samantha_ellen 's review for:

Vesselless by Cortney L. Winn

3.5

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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OK… This book has me conflicted & I went back and forth on whether I should DNF or push through. 

My initial reaction was THIS IS SO GOOD! The writing was super easy to gobble up, the fantasy romance plot line was familiar but unique enough for me to be hooked. 

Then… there started to be some world building issues that inevitably kept pulling me out of the story. There were 3 kingdoms, 1 that is no longer around (the 4th) which had technology, so now this kingdom had access to elevators & cars & guns. But no one knows to how to fix or maintain that technology now the 4th kingdom was gone. They were still using swords and daggers and magic, but would sometimes drive. It was odd…It was explained to some degree but it was so jarring I never felt like I completely understood the world. 

BUT I decided to keep going. 

The romance was slow burn & I loved the unique MMC who was basically a ghost!  

THEN… the modern language hit… & I mean words like, Slay, Shadow daddy, they even had a rave party?  I decided to DNF. 

But I actually couldn’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to know how it ended. 

So I went back at the 40% mark & finihsed the book.

There was still a lot of the components mentioned above through out the rest of the book, but overall I had a good time. 

I think the stakes & violence in the duels were almost too high each time the FMC battled, because she would literally be a hairsbreath from dying at least 5 times then she would get up the following paragraph & be fine. It ended up making me feel like the stakes were never really there? 

Another thing I will mention is I do not believe the CW’s the author has in the front of the book is adequate. DV is mentioned. But it is extreme on page DV by a parent with alcohol abuse. So pleased if this is a concern for you please beware of that. There was a lot that was hard to read. 

Lastly there is a scene where the FMC is almost SA—then her & the mmc have their first kiss. It’s one of my most hated types of scenes tbh.  But it kinda made sense with how it was written? I don’t know I feel weird 

So overall where do I land? 

I think this author has real promise. Her writing was easy to read & addictive. I liked the concept of the story. I think she needs a good developmental editor to help iron out the areas that don’t make sense, then a good line+copy edit to smooth it out. 

I will definitely give this author another chance in the future, but if you are going to read this book, go in knowing its just a good time!