, so I also had a hard time picturing those. My final complaint would have to be the love triangle. It isn't that much of a love triangle compared to other YA books, but still enough to bother me. When will authors get the memo? Still, this was a solid YA fantasy book and I'll definitely read the sequel when it comes out!
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
We just got some ARCs from our materials staff, and this one sounded intriguing so I gave it a try. I think it could be a good read alike for the Falling Kingdoms series, though it does blend several genres (not just fantasy). It's an interesting book, with multiple character perspectives. Will definitely recommend it to our teens come release day.
A story set in Scotland with a heroine comparable to Katnis and Katsa? Sign me up! Unfortunately, this didn't quite live up to the promise. The love triangle felt obligatory and shallow, rather than steamy. The writing is wooden, and the dialogue is especially painful. Dayton splits the narrative between too many voices, so it is difficult to feel connected to any one character. In fact, the character who is most interesting is Maud, a "Dread" who seems to be the only person thinking for herself. Hopefully she gets a little more attention in future books. The second half of the book did come together more, though I almost gave up before I got to that point. Fans of high-paced, violent adventure with less emphasis on character development (I'm looking at you Maze Runner), are the most likely readers for this one.
*e-book advanced reader copy received from NetGalley.
*e-book advanced reader copy received from NetGalley.
I was sad to say I could not finish this book. I got to about 41 percent through, and just felt no connection with the story or the characters. I am not known to not finish reading a book so this surprised me. The characters were just too bland, and boring to me. The story did not captivate me either, I think that it just was not well written. Things could have been told in maybe a different way and I might have liked it, but it just seemed to jump from one thing to the other and I was confused as to what was going on and where the story was going.