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A review by aksmith92
The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen
adventurous
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I've been in the fantasy mood, and I always love an exciting romance thrown into the story once in a while, so I thought I would try The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen. The concept was quite intriguing: a young woman grew up with half-sisters, all training to see who could be the wife and queen of a neighboring city. That way, their region could plot to take over this horrible place. Lara is 20 and spent 15 years of her life training for this moment, and she's more than willing to do anything for her people. Throw in the King of Ithicana, Aren, and you have yourself a bit of a pickle, though (he's just so cute!!!!!!!!). Anyway, the tale follows Lara learning about Ithicana and their king and the idea that maybe the information she grew up with wasn't the most...accurate...
I enjoyed the first 40% of this book and started cringing. I don't know why - for some reason, I simply couldn't get on board or feel Aren and Lara's love story. They basically spent 98% of the time in this novel merely fighting together or just looking at each other, and the other 2% was maybe them getting to know each other ("What's your favorite color?!?!?!"). It felt more lust than love to me, which perhaps wasn't bad. Still, it seemed like there were two plots running parallel with each other: the actual plot of the novel with political warfare and literal carnage in many of the realm's cities and then this kind of young adult-like love story. I don't mind those concepts in fantasy, but they didn't intersect smoothly. Maybe this changed slightly at the end and felt more believable, but I still struggled with it throughout most of the novel.
My stars go to the action in this book. In the end, though, I had to rate this 2.5/5 stars simply because it was pretty predictable, oozed with miscommunication, and included a love story that I didn't find that believable.
I enjoyed the first 40% of this book and started cringing. I don't know why - for some reason, I simply couldn't get on board or feel Aren and Lara's love story. They basically spent 98% of the time in this novel merely fighting together or just looking at each other, and the other 2% was maybe them getting to know each other ("What's your favorite color?!?!?!"). It felt more lust than love to me, which perhaps wasn't bad. Still, it seemed like there were two plots running parallel with each other: the actual plot of the novel with political warfare and literal carnage in many of the realm's cities and then this kind of young adult-like love story. I don't mind those concepts in fantasy, but they didn't intersect smoothly. Maybe this changed slightly at the end and felt more believable, but I still struggled with it throughout most of the novel.
My stars go to the action in this book. In the end, though, I had to rate this 2.5/5 stars simply because it was pretty predictable, oozed with miscommunication, and included a love story that I didn't find that believable.