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A review by infinitysbookshelf
Odriel's Heirs by Hayley Reese Chow
4.0
Odriel’s Heirs is the type of book that absorbs the tropes that have permeated fantasy literature, but is completely it’s own thing. I really enjoyed how the world was set up and the characters within it. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and this does not affect my rating in any way.
Set in a world where a evil necromancer has been vanquished, the Heirs who vanquished him have been banished from the kingdom and their god-given powers are called witchcraft. Now with the return of the undead army, The Dragon Heir, Kaia, rushed to join the battle with everything to lose, supported by her childhood rival.
I really love elemental powers and this is what brought me to the book. The cover really highlighted the powers, with her hands on fire and the shadow coming off the male character. The powers in this book were really interesting and I liked the portrayal of the costs of magic. I also really enjoyed the battle scenes throughout the book.
The characters were not as great, but I really enjoyed the realtionship between the two main characters. The side characters were also interesting, but the majority were a little underutilized. The wizard characters were very interesting, as centuries-old people tend to be. The only character that I wish was reworked was the brother character, because he continued to be pretty horrible throughout the book.
The plot was what really lost me. It was absolutely breakneck. In the first 25% so many things happened that I almost lost track. It also the type of events that seem only vaguely connected, like they have no idea what to do next half the time. I think this would have done better if it was longer and had enough time to fully realize the scope of the plot. This also impeded the romance, as there were only a few examples of banter, before they were all the sudden in love.
The ending was really great and tried everything up nicely with just enough intrigue for the sequel. There was one scene that really tugged at my heatstrings, (relating to Gus, you’ll know it if you read it) and the final pages just make me love the couple even more. I am actually very interested in the sequel, as in completely desperate, so overall this was a very positive reading experience.
4 stars
Set in a world where a evil necromancer has been vanquished, the Heirs who vanquished him have been banished from the kingdom and their god-given powers are called witchcraft. Now with the return of the undead army, The Dragon Heir, Kaia, rushed to join the battle with everything to lose, supported by her childhood rival.
I really love elemental powers and this is what brought me to the book. The cover really highlighted the powers, with her hands on fire and the shadow coming off the male character. The powers in this book were really interesting and I liked the portrayal of the costs of magic. I also really enjoyed the battle scenes throughout the book.
The characters were not as great, but I really enjoyed the realtionship between the two main characters. The side characters were also interesting, but the majority were a little underutilized. The wizard characters were very interesting, as centuries-old people tend to be. The only character that I wish was reworked was the brother character, because he continued to be pretty horrible throughout the book.
The plot was what really lost me. It was absolutely breakneck. In the first 25% so many things happened that I almost lost track. It also the type of events that seem only vaguely connected, like they have no idea what to do next half the time. I think this would have done better if it was longer and had enough time to fully realize the scope of the plot. This also impeded the romance, as there were only a few examples of banter, before they were all the sudden in love.
The ending was really great and tried everything up nicely with just enough intrigue for the sequel. There was one scene that really tugged at my heatstrings, (relating to Gus, you’ll know it if you read it) and the final pages just make me love the couple even more. I am actually very interested in the sequel, as in completely desperate, so overall this was a very positive reading experience.
4 stars