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jenerallywtf's review
3.0
Before I start, let me say that my rating does NOT mean that this book wasn’t enjoyable. It absolutely was! But I felt like it had a wealth of potential it didn’t quite live up to, which is what I’ll tackle in this review. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy, found family, and self-discovery.
Let’s start with the good, because there was plenty of it:
The characters- Leo and Nea were the main characters, and I adored them. Leo is lonely, unconfident, and frightened. Nea is angry, brave, and brash. The two meet on a slave ship and are drawn to each other. They become separated for most of the story, giving them a chance to grow as individuals before reconnecting and developing their friendship. Leo struggles with loss and abuse, and Nea struggles with abuse and internal misogyny. These are driving forces of their characters; traumas to come to terms with and grow from.
Then we have Seiyariu and Cain (I’m not going to lie- I still have no clue how to pronounce Seiyariu’s name, whoops). Seiyariu is buried in secrets and guilt, but loves Leo dearly, and I adored their time together. Cain is a powerful but compassionate woman who becomes an inspiration to Nea. I also grew to love the side characters like Kokaleth and even Quinnel. Characters were definitely a strong point in this story. They have wonderful relationships with each other that grow, strain, shift, and change along with the characters.
The plot- The story is shifted between Leo and Nea until the two reconnect much later on. Leo is traveling with the vagabond Seiyariu in search of a lost weapon called Knail. Nea is picked up by Cain to track down a terrorist group called the Black Briars. The Briars are searching for Leo, though no one knows why. These storylines all connect to each other rather nicely, building up tension, mystery, and action. Secrets are uncovered that shake the characters to their core, relationships are built and tested, and fears must be overcome. I found myself losing all sense of time and whispering “just one more chapter” at times with how gripping it could be.
So you’re probably thinking, “You liked the characters and the plot. Why not a higher rating?” at this point. And, here we unfortunately move onto the bad.
I felt as though this book could’ve used another edit, to be honest. It held a wealth of potential in itself, but it fell just short of that.
The timeline was hard to follow in the beginning, and I found myself giving up on trying and just reading. Leo would say 3 days had passed, Nea would say 2, then a week had passed, etc. I had no idea if Leo’s timeline was supposed to run directly parallel with Nea’s. This wasn’t a big issue, but a little irritating early on.
As much as I loved Leo, I knew every chapter with him was going to involve him asking a plethora of questions for the sake of exposition. I felt as though the world-building could’ve been handled a bit better than relying on Leo’s curiosity, though he’s so young it doesn’t seem as forced as it would’ve if Nea had been doing it all the time.
There were some minor errors. Words out of order, added words that were clearly a mistake, and some continuity issues. In one scene, Nea runs away from Cain. It’s pointed out that she’s been running for hours and isn’t sure how far she’s gone or in what direction, but then she’s suddenly on her horse when a Briar appears. She deals with him, and then takes his horse and evidently knows exactly how to get back to Cain. These kinds of continuity issues aren’t often, but they are jarring when they happen.
My biggest issue with the story was the punctuation. Lines like “However, numbers only provide an advantage so long as one has the resources to maintain them, the new king did not” drove me crazy because it should’ve been “the resources to maintain them; the new king did not”. Or lines like “The cemetary was deserted. So she guided her horse back down the road towards the inn”, which just feel cut up and jerky to me? This happens a lot in the action scenes, unfortunately. Sentences become awkwardly clipped and the voice in my head feels obligated to put that pause where it sees the period. These punctuation choices were present the entire story.
Again, this story had so much going for it, and so much potential. I felt like if it had gone through one or two more comprehensive edits to catch these small errors and fix the strange punctuation choices, the story would’ve been truly magnificent.
But as I said, I recommend this story despite all that. I’m eager to see this series continue, as sometimes these problems are present in the first book and cleaned up as the series progresses. I think the author is onto something great here.
This was a wonderful story of two lost, abused, lonely children growing into strong, confident people. It was a story of growth, of found family, of what home really is. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once, and the ending left me as sad and hopeful as it left the characters.
Let’s start with the good, because there was plenty of it:
The characters- Leo and Nea were the main characters, and I adored them. Leo is lonely, unconfident, and frightened. Nea is angry, brave, and brash. The two meet on a slave ship and are drawn to each other. They become separated for most of the story, giving them a chance to grow as individuals before reconnecting and developing their friendship. Leo struggles with loss and abuse, and Nea struggles with abuse and internal misogyny. These are driving forces of their characters; traumas to come to terms with and grow from.
Then we have Seiyariu and Cain (I’m not going to lie- I still have no clue how to pronounce Seiyariu’s name, whoops). Seiyariu is buried in secrets and guilt, but loves Leo dearly, and I adored their time together. Cain is a powerful but compassionate woman who becomes an inspiration to Nea. I also grew to love the side characters like Kokaleth and even Quinnel. Characters were definitely a strong point in this story. They have wonderful relationships with each other that grow, strain, shift, and change along with the characters.
The plot- The story is shifted between Leo and Nea until the two reconnect much later on. Leo is traveling with the vagabond Seiyariu in search of a lost weapon called Knail. Nea is picked up by Cain to track down a terrorist group called the Black Briars. The Briars are searching for Leo, though no one knows why. These storylines all connect to each other rather nicely, building up tension, mystery, and action. Secrets are uncovered that shake the characters to their core, relationships are built and tested, and fears must be overcome. I found myself losing all sense of time and whispering “just one more chapter” at times with how gripping it could be.
So you’re probably thinking, “You liked the characters and the plot. Why not a higher rating?” at this point. And, here we unfortunately move onto the bad.
I felt as though this book could’ve used another edit, to be honest. It held a wealth of potential in itself, but it fell just short of that.
The timeline was hard to follow in the beginning, and I found myself giving up on trying and just reading. Leo would say 3 days had passed, Nea would say 2, then a week had passed, etc. I had no idea if Leo’s timeline was supposed to run directly parallel with Nea’s. This wasn’t a big issue, but a little irritating early on.
As much as I loved Leo, I knew every chapter with him was going to involve him asking a plethora of questions for the sake of exposition. I felt as though the world-building could’ve been handled a bit better than relying on Leo’s curiosity, though he’s so young it doesn’t seem as forced as it would’ve if Nea had been doing it all the time.
There were some minor errors. Words out of order, added words that were clearly a mistake, and some continuity issues. In one scene, Nea runs away from Cain. It’s pointed out that she’s been running for hours and isn’t sure how far she’s gone or in what direction, but then she’s suddenly on her horse when a Briar appears. She deals with him, and then takes his horse and evidently knows exactly how to get back to Cain. These kinds of continuity issues aren’t often, but they are jarring when they happen.
My biggest issue with the story was the punctuation. Lines like “However, numbers only provide an advantage so long as one has the resources to maintain them, the new king did not” drove me crazy because it should’ve been “the resources to maintain them; the new king did not”. Or lines like “The cemetary was deserted. So she guided her horse back down the road towards the inn”, which just feel cut up and jerky to me? This happens a lot in the action scenes, unfortunately. Sentences become awkwardly clipped and the voice in my head feels obligated to put that pause where it sees the period. These punctuation choices were present the entire story.
Again, this story had so much going for it, and so much potential. I felt like if it had gone through one or two more comprehensive edits to catch these small errors and fix the strange punctuation choices, the story would’ve been truly magnificent.
But as I said, I recommend this story despite all that. I’m eager to see this series continue, as sometimes these problems are present in the first book and cleaned up as the series progresses. I think the author is onto something great here.
This was a wonderful story of two lost, abused, lonely children growing into strong, confident people. It was a story of growth, of found family, of what home really is. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once, and the ending left me as sad and hopeful as it left the characters.
fashoti's review
5.0
This was such an intriguing book. Normally I am unable to get emotionally invested in the characters but the story is so descriptive and captivating, and the characters well developed and realistic it made it easy to get in too deep. The world is it's own without being ridiculously complicated and hard to understand, which for a fantasy novel can be hard to come by sometimes.
I actually cried... a few times.
I loved this, I am dying to know more about this world, and about the characters.
Spoiler
I mean the one thing I really didn't like is someone can control insects because it implies they can control and enlarge spiders and that is terrifying. But otherwise, the idea of delving is pretty cool and I like how it can be anything from controlling insects to ice powers but still controlled in a way (pulses).I actually cried... a few times.
I loved this, I am dying to know more about this world, and about the characters.
schweeb's review
5.0
Normally, I would not consider myself a fan of YA novels as I have read far too many of them that they start to all bleed together and start to seem uninspired. I can safely say that The Crimson Spark truly made me rethink my opinions of all YA novels. I loved the characters and I never felt like I was rereading another book. Hastings does an amazing job at creating a unique world with unique characters.
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