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sweetlittleredw's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
mis_chievous's review against another edition
Described as a romance/ romantisy, at almost half way through there's been abuse and a forced marriage- really not that interested in continuing at this point.
chemistress's review
adventurous
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? It's complicated
5.0
valkeakuulas's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Relatively OK fantasy book but the structure yells simple YA even though the cover states new adult and the length and complicated way Alderson has chosen to introduce us to the world. I also feel the YA feeling comes from the constant need to roll out events (some with success, more not so) and the simplicity of dialogue and character interactions. The start is promising but a little over halfway point the narrative becomes repetitive and Max's actions due to his "give my parents back" attitude is every now and then ridiculous. Ridiculous because their tight bond is never really shown and his demonstrative love is hindering the actual plot points: didn't buy his devotion.
Alderson has a good world built here but I don't think I will continue because just as Max's parental relationship left me cold so did the romantic interests.
Alderson has a good world built here but I don't think I will continue because just as Max's parental relationship left me cold so did the romantic interests.
mini_johnson's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
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? No
3.75
oliev's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
tadhgerman's review
2.0
This book made itself hard to like. Max, the protagonist, is repeatedly victimised and abused and just stumbles from one terrible situation to the next without any agency being given to him. The promised romance is also barely present with nothing more than a kiss or two with the two love interests and I don't really like either of them so I wasn't exactly thrilled when those happened either. I'll give the next one a go to see if it improves but I was disappointed in this one.
esavinelli's review
slow-paced
3.0
Idk why but I just did not like the main character max. Also the beginning felt too long, and the while book everyone chose not to explain things too him which was super frustrating. Also, his romance with Simion kinda felt out of the blue. I don't think I'll continue this series.
mydayscount's review
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
thegreatmanda's review
DNF at 30%. I always feel a little like I personally failed when I DNF a book, but this one is just wall-to-wall relentless angst inflicted on undeveloped, irritating characters via shoddy writing.
I always feel guilty trashing indie authors who manage to get their work out there in front of an audience without the benefit of the traditional industry, but this one needed a team of professional editors. The language is overly flowery and wordy and tries too hard to sound like a high fantasy novel, to the extent that everything sounds overwrought all the time. (Example: “The blood drained from my entire body” as Max experiences a moment of minor tension.) There are multiple instances of the wrong word being used, referring an ancient hero’s valiance as “valance”, or saying that a woman swathed in a formal dress is “swaddled” in it. I also saw a lot of poorly structured clauses/paragraphs, such as sentences where an introductory clause’s subject is not the same subject as the rest of the sentence, which is an issue that I’ve seen in almost every self-published novel I’ve read. (Example: “Recoiling with a hiss, the shallow cut stung, coated in spilled oil.” I assume it’s Max who recoils, but this reads as though the cut itself recoils and hisses.) And there are frequent passages that are ambiguous or just confusing, made worse by the unnecessarily embroidered wording. (Example: “A single tear of sweat” [what? Is it tears or sweat?] “ran down my temple, leaving a nasty shiver in its wake. I dared reach up and clear it because every one of my movements were being scrutinized by King Gathrax.” Either there’s a word missing in that last sentence, or a different word than “because” should have been used. Also “every one of” makes the movements singular, so it should be “was being scrutinized”.)
I can forgive a lot of writing sins for an engaging story and interesting characters, but this book unfortunately lacked those things and I had to give up. There’s nothing to recommend here.
I always feel guilty trashing indie authors who manage to get their work out there in front of an audience without the benefit of the traditional industry, but this one needed a team of professional editors. The language is overly flowery and wordy and tries too hard to sound like a high fantasy novel, to the extent that everything sounds overwrought all the time. (Example: “The blood drained from my entire body” as Max experiences a moment of minor tension.) There are multiple instances of the wrong word being used, referring an ancient hero’s valiance as “valance”, or saying that a woman swathed in a formal dress is “swaddled” in it. I also saw a lot of poorly structured clauses/paragraphs, such as sentences where an introductory clause’s subject is not the same subject as the rest of the sentence, which is an issue that I’ve seen in almost every self-published novel I’ve read. (Example: “Recoiling with a hiss, the shallow cut stung, coated in spilled oil.” I assume it’s Max who recoils, but this reads as though the cut itself recoils and hisses.) And there are frequent passages that are ambiguous or just confusing, made worse by the unnecessarily embroidered wording. (Example: “A single tear of sweat” [what? Is it tears or sweat?] “ran down my temple, leaving a nasty shiver in its wake. I dared reach up and clear it because every one of my movements were being scrutinized by King Gathrax.” Either there’s a word missing in that last sentence, or a different word than “because” should have been used. Also “every one of” makes the movements singular, so it should be “was being scrutinized”.)
I can forgive a lot of writing sins for an engaging story and interesting characters, but this book unfortunately lacked those things and I had to give up. There’s nothing to recommend here.