Reviews

Leviathan's Song by Elsie Winters

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cassie_books's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

birbpal's review

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3.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stars

I wanted to love this book so much! There was a lot I genuinely liked about it, but ultimately, there were glaring issues that made me drop my rating to three stars.

The Good:

• The FMC Elara and MMC Levi were delightful. I really vibed with Elara, especially. She was neurodivergent-coded, in my opinion, and that made her a unique character. As for Levi, I loved his teasing nature and his devotion to Elara. He was such a sweetheart.🩷

• Side characters were fun! Sidney and her brothers were a riot, especially at the rave. I wish we got more of them! Same with Levi's friends.

• The world-building had me hooked. I wanted to know every little thing about how the Void and Boundlands functioned. Even small details such as how Elara builds her artifacts or how Sidney's magpie-form works made me so curious!

The Bad:

• I feel like the author really struggled with "show, don't tell." What I mean by this is that she would often have exciting things happen off page rather than have us as readers in the moment experiencing it as it is happening. This occurred multiple times in the book. Examples include:

- How the criminal group called the Phantoms was disposed of.
- A lot of soft, fluffy interactions between characters
- The fallout of Elara making an important decision at the end of the book

• In this same vain, I felt that chapters would end abruptly right in the middle of something interesting happening. It frustrated me to no end when I would be enjoying a characters interacting with each other for it to all of a sudden be ended, and the next chapter is a completely different scene. I wouldn't mind this so much if this book was jam-packed with action and adventure, but this book isn't an action-adventure book.

• This leads to my biggest complaint. I just don't think the tone of this book made much sense. I felt like the author wanted to write a really sweet, slow burn romance between two interesting characters who are going through a crazy series of events. The author succeeded in the romance part somewhat, but in my opinion, the rest fell flat. The stakes felt low as the book dragged on. 🤷‍♀️

In the beginning, I was worried for Elara's life. Knowing a group was after her, was both exciting and nerve-wracking. But when that blew over, I was like, "Okay, what is the author gonna throw at us next?" The apparent discourse between Kelpies and Sprites was now the focus, but rather then show us the effect of this horrible event taking place, we as readers are only told how bad it is. This brings me to my point that I think the author did better with the romance and fun moments between characters rather than an engaging plot. I wish she could have either spent equal time focusing on both aspects or just making this book a full-on romance book with a sprinkle of fantasy elements. Leave out the action, in my opinion.

• My final point is that I am left with a lot of unanswered questions. Did Elara ever design her and Levi's rings? Where did they end up moving to? Why did the Phantom group specifically want her for her golemmancy? I have a bunch of other questions that are potential spoilers, so in conclusion, I am confused and frustrated, lol.😅❓️

Overall, I had fun reading this book in a way. But I'm on the fence if I want to continue this series. I am worried that the problems I found here would also carry on into the next book. I am curious to check out if Elsie has any other works! Maybe I will enjoy those more. 🐥💕