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arielthebookgargoyle 's review for:
The Bridge Kingdom
by Danielle L. Jensen
adventurous
funny
reflective
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:
Yes
If I could sum "The Bridge Kingdom" up in a few words: cutthroat, betrayal, tense, but also full of heart.
It captured me with the first chapter. Lara, the main character, is such a conundrum. Conflicted, trained from youth to be vicious, but her heart knows better. Right off, she showed she was willing to do whatever to save those she loves, no matter how wrong it is. I liked her the moment I realized this.
The story? Lara and her sisters have been raised to bring down their father's enemies. Isolated, and given the best of the best tutors in spy craft. It's time, and Lara's chance to prove herself in infiltrating Ithicana, The Bridge Kingdom, as she is married off to their auspicious king, Aren. She's dead set on her mission until Aren starts "complicating things" by being honorable and kind. Causing her to question everything. Men... right?
Lara's journey is initially very introspective. She is alone amongst denizens of a kingdom who hates and questions her father's motivations. She is very reluctant to get close to anyone, but to get the information she thinks she needs, she has to. It becomes harder and harder to see the people around her as her enemies. Her feelings, fight with others, and then within her own soul, was written very well. It slowly develops, giving time to get to know Lara, Aren, and those around them. Each character is made distinct and has a different perspective to challenge Lara's world view. Nana was one of my favorites, Aren's grandmother. She is a cranky, paranoid old women. The antics Lara goes to trying to outmaneuver her, were quite entertaining. Loved the story had that strict grandmotherly figure, and that everyone knew not to cross her.
The story opens up and picks up pace as Lara does, which made her journey very logical in my eyes, even though I didn't necessarily agree with her actions... those, no complaint, kept her very true to how she was from the start. She is consistent but does learn and adapt as the story progresses. So, I'd say overall it is a very character driven story. Action not pushing too much until the last third of the story. More when control of the narrative is pulled from Lara's hands.
There were a lot of elements I was happy to see. From the locations, the bridge, the islands, hideouts, a volcano; the animals, sharks, a fat cat... even the snakes. They upped the stakes and helped make the details of the story.
Other than a short lull when Lara was scouting for information and being given very little taking longer than I liked, I flew through the story and am eager to find out how Aren's sister, Ahnna, dishes her wrath out to Lara for the ending events. Which, I was very satisfied with.
It captured me with the first chapter. Lara, the main character, is such a conundrum. Conflicted, trained from youth to be vicious, but her heart knows better. Right off, she showed she was willing to do whatever to save those she loves, no matter how wrong it is. I liked her the moment I realized this.
The story? Lara and her sisters have been raised to bring down their father's enemies. Isolated, and given the best of the best tutors in spy craft. It's time, and Lara's chance to prove herself in infiltrating Ithicana, The Bridge Kingdom, as she is married off to their auspicious king, Aren. She's dead set on her mission until Aren starts "complicating things" by being honorable and kind. Causing her to question everything. Men... right?
Lara's journey is initially very introspective. She is alone amongst denizens of a kingdom who hates and questions her father's motivations. She is very reluctant to get close to anyone, but to get the information she thinks she needs, she has to. It becomes harder and harder to see the people around her as her enemies. Her feelings, fight with others, and then within her own soul, was written very well. It slowly develops, giving time to get to know Lara, Aren, and those around them. Each character is made distinct and has a different perspective to challenge Lara's world view. Nana was one of my favorites, Aren's grandmother. She is a cranky, paranoid old women. The antics Lara goes to trying to outmaneuver her, were quite entertaining. Loved the story had that strict grandmotherly figure, and that everyone knew not to cross her.
The story opens up and picks up pace as Lara does, which made her journey very logical in my eyes, even though I didn't necessarily agree with her actions... those, no complaint, kept her very true to how she was from the start. She is consistent but does learn and adapt as the story progresses. So, I'd say overall it is a very character driven story. Action not pushing too much until the last third of the story. More when control of the narrative is pulled from Lara's hands.
There were a lot of elements I was happy to see. From the locations, the bridge, the islands, hideouts, a volcano; the animals, sharks, a fat cat... even the snakes. They upped the stakes and helped make the details of the story.
Other than a short lull when Lara was scouting for information and being given very little taking longer than I liked, I flew through the story and am eager to find out how Aren's sister, Ahnna, dishes her wrath out to Lara for the ending events. Which, I was very satisfied with.