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mesal 's review for:
The Lord of Stariel
by A.J. Lancaster
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
For the record, this is a good three stars.
The Lord of Stariel showed up in my recommendations here on The StoryGraph when I was in desperate need of a lighthearted read which required zero intellect to comprehend—and this adult fantasy delivered exactly what I was looking for. I prefer to read for pleasure, and when reading starts looking more like a chore (re: university reading list), it's books like these that put me back on track and remind me of how enjoyable reading really is.
That isn't to say this novel didn't have its flaws. As a matter of fact, it had several: the characters were rather one-dimensional in nature, and their personality traits were established as fact within a sentence or two without the reader really getting a chance to discover them on their own; certain major plot points were rather obvious, leaving me aware of how the story would end when I was only halfway through it, which is terrible when a book is classified as a mystery; the writing lacked style. It is that last point which lowered my rating the most: it was too straightforward at times (telling rather than showing) and too formal at others. It left me confused, because the writing style should either reflect the time period the story is set in or purposefully be more modern throughout, but the "throughout" here is what was missing. The narrator—Hetta's inner monologue—was mostly modern, but the dialogue would flit between modern and formal, the latter reminiscent of the average Victorian-era novel; there was little consistency.
Worldbuilding, backstory, and lightheartedness were the three main characteristics of The Lord of Stariel which captured my attention and left me at the end of it feeling satisfied: this was, after all, one hundred percent the kind of book I was looking to read. I am aware that there's an audience for everything, and there's certainly a wide one for this book, too, if only it were more widely known. Explicit adult content is minimal, restricted mostly to vague references towards what women like to occupy themselves with during their downtime, but there's just enough to make me hesitate to recommend this book to younger readers (despite the rest of the content being fit for their liking). Perhaps I should put it like this: if you're looking for an easy-to-read fantasy to while away the time, and do not place much emphasis on writing style or an author's voice, then this book might just be right up your alley.
As a matter of fact, I've started its sequel already.
The Lord of Stariel showed up in my recommendations here on The StoryGraph when I was in desperate need of a lighthearted read which required zero intellect to comprehend—and this adult fantasy delivered exactly what I was looking for. I prefer to read for pleasure, and when reading starts looking more like a chore (re: university reading list), it's books like these that put me back on track and remind me of how enjoyable reading really is.
That isn't to say this novel didn't have its flaws. As a matter of fact, it had several: the characters were rather one-dimensional in nature, and their personality traits were established as fact within a sentence or two without the reader really getting a chance to discover them on their own; certain major plot points were rather obvious, leaving me aware of how the story would end when I was only halfway through it, which is terrible when a book is classified as a mystery; the writing lacked style. It is that last point which lowered my rating the most: it was too straightforward at times (telling rather than showing) and too formal at others. It left me confused, because the writing style should either reflect the time period the story is set in or purposefully be more modern throughout, but the "throughout" here is what was missing. The narrator—Hetta's inner monologue—was mostly modern, but the dialogue would flit between modern and formal, the latter reminiscent of the average Victorian-era novel; there was little consistency.
Worldbuilding, backstory, and lightheartedness were the three main characteristics of The Lord of Stariel which captured my attention and left me at the end of it feeling satisfied: this was, after all, one hundred percent the kind of book I was looking to read. I am aware that there's an audience for everything, and there's certainly a wide one for this book, too, if only it were more widely known. Explicit adult content is minimal, restricted mostly to vague references towards what women like to occupy themselves with during their downtime, but there's just enough to make me hesitate to recommend this book to younger readers (despite the rest of the content being fit for their liking). Perhaps I should put it like this: if you're looking for an easy-to-read fantasy to while away the time, and do not place much emphasis on writing style or an author's voice, then this book might just be right up your alley.
As a matter of fact, I've started its sequel already.