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smithyreads's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this book! Nice story and plotlines and loved the characters. Eileen and Ciara being my favorites <3 Absolutely loved the Nox and thought they were very clever "evils". I liked the different views of the same conflict, reminded me of Game of Thrones, and made it hard to know who to root for! I felt myself feeling for each side as this book did a very good job telling both the good and bad things about each. Cannot wait for the next book and to see where their stories go from here!
robinreads2much's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
chelsealeigh's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly struggled to put this book down and do general life things.
An amazing read, with just enough hints/foreshadowing to keep you glued, without making the ending super guessable.
Cannot wait for the next in the series!
An amazing read, with just enough hints/foreshadowing to keep you glued, without making the ending super guessable.
Cannot wait for the next in the series!
alaurable48's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.5
The only critique I have is a personal preference. This is that writing is very dramatic and/or excitable and sometimes the descriptive language feels like a thesaurus rather than imaginative.
alexa_oslowski's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to enjoy this, but it felt all over the place. The pacing was super inconsistent, and I felt like it took me forever to get through this book. I’m not sure I’ll continue the series given how much I struggled through this one :(
milleradrianna2001's review against another edition
DNF
Honestly, I'm disappointed. I was excited about this book, but it was rough. I only read 155/434 pages. I really struggled to get through this book. I'm not interested in the characters at all, and the writing is making it very hard to continue.
I read this on KU and made many notes, particularly when things didn't make sense.
Before I get into the issues that I had with the book, I want to talk about what I liked.
For example, the language that the author uses is very mature, which is something I enjoy, it reminds me a lot of SJM's writing.
This book was written in 3rd person (I think it would've been better in 1st person), and we follow a few different POV's, again, similar to SJM's books (I'm using her as an example because I just finished reading all of her books, so she's on my mind HEAVY). Out of all the POV's, I enjoyed Eileen's the most.
Negatives:
The author does a really good job of painting a picture, he is pretty descriptive about scenery, but what he lacks in is the historical part of world-building. We get introduced to so many different places, people, and beings, but we get virtually no background. For example, Saoirse. I believe that is the god that the witches worship, and there is a different god that the warlocks worshipped, but we don't find out about who that actually is until past the 100 page mark, and even then, we still don't know who that is. Eileen says things like "Saoirse save me", but then will say "oh gods..." like, which is it?
Another thing that doesn't sit right with me is the Sand War. This war happened 16 years ago when the witches (who possess fire abilities) fought against the warlocks (who possess water abilities) and went extinct... I'm no physicist, but I'm pretty sure water beats out fire 10x out of 10. I also doubt the warlocks are completely extinct.
Also, witches (female) and warlocks (male) cannot reproduce, and that's all we know. We never get a deeper dive into why they can't, just that they can't., except for Eileen, she is the one and only exception. Which again, I doubt.
We got a whole 2 pages of Prince Finn sitting in class, not paying attention because he had to pee so bad. That was the only purpose of the scene. The only thing we learned was the name of a temple and that this Prince was about to piss his pants... There is just so much in this book that could've been deleted and replaced with more world-building, character development, and historical insights to this world. When you're writing a fantasy novel (this is a series, so especially here), you are typically introducing a new world, so we need to understand everything we can about it, same with the characters. I can't really picture any of them because they don't get physically described, like ever. We also don't see much of their personalities, the all just seem bland.
We don't get any info on the creation of witches and warlocks.
Winona is described as having "bird eyes and beak nose", can they shapeshift? Does she actually look like a bird, or is this an insult?
We also get this scene where Loren is telling Eileen that the King may have killed his brother, who was a warlock, and the previous king who dies mysteriously during the Sand War. All we know is that he died mysteriously... not sure what that means. But that's not even why I'm bringing this up. So this conversation happened, and Eileen acted super shocked about this discovery ("A chill prickled the back of Eileen's neck. 'He what?'"), but literally like 5 pages ago, this same conversation happened and it was just blown over... I-
Also, the whole with Queen thing doesn't make sense. There isn't a Queen, but one girl wants to be one so now she is running for Queen, but we don't get any info on the politics of this which I wish we got so that I could understand.
My biggest pet peeve in this whole book is Leon Hadar. He is the KING. Yet in EVERY POV we get, EVERYONE refers to him as Leon Hadar. Even his son... he doesn't refer to him as father, dad, King, nope... Leon Hadar. Not King, King Leon, or even just Leon... Leon Hadar. It pisses me off.
I don't want to keep ripping into this book even more... it just wasn't it... sorry, love.
I tried to keep reading it because I wanted to know if my questions will be answered, but I doubt they will be. I also tried to keep reading because the second book is coming out in 2 months and I'm hoping there is some sort of redemption.
Maybe I'll pick this up again and try to get through it. I'll keep you posted.
Honestly, I'm disappointed. I was excited about this book, but it was rough. I only read 155/434 pages. I really struggled to get through this book. I'm not interested in the characters at all, and the writing is making it very hard to continue.
I read this on KU and made many notes, particularly when things didn't make sense.
Before I get into the issues that I had with the book, I want to talk about what I liked.
For example, the language that the author uses is very mature, which is something I enjoy, it reminds me a lot of SJM's writing.
This book was written in 3rd person (I think it would've been better in 1st person), and we follow a few different POV's, again, similar to SJM's books (I'm using her as an example because I just finished reading all of her books, so she's on my mind HEAVY). Out of all the POV's, I enjoyed Eileen's the most.
Negatives:
The author does a really good job of painting a picture, he is pretty descriptive about scenery, but what he lacks in is the historical part of world-building. We get introduced to so many different places, people, and beings, but we get virtually no background. For example, Saoirse. I believe that is the god that the witches worship, and there is a different god that the warlocks worshipped, but we don't find out about who that actually is until past the 100 page mark, and even then, we still don't know who that is. Eileen says things like "Saoirse save me", but then will say "oh gods..." like, which is it?
Another thing that doesn't sit right with me is the Sand War. This war happened 16 years ago when the witches (who possess fire abilities) fought against the warlocks (who possess water abilities) and went extinct... I'm no physicist, but I'm pretty sure water beats out fire 10x out of 10. I also doubt the warlocks are completely extinct.
Also, witches (female) and warlocks (male) cannot reproduce, and that's all we know. We never get a deeper dive into why they can't, just that they can't., except for Eileen, she is the one and only exception. Which again, I doubt.
We got a whole 2 pages of Prince Finn sitting in class, not paying attention because he had to pee so bad. That was the only purpose of the scene. The only thing we learned was the name of a temple and that this Prince was about to piss his pants... There is just so much in this book that could've been deleted and replaced with more world-building, character development, and historical insights to this world. When you're writing a fantasy novel (this is a series, so especially here), you are typically introducing a new world, so we need to understand everything we can about it, same with the characters. I can't really picture any of them because they don't get physically described, like ever. We also don't see much of their personalities, the all just seem bland.
We don't get any info on the creation of witches and warlocks.
Winona is described as having "bird eyes and beak nose", can they shapeshift? Does she actually look like a bird, or is this an insult?
We also get this scene where Loren is telling Eileen that the King may have killed his brother, who was a warlock, and the previous king who dies mysteriously during the Sand War. All we know is that he died mysteriously... not sure what that means. But that's not even why I'm bringing this up. So this conversation happened, and Eileen acted super shocked about this discovery ("A chill prickled the back of Eileen's neck. 'He what?'"), but literally like 5 pages ago, this same conversation happened and it was just blown over... I-
Also, the whole with Queen thing doesn't make sense. There isn't a Queen, but one girl wants to be one so now she is running for Queen, but we don't get any info on the politics of this which I wish we got so that I could understand.
My biggest pet peeve in this whole book is Leon Hadar. He is the KING. Yet in EVERY POV we get, EVERYONE refers to him as Leon Hadar. Even his son... he doesn't refer to him as father, dad, King, nope... Leon Hadar. Not King, King Leon, or even just Leon... Leon Hadar. It pisses me off.
I don't want to keep ripping into this book even more... it just wasn't it... sorry, love.
I tried to keep reading it because I wanted to know if my questions will be answered, but I doubt they will be. I also tried to keep reading because the second book is coming out in 2 months and I'm hoping there is some sort of redemption.
Maybe I'll pick this up again and try to get through it. I'll keep you posted.
adriannamiller01's review against another edition
1.0
DNF
Honestly, I'm disappointed. I was excited about this book, but it was rough. I only read 155/434 pages. I really struggled to get through this book. I'm not interested in the characters at all, and the writing is making it very hard to continue.
I read this on KU and made many notes, particularly when things didn't make sense.
Before I get into the issues that I had with the book, I want to talk about what I liked.
For example, the language that the author uses is very mature, which is something I enjoy, it reminds me a lot of SJM's writing.
This book was written in 3rd person (I think it would've been better in 1st person), and we follow a few different POV's, again, similar to SJM's books (I'm using her as an example because I just finished reading all of her books, so she's on my mind HEAVY). Out of all the POV's, I enjoyed Eileen's the most.
Negatives:
The author does a really good job of painting a picture, he is pretty descriptive about scenery, but what he lacks in is the historical part of world-building. We get introduced to so many different places, people, and beings, but we get virtually no background. For example, Saoirse. I believe that is the god that the witches worship, and there is a different god that the warlocks worshipped, but we don't find out about who that actually is until past the 100 page mark, and even then, we still don't know who that is. Eileen says things like "Saoirse save me", but then will say "oh gods..." like, which is it?
Another thing that doesn't sit right with me is the Sand War. This war happened 16 years ago when the witches (who possess fire abilities) fought against the warlocks (who possess water abilities) and went extinct... I'm no physicist, but I'm pretty sure water beats out fire 10x out of 10. I also doubt the warlocks are completely extinct.
Also, witches (female) and warlocks (male) cannot reproduce, and that's all we know. We never get a deeper dive into why they can't, just that they can't., except for Eileen, she is the one and only exception. Which again, I doubt.
We got a whole 2 pages of Prince Finn sitting in class, not paying attention because he had to pee so bad. That was the only purpose of the scene. The only thing we learned was the name of a temple and that this Prince was about to piss his pants... There is just so much in this book that could've been deleted and replaced with more world-building, character development, and historical insights to this world. When you're writing a fantasy novel (this is a series, so especially here), you are typically introducing a new world, so we need to understand everything we can about it, same with the characters. I can't really picture any of them because they don't get physically described, like ever. We also don't see much of their personalities, the all just seem bland.
We don't get any info on the creation of witches and warlocks.
Winona is described as having "bird eyes and beak nose", can they shapeshift? Does she actually look like a bird, or is this an insult?
We also get this scene where Loren is telling Eileen that the King may have killed his brother, who was a warlock, and the previous king who dies mysteriously during the Sand War. All we know is that he died mysteriously... not sure what that means. But that's not even why I'm bringing this up. So this conversation happened, and Eileen acted super shocked about this discovery ("A chill prickled the back of Eileen's neck. 'He what?'"), but literally like 5 pages ago, this same conversation happened and it was just blown over... I-
Also, the whole with Queen thing doesn't make sense. There isn't a Queen, but one girl wants to be one so now she is running for Queen, but we don't get any info on the politics of this which I wish we got so that I could understand.
My biggest pet peeve in this whole book is Leon Hadar. He is the KING. Yet in EVERY POV we get, EVERYONE refers to him as Leon Hadar. Even his son... he doesn't refer to him as father, dad, King, nope... Leon Hadar. Not King, King Leon, or even just Leon... Leon Hadar. It pisses me off.
I don't want to keep ripping into this book even more... it just wasn't it... sorry, love.
I tried to keep reading it because I wanted to know if my questions will be answered, but I doubt they will be. I also tried to keep reading because the second book is coming out in 2 months and I'm hoping there is some sort of redemption.
Maybe I'll pick this up again and try to get through it. I'll keep you posted.
Honestly, I'm disappointed. I was excited about this book, but it was rough. I only read 155/434 pages. I really struggled to get through this book. I'm not interested in the characters at all, and the writing is making it very hard to continue.
I read this on KU and made many notes, particularly when things didn't make sense.
Before I get into the issues that I had with the book, I want to talk about what I liked.
For example, the language that the author uses is very mature, which is something I enjoy, it reminds me a lot of SJM's writing.
This book was written in 3rd person (I think it would've been better in 1st person), and we follow a few different POV's, again, similar to SJM's books (I'm using her as an example because I just finished reading all of her books, so she's on my mind HEAVY). Out of all the POV's, I enjoyed Eileen's the most.
Negatives:
The author does a really good job of painting a picture, he is pretty descriptive about scenery, but what he lacks in is the historical part of world-building. We get introduced to so many different places, people, and beings, but we get virtually no background. For example, Saoirse. I believe that is the god that the witches worship, and there is a different god that the warlocks worshipped, but we don't find out about who that actually is until past the 100 page mark, and even then, we still don't know who that is. Eileen says things like "Saoirse save me", but then will say "oh gods..." like, which is it?
Another thing that doesn't sit right with me is the Sand War. This war happened 16 years ago when the witches (who possess fire abilities) fought against the warlocks (who possess water abilities) and went extinct... I'm no physicist, but I'm pretty sure water beats out fire 10x out of 10. I also doubt the warlocks are completely extinct.
Also, witches (female) and warlocks (male) cannot reproduce, and that's all we know. We never get a deeper dive into why they can't, just that they can't., except for Eileen, she is the one and only exception. Which again, I doubt.
We got a whole 2 pages of Prince Finn sitting in class, not paying attention because he had to pee so bad. That was the only purpose of the scene. The only thing we learned was the name of a temple and that this Prince was about to piss his pants... There is just so much in this book that could've been deleted and replaced with more world-building, character development, and historical insights to this world. When you're writing a fantasy novel (this is a series, so especially here), you are typically introducing a new world, so we need to understand everything we can about it, same with the characters. I can't really picture any of them because they don't get physically described, like ever. We also don't see much of their personalities, the all just seem bland.
We don't get any info on the creation of witches and warlocks.
Winona is described as having "bird eyes and beak nose", can they shapeshift? Does she actually look like a bird, or is this an insult?
We also get this scene where Loren is telling Eileen that the King may have killed his brother, who was a warlock, and the previous king who dies mysteriously during the Sand War. All we know is that he died mysteriously... not sure what that means. But that's not even why I'm bringing this up. So this conversation happened, and Eileen acted super shocked about this discovery ("A chill prickled the back of Eileen's neck. 'He what?'"), but literally like 5 pages ago, this same conversation happened and it was just blown over... I-
Also, the whole with Queen thing doesn't make sense. There isn't a Queen, but one girl wants to be one so now she is running for Queen, but we don't get any info on the politics of this which I wish we got so that I could understand.
My biggest pet peeve in this whole book is Leon Hadar. He is the KING. Yet in EVERY POV we get, EVERYONE refers to him as Leon Hadar. Even his son... he doesn't refer to him as father, dad, King, nope... Leon Hadar. Not King, King Leon, or even just Leon... Leon Hadar. It pisses me off.
I don't want to keep ripping into this book even more... it just wasn't it... sorry, love.
I tried to keep reading it because I wanted to know if my questions will be answered, but I doubt they will be. I also tried to keep reading because the second book is coming out in 2 months and I'm hoping there is some sort of redemption.
Maybe I'll pick this up again and try to get through it. I'll keep you posted.
glo68's review against another edition
4.0
Adventurous and surprisingly well written for such a young author. It could have been trimmed a bit, but I liked it quite a lot. Look out for the Italian translation
almondmilklattes's review against another edition
4.0
4/5
“‘Standing up, smiling. Dazzling the world.’”
Garrett’s debut, self published YA Fantasy novel. Boy, this was a rollercoaster.
I am doing my best not to let the fact that Garrett is a close friend of mine alter any of this review or my feelings. That being said, this was an amazing debut. Garrett has been talking to me about this book since we’ve met and I’ve been excited ever since to get my hands on it. Never in a million years would I think it would be a physical book that I would buy. I got a chance to read some of his other works and it showed me that Garrett was a talented writer. So, going into this I was quite excited to see something that was polished and ready to be self published. Let me tell you my thoughts.
Garrett has an amazing way of writing. This is probably the highlight of the book. His writing style is so beautiful and descriptive, while still being impactful. I could visualize so many scenes because of his unique writing style. Whether that is through metaphors, analogies, or just in a different wording of an adjective or verb. Garrett writes some pretty good characters. His characters are so different from one another and he makes you care about them in such a short span of a book. Not even 100 pages in and he is making me tear up because of a relationship that is evolving, even if they’ve known each other for awhile. Somehow you feel like you’ve known them for a lot longer than just 100 or so pages. Garrett can write some actions scenes and keep you on the edge of your seat. I’m talking about you: the last 100 pages of the book. I was nervously sitting on the edge, hunched over my book, worried that a character was soon to be killed off. He delivers on the anxiety during a fight scene, making you scared of the outcome. It just goes to show how he can make you care so much about a character. Another thing is, Garrett isn’t afraid to kill of characters. I respect an author who isn’t afraid to kill off the characters. Not even for the sake of a wow factor, but to show the effects of war and the stakes at play. Also, this world is a fun one. The lands are unique and vastly different on each other! Lastly, he knows how to pull some twists and turns. I may have called one way before it happened, but even if you figure out any of them out I guarantee you’ll be jumping out of your seat screaming, “yes!” from being right.
I’m going lightly on this book because I know it’s a debut and self published. I know with the help of editors and a proper team that it would be super beneficial!
There are times this book can seemed too rushed. While I know it can be to keep the plot moving forward, I can’t help but wish to spend a little more time with certain characters, or to develop a scene. The ‘rush’ feeling can also make the book seem choppy in some spots. Another point is that the plot and characters can be a little weak and lacking in some areas. I see the potential in the world, the plot, and the characters. I can’t wait for editors to help Garrett expand on them!
Overall, I give this book a 4/5. It is a solid and enjoyable debut. There is never a dual moment, always moving along and tons of action and twists. While they’re some issues I saw within it, the story takes over and makes up for it. I really can’t wait to see Garrett grow as a writer and I’ll be there on the side lines cheering him on! I’m proud of you, Garrett. It takes guts to put something out, but that something is a solid debut into a fantasy world I can’t wait to see more of!
“‘Standing up, smiling. Dazzling the world.’”
Garrett’s debut, self published YA Fantasy novel. Boy, this was a rollercoaster.
I am doing my best not to let the fact that Garrett is a close friend of mine alter any of this review or my feelings. That being said, this was an amazing debut. Garrett has been talking to me about this book since we’ve met and I’ve been excited ever since to get my hands on it. Never in a million years would I think it would be a physical book that I would buy. I got a chance to read some of his other works and it showed me that Garrett was a talented writer. So, going into this I was quite excited to see something that was polished and ready to be self published. Let me tell you my thoughts.
Garrett has an amazing way of writing. This is probably the highlight of the book. His writing style is so beautiful and descriptive, while still being impactful. I could visualize so many scenes because of his unique writing style. Whether that is through metaphors, analogies, or just in a different wording of an adjective or verb. Garrett writes some pretty good characters. His characters are so different from one another and he makes you care about them in such a short span of a book. Not even 100 pages in and he is making me tear up because of a relationship that is evolving, even if they’ve known each other for awhile. Somehow you feel like you’ve known them for a lot longer than just 100 or so pages. Garrett can write some actions scenes and keep you on the edge of your seat. I’m talking about you: the last 100 pages of the book. I was nervously sitting on the edge, hunched over my book, worried that a character was soon to be killed off. He delivers on the anxiety during a fight scene, making you scared of the outcome. It just goes to show how he can make you care so much about a character. Another thing is, Garrett isn’t afraid to kill of characters. I respect an author who isn’t afraid to kill off the characters. Not even for the sake of a wow factor, but to show the effects of war and the stakes at play. Also, this world is a fun one. The lands are unique and vastly different on each other! Lastly, he knows how to pull some twists and turns. I may have called one way before it happened, but even if you figure out any of them out I guarantee you’ll be jumping out of your seat screaming, “yes!” from being right.
I’m going lightly on this book because I know it’s a debut and self published. I know with the help of editors and a proper team that it would be super beneficial!
There are times this book can seemed too rushed. While I know it can be to keep the plot moving forward, I can’t help but wish to spend a little more time with certain characters, or to develop a scene. The ‘rush’ feeling can also make the book seem choppy in some spots. Another point is that the plot and characters can be a little weak and lacking in some areas. I see the potential in the world, the plot, and the characters. I can’t wait for editors to help Garrett expand on them!
Overall, I give this book a 4/5. It is a solid and enjoyable debut. There is never a dual moment, always moving along and tons of action and twists. While they’re some issues I saw within it, the story takes over and makes up for it. I really can’t wait to see Garrett grow as a writer and I’ll be there on the side lines cheering him on! I’m proud of you, Garrett. It takes guts to put something out, but that something is a solid debut into a fantasy world I can’t wait to see more of!