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A review by joonswifey
Broken Flames by M.K. Ahearn
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.5
i requested an arc of this with so much excitement because i am a zutara shipper til i die, and i was soooo looking forward to it. however…this was a miss.
the characters are 23, but read like they’re 17. this book honestly should be a YA - based on reading level and dialogue alone, let alone characterization - and the few instances of “adult” behavior felt forced. i love good spice, but this book did not need it. at all. it was so out of place it straight up disgusted me. felt like i was reading about children.
the characterizations made no sense to me. i could not tell what their character traits were supposed to be at any point. the prince was kind of a loser - without the redemption arc aspect of zuko’s character, there is nothing endearing about bellamy. without kataras immense intelligence, there is nothing interesting about korraine.
the writing left so much to be desired. i skimmed past large portions by the end and missed nothing. if the book was going to use tropes, they needed to double down on them, not be half assed about it. there needs to be a lot more showing and less telling. and by the grace of god, cut the spice. it adds absolutely nothing & there’s not enough sexual tension or chemistry between the characters to even want that kind of payoff. just a fade to black would be better, honestly.
lastly, the antagonists all felt very cartoonish. they were boring in their cruelty. reasoning and logic is lacking in a lot of plot points - maybe this is cliche but korraine SHOULD have been a princess! give the story some weight! i really was just genuinely bored for most of the story, which made it worse.
i think once positive is that it truly is a slow burn. i don’t think there was any genuine action til around 65% in, which is honestly impressive. but whether that’s a negative or a positive depends on what kind of reader you are. maybe i’d read the sequel just to see what happens next but i would not try very hard to get it.
i feel so bad because i really was looking forward to reading this. but perhaps i will stick to zutara fanfiction. huge thank you to the author for allowing me to read an arc of this, and i am genuinely appreciative of the privilege.
the characters are 23, but read like they’re 17. this book honestly should be a YA - based on reading level and dialogue alone, let alone characterization - and the few instances of “adult” behavior felt forced. i love good spice, but this book did not need it. at all. it was so out of place it straight up disgusted me. felt like i was reading about children.
the characterizations made no sense to me. i could not tell what their character traits were supposed to be at any point. the prince was kind of a loser - without the redemption arc aspect of zuko’s character, there is nothing endearing about bellamy. without kataras immense intelligence, there is nothing interesting about korraine.
the writing left so much to be desired. i skimmed past large portions by the end and missed nothing. if the book was going to use tropes, they needed to double down on them, not be half assed about it. there needs to be a lot more showing and less telling. and by the grace of god, cut the spice. it adds absolutely nothing & there’s not enough sexual tension or chemistry between the characters to even want that kind of payoff. just a fade to black would be better, honestly.
lastly, the antagonists all felt very cartoonish. they were boring in their cruelty. reasoning and logic is lacking in a lot of plot points - maybe this is cliche but korraine SHOULD have been a princess! give the story some weight! i really was just genuinely bored for most of the story, which made it worse.
i think once positive is that it truly is a slow burn. i don’t think there was any genuine action til around 65% in, which is honestly impressive. but whether that’s a negative or a positive depends on what kind of reader you are. maybe i’d read the sequel just to see what happens next but i would not try very hard to get it.
i feel so bad because i really was looking forward to reading this. but perhaps i will stick to zutara fanfiction. huge thank you to the author for allowing me to read an arc of this, and i am genuinely appreciative of the privilege.