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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of my favorite genres but I really didn't like either of these characters.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book so much! It's one of the few books I've read that has dual povs where both stories are fully developed and interesting. I loved that the magic system and world were classical high fantasy builds but felt so interesting and new. Definitely a new favorite!
slow-paced
I really enjoyed the two protagonists of this story - young women with the power to make or destroy the world. Each woman is unique and sits comfortably outside of the “strong female protagonist” stereotype, with much nuance and personality.
I also thought the story moved along at a nice pace. There were a few spots where it lagged but otherwise I was sucked in.
Where this story landed as a two star rating instead of 4 or 5 stars is the world building. The places in this story are places I’ve seen in other fantasy books, and there was no complexity or depth in either the physical places in the story or the rules/laws governing the type of world. The story felt like fresh characters in a world that’s been done to death.
Summary: two women, 1000 years apart, live in two different worlds. Rielle, a lady with ties to the royal family, has been trained since she was a child to hide her magical powers out of fear she might hurt someone. 1000 years later, there is no magic but Eliana, a hitwoman for hire, has a strange ability to heal so rapidly she is essentially invincible. Eliana often serves the fascist regime of the Empire, thinking only of keeping her family safe and fed. Both women soon have to face their powers in different ways.
I also thought the story moved along at a nice pace. There were a few spots where it lagged but otherwise I was sucked in.
Where this story landed as a two star rating instead of 4 or 5 stars is the world building. The places in this story are places I’ve seen in other fantasy books, and there was no complexity or depth in either the physical places in the story or the rules/laws governing the type of world. The story felt like fresh characters in a world that’s been done to death.
Summary: two women, 1000 years apart, live in two different worlds. Rielle, a lady with ties to the royal family, has been trained since she was a child to hide her magical powers out of fear she might hurt someone. 1000 years later, there is no magic but Eliana, a hitwoman for hire, has a strange ability to heal so rapidly she is essentially invincible. Eliana often serves the fascist regime of the Empire, thinking only of keeping her family safe and fed. Both women soon have to face their powers in different ways.
I have such a love-hate relatiinship with this book. The phrasing is so awkward, yet it is so riveting that I never want to put it down. The story beats you on the head with its prophecy and the dangers of the emperor, without creating the necessary feel of epicness or pervading danger such repetition should convey, yet I find myself fairly immersed in the universe nonetheless. Given that I have no idea why I like this book, I'm just going to list of bunch of other observations in the hope that it will help me synthesize my thoughts, or hopefully give you, random person who for some reason finds reading this worthwhile some feel of the book. Or not. Most likely not.
Many of the characters feel very bland. This is probably most bothersome to me in terms of Audric and Eliana. Audric's personality can be summed up as Rielle's love interest and someone who supports her no matter what. For a supposed legendary figure, he does little himself and doesn't assert his own role into the story.
Eliana on the other hand is supposed to go through all these traumatic experiences, but these experiences don't feel like their ramifications actually mold her personality. It doesn't help that there are several supposed plot twists that turn out to just to be a fake out.
I really liked Rielle at first, of the difference of how we see her in the opening chapter with how we see her naiive nature and suppressed ability in the actual story, but she cooled on me later. It just felt like her relations with everybody else outside of Corien was too black and white, either supporting her unquestioningly or hating her every minute. Also, her focus shifted a lot more to the elemental trials once the story got going. I think these trials are something that would translate much better in a movie setting, rather than in a book. In a book, they were mostly fairly repetitive, even their supposed twists considered. Imagery-wise however, they are very different. It is difficult to capture in words describing the different feel of onrushing shadows that surface repressed memories vs. a maze cage writhing with weird contraptions to slice and dice you at every turn, without describing so much that you lose the frantic pace these trials must also convey. In a book, there is not as many options to show rather than tell.
I like the duality of our two main heroines. They aren't often contrasted, but their different backgrounds makes it so we perceive different things in the narration.
The plot twists felt either really telegraphed, or just out of thin air, and not really in between.
That being said, I like how as you dig through the events of one character, you also get the feeling that you are uncovering mysteries of the other.
I could have done without the steamy scenes. I also feel like that while the tension between the characters in question has always been there, the buildup to such scenes wasn't done in a way that made me feel like this was the natural outcome at this time in the story.
Many of the characters feel very bland. This is probably most bothersome to me in terms of Audric and Eliana. Audric's personality can be summed up as Rielle's love interest and someone who supports her no matter what. For a supposed legendary figure, he does little himself and doesn't assert his own role into the story.
Eliana on the other hand is supposed to go through all these traumatic experiences, but these experiences don't feel like their ramifications actually mold her personality. It doesn't help that there are several supposed plot twists that turn out to just to be a fake out.
I really liked Rielle at first, of the difference of how we see her in the opening chapter with how we see her naiive nature and suppressed ability in the actual story, but she cooled on me later. It just felt like her relations with everybody else outside of Corien was too black and white, either supporting her unquestioningly or hating her every minute. Also, her focus shifted a lot more to the elemental trials once the story got going. I think these trials are something that would translate much better in a movie setting, rather than in a book. In a book, they were mostly fairly repetitive, even their supposed twists considered. Imagery-wise however, they are very different. It is difficult to capture in words describing the different feel of onrushing shadows that surface repressed memories vs. a maze cage writhing with weird contraptions to slice and dice you at every turn, without describing so much that you lose the frantic pace these trials must also convey. In a book, there is not as many options to show rather than tell.
I like the duality of our two main heroines. They aren't often contrasted, but their different backgrounds makes it so we perceive different things in the narration.
The plot twists felt either really telegraphed, or just out of thin air, and not really in between.
That being said, I like how as you dig through the events of one character, you also get the feeling that you are uncovering mysteries of the other.
I could have done without the steamy scenes. I also feel like that while the tension between the characters in question has always been there, the buildup to such scenes wasn't done in a way that made me feel like this was the natural outcome at this time in the story.