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A review by bea__reads
Natural Outlaws and Fractured Sovereignty by S.M. Pearce
3.0
ARC review
The description for this book was so exciting to read: a heist, found family, a QPR, queer characters, new adult, and some fantasy elements!!
All of this was spot on. The plot was centered around a small, desperate crew who need to pull off a heist in a royal court. The opening chapters were intense and hooked me in right away.
I was so happy to see such a diverse cast of characters and the inclusion of a POV character using he/they pronouns was really nice to see.
Also, the Viper was a great side character and I would love to read an entire book about her! I felt like she was the most three dimensional character and I was really rooting for her.
But I didn't love this book the way I had hoped to.
The writing style was often telling instead of showing and the pacing was inconsistent. Some scenes felt disconnected from each other. This made the plot and the characters feel underdeveloped. Some scenes that seemed really important as part of the experience of this story and its characters were only a couple sentences in passing. Important details were often explained only as they became relevant and this made it hard to be fully immersed in the world.
I didn't connect with the main characters for most of the book. I struggled to relate to Blythe. She made a lot of really questionable choices that I couldn't make sense of, especially in the second half of the book. Kalen started to grow on me towards the end, but by then I think it was just too late. I liked the on page discussion of their QPR, but it took so long to get there and I felt like their relationship was developed behind the scenes.
✨Overall, this was an enjoyable read with a diverse cast of queer characters. I look forward to seeing what this author writes next! I'd love to read more in this universe some day!
The description for this book was so exciting to read: a heist, found family, a QPR, queer characters, new adult, and some fantasy elements!!
All of this was spot on. The plot was centered around a small, desperate crew who need to pull off a heist in a royal court. The opening chapters were intense and hooked me in right away.
I was so happy to see such a diverse cast of characters and the inclusion of a POV character using he/they pronouns was really nice to see.
Also, the Viper was a great side character and I would love to read an entire book about her! I felt like she was the most three dimensional character and I was really rooting for her.
But I didn't love this book the way I had hoped to.
The writing style was often telling instead of showing and the pacing was inconsistent. Some scenes felt disconnected from each other. This made the plot and the characters feel underdeveloped. Some scenes that seemed really important as part of the experience of this story and its characters were only a couple sentences in passing. Important details were often explained only as they became relevant and this made it hard to be fully immersed in the world.
I didn't connect with the main characters for most of the book. I struggled to relate to Blythe. She made a lot of really questionable choices that I couldn't make sense of, especially in the second half of the book. Kalen started to grow on me towards the end, but by then I think it was just too late. I liked the on page discussion of their QPR, but it took so long to get there and I felt like their relationship was developed behind the scenes.
✨Overall, this was an enjoyable read with a diverse cast of queer characters. I look forward to seeing what this author writes next! I'd love to read more in this universe some day!