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wildfaeriecaps's review
4.0
This was surprisingly good. I will definitely be seeking out the next installment. Yay for free ebooks on the google play store getting me hooked on new series!
aly36's review
4.0
I natural gift to fight can be a blessing and a curse. I think this book is very good and I would love to read the next book in the series. A love triangle with some action and adventure, this book had me following right along to see what would happen next. I enjoyed the new world the author created and I would love to return with this author again. * I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*
katiesreadingnow's review
3.0
the continuity of this book throws me off- at one point Mad Jack is riding his white mare Starlight, and in the same scene he stops his stallion? I’ve been around horses for 23 years and 90% sure horses don’t change gender mid stride. additionally - you don’t have to always “kick” your horse to go. it’s a squeeze based on pressure, and not to mention you physically cannot ride a horse at a gallop for 5+ hours like this is saying. They would die. It’s a small error but one that pulls me out of a story. There was a lot more potential to build this up instead of making the main plot point a romance point and it was frustrating to see it land there at the end. I’m going to continue the trilogy because I feel like it still has potential but i’m really bummed at how it ended so rushed in #1.
ampersammich's review
4.0
Really enjoyed this book! Not perfect but was an interesting dark fantasy trek. The protagonist is a young woman who has been hidden for most of her life, so she does come off as childish sometimes and is easily swayed. But the fight scenes are well done and the story goes into interesting territory. I look forward to reading the next one.
blaubeerskruemelchen's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.5
Sooo... This book... this book is bad... really bad! But in an enjoyable way. It's not outrageously insulting or anything... It's a bit stupid. In a way that feels like no one involved in the making of it cared. And in a way I can respect that. Why try so hard, if this is apparently enough to get something published. I doubt, that anyone edited this or even read it a second time.
The rant:
We are told a lot about the characters... The things that are shown tend to counteract the ones told a lot.
<spoiler>Very early on we are told tow things about the main character: she's a good fighter and love and relationships aren't for her: she prefers it casual. That's what's told... Well the first fight we see her in she gets her ass kicked big time, without ever mentioning, that her opponents are particularly skilled or anything. Later on protagonist talks a great deal about how she got her skills from street fights and can't compete with knights, but in the fights we see, she does quite alright against them. And in all her interactions with men she's blushing like crazy and trying not to care too much...
The first few pages are filled with big emotional moments, that have this great earth shattering impact on the main character... But not on the reader... We are told, how this is really important to her and we are supposed to care. But we don't... Because we don't know her or her relationship to the characters around her, so why should we care??
Also the main character is quite stupid... Wondering for pages if sth is this way or that, when things are quite obvious. Other times things are stated as facts, at times by the main character herself and a few hundred pages down, the same thing is supposed to be a big reveal. And it's not this thing, where the reader knows, but the characters can't... This thing is written from a first person perspective, so anything the reader knows, he knows because the main character/narrator experienced it. Which brings me to the tense this is written in: It's past tense... Which doesn't feel right. It feels a lot like a present story. I do this and at the same time I'm telling you I'm doing it. The narrator doesn't know anything the audience doesn't... It feels weird...
The world-building is extremely lazy! The names... The protagonist comes from a country named anglia... and it's neighbors are germania, romilia, francia, etc... Nature behaves extremely weird in this world... One second they're treading through a swamp and the next they're standing in a dessert wasteland... It's... It's just weird... When the wildlife's concerned, so many things would've been just a google-search away... But nope... We're not doing that... We're just writing weird shit. One thing that actually did enrage me were the horses. Horses in this world seem to be some kind of magical moped. They run at top speed for hours and days. And if that wouldn't be impossible enough, they do it with little to no sleep a bit of water in the evening and an apple. Plus they are treated exceptionally bad (at least the main girls horse)! Neither the horse-gear nor the saddle are ever removed and the only way anyone in this world can tell a horse it's supposed to move is by "kicking" it or "slamming ones heels into its flanks"... And this are supposed to be extremely well trained horses!
The story is predictable except for the parts that are a mess. Sometimes things come quite out of now where and disappear just as quickly... *shrug*...? The romance subplot is both extremely predictable and really abrupt... Which is an art in itself. You know quite early on, what will happen and who it'll happen with, but when it actually happens... I was like: aha... so we're here already? okay?
And yet again: I did enjoy myself... mainly in an "I'm an asshole laughing about people I consider stupid"-way... That's on me I guess
The rant:
We are told a lot about the characters... The things that are shown tend to counteract the ones told a lot.
<spoiler>Very early on we are told tow things about the main character: she's a good fighter and love and relationships aren't for her: she prefers it casual. That's what's told... Well the first fight we see her in she gets her ass kicked big time, without ever mentioning, that her opponents are particularly skilled or anything. Later on protagonist talks a great deal about how she got her skills from street fights and can't compete with knights, but in the fights we see, she does quite alright against them. And in all her interactions with men she's blushing like crazy and trying not to care too much...
The first few pages are filled with big emotional moments, that have this great earth shattering impact on the main character... But not on the reader... We are told, how this is really important to her and we are supposed to care. But we don't... Because we don't know her or her relationship to the characters around her, so why should we care??
Also the main character is quite stupid... Wondering for pages if sth is this way or that, when things are quite obvious. Other times things are stated as facts, at times by the main character herself and a few hundred pages down, the same thing is supposed to be a big reveal. And it's not this thing, where the reader knows, but the characters can't... This thing is written from a first person perspective, so anything the reader knows, he knows because the main character/narrator experienced it. Which brings me to the tense this is written in: It's past tense... Which doesn't feel right. It feels a lot like a present story. I do this and at the same time I'm telling you I'm doing it. The narrator doesn't know anything the audience doesn't... It feels weird...
The world-building is extremely lazy! The names... The protagonist comes from a country named anglia... and it's neighbors are germania, romilia, francia, etc... Nature behaves extremely weird in this world... One second they're treading through a swamp and the next they're standing in a dessert wasteland... It's... It's just weird... When the wildlife's concerned, so many things would've been just a google-search away... But nope... We're not doing that... We're just writing weird shit. One thing that actually did enrage me were the horses. Horses in this world seem to be some kind of magical moped. They run at top speed for hours and days. And if that wouldn't be impossible enough, they do it with little to no sleep a bit of water in the evening and an apple. Plus they are treated exceptionally bad (at least the main girls horse)! Neither the horse-gear nor the saddle are ever removed and the only way anyone in this world can tell a horse it's supposed to move is by "kicking" it or "slamming ones heels into its flanks"... And this are supposed to be extremely well trained horses!
The story is predictable except for the parts that are a mess. Sometimes things come quite out of now where and disappear just as quickly... *shrug*...? The romance subplot is both extremely predictable and really abrupt... Which is an art in itself. You know quite early on, what will happen and who it'll happen with, but when it actually happens... I was like: aha... so we're here already? okay?
And yet again: I did enjoy myself... mainly in an "I'm an asshole laughing about people I consider stupid"-way... That's on me I guess
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Violence
epic_novella's review
3.0
Unexpected romance between Jon and Elena all of a sudden. Storyline was good just not executed well and wasn't planned out properly
rondasue27's review
2.0
I liked this book for the first half or so, but then it just suddenly felt very predictable or something and I lost interest.
manychurros's review
1.0
I, unfortunately, read the entire book. In the beginning, I thought this book might be interesting. It wasn't. I didn't care for the story. I skimmed the last 40-50 pages. I think a huge issue was the writing. Richardson tried to create a very elaborate fantasy world but ultimately failed. it came off as a Throne of Glass knock-off. This book had a lot of potential, but it couldn't live up to it. 1 star.