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A review by wlreed312
The Waking Land by Callie Bates
3.0
Elanna Valtai is taken as a political prisoner when she is five years old and held at the court of a corrupt king. 14 years later, the king is murdered, Elanna is accused of the crime and must flee the city, reuniting with supporters of her father's who want to use magic that has been banned to end the existing line of rulers and allow people to use magic freely once more.
3.5 stars, I think. (Although the cover gets all the stars just look at how glorious it is). This was fairly run of the mill for me. I enjoyed it enough while I was reading it, but nothing about it was new or groundbreaking or even stood out to me in any way. A story like that can often be saved by compelling characters, but none of the characters except Jahan were really interesting to me. I notice other people have commented on Elanna's, shall we say, waffling between loyalties. This seems to be a point of contention for some readers, but I thought it was actually an interesting look at how Stockholm Syndrome can manifest. The magic system seemed to draw quite a bit from Celtic mythology, which is cool. I thought the ending was strong, and I'll probably pick up book two, but I'm not in a hurry. I wouldn't recommend this one if you aren't a fan of epic fantasy.
3.5 stars, I think. (Although the cover gets all the stars just look at how glorious it is). This was fairly run of the mill for me. I enjoyed it enough while I was reading it, but nothing about it was new or groundbreaking or even stood out to me in any way. A story like that can often be saved by compelling characters, but none of the characters except Jahan were really interesting to me. I notice other people have commented on Elanna's, shall we say, waffling between loyalties. This seems to be a point of contention for some readers, but I thought it was actually an interesting look at how Stockholm Syndrome can manifest. The magic system seemed to draw quite a bit from Celtic mythology, which is cool. I thought the ending was strong, and I'll probably pick up book two, but I'm not in a hurry. I wouldn't recommend this one if you aren't a fan of epic fantasy.