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kiloxxo's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
grifmk01's review
3.0
3.7/4
When I first saw this was a wattpad story, I had almost no hope in finishing this. I was absolutely enthralled with this novel. It has multiple povs, malr and female pirate baddies, action/adventure, and a little sprinkle of romance. I think the only issue was pace. I found some parts of the story were not fully developed or could have been written out instead of being wrapped up quickly. Definitely interested in reading the next book!
When I first saw this was a wattpad story, I had almost no hope in finishing this. I was absolutely enthralled with this novel. It has multiple povs, malr and female pirate baddies, action/adventure, and a little sprinkle of romance. I think the only issue was pace. I found some parts of the story were not fully developed or could have been written out instead of being wrapped up quickly. Definitely interested in reading the next book!
annsbibliotherapy's review
3.0
After reading the first few chapters of this I was so sure I would love it, I mean pirates, a guillotine rescue, a female pirate, a competition to see who would be the next pirate "King".
As excited as I was to read the entire book I have to say it kind of felt two dimensional, yes, yes, I know it's a book, but the characters just fell flat for me.
As much as I was rooting for Csilla the three shifting points of view made it hard to really connect with any character at least for me.
The keys and the competition were great, and I enjoyed the whole idea of handing out the Bone Crown that way, but I just kept going back to having to figure out what was going on rather than being led by the story.
This may be totally my issue but I couldn't finish this one, I tried so many times. This is the first book of 2021 I dnf'd and I feel so guilty for it. I might try reading it again once I clear pirates from my mind.
As excited as I was to read the entire book I have to say it kind of felt two dimensional, yes, yes, I know it's a book, but the characters just fell flat for me.
As much as I was rooting for Csilla the three shifting points of view made it hard to really connect with any character at least for me.
The keys and the competition were great, and I enjoyed the whole idea of handing out the Bone Crown that way, but I just kept going back to having to figure out what was going on rather than being led by the story.
This may be totally my issue but I couldn't finish this one, I tried so many times. This is the first book of 2021 I dnf'd and I feel so guilty for it. I might try reading it again once I clear pirates from my mind.
angelsbookstaloves's review
3.0
Thank you so much Wattpadbooks for sending me a free arc copy in exchange for an honest review!
I really enjoyed the story. It was definitely not what I was expecting and I love that. I had fun getting to know more about the characters. My favorite character has to be Kane. I don't know why, but it might be because I'm a sucker for bad boys
I really enjoyed the story. It was definitely not what I was expecting and I love that. I had fun getting to know more about the characters. My favorite character has to be Kane. I don't know why, but it might be because I'm a sucker for bad boys
literaryluxe's review
3.0
This book has a lot of potential. The idea behind the story was really interesting, but I don't feel like it was thorough enough. There were several things that could have been elaborated on but seemed like they were just brushed aside - especially with the magic system and world-building. The characters were nicely done and it was a fun read overall, but I think it may be a tad bit on the younger YA side. This is something I think younger YA readers would enjoy because it's a light and easy read. If you're an upper YA reader or even one who like YA book that any age group can enjoy, then this one may miss its mark. Overall it's a good story and I would likely read the sequel. Plus - the cover is beautiful!
chovind's review
5.0
This book had everything you could want frim a pirate novel - trickery, romance, close calls, and ancient magic! A high stakes adventure where the pirate captains compete for the Crown of Bones, this book is fantastic and I'm so excited for it to come out later this year
hijinx_abound's review
2.0
** I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
I am searching for a really good pirate book. Unfortunately this book was not it. There were holes and info that just doesn’t didn’t fit.
I am searching for a really good pirate book. Unfortunately this book was not it. There were holes and info that just doesn’t didn’t fit.
alicethejokerofspades's review
1.0
I received this complimentary ARC from the publisher, courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review
My review contains spoilers!
Synopsis:
The Blood Bell tolls, marking the death of the pirate king and the start of the Trials—a heart-stopping competition where the reward is the Bone Crown. Only one contender can claim the coveted island throne; each will gamble life and limb to win.
Captain. Sister. Maiden.
Csilla Abado yearns to prove her strength to the seasoned pirates who balk at her youth and to her elder sister who has always craved Csilla’s captainship. She will risk everything to become the first pirate queen, no matter the cost.
Dealer. Son. Legacy.
Kane Blackwater wants to leave behind the dirty gold and shady trades he’s made to keep his father’s ship, the Iron Jewel, alive. The Trials represent a new beginning—yet rumors of a secret heir are swirling, threatening his hopes of becoming the pirate king.
Stowaway. Daughter. Storm.
Lorelei Penny longs for nothing more than to avenge her mother’s death. Stowing away on the Iron Jewel was supposed to get her closer to the killer, but instead she finds herself caught up in the deadly battle where loyalty and desire collide.
Csilla. Kane. Lorelei. Each on a mission. The sea, however, has other plans. Dark tides are rising, and if they aren’t careful, they’ll surely drown.
Real Synopsis:
The previous king is dead. The competition doesn’t start until halfway through the book. Young, angsty teens climb a cliff for Bone Crown. No one risks their lives because it is against the rules.
Yo-yo. Naïve. Captain?
Csilla Abado does not risk everything to become the first pirate queen, in fact, she is cordial with her enemies.
Brash. Contradictory. Playboy.
Kane can’t decide what he wants. He’s a macho tough-guy that fucks bitches but insta-loves unbelievable character, Lorelei.
Unrealistic. Weak. “Everywhere”.
Lorelei’s mother conveniently dies so that she can leave her town with peace of mind. There is no conflict, only insta-love.
Csilla. Kane. Lorelei. Each ridiculous in their own way. The fire, however, has other plans. Molten men are rising, but they’ll escape practically unscathed every single time.
I genuinely wanted to like this book. Going into it, this book had so much going for it; pirates, fighting, bone crowns, and the absolutely stunning cover. However, the execution of the premise fell flat on its ass. This book felt like it was still in the drafting process, unpolished but with a lot of promise. As the synopsis mentions, the main focus of the plot is meant to be the Bone Trials in which a pirate can be named king of the islands if they succeed against perilous odds. Except, the odds are not perilous and the Bone Trials do not start until halfway through the book. The first half is spent info dumping—yet not giving us important details—and introducing us to the characters. Things that are important to subtly include for the reader to visualise the characters are avoided, and they remain ambiguous except for pale-skinned and blue-eyed Lorelei. It was only until 70% into the book that we are told about one aspect of Csilla’s (and Rhoda’s) physical appearance, that they have bronzed-brown skin, and by then the reader has already made their own assumptions in their head. But this information is contradicted by earlier information where Rhoda is described as “going pale”. This could be just an expression, but it is misused if she is a POC.
I’d also like to mention the overuse of embellished words through unnecessary adverbs/adjectives. I know writing a book can be daunting because of the word count, but adding filler words to make your passages lengthier is amateur writing. Sometimes simple is best. There were also quite a few spelling and grammatical errors, but I am unsure if that is the book itself or the strange formatting through Kindle.
I also had issues with the dialogue. It felt unnatural and cliched, some of the lines felt like they were straight out of a cheesy superhero movie.
“The sound of someone clapping stopped her as she bent at the knees. “Well done,” a familiar voice rang out behind. She would recognize that smooth honey tone anywhere.”
“Well, well, well,” she mused, shifting her weight onto her hop as she gazed down at him. “Tell me why I shouldn’t slit your throat, Flynn Gunnison.””
“SSSon of the Iron Jewel.
“Who are you?” Kane asked. He watched the molten man carefully.
I am the flame. I am the warmth of thisss world.
Kane blinked. Not the answer he was looking for. “What have you done to my men?”
SSStay away from Port Barlow. Do not set sail for Incendia.”
“She was alone in this world. Truly and utterly alone. Then came a voice. Loreleiii.”
“”Do I make myself clear?”
“Aye,” the pirates replied in unison.
Lockheart shook his head. “I said, do I make myself clear?”
“Aye!” the pirates yelled…”
The hissing and extended words were a no-go for me. Also, I should mention that the writing suffers quite a bit from telling instead of showing, especially when it comes to dialogue tags.
“You stuck him good,” he told her approvingly.”
“He approached Rove, fingers bent, clenching the air as he spoke a curse under his breath. “No more talking from you, Rove,” Borne said, continuing forward.”
The reader can infer that he is praising her from his language, and the reader already knows he’s walking toward Rove so reiterating that he is still walking is repetitive.
Moving away from the writing style, let’s dive into the characters.
Csilla-
We are introduced to Csilla’s character first so one may conclude that Csilla is our main character, however she hardly gets any screen time compared to Kane and Lorelei who feel as if they should be side characters. Csilla is the captain of the Scarlet Maiden, a ship she inherited from her grandmother at the age of 16. When we meet her, she has been captain of the ship for 3 years. First, if I were a pirate I would never in my life take orders from a teenager, especially Csilla who is portrayed as naïve and inexperienced compared to her elder sister. I understand this is a young adult novel, however I find it hard to believe that most of these infamous ships are run by literal children, especially when some of them are not as cutthroat as they’d like the reader to think.
Csilla thinks she was betrayed by someone she loved but she still pines after him. “I shouldn’t miss him, but I do.” Personally, if a man sent my ass to the gallows I’d kill him on sight. It was really irritating because I just could not understand how she could so easily brush over the fact that he tried to have her killed. It really plays into her naivete. However, she is constantly telling the reader how she has a cold exterior because of the “walls she’s built around herself so that no one can get close”, but we never really see that. In fact, Lorelei, a girl unfamiliar to the ways of pirates, finds Csilla approachable. It’s hard to believe you’re a cutthroat badass when some peasant thinks you’re trustworthy.
There was one thing I really enjoyed about Csilla’s story, though, and that was her redemption fight against her sister. It was showing the reader that she was not going to be weak and naïve anymore, she was going to take her sister seriously in the fight and prove herself to be a capable captain; which she did. I also appreciated that she did not hesitate to follow through with her sister’s wishes, however Csilla had been going on and on about family and being alone that in this instance it would have made more sense for her to refuse—at least at first. Either way, I did enjoy that scene.
Kane-
Oh boy. Kane. This man was such a cocky prick in the beginning. “I know women, I can predict what they want from me but I’m not gonna fall for that cuz I ain’t a SIMP.” He’s brash and his actions are contradictory. He won’t work for Rove ever again, his debt is paid off. Rove offers him a job. Kane immediately considers it. (Also, wtf is up with the constant reminder of Rove’s twitching moustache?)
Kane is the captain of the Iron Jewel, passed down to him after his father died. He had an abusive childhood so him being a dick makes sense, but then he does a complete 180 when he meets a molten man. Suddenly he’s no longer going to help Rove, he’s going to protect the mysterious heir instead and sort his life out, all after one meeting with a particularly weak monster. The motherfucker just stands in some knee-deep water to escape it and splashes it until the creature fucks off. But hey, it’s a convenient way to get him to work with her.
Kane meets Lorelei and is instantly simping. “She’s not like other girls, she’s so determined and strong.” He is also a young captain like Csilla but he feels like another crew member. When Lorelei is injured, he fetches bandages himself. It’s a small detail, but I doubt a captain would do so when he could order someone to bring it to him.
Since he was a child, he has had the dream of becoming the next Bone King and he tells us this during his first POV, however when the trials do finally come about, he has no idea who he wants to be his partner. I found this hard to believe; if this is your dream, wouldn’t you plan it better?
Lorelei-
Lorelei grows up in a small harbour town with her mother who becomes estranged over the years. She bakes and sells her goods in the market to make money. Lorelei is a regular peasant girl with no personal experience with pirates. AND YET, the moment she meets Kane Blackwater she shows a skill she would have no inclination to know: pickpocketing. If she had lived in a bad part of town and struggled to make ends meet, this skill would make sense, but she lives up on a hilltop with a cosy and sheltered life so being able to pickpocket so flawlessly is unrealistic. I found most of Lorelei’s character to be this way.
When Lorelei’s mother dies she can finally leave the town in peace without being hindered by guilt. This felt like a cop-out. Lorelei explains she’s always wanted to leave that small town and see the world, why couldn’t that be her motivation to sneak on board the ship? Instead, she feels compelled to avenge her mother, which she has no training whatsoever to do.
AND YET, she has enough training to stab a pirate. Never picked up a sword? No worries, if you’re one of the MCs you can just learn it on the spot. Now, she didn’t pull some stellar move, but she did manage to stab his shoulder. I just think a pirate with training who has been in the game for years should be able to defend himself against a peasant girl, and the only reason she succeeded is because he didn’t have a weapon to defend himself with—or at least he isn’t shown having one. Sorry, what pirate comes to a fight without a weapon? Yeah, none.
Lorelei is honestly an idiot. First, she explains she cannot take anyone on in close combat and then proceeds to grab a sword to fight. Swords are close combat weapons. And don’t even get me started on the cliff scene during the trials. This girl is sidled next to Kane and in front of two other boys AND YET she somehow escapes unnoticed. She fucks off to a beach where she meets a molten man and instead of going into the ocean like a smart person, she instead chooses to climb a cliff. Once again, she is a normal peasant girl with no training, but hey she can scale a cliff side no problem. Rock climbing is extremely difficult, you have to have enough strength to pull yourself up. Lorelei is described as skinny. Lorelei has never worked out to build muscle or done any work requiring it. She does not have the strength it would take to climb this supposedly super dangerous cliff that not even Kane can climb.
I just could not connect with Lorelei at all, everything about her didn’t make sense. As Kane had put it, “He couldn’t keep this girl straight in his mind—she was everywhere.”
Again, this book has a lot of promise, it is an interesting idea, but it needs work. I know I am complaining a lot, but there were aspects of the book I enjoyed.
I liked the world-building in this book, it was a soft world but I don’t mind that. I like that Incendia is built up so that there is perhaps room to touch upon a brewing war in a second book (however, if this is a stand-alone then this is actually not good because it is an issue that remains unresolved). I enjoyed that the different seasons had different names, although I wished it had been explained a lot sooner. Having “Redwind” at the beginning of every chapter with no explanation was confusing because I thought it might be a location. A lot of work goes into creating a unique world, so I can definitely appreciate what the author has done with theirs.
I also appreciated that the author remained consistent on comparing everything to the sea and aspects of it, “look what the tides washed in”, “fear like a blind fish”, etc. It makes it more immersive and really solidifies the island nation they live in.
There were also a few lines I thought were well-written:
“The noose swayed back and forth, a pendulum ticking down her last moments, and all previous confidence drained from her like blood from a fresh wound.”
“... a flesh and bone statue in a vividly moving world.”
“Revenge was a goblet of rich wine that she’d savor until the very last drop.”
Going back to the noose quote, I really enjoyed the way the book opened. It was a scene that could pull the reader into immediate action instead of slowly diving into it. I personally prefer being thrown into some sort of conflict, so I felt that the opening was strong.
To conclude, this book has promise, and perhaps some may even still enjoy it as it is now. I over analyse the books I read (which evidently has brought my enjoyment down for a lot of them), but if you are someone who just enjoys the ride, then maybe this is the book for you.
My review contains spoilers!
Synopsis:
The Blood Bell tolls, marking the death of the pirate king and the start of the Trials—a heart-stopping competition where the reward is the Bone Crown. Only one contender can claim the coveted island throne; each will gamble life and limb to win.
Captain. Sister. Maiden.
Csilla Abado yearns to prove her strength to the seasoned pirates who balk at her youth and to her elder sister who has always craved Csilla’s captainship. She will risk everything to become the first pirate queen, no matter the cost.
Dealer. Son. Legacy.
Kane Blackwater wants to leave behind the dirty gold and shady trades he’s made to keep his father’s ship, the Iron Jewel, alive. The Trials represent a new beginning—yet rumors of a secret heir are swirling, threatening his hopes of becoming the pirate king.
Stowaway. Daughter. Storm.
Lorelei Penny longs for nothing more than to avenge her mother’s death. Stowing away on the Iron Jewel was supposed to get her closer to the killer, but instead she finds herself caught up in the deadly battle where loyalty and desire collide.
Csilla. Kane. Lorelei. Each on a mission. The sea, however, has other plans. Dark tides are rising, and if they aren’t careful, they’ll surely drown.
Real Synopsis:
The previous king is dead. The competition doesn’t start until halfway through the book. Young, angsty teens climb a cliff for Bone Crown. No one risks their lives because it is against the rules.
Yo-yo. Naïve. Captain?
Csilla Abado does not risk everything to become the first pirate queen, in fact, she is cordial with her enemies.
Brash. Contradictory. Playboy.
Kane can’t decide what he wants. He’s a macho tough-guy that fucks bitches but insta-loves unbelievable character, Lorelei.
Unrealistic. Weak. “Everywhere”.
Lorelei’s mother conveniently dies so that she can leave her town with peace of mind. There is no conflict, only insta-love.
Csilla. Kane. Lorelei. Each ridiculous in their own way. The fire, however, has other plans. Molten men are rising, but they’ll escape practically unscathed every single time.
I genuinely wanted to like this book. Going into it, this book had so much going for it; pirates, fighting, bone crowns, and the absolutely stunning cover. However, the execution of the premise fell flat on its ass. This book felt like it was still in the drafting process, unpolished but with a lot of promise. As the synopsis mentions, the main focus of the plot is meant to be the Bone Trials in which a pirate can be named king of the islands if they succeed against perilous odds. Except, the odds are not perilous and the Bone Trials do not start until halfway through the book. The first half is spent info dumping—yet not giving us important details—and introducing us to the characters. Things that are important to subtly include for the reader to visualise the characters are avoided, and they remain ambiguous except for pale-skinned and blue-eyed Lorelei. It was only until 70% into the book that we are told about one aspect of Csilla’s (and Rhoda’s) physical appearance, that they have bronzed-brown skin, and by then the reader has already made their own assumptions in their head. But this information is contradicted by earlier information where Rhoda is described as “going pale”. This could be just an expression, but it is misused if she is a POC.
I’d also like to mention the overuse of embellished words through unnecessary adverbs/adjectives. I know writing a book can be daunting because of the word count, but adding filler words to make your passages lengthier is amateur writing. Sometimes simple is best. There were also quite a few spelling and grammatical errors, but I am unsure if that is the book itself or the strange formatting through Kindle.
I also had issues with the dialogue. It felt unnatural and cliched, some of the lines felt like they were straight out of a cheesy superhero movie.
“The sound of someone clapping stopped her as she bent at the knees. “Well done,” a familiar voice rang out behind. She would recognize that smooth honey tone anywhere.”
“Well, well, well,” she mused, shifting her weight onto her hop as she gazed down at him. “Tell me why I shouldn’t slit your throat, Flynn Gunnison.””
“SSSon of the Iron Jewel.
“Who are you?” Kane asked. He watched the molten man carefully.
I am the flame. I am the warmth of thisss world.
Kane blinked. Not the answer he was looking for. “What have you done to my men?”
SSStay away from Port Barlow. Do not set sail for Incendia.”
“She was alone in this world. Truly and utterly alone. Then came a voice. Loreleiii.”
“”Do I make myself clear?”
“Aye,” the pirates replied in unison.
Lockheart shook his head. “I said, do I make myself clear?”
“Aye!” the pirates yelled…”
The hissing and extended words were a no-go for me. Also, I should mention that the writing suffers quite a bit from telling instead of showing, especially when it comes to dialogue tags.
“You stuck him good,” he told her approvingly.”
“He approached Rove, fingers bent, clenching the air as he spoke a curse under his breath. “No more talking from you, Rove,” Borne said, continuing forward.”
The reader can infer that he is praising her from his language, and the reader already knows he’s walking toward Rove so reiterating that he is still walking is repetitive.
Moving away from the writing style, let’s dive into the characters.
Csilla-
We are introduced to Csilla’s character first so one may conclude that Csilla is our main character, however she hardly gets any screen time compared to Kane and Lorelei who feel as if they should be side characters. Csilla is the captain of the Scarlet Maiden, a ship she inherited from her grandmother at the age of 16. When we meet her, she has been captain of the ship for 3 years. First, if I were a pirate I would never in my life take orders from a teenager, especially Csilla who is portrayed as naïve and inexperienced compared to her elder sister. I understand this is a young adult novel, however I find it hard to believe that most of these infamous ships are run by literal children, especially when some of them are not as cutthroat as they’d like the reader to think.
Csilla thinks she was betrayed by someone she loved but she still pines after him. “I shouldn’t miss him, but I do.” Personally, if a man sent my ass to the gallows I’d kill him on sight. It was really irritating because I just could not understand how she could so easily brush over the fact that he tried to have her killed. It really plays into her naivete. However, she is constantly telling the reader how she has a cold exterior because of the “walls she’s built around herself so that no one can get close”, but we never really see that. In fact, Lorelei, a girl unfamiliar to the ways of pirates, finds Csilla approachable. It’s hard to believe you’re a cutthroat badass when some peasant thinks you’re trustworthy.
There was one thing I really enjoyed about Csilla’s story, though, and that was her redemption fight against her sister. It was showing the reader that she was not going to be weak and naïve anymore, she was going to take her sister seriously in the fight and prove herself to be a capable captain; which she did. I also appreciated that she did not hesitate to follow through with her sister’s wishes, however Csilla had been going on and on about family and being alone that in this instance it would have made more sense for her to refuse—at least at first. Either way, I did enjoy that scene.
Kane-
Oh boy. Kane. This man was such a cocky prick in the beginning. “I know women, I can predict what they want from me but I’m not gonna fall for that cuz I ain’t a SIMP.” He’s brash and his actions are contradictory. He won’t work for Rove ever again, his debt is paid off. Rove offers him a job. Kane immediately considers it. (Also, wtf is up with the constant reminder of Rove’s twitching moustache?)
Kane is the captain of the Iron Jewel, passed down to him after his father died. He had an abusive childhood so him being a dick makes sense, but then he does a complete 180 when he meets a molten man. Suddenly he’s no longer going to help Rove, he’s going to protect the mysterious heir instead and sort his life out, all after one meeting with a particularly weak monster. The motherfucker just stands in some knee-deep water to escape it and splashes it until the creature fucks off. But hey, it’s a convenient way to get him to work with her.
Kane meets Lorelei and is instantly simping. “She’s not like other girls, she’s so determined and strong.” He is also a young captain like Csilla but he feels like another crew member. When Lorelei is injured, he fetches bandages himself. It’s a small detail, but I doubt a captain would do so when he could order someone to bring it to him.
Since he was a child, he has had the dream of becoming the next Bone King and he tells us this during his first POV, however when the trials do finally come about, he has no idea who he wants to be his partner. I found this hard to believe; if this is your dream, wouldn’t you plan it better?
Lorelei-
Lorelei grows up in a small harbour town with her mother who becomes estranged over the years. She bakes and sells her goods in the market to make money. Lorelei is a regular peasant girl with no personal experience with pirates. AND YET, the moment she meets Kane Blackwater she shows a skill she would have no inclination to know: pickpocketing. If she had lived in a bad part of town and struggled to make ends meet, this skill would make sense, but she lives up on a hilltop with a cosy and sheltered life so being able to pickpocket so flawlessly is unrealistic. I found most of Lorelei’s character to be this way.
When Lorelei’s mother dies she can finally leave the town in peace without being hindered by guilt. This felt like a cop-out. Lorelei explains she’s always wanted to leave that small town and see the world, why couldn’t that be her motivation to sneak on board the ship? Instead, she feels compelled to avenge her mother, which she has no training whatsoever to do.
AND YET, she has enough training to stab a pirate. Never picked up a sword? No worries, if you’re one of the MCs you can just learn it on the spot. Now, she didn’t pull some stellar move, but she did manage to stab his shoulder. I just think a pirate with training who has been in the game for years should be able to defend himself against a peasant girl, and the only reason she succeeded is because he didn’t have a weapon to defend himself with—or at least he isn’t shown having one. Sorry, what pirate comes to a fight without a weapon? Yeah, none.
Lorelei is honestly an idiot. First, she explains she cannot take anyone on in close combat and then proceeds to grab a sword to fight. Swords are close combat weapons. And don’t even get me started on the cliff scene during the trials. This girl is sidled next to Kane and in front of two other boys AND YET she somehow escapes unnoticed. She fucks off to a beach where she meets a molten man and instead of going into the ocean like a smart person, she instead chooses to climb a cliff. Once again, she is a normal peasant girl with no training, but hey she can scale a cliff side no problem. Rock climbing is extremely difficult, you have to have enough strength to pull yourself up. Lorelei is described as skinny. Lorelei has never worked out to build muscle or done any work requiring it. She does not have the strength it would take to climb this supposedly super dangerous cliff that not even Kane can climb.
I just could not connect with Lorelei at all, everything about her didn’t make sense. As Kane had put it, “He couldn’t keep this girl straight in his mind—she was everywhere.”
Again, this book has a lot of promise, it is an interesting idea, but it needs work. I know I am complaining a lot, but there were aspects of the book I enjoyed.
I liked the world-building in this book, it was a soft world but I don’t mind that. I like that Incendia is built up so that there is perhaps room to touch upon a brewing war in a second book (however, if this is a stand-alone then this is actually not good because it is an issue that remains unresolved). I enjoyed that the different seasons had different names, although I wished it had been explained a lot sooner. Having “Redwind” at the beginning of every chapter with no explanation was confusing because I thought it might be a location. A lot of work goes into creating a unique world, so I can definitely appreciate what the author has done with theirs.
I also appreciated that the author remained consistent on comparing everything to the sea and aspects of it, “look what the tides washed in”, “fear like a blind fish”, etc. It makes it more immersive and really solidifies the island nation they live in.
There were also a few lines I thought were well-written:
“The noose swayed back and forth, a pendulum ticking down her last moments, and all previous confidence drained from her like blood from a fresh wound.”
“... a flesh and bone statue in a vividly moving world.”
“Revenge was a goblet of rich wine that she’d savor until the very last drop.”
Going back to the noose quote, I really enjoyed the way the book opened. It was a scene that could pull the reader into immediate action instead of slowly diving into it. I personally prefer being thrown into some sort of conflict, so I felt that the opening was strong.
To conclude, this book has promise, and perhaps some may even still enjoy it as it is now. I over analyse the books I read (which evidently has brought my enjoyment down for a lot of them), but if you are someone who just enjoys the ride, then maybe this is the book for you.
vampiricvixe87's review
3.0
If goodreads did half stars I think my rating would be closer to 2.5 stars.
The story as a whole was good but for me the characters fell a bit flat. The writing style was off in ways that really screamed wattpad to me. I wanted to love this story, I wanted to fall in love with this book as I have so many others but unfortunately it just didn't happen. Maybe the sequel will change my mind but as of now I'm on the fence about purchasing it.
Again though, the story has good bones and the idea behind it was good. I need to bond and feel the characters for a story to be great for me and this just wasn't it.
Please keep writing though, follow your dream. Who knows what could come next.
The story as a whole was good but for me the characters fell a bit flat. The writing style was off in ways that really screamed wattpad to me. I wanted to love this story, I wanted to fall in love with this book as I have so many others but unfortunately it just didn't happen. Maybe the sequel will change my mind but as of now I'm on the fence about purchasing it.
Again though, the story has good bones and the idea behind it was good. I need to bond and feel the characters for a story to be great for me and this just wasn't it.
Please keep writing though, follow your dream. Who knows what could come next.