A review by khisle
The Alcazar by Amy Ewing

2.0

I gave this duology a chance but I had major issues with the writing that kept me from ever getting into it. For one, these books are so long and have a lot of issues with pacing that means for way too many page nothing happens. I think this fantasy world also suffered from having too many ideas and then to fit everything in the characters and focus were diminished. In the beginning there wasn't enough plot to really be plot driven so it wandered around for half the book before introducing the main events. But the characters are so one dimensional that it isn't a character driven book either. They fall into stereotypes of fantasy characters and to me are unremarkable other than that/ you have the loyal best friend, underestimated smart girl, privileged boy finally experiencing the world, and clueless chosen one. They're rotating POVs were confusing and too often too me out of the story going so quickly form one to the other. The main plot lines ended up being too scattered and again too much like troupes I've read before. Neither world stood out to me and the end was highly predictable. I also felt the queer representation was poorly done. Another very specific pet peeve was the main character's Moana tendency way overdone, saying "I am Cerulean. My blood is magic and you won't take it from me" over and over and OVER again. Definitely not the fantasy duology for me. This mix of fantasy/sci-fi about finding your home just fell flat for me.