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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A Pocket of Lies is the first book in a slow burn indie Romantasy/Fantasy series.
I listened to this book almost straight through and didn't want to put it down.
I need to pull my thoughts together to write a decent review but making some notes.
Straight off the top, we have an FMC that isn't the self-sacrificing, "I'll save everyone by myself" variety that seems to be the romantasy standard these days and a large part of why I've taken a semi-break from the genre. Suri, the FMC, has no desire to be anyone's hero. Suri grew up orphaned on the rough streets and lost her brother to a 10 yr murder sentence in the mines when she herself was only 10 yrs old. Suri has no illusion that humanity will offer her anything other than a survival of the fittest existance. People will punch you in the face and walk over your body. There is no kindness and to survive, a person has to look out for number one.
Because of Suri's insular life ( I don't think she went to any schooling?) she knows next to nothing about her own world/politics/magic, etc. Which was, I have to say, delightfully frustrating and made me want to YELL AT HER until I remembered the filter through which she views the world. Suri's first instinct is to think small, to survive to the next day. I don't even think she grasped that a "big picture" even exists until the last couple of chapters. Her worldview stayed limited to making it back to the streets of her neighborhood and starting her own gang where she never had to be afraid again... for 90% of the book. Her hyper-focus on herself might seem like selfishness but again, she knows there is little to no kindness in this world, no one gets something for nothing and all she has is her will to survive and damnit, she will fight till she's dead.
No insta-love... in fact, there are but faint whiffs of romance in this first installment. I love love loved the fact that no man made Suri compromise her own desires. She never gave an inch. That isn't what we are doing here.
The world building seems kinda hazy to me re: political systems/religion/geography but again, we only know what Suri knows so...
As it's a trilogy, and we are moving the story into a second book, I thought the ending/climax could have been a bit cleaner. Suri seems to spin in place a bit but honestly, that felt organic giving that as I noted above, she seemed to juuuuust be grasping that there might be a world at risk outside of her own. It might have read with a bit more tension if one or two things were tightened out of the climax chapter however, imo.
I listened to this book almost straight through and didn't want to put it down.
I need to pull my thoughts together to write a decent review but making some notes.
Straight off the top, we have an FMC that isn't the self-sacrificing, "I'll save everyone by myself" variety that seems to be the romantasy standard these days and a large part of why I've taken a semi-break from the genre. Suri, the FMC, has no desire to be anyone's hero. Suri grew up orphaned on the rough streets and lost her brother to a 10 yr murder sentence in the mines when she herself was only 10 yrs old. Suri has no illusion that humanity will offer her anything other than a survival of the fittest existance. People will punch you in the face and walk over your body. There is no kindness and to survive, a person has to look out for number one.
Because of Suri's insular life ( I don't think she went to any schooling?) she knows next to nothing about her own world/politics/magic, etc. Which was, I have to say, delightfully frustrating and made me want to YELL AT HER until I remembered the filter through which she views the world. Suri's first instinct is to think small, to survive to the next day. I don't even think she grasped that a "big picture" even exists until the last couple of chapters. Her worldview stayed limited to making it back to the streets of her neighborhood and starting her own gang where she never had to be afraid again... for 90% of the book. Her hyper-focus on herself might seem like selfishness but again, she knows there is little to no kindness in this world, no one gets something for nothing and all she has is her will to survive and damnit, she will fight till she's dead.
No insta-love... in fact, there are but faint whiffs of romance in this first installment. I love love loved the fact that no man made Suri compromise her own desires. She never gave an inch. That isn't what we are doing here.
The world building seems kinda hazy to me re: political systems/religion/geography but again, we only know what Suri knows so...
As it's a trilogy, and we are moving the story into a second book, I thought the ending/climax could have been a bit cleaner. Suri seems to spin in place a bit but honestly, that felt organic giving that as I noted above, she seemed to juuuuust be grasping that there might be a world at risk outside of her own. It might have read with a bit more tension if one or two things were tightened out of the climax chapter however, imo.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
KEEP READING, THE SEQUEL IS SO MUCH BETTER!!
Now that I got that out of my system, here's
The Good:
Now that I got that out of my system, here's
The Good:
- Very cool & mysterious magic system
- Intriguing plot hook
- Great twists!
- Incredible one-liners.
The Bad:
- During the prologue, I found myself thinking "this could have used editing" multiple times. It gets much better as the book goes on, but still.
- The middle of the story d r a g s.
Kol randomly shows up twice in the desert? I get that we have to develop him as a love interest I guess but holy shit it feels forced as hell to have him randomly show up twice.
The Mixed:
- The fight scenes could use some work. I enjoyed them, but the writing came off as clunky sometimes.
- Suri can be dense. I get that it's a flaw of hers and it's written well, but I just don't like it very much.
“All is well, sweet Suri.”
This book was SO good! I was hooked early on. It is well-written and the world is very unique but also easy to grasp.
I kept thinking I had it all figured out, but then something else would happen that got me guessing again. There was also a pretty good twist toward the end.
Thank you to the author for giving me an advance reader copy! I can’t wait to read book two!
This book was SO good! I was hooked early on. It is well-written and the world is very unique but also easy to grasp.
I kept thinking I had it all figured out, but then something else would happen that got me guessing again. There was also a pretty good twist toward the end.
Thank you to the author for giving me an advance reader copy! I can’t wait to read book two!
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Ah, this was so good! I loved our morally grey FMC so much. It was such a nice, refreshing change from most fantasy books to have a MC like her. I loved Kol, even though we didn't get a whole lot of him. I even loved Rasel. It was such an enjoyable read.
Can not wait for the next book!
Can not wait for the next book!
This was an amazing read! Every chapter had me HOOKED.
I already knew this was going to be a high rating at page 16 and thats saying a lot. The writing, the world building, the character development is really well done and thought out.
I love that its a realistic depiction of how characters would actually interact with each other and not just fall head over heels at first sight.
A++
I already knew this was going to be a high rating at page 16 and thats saying a lot. The writing, the world building, the character development is really well done and thought out.
I love that its a realistic depiction of how characters would actually interact with each other and not just fall head over heels at first sight.
A++
adventurous
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
adventurous
challenging
sad
medium-paced