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ameserole's review
4.0
I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It is all kinds of awkward that I'm just now diving into Court of Swans Trust me, it really truly is. Mostly because I got this back in October and I'm just reading it now. It's February. So, yeah, I definitely suck when it comes to reading eARCs sometimes but there are rare occasions that I can just sit and focus on them as well.
Exhibit A - today. For some reason it is definitely eARC day and I'm not ashamed one bit.
Back to the book though. In this, you will meet Delia. We are also getting to see the beautiful England in 1381. I've never been to England but I would be pretty excited to visit nowadays. I've only ever been out of the country twice - Canada and Paris.
Sooooooo I definitely need to travel once it's a-okay in the world again.
Again, back to the book. After meeting Delia, I came to the conclusion that she was a pretty sweet and cute girl. Not sure how she manages to like all seven of her brothers when I can't even get along with my two older siblings.. but the world is filled with mysterious people. I will say that the evil step-monster, I mean step-mother, was horrible. I absolutely hated her in the beginning and after her brothers were under arrest - well, I immediately thought of her.
Evil wench.
Luckily for them, Delia knows that they are being wrongly accused of whatever stupid blasphemy the king's men stated to her. I mean.. yeah it's totally and completely believable that the a 10 year old was plotting against the king or whatever.
TOTALLY. BELIEVABLE.
Then there's King Richard. For some reason, which seems pretty odd to me now, he was making me think of the movie 'Robin Hood'. The one with Russel Crowe. Yet, this character reminded me of Prince John from the movie who becomes King after his brother dies at battle. The reason why my brain went down this route.. well, they both ended up annoying me. Plus, they were both on this war path of killing people on a whim. Especially if they posed a threat.
Like Delia's 10 year old brother. Such a threat.
Honestly, so much happens in this book and I enjoyed every second of it. I enjoyed all the twists and turns throughout it because they kept me on my toes. Even the ending was surprisingly good and I wasn't expecting it to go that way at all.
In the end, I'm definitely intrigued to dive into the second book to see what is going to happen to Audrey.
It is all kinds of awkward that I'm just now diving into Court of Swans Trust me, it really truly is. Mostly because I got this back in October and I'm just reading it now. It's February. So, yeah, I definitely suck when it comes to reading eARCs sometimes but there are rare occasions that I can just sit and focus on them as well.
Exhibit A - today. For some reason it is definitely eARC day and I'm not ashamed one bit.
Back to the book though. In this, you will meet Delia. We are also getting to see the beautiful England in 1381. I've never been to England but I would be pretty excited to visit nowadays. I've only ever been out of the country twice - Canada and Paris.
Sooooooo I definitely need to travel once it's a-okay in the world again.
Again, back to the book. After meeting Delia, I came to the conclusion that she was a pretty sweet and cute girl. Not sure how she manages to like all seven of her brothers when I can't even get along with my two older siblings.. but the world is filled with mysterious people. I will say that the evil step-monster, I mean step-mother, was horrible. I absolutely hated her in the beginning and after her brothers were under arrest - well, I immediately thought of her.
Evil wench.
Luckily for them, Delia knows that they are being wrongly accused of whatever stupid blasphemy the king's men stated to her. I mean.. yeah it's totally and completely believable that the a 10 year old was plotting against the king or whatever.
TOTALLY. BELIEVABLE.
Then there's King Richard. For some reason, which seems pretty odd to me now, he was making me think of the movie 'Robin Hood'. The one with Russel Crowe. Yet, this character reminded me of Prince John from the movie who becomes King after his brother dies at battle. The reason why my brain went down this route.. well, they both ended up annoying me. Plus, they were both on this war path of killing people on a whim. Especially if they posed a threat.
Like Delia's 10 year old brother. Such a threat.
Honestly, so much happens in this book and I enjoyed every second of it. I enjoyed all the twists and turns throughout it because they kept me on my toes. Even the ending was surprisingly good and I wasn't expecting it to go that way at all.
In the end, I'm definitely intrigued to dive into the second book to see what is going to happen to Audrey.
library_of_kindredspirits's review
4.0
MY RATING SYSTEM
* "I can't believe this got published!"
** "Mediocre."
*** "It was still missing something."
**** "Good. It satisfied."
***** "Impeccable."
As predictable and simple Dickerson's novel are, they still manage to pull me in. I usually have one done in two to three days. Sometimes, even under 48 hours. Dickerson may not be Jane Austen, but she is certainly doing something right.
Dickerson's books put me in mind of films like "Ever After" and "A Princess Bride", which are both very fun, but idealistic and sometimes cheesy, stories. So if you aren't in for a good cheesy medieval romance, you should know that you may be disappointed. The characters resemble those of the formulaic Hallmark protagonists, and don't have a lot of internal conflict or complexity. The plots are relatively simple, however, if you love a good fairytale, Dickerson knows how to retell it.
Something I particularly like about this one, is the setting. Most of Dickerson's novels take place in Germany, and I much preferred to be able to pronounce the characters' names and villages. I also just have a soft spot for England, and English history. :)
If I was rating this book for it's quality, the rating would probably be a 2 or 3. The quality of writing is mediocre. Dickerson does not use a large vocabulary but I'm not sure it's a lack of vocabulary. Occasionally she'll drop a word I don't know and then the rest of the time she uses all cliché words like "look" "watch" "walk". But then again, it's easy to go into the rewriting stages with Thesaurus. Not to mention the cheesy inner dialogue she writes. Every chapter, her characters will stop to ask the same type of questions. "Did he feel the same way she did about him?" "Would they get out of here?" "Would they be strong enough to defeat the bad guy?" And it goes on for at least a paragraph. Usually the character will ask the same question every time so it starts to get redundant and to be honest, kind of hilarious.
All that said, I give this book a 4 for entertaining me and giving me all the happy feelings I get from watching a Hallmark movie. The overall plot was crafted pretty well, and it was fun to read. I'm excited to read the series, and I doubt anything will be able to stop me.
* "I can't believe this got published!"
** "Mediocre."
*** "It was still missing something."
**** "Good. It satisfied."
***** "Impeccable."
As predictable and simple Dickerson's novel are, they still manage to pull me in. I usually have one done in two to three days. Sometimes, even under 48 hours. Dickerson may not be Jane Austen, but she is certainly doing something right.
Dickerson's books put me in mind of films like "Ever After" and "A Princess Bride", which are both very fun, but idealistic and sometimes cheesy, stories. So if you aren't in for a good cheesy medieval romance, you should know that you may be disappointed. The characters resemble those of the formulaic Hallmark protagonists, and don't have a lot of internal conflict or complexity. The plots are relatively simple, however, if you love a good fairytale, Dickerson knows how to retell it.
Something I particularly like about this one, is the setting. Most of Dickerson's novels take place in Germany, and I much preferred to be able to pronounce the characters' names and villages. I also just have a soft spot for England, and English history. :)
If I was rating this book for it's quality, the rating would probably be a 2 or 3. The quality of writing is mediocre. Dickerson does not use a large vocabulary but I'm not sure it's a lack of vocabulary. Occasionally she'll drop a word I don't know and then the rest of the time she uses all cliché words like "look" "watch" "walk". But then again, it's easy to go into the rewriting stages with Thesaurus. Not to mention the cheesy inner dialogue she writes. Every chapter, her characters will stop to ask the same type of questions. "Did he feel the same way she did about him?" "Would they get out of here?" "Would they be strong enough to defeat the bad guy?" And it goes on for at least a paragraph. Usually the character will ask the same question every time so it starts to get redundant and to be honest, kind of hilarious.
All that said, I give this book a 4 for entertaining me and giving me all the happy feelings I get from watching a Hallmark movie. The overall plot was crafted pretty well, and it was fun to read. I'm excited to read the series, and I doubt anything will be able to stop me.
melissasbookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoy Melanie Dickerson’s fairytale retellings and was excited to try this new series debut. Court of Swans is a fun, creative take on the Wild Swans fairytale. Set in the Middle Ages in 1381, Delia and her seven young brothers struggle to survive when their father dies and their evil step-mother accuses the young boys of murder and treason. To try to care for her brothers who have been thrown into prison and prove their innocence, Delia works as a seamstress for the queen in hopes of trying to gain an ally and find a way to rescue them. Her only hope comes from Sir Geoffrey, the young, handsome captain of the guard who originally arrested her brothers. But, can she trust him and will she be able to rescue her brothers before their execution?
This was a fast-paced story with intrigue, suspense, and a sweet romance. Though Delia is a little bit naive, she grows throughout the story, especially as she tries to understand why God sometimes allows bad things to happen to good people. I enjoyed the romance between her and Sir Geoffrey even if it developed fairly quickly. The plot was interesting though somewhat predictable and kept me listening.
I enjoyed the audiobook version of the book. The narrator did a great job bringing the characters to life and distinguishing each one. She put just the right amount of emotion into it.
Recommend to YA readers 12 and up, especially those who like fairytale retellings. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
This was a fast-paced story with intrigue, suspense, and a sweet romance. Though Delia is a little bit naive, she grows throughout the story, especially as she tries to understand why God sometimes allows bad things to happen to good people. I enjoyed the romance between her and Sir Geoffrey even if it developed fairly quickly. The plot was interesting though somewhat predictable and kept me listening.
I enjoyed the audiobook version of the book. The narrator did a great job bringing the characters to life and distinguishing each one. She put just the right amount of emotion into it.
Recommend to YA readers 12 and up, especially those who like fairytale retellings. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
ashleyraye's review
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
thedamwife's review
3.0
Good clean Christian romance but a bit too predictable and formulaic for me.
lonelyhuman's review
2.0
To be clear there wasn’t really anything that I actually liked about this book, I just don’t like rating books 1 star unless I absolutely abhor them.
I absolutely hated the romance, which is unfortunate considering the fact that this is essentially a romance. It was the most instalovey of any instalove that I have read or seen in a long time, they don’t even have a real conversation before the “fall in love”. Their entire relationship was based on the fact that they thought the other one was good looking, and as a result, I felt like the characters had no depth. Even though Delia thought that Geoffrey was kind she probably mentioned that like once.
I also thought that Delia was extremely gullible, she’s clearly been warned about ______s like Elliot, and even though warning signs go off in her head every time she sees him, she doesn’t exactly do anything until it’s reached an extreme situation.
I also felt like I was being told a lot of things, especially when it came to the king. For example, we were told that the king was “powerless” but in that case, he wouldn’t have been able to at least not without some kind of consequence.
I absolutely hated the romance, which is unfortunate considering the fact that this is essentially a romance. It was the most instalovey of any instalove that I have read or seen in a long time, they don’t even have a real conversation before the “fall in love”. Their entire relationship was based on the fact that they thought the other one was good looking, and as a result, I felt like the characters had no depth. Even though Delia thought that Geoffrey was kind she probably mentioned that like once.
I also thought that Delia was extremely gullible, she’s clearly been warned about ______s like Elliot, and even though warning signs go off in her head every time she sees him, she doesn’t exactly do anything until it’s reached an extreme situation.
I also felt like I was being told a lot of things, especially when it came to the king. For example, we were told that the king was “powerless” but in that case, he wouldn’t have been able to
Spoiler
absolve Delia’s brothers of the charges against themkacie_marria's review
3.0
I enjoyed it.....but I had an hour left of the audiobook WEEKS ago. But scribd took my download away and said it was unavailable so I was just barely able to finish it today since it happened to be available again. Sigh. I'm glad I finally got to finish but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I could've.
lorimarnahyr's review
I love Melanie. Her novels bring me warmth and peace. When I read her novels I know that it doesn’t matter what happens, everything will be ok at the end.
But I had to give three stars to this one, because although I enjoyed it, I felt the ending a little bit rushed. Everything was resolved itself too fast.
But I had to give three stars to this one, because although I enjoyed it, I felt the ending a little bit rushed. Everything was resolved itself too fast.
xavia's review
3.0
I've been reading these retellings for years, and I was really excited to read this one, as it was a tale I was unfamiliar with. But unfortunately it just didn't work for me. I will say that it was better than Warrior Maiden, Orphan's Wish, and Peasant's Dream, but only just.
The story itself wasn't bad. I was not familiar with the tale Wild Swans, so I read it before diving into the book. Seeing how Dickerson was able to weave the magic of the fairy tale into a mundane setting was very interesting, and while I think somethings happened to fast, I will concede that there was a lot needed to happen and only so many pages. There were a few scenes that I felt were a little ham fisted, but they got the job done, and other scenes that I genuinely enjoyed. All in all, not her best work, but by no means her worst either.
The characters don't feel as fleshed out as they have in the past. We're told that Delia is more of a tomboy than a proper lady, but at no moment do we see that to be the case. She is also naïve to an almost unbelievable degree. She puts her trust in people that she has no business trusting and it almost ruins everything. I almost feel like we should have forgone the POV scenes from Geoffrey to focus more on Delia's development. At least that way there could have been some tension regarding who she should trust, Geoffrey or Elliot. Since we get Geoffrey POV scenes we already know that we should trust him, so that makes Delia's waffling about "can I trust him" rather annoying. The romance also felt forced. It was a forgone conclusion, and I felt that because that was the case not a lot of effort was put into developing it.
I'm still planning to read the next book, an Ugly Duckling retelling sounds interesting and while her characters didn't hit home for me the retelling did. I can't say for sure if I will read beyond that though. I may just be outgrowing her writing style, or it's changed enough to move away from the simple magic I liked about her earlier books. We'll see how the next one goes.
Also, just being a little nitpicky but I found it annoying, I don't think the title really fits. I understand that the tale is the Wild Swans, but swans are mentioned only twice in the book, and at no point are the characters in a court. There just wasn't enough there to make the connection, and if I hadn't known the origin ahead of time I would be wondering where the title came from. The title doesn't always have to harken back to the source fairy tale. After all, The Princess Spy was the Princess and the Frog and it's title had nothing to do with it's fairy tale.
The story itself wasn't bad. I was not familiar with the tale Wild Swans, so I read it before diving into the book. Seeing how Dickerson was able to weave the magic of the fairy tale into a mundane setting was very interesting, and while I think somethings happened to fast, I will concede that there was a lot needed to happen and only so many pages. There were a few scenes that I felt were a little ham fisted, but they got the job done, and other scenes that I genuinely enjoyed. All in all, not her best work, but by no means her worst either.
The characters don't feel as fleshed out as they have in the past. We're told that Delia is more of a tomboy than a proper lady, but at no moment do we see that to be the case. She is also naïve to an almost unbelievable degree. She puts her trust in people that she has no business trusting and it almost ruins everything. I almost feel like we should have forgone the POV scenes from Geoffrey to focus more on Delia's development. At least that way there could have been some tension regarding who she should trust, Geoffrey or Elliot. Since we get Geoffrey POV scenes we already know that we should trust him, so that makes Delia's waffling about "can I trust him" rather annoying. The romance also felt forced. It was a forgone conclusion, and I felt that because that was the case not a lot of effort was put into developing it.
I'm still planning to read the next book, an Ugly Duckling retelling sounds interesting and while her characters didn't hit home for me the retelling did. I can't say for sure if I will read beyond that though. I may just be outgrowing her writing style, or it's changed enough to move away from the simple magic I liked about her earlier books. We'll see how the next one goes.
Also, just being a little nitpicky but I found it annoying, I don't think the title really fits. I understand that the tale is the Wild Swans, but swans are mentioned only twice in the book, and at no point are the characters in a court. There just wasn't enough there to make the connection, and if I hadn't known the origin ahead of time I would be wondering where the title came from. The title doesn't always have to harken back to the source fairy tale. After all, The Princess Spy was the Princess and the Frog and it's title had nothing to do with it's fairy tale.