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sophiaonthefarm's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I believe very strongly that being a young adult-targeted novel does not prevent a book from reaching excellence; I also believe that books aimed at younger audiences can still include adult themes and either young readers will skim over them or older authors will understand. There’s a certain beauty, I feel, in weaving that story web in a way that doesn’t talk down to your readers but actively gives them a well-balanced read.
“These Hollow Vows” suffers from a misunderstanding as to who its audience is. Lexi Ryan, a writer whose trove of works falls primarily in adult and new-adult romance, weaves a story that oscillates precariously between speaking down to its young adult readers and trying to impress them with adult themes. What doesn’t work about this, aside from Ryan’s dialogue (which, it is painfully clear, was written by a grown woman who has difficulty channeling how teenagers speak to one another), is that the the “adult” themes of sex and political intrigue are half baked at best and irrelevant to the storyline overall. This series is new territory for the author and could have easily found success in writing a romance with a fantasy setting, but suffered from throwing in more plot lines than Ryan was able to establish.
I’m increasingly frustrated by YA authors including rather inappropriate sex scenes in a genre aimed at a teenage audience. Let’s be clear: I’m not a prude and I don’t care that there’s sexual contact, because that’s normal and natural for teenagers. I am, however, interested in why all of these authors feel the need to write sex scenes like oddly primal mating dances but avoid explicit words denoting genitalia—as if they’re aware that those words aren’t appropriate to write for their audience but the actions are somehow. This book had a whole scene of the main character, whilst roofied, trying to gyrate against another character while in her underwear and in the shower, and talking about how she wanted to lick his tattoos leading to his genitals. It makes me feel uncomfortable reading about a teenage protagonist this way, and while I’m clearly older than the audience this is aimed at, I’d like to point out that the author was 41 (give or take a year) when this novel was published. She could have easily aged up her characters and her readers and I wouldn’t be griping about this, but she chose to write and market this book for YA.
Which brings me to the genre at large. It’s been very trendy for the last few decades to write YA fantasy and my assumption is that is what’s drawn the author to this series. As an avid reader of that field, this book very poorly cobbles together the most popular tropes and characters to create a story capable of pandering to that interest. “These Hollow Vows” feels like a half-hearted effort because it doesn’t actually want to be a fantasy: the magic aspects are only the backdrop to the romance Ryan wants to write. What books like this fail to do is flesh out the magic world and its system, as well as the politics and players involved, so any mention of them feels like looking at cardboard cutouts instead of a rich and vibrant example of world building. As I’ve said before, that’s a choice an author can make, but it feels cheap to call it a fantasy novel.
The world in this book doesn’t feel well written, both because the author spends little time explaining it, and due to an abundance of plot holes. I’ve listed most of the glaring ones I could find below:
1. Goblins. These creatures are thrown in as magical plot devices only present to move the protagonist around and feed her information she shouldn’t otherwise have access to. What doesn’t make sense is that their motives for assisting her are never explained, nor why they’re powerful enough that all of magical society has no constraints on them but they’re willing to serve others? They should have been ruling all of magic based on their abilities but they’re only content doing others’ bidding, and that made no sense
2. Audiences. For once I’m not referring to the readers, but to the audiences in the story, and how characters say and do things without the main audiences knowing, but they’re out in the open and anyone could be privy. It’s mentioned multiple times that everyone has spies in all places but the main character says and does things that should easily be overheard and yet they never are. As a side note, its revealed that there is a blaringly obvious piece of information about the protagonist that several important players know about the whole time, but no one else is able to notice.
3. Poor follow-through on characterization. The protagonist starts the book as a skilled thief who steals to survive, implying that she is both intelligent and street-smart. This is immediately retconned as soon as she enters the faerie realm because it’s essential to the author’s writing that she make poorly thought out decisions that run counter to what she has explicitly stated is what she intends to do. She trusts characters wholeheartedly based on no reasoning despite starting out as distrusting, and we as readers are supposed to be shocked when she is deceived and taken advantage of again and again. She consistently rewrites her own memories on the page, in a way that feels disingenuous to the character she was at the start of the novel, as if the author decided to make her a different person but didn’t go back and edit what she’d already written. She starts out the novel with a minor knowledge of magic and ability to harness it, but it’s never relevant again. Worst of all is that her intelligence returns in the last few pages of the book, so that the author can have her twist reveal by making the protagonist explain everything to the reader and set up a second book
4. Another piece of poor characterization is the manner in which characters, specifically the protagonist, forgive one another despite the vast scale of their betrayals. One particularly heinous example in my opinion was the early on reveal that the boy next door was actually a powerful faerie prince and the protagonist glosses over the fact that he could have easily freed them from their servitude and dodged the entirety of the story’s problems. Personally, I don’t think I’d have easily forgiven a friend who watched my sister and I starve and work ourselves to death.
5. The protagonist has bright red—Ariel red—hair but is notoriously a thief. It makes no sense to have such an obvious bit to her appearance if she’s trying to blend into the shadows and the story would’ve been the same (albeit made more sense) if she dyed it black but her red roots were poking through.
6. Obstacles. Time and time again there are roadblocks thrown in the protagonist’s way and she has to struggle around them, consistently choosing what the author wants despite giving little explanation as to why that makes sense. She is indebted to her slumlord aunt but we’re never told why she doesn’t run away or why they contracted themselves to her (they were wards of her uncle who died and they could’ve left instead of signing her skeezy contract). She’s forbidden from explicitly discussing her bargain but she could easily talk around what she could. She works with a revolutionary group that wants to overthrow the villain and solve her problems but takes zero actions to attempt them; alternatively, she could marry her lover and utilize his political power to institute change but she just doesn’t.
7. Seers. Seers exist, and I’m fine with that. What I’m frustrated by is how characters know information that they oughtn’t know without access to a seer or prophecy, acting and speaking in ways that give no implication of such knowledge but just happening to know what’s convenient to move the plot.
8. Lack of security. For immortal and magical creatures, every court seemed poorly guarded if the human protagonist was easily able to move around them with no detection. It’s explained that she had magic of her own, yes, but it’s also stated constantly that she has poor control over it. Also, a very powerful political player of the court, who is not welcome, is hanging around at the ball on the most important night and no one notices despite his very obvious appearance. Additionally, it’s mentioned that portals between courts aren’t opened up constantly because of the security risk, though the obvious answer of opening portals and putting guards around them is never given thought.
9. Deux ex machina. It’s rare not to find these nowadays but they’re frustrating regardless. There’s a confident portal between courts that’s immediately rectified after one use. The protagonist overheard important information that should be better kept. She meets an important player that solves her problems. She’s given access to information far outside of her league or perceived threat clearance.
Unfortunately, I did not find the writing or dialogue palatable and that only made my interest in this novel nearly nonexistent. I finished it by sheer force of will and have no desire to read the second. While the twist at the end was actually interesting for once, I found it came far too late and far too out of character for the entirety of the rest of the novel.
I’m not angry, just disappointed.
“These Hollow Vows” suffers from a misunderstanding as to who its audience is. Lexi Ryan, a writer whose trove of works falls primarily in adult and new-adult romance, weaves a story that oscillates precariously between speaking down to its young adult readers and trying to impress them with adult themes. What doesn’t work about this, aside from Ryan’s dialogue (which, it is painfully clear, was written by a grown woman who has difficulty channeling how teenagers speak to one another), is that the the “adult” themes of sex and political intrigue are half baked at best and irrelevant to the storyline overall. This series is new territory for the author and could have easily found success in writing a romance with a fantasy setting, but suffered from throwing in more plot lines than Ryan was able to establish.
I’m increasingly frustrated by YA authors including rather inappropriate sex scenes in a genre aimed at a teenage audience. Let’s be clear: I’m not a prude and I don’t care that there’s sexual contact, because that’s normal and natural for teenagers. I am, however, interested in why all of these authors feel the need to write sex scenes like oddly primal mating dances but avoid explicit words denoting genitalia—as if they’re aware that those words aren’t appropriate to write for their audience but the actions are somehow. This book had a whole scene of the main character, whilst roofied, trying to gyrate against another character while in her underwear and in the shower, and talking about how she wanted to lick his tattoos leading to his genitals. It makes me feel uncomfortable reading about a teenage protagonist this way, and while I’m clearly older than the audience this is aimed at, I’d like to point out that the author was 41 (give or take a year) when this novel was published. She could have easily aged up her characters and her readers and I wouldn’t be griping about this, but she chose to write and market this book for YA.
Which brings me to the genre at large. It’s been very trendy for the last few decades to write YA fantasy and my assumption is that is what’s drawn the author to this series. As an avid reader of that field, this book very poorly cobbles together the most popular tropes and characters to create a story capable of pandering to that interest. “These Hollow Vows” feels like a half-hearted effort because it doesn’t actually want to be a fantasy: the magic aspects are only the backdrop to the romance Ryan wants to write. What books like this fail to do is flesh out the magic world and its system, as well as the politics and players involved, so any mention of them feels like looking at cardboard cutouts instead of a rich and vibrant example of world building. As I’ve said before, that’s a choice an author can make, but it feels cheap to call it a fantasy novel.
The world in this book doesn’t feel well written, both because the author spends little time explaining it, and due to an abundance of plot holes. I’ve listed most of the glaring ones I could find below:
1. Goblins. These creatures are thrown in as magical plot devices only present to move the protagonist around and feed her information she shouldn’t otherwise have access to. What doesn’t make sense is that their motives for assisting her are never explained, nor why they’re powerful enough that all of magical society has no constraints on them but they’re willing to serve others? They should have been ruling all of magic based on their abilities but they’re only content doing others’ bidding, and that made no sense
2. Audiences. For once I’m not referring to the readers, but to the audiences in the story, and how characters say and do things without the main audiences knowing, but they’re out in the open and anyone could be privy. It’s mentioned multiple times that everyone has spies in all places but the main character says and does things that should easily be overheard and yet they never are. As a side note, its revealed that there is a blaringly obvious piece of information about the protagonist that several important players know about the whole time, but no one else is able to notice.
3. Poor follow-through on characterization. The protagonist starts the book as a skilled thief who steals to survive, implying that she is both intelligent and street-smart. This is immediately retconned as soon as she enters the faerie realm because it’s essential to the author’s writing that she make poorly thought out decisions that run counter to what she has explicitly stated is what she intends to do. She trusts characters wholeheartedly based on no reasoning despite starting out as distrusting, and we as readers are supposed to be shocked when she is deceived and taken advantage of again and again. She consistently rewrites her own memories on the page, in a way that feels disingenuous to the character she was at the start of the novel, as if the author decided to make her a different person but didn’t go back and edit what she’d already written. She starts out the novel with a minor knowledge of magic and ability to harness it, but it’s never relevant again. Worst of all is that her intelligence returns in the last few pages of the book, so that the author can have her twist reveal by making the protagonist explain everything to the reader and set up a second book
4. Another piece of poor characterization is the manner in which characters, specifically the protagonist, forgive one another despite the vast scale of their betrayals. One particularly heinous example in my opinion was the early on reveal that the boy next door was actually a powerful faerie prince and the protagonist glosses over the fact that he could have easily freed them from their servitude and dodged the entirety of the story’s problems. Personally, I don’t think I’d have easily forgiven a friend who watched my sister and I starve and work ourselves to death.
5. The protagonist has bright red—Ariel red—hair but is notoriously a thief. It makes no sense to have such an obvious bit to her appearance if she’s trying to blend into the shadows and the story would’ve been the same (albeit made more sense) if she dyed it black but her red roots were poking through.
6. Obstacles. Time and time again there are roadblocks thrown in the protagonist’s way and she has to struggle around them, consistently choosing what the author wants despite giving little explanation as to why that makes sense. She is indebted to her slumlord aunt but we’re never told why she doesn’t run away or why they contracted themselves to her (they were wards of her uncle who died and they could’ve left instead of signing her skeezy contract). She’s forbidden from explicitly discussing her bargain but she could easily talk around what she could. She works with a revolutionary group that wants to overthrow the villain and solve her problems but takes zero actions to attempt them; alternatively, she could marry her lover and utilize his political power to institute change but she just doesn’t.
7. Seers. Seers exist, and I’m fine with that. What I’m frustrated by is how characters know information that they oughtn’t know without access to a seer or prophecy, acting and speaking in ways that give no implication of such knowledge but just happening to know what’s convenient to move the plot.
8. Lack of security. For immortal and magical creatures, every court seemed poorly guarded if the human protagonist was easily able to move around them with no detection. It’s explained that she had magic of her own, yes, but it’s also stated constantly that she has poor control over it. Also, a very powerful political player of the court, who is not welcome, is hanging around at the ball on the most important night and no one notices despite his very obvious appearance. Additionally, it’s mentioned that portals between courts aren’t opened up constantly because of the security risk, though the obvious answer of opening portals and putting guards around them is never given thought.
9. Deux ex machina. It’s rare not to find these nowadays but they’re frustrating regardless. There’s a confident portal between courts that’s immediately rectified after one use. The protagonist overheard important information that should be better kept. She meets an important player that solves her problems. She’s given access to information far outside of her league or perceived threat clearance.
Unfortunately, I did not find the writing or dialogue palatable and that only made my interest in this novel nearly nonexistent. I finished it by sheer force of will and have no desire to read the second. While the twist at the end was actually interesting for once, I found it came far too late and far too out of character for the entirety of the rest of the novel.
I’m not angry, just disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual assault
fieldofsummer's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
lilhappyhermit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
5.0
This book had me throwing theories out left and right. I was on the edge of my seat as Brie's journey with Sebastian and Finn unfolded. All of the twists and turns that you embark on as Brie tries to save her sister from the Unseelie King has my mind reeling. And the ending? It made me need to pick up the second book to this duology IMMEDIATELY.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, and Death
Minor: Homophobia and Slavery
aliciareadsit's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content
One sexual scene, but very brief and described quite generally. Nothing graphic.carrie_lynne's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content and Cursing
mybookishdelights's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
This was a really fun book! I can see how it’s being compared to A Court of Thorns and Roses, but it wasn’t so similar that it felt boring. There were some parts that were predictable, but it was fun having theories and seeing how things played out.
Buddy read with Melissa
Buddy read with Melissa
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Death
Minor: Sexual content
viviette's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
I can’t bring myself to give this a 5/5 mainly because the questions it’s left me are too big… I really do not like that both the boys in the end carried faulty feelings and that it ends in a rash decision. I found myself really liking the characters halfway through but the ending fell short as it was super fast-paced and contained much change in a short amount of time. Another thing is the spice was a little much since it wasn’t really needed tbh. I feel like it would’ve been better with just the Finn scene and kissing. It is YA after all. Not to mention, the development of all that stuff was crazy fast! Please pace better girlie!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Trafficking
rinku's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Sexual content
Moderate: Murder, Confinement, Death of parent, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, and Abandonment
Minor: War, Kidnapping, and Slavery
samantha_06x's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and War
Moderate: Slavery, Death, Grief, Confinement, Child death, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Homophobia, Sexual violence, Rape, and Death of parent
charhollyx's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Sickeningly addictive.
The world building, the narrative, the love interests and the love triangle, UGH!!
Anyone saying this is a rip off of ACOTAR needs to sit down and take a moment to appreciate such an amazing, original story
Also: minor sexual content, not graphic unfortunately
The world building, the narrative, the love interests and the love triangle, UGH!!
Anyone saying this is a rip off of ACOTAR needs to sit down and take a moment to appreciate such an amazing, original story
Also: minor sexual content, not graphic unfortunately
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content