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1.89 AVERAGE
1.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I also appreciate its focus on emotions, the impact from emotions, and having to break the cycle of generational trauma.
The writing itself is not bad, but it is what I would expect in a young debuting author who is writing in the world they have been creating since they were a kid. Even still it had me reading it start to finish easily and happily.
Some of the conflict leans a bit heavily on the readers suspension of disbelief and there wasn’t a strong sense of urgency from the conflict.
But the “mystery” was a delightful experience and played really well into the world building. It also ended in a very clear fashion of setting up what comes next, opening up a lot of future world building and seeing how additional signs live and interact in this world.
Oh! I also love that it isn’t really set in a fantasy world but a lost catastrophe version of our world. It was always fun (usually in the art work) to see reminder that they may have a cloak on but they are also just like wearing khakis and sneakers and a T-shirt under it.
Highly recommend for anyone to read but especially if your a fan of world building, fantasy, female authors in the fantasy space, and getting to enjoy a more diverse fantasy experience.
adventurous
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Debut novel by indie writer Audra Winter. I learned about this novel due to her talking about the world of Gardian that she has been building on TikTok. It sounded intriguing enough to submit for a pre-order copy, and am glad that I did!
While I do feel that this novel could be tightened up both in terms of copy/line edits, and content edits (tho especially line edits - there are a fairly significant number of places in the novel where the same phrase is repeated/wasn't correctly edited out in order to have correct sentence structure/non repetition, I ALSO feel like this is a very interesting world being built by Winter, and is promising as a series. There are some spots of odd pacing, but I think more than anything else, some tightening up on line edits in a few specific places would really benefit the novel, as it's an overall well-developed story with solid, believable characters, even if the wording is a bit awkward in places.
There's queer rep, coming of age, a lost memory getting restored, love and attraction without being spicy or too far into any area that I'd call "romance" (the love story is a subplot related to memory loss rather than being the principal purpose of the story/plotline). I also enjoyed the specific ways that Winter separates skills/professions by astrological sun sign, and created a world in which there is also political intrigue and stuff happening behind the scenes impacting folks in the fantasy world Winter has built.
It'll be interesting to see how this series continues, as I know Winter brought on a team of artists, and other folks to bring this world to life, and I love to see indie authors and artists thriving!
While I do feel that this novel could be tightened up both in terms of copy/line edits, and content edits (tho especially line edits - there are a fairly significant number of places in the novel where the same phrase is repeated/wasn't correctly edited out in order to have correct sentence structure/non repetition, I ALSO feel like this is a very interesting world being built by Winter, and is promising as a series. There are some spots of odd pacing, but I think more than anything else, some tightening up on line edits in a few specific places would really benefit the novel, as it's an overall well-developed story with solid, believable characters, even if the wording is a bit awkward in places.
There's queer rep, coming of age, a lost memory getting restored, love and attraction without being spicy or too far into any area that I'd call "romance" (the love story is a subplot related to memory loss rather than being the principal purpose of the story/plotline). I also enjoyed the specific ways that Winter separates skills/professions by astrological sun sign, and created a world in which there is also political intrigue and stuff happening behind the scenes impacting folks in the fantasy world Winter has built.
It'll be interesting to see how this series continues, as I know Winter brought on a team of artists, and other folks to bring this world to life, and I love to see indie authors and artists thriving!