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A review by fromthelibraryofsoph
Exquisite Ruin by AdriAnne May
3.0
First of all, many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book.
The premise of this book really showed excellent potential — a mysterious labyrinth, trials, with a daemon and human witch trapped inside. I loved the Minotaur myth retelling concept, but ultimately it lost me somewhere along the way.
The writing felt clunky and the plot was slow and repetitive. Admittedly it picked up at around the 60% mark but it was too much of “too little too late”, by which point the only character I really cared about was the animal companion, Pogli. The ending didn’t do much for me either.
The world-building and magic system was great, I loved the way the labyrinth shifted and changed along the way to confuse and challenge the main characters.
Unfortunately too much of this book was a slog for me.
The premise of this book really showed excellent potential — a mysterious labyrinth, trials, with a daemon and human witch trapped inside. I loved the Minotaur myth retelling concept, but ultimately it lost me somewhere along the way.
The writing felt clunky and the plot was slow and repetitive. Admittedly it picked up at around the 60% mark but it was too much of “too little too late”, by which point the only character I really cared about was the animal companion, Pogli. The ending didn’t do much for me either.
The world-building and magic system was great, I loved the way the labyrinth shifted and changed along the way to confuse and challenge the main characters.
Unfortunately too much of this book was a slog for me.