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jesshale's review against another edition
2.0
I nearly didn't re-read this, remembering being bored with it and, yeah. I was mostly bored with it - I stopped at about 1/3 of the way through for a few days before powering through.
Like a couple of other stories in this series, I think my main issue is the pacing - there are so many pages devoted to set-up with an abrupt unsatisfying climax, not to mention the chapters devoted to the gloating, eeeeeeevil antagonists' point of view.
For this particular book, I found myself frustrated with elements that made no sense, or seemed ready to go somewhere but that were left dangling. For instance (and in no particular order):
- So much is made of Marina's plan to attempt to contact her guardians. She finds pennies for stamps...which turn out to not be pennies. What was the point of this plot point at all? Then, when she manages several times to get out to the vicarage or the sanatorium or church, she doesn't (as I thought she had planned to) asked for help sending a letter. It seems to me a LOT of plot would have been simplified if she had asked either of the very helpful gentlemen to send and receive a letter on her behalf...which may have been why the author went to so much effort to frustrate or "forget" to make this happen.
-Whhhyyyyyyy does no one tell Marina about the curse or her aunt? Even when she is being sent away how do none of her guardians "help her pack" and take a second to say, oh by the way be careful of your aunt she's super evil. Whyyyyyy?
- At the start of the novel Marina is gifted with affinity with Air elementals, yet this never comes to anything. I thought it might be a Chekhov's Gun kind of thing, but nope. Nothing.
- Marina's love of music - told, never shown. I never really got the sense that she actually loved music - books, rather than instruments, were of comfort and use to her.
- Reggie was a mage all along? He knew Marina had shields? What? Where did this plot point come from, and what was the point of it?
So, those were some of the random bits and pieces that irked me.
The other major one, and one I've seen several other reviews mention, is the abrupt nature of the romance. Marina and Andrew meet each other - as far as I can tell - only a few times, and he comes across to her as rather pompous and condescending. I did enjoy the fact that Marina found healing something that was meaningful to her, and I could see the two of them developing a great working relationship that could turn into romance, but it was really out of left field and abrupt to have her decide that she "must have fallen in love without realising it".
I felt that there was no narrative reason that Marina needed a romance to give her impetus to get herself home. She spent a lot of the novel grieving and in despair over being separated from her guardians, who she now knows have come to rescue her - why can't her desperation to get back to THEM be what she needs to inspire her?
Plus - as with other novels in this series - the super evil antagonist is defeated with hardly any input from our heroine, especially not the satisfying defeat I really wanted. I wanted Marina to confront Arachne about what she did and have a victory, but nope, never happened.
At the end of the day, I don't think I'll bother re-reading this one.
Like a couple of other stories in this series, I think my main issue is the pacing - there are so many pages devoted to set-up with an abrupt unsatisfying climax, not to mention the chapters devoted to the gloating, eeeeeeevil antagonists' point of view.
For this particular book, I found myself frustrated with elements that made no sense, or seemed ready to go somewhere but that were left dangling. For instance (and in no particular order):
Spoiler
- So much is made of Marina's plan to attempt to contact her guardians. She finds pennies for stamps...which turn out to not be pennies. What was the point of this plot point at all? Then, when she manages several times to get out to the vicarage or the sanatorium or church, she doesn't (as I thought she had planned to) asked for help sending a letter. It seems to me a LOT of plot would have been simplified if she had asked either of the very helpful gentlemen to send and receive a letter on her behalf...which may have been why the author went to so much effort to frustrate or "forget" to make this happen.
-Whhhyyyyyyy does no one tell Marina about the curse or her aunt? Even when she is being sent away how do none of her guardians "help her pack" and take a second to say, oh by the way be careful of your aunt she's super evil. Whyyyyyy?
- At the start of the novel Marina is gifted with affinity with Air elementals, yet this never comes to anything. I thought it might be a Chekhov's Gun kind of thing, but nope. Nothing.
- Marina's love of music - told, never shown. I never really got the sense that she actually loved music - books, rather than instruments, were of comfort and use to her.
- Reggie was a mage all along? He knew Marina had shields? What? Where did this plot point come from, and what was the point of it?
So, those were some of the random bits and pieces that irked me.
The other major one, and one I've seen several other reviews mention, is the abrupt nature of the romance. Marina and Andrew meet each other - as far as I can tell - only a few times, and he comes across to her as rather pompous and condescending. I did enjoy the fact that Marina found healing something that was meaningful to her, and I could see the two of them developing a great working relationship that could turn into romance, but it was really out of left field and abrupt to have her decide that she "must have fallen in love without realising it".
I felt that there was no narrative reason that Marina needed a romance to give her impetus to get herself home. She spent a lot of the novel grieving and in despair over being separated from her guardians, who she now knows have come to rescue her - why can't her desperation to get back to THEM be what she needs to inspire her?
Plus - as with other novels in this series - the super evil antagonist is defeated with hardly any input from our heroine, especially not the satisfying defeat I really wanted. I wanted Marina to confront Arachne about what she did and have a victory, but nope, never happened.
At the end of the day, I don't think I'll bother re-reading this one.
caileenay's review against another edition
4.0
Enchanting... At times I wanted to hug her her or sit and eat dinner with her Uncles and Aunt... I also wanted to (frequently)slap that dreadful cousin of hers.
mjfines's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
annabellee's review against another edition
4.0
A new spin on "sleeping beauty," a young woman is locked away from her treacherous dark-magic wielding aunt until her parents are killed and she is called 'home.' the Aunt's plotting is uncovered and measures are taken, but not before the girl is tricked into a slumber from which she may never awaken.
weremallard's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
evannhannon's review
3.0
idk not for me i guess. i know certain people really like mercedes lackey and i can understand that but not for me. it was insanely slow. not much happened. even to the end i thought something exciting might happen. it was set up to be more than it ended up being, if that makes sense. there was so much magic introduced and never mentioned again. good not great. would read more lackey if i happen upon it.
kurenai's review
3.0
This is my second Elemental book that I finished (I tried reading the one beforehand and got bored and put it down). I'm not impressed thus far with any of these books. I think I'm done trying. They're light, fluffy, boring, and the ending left me generally unsatisfied. I'm going to have to pass on this whole series.
strikingthirteen's review
2.0
Not a big fan of this one, lots of propriety and less magic. We stayed quite close to the original and maybe that was another reason for my lack of interest. I found a lot of it a bit silly but it had its moments.