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dragoncat26's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
flygonjinn's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
qu33nofbookz's review against another edition
2.0
The story of a spoiled, bratty, idiotic, judgmental, hypocritical teenager who has little patience and even smaller self-preservation skills but who happens to be such a special little snowflake that no matter what she does (or doesn't do) is fated to be THE ONE who will save the kingdom.
Karigan has been suspended from school due to politics and the fact that she does not play well with others. In a fit she runs away. While on the road she has a run in with a dying green rider, one of the kingdoms messengers. He makes her swear to carry on his mission and she accepts. From there she is pursued on her drawn out journey to the king who the message is for. She manages to make allies and get captured and almost eaten by monsters before finally reaching her destination by magical means. (Why her allies didn't help her this way, or even help the dead green rider, long before this moment is a mystery. She has been wondering about with a 'direly important life or death' message for what is about 2 or more weeks almost dying at least twice before they step in and go oh! you are about to die and need to get the message to the king asap! We'll take you there in minutes!)
Once at court her behavior is that of a bratty 12 year old who is oblivious to what is going on around her. All she can think is to go home. But every time she tries to go trouble happens and she gets sucked in, or inserts herself even if she will be causing half the danger by insisting on being involved. The bad guys try their evil plot and she is there to save the day (only not really because she just steps in it every time and has to be saved because she can't take advise, orders or has any common sense or self-preservation skills). But she is THE ONE so whatever she does works in the end and she doesn't die (even though she should have like three times over) and all is well. Oh and just cause she's the special one she has to fall in love with the king who has to like her back just cause it sounds good for the plot not because they actually have chemistry or like the same things or even spent any time together. But since the kingdom is saved and all that jazz it's back home she goes, and forget about finishing school, who needs that it's off to work after she gets home. The end.
The pacing of this story sucked. It starts and stops starts and stops. There is a great chase scene, danger is happening then bam! Everything stops when our MC decides it's time to take a break and the plot goes off on a heavy info (that's not all that relevant) dump tangent. Then it's back to meandering along, the chase picks up and....another screeching halt when she needs another break filled with irrelevant descriptions. Rinse and repeat.
The characters are all shallow ideas that are never fully fleshed out. Karigan is the only one we get to know and she has very little depth and no real character growth. And she is an unlikeable idiot but she is the MC and she is just so special you just have to like her...not. The villains are of the old fashion hand wringing mustache twirling type, you laugh at them more than anything else. The whole first chapter should have just been removed by the editor as completely unnecessary.
The plot is nothing new or special and fills out a check list for a basic fantasy story. Main MC who was just a normal person going about their business but gets sucked into a dangerous quest and finds out they are something really special. Their is magic that is never really explained or has rules or logic that is usually regarded as evil if it's old. A religion or belief system that is a mish mash of lots of religions/beliefs just for kicks. Elves are a must. Monsters and/or large sentient creatures to hinder and aid our MC. Mysterious allies that give you lots of info about the world/politics/powers/situation to which the MC doesn't listen to. Loyal allies/sidekick(s) that stick with you through all the shit you put them through or no matter how stupid their leaders are. A kingdom in peril from it's wealthier power hungry citizens or the kingdom next door you slighted or have taken in our unwanted slighted relatives. The evil villain that is more laughable then cringe-able. A love triangle of some kind. This book had them all. One thing that confused me is why everyone who is so gung ho about the king in danger is because he is a great king. Really? Because I didn't see it. We aren't told/shown why he is a great king. He didn't do anything special and besides be kinda nice to our MC he seems pretty shitty to the rest of his subjects.
Karigan has been suspended from school due to politics and the fact that she does not play well with others. In a fit she runs away. While on the road she has a run in with a dying green rider, one of the kingdoms messengers. He makes her swear to carry on his mission and she accepts. From there she is pursued on her drawn out journey to the king who the message is for. She manages to make allies and get captured and almost eaten by monsters before finally reaching her destination by magical means. (Why her allies didn't help her this way, or even help the dead green rider, long before this moment is a mystery. She has been wondering about with a 'direly important life or death' message for what is about 2 or more weeks almost dying at least twice before they step in and go oh! you are about to die and need to get the message to the king asap! We'll take you there in minutes!)
Once at court her behavior is that of a bratty 12 year old who is oblivious to what is going on around her. All she can think is to go home. But every time she tries to go trouble happens and she gets sucked in, or inserts herself even if she will be causing half the danger by insisting on being involved. The bad guys try their evil plot and she is there to save the day (only not really because she just steps in it every time and has to be saved because she can't take advise, orders or has any common sense or self-preservation skills). But she is THE ONE so whatever she does works in the end and she doesn't die (even though she should have like three times over) and all is well. Oh and just cause she's the special one she has to fall in love with the king who has to like her back just cause it sounds good for the plot not because they actually have chemistry or like the same things or even spent any time together. But since the kingdom is saved and all that jazz it's back home she goes, and forget about finishing school, who needs that it's off to work after she gets home. The end.
The pacing of this story sucked. It starts and stops starts and stops. There is a great chase scene, danger is happening then bam! Everything stops when our MC decides it's time to take a break and the plot goes off on a heavy info (that's not all that relevant) dump tangent. Then it's back to meandering along, the chase picks up and....another screeching halt when she needs another break filled with irrelevant descriptions. Rinse and repeat.
The characters are all shallow ideas that are never fully fleshed out. Karigan is the only one we get to know and she has very little depth and no real character growth. And she is an unlikeable idiot but she is the MC and she is just so special you just have to like her...not. The villains are of the old fashion hand wringing mustache twirling type, you laugh at them more than anything else. The whole first chapter should have just been removed by the editor as completely unnecessary.
The plot is nothing new or special and fills out a check list for a basic fantasy story. Main MC who was just a normal person going about their business but gets sucked into a dangerous quest and finds out they are something really special. Their is magic that is never really explained or has rules or logic that is usually regarded as evil if it's old. A religion or belief system that is a mish mash of lots of religions/beliefs just for kicks. Elves are a must. Monsters and/or large sentient creatures to hinder and aid our MC. Mysterious allies that give you lots of info about the world/politics/powers/situation to which the MC doesn't listen to. Loyal allies/sidekick(s) that stick with you through all the shit you put them through or no matter how stupid their leaders are. A kingdom in peril from it's wealthier power hungry citizens or the kingdom next door you slighted or have taken in our unwanted slighted relatives. The evil villain that is more laughable then cringe-able. A love triangle of some kind. This book had them all. One thing that confused me is why everyone who is so gung ho about the king in danger is because he is a great king. Really? Because I didn't see it. We aren't told/shown why he is a great king. He didn't do anything special and besides be kinda nice to our MC he seems pretty shitty to the rest of his subjects.
connie_a's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
emnadine11's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
thestoryowl's review against another edition
4.0
Adventure! Danger! Magic! I enjoyed following our reluctant hero through her journey but I was only iffy on the romance side.
pekoegal's review against another edition
4.0
Good, classic epic fantasy. The romance angles are handled a little clumsily for my tastes, but there was plenty of action and adventure to make up for it. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
ladybocknite's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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? Yes
4.5
I picked this up after a youtuber mentioned it in a fantasy series book recommendation video. I had zero idea what I was truly walking into with this novel, and was pleasantly surprised with just how it turned out. This book gives a vibe of being a little after middle age Europe and in some ways makes me think of Lord Of The Rings or Eye Of The World. I love that we get a fantasy novel with a female main character taking the lead and diving into the action, albeit it a little too rashly lol. Running off on horseback into the world of sacoridia and blackviel was a fun and captivating read that I could not put down.
jesslynh's review against another edition
3.0
I'm thinking that this may be a 2.5 more than 3 stars for me even though I pushed onto the next book. The situations seem a bit...simple. And I'm finding the conflict to be slightly childish. I can't put my finger on it and wish I had read on my Kindle instead of audio so I could take better notes.
Unfortunately, this is one of those series that I'll probably read when I'm between books. (I'm between books)
Unfortunately, this is one of those series that I'll probably read when I'm between books. (I'm between books)