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nemerith 's review for:
The Cursed Crown
by Alexi Blake, May Sage
I'm sad, the blurb was awesome, the cover art was awesome and other books from the author were awesome... so what went wrong here? It had all the elements but just felt very rushed. I'm a sad panda :(
Worldbuilding:
The world is amazing and has great potential to create many more beautiful stories.
I did, however, experience a bit of an information dump and didn't really get a feel for what it meant living in this world or being part of this or that court.
Character development:
The characters were awesome! Rissa, Ryedekar, Khal and all the others were absolutely great... I just didn't connect to them... at all :(
It was when I was about 1/3 into the book that I started wondering what was wrong. I read about the characters, I got some info here and there but I missed the feeling, the empathy I normally feel towards characters I read about.
Pacing and flow:
A lot is going on and while there is a good balance between all the action and conversations, it felt very rushed. I missed a good flow throughout the story, well, not that's not true, it was there, but as things were happening so fast after each other, you just didn't get the time to come to terms with what just came to pass. I often compare this part with an ocean on a normal day, the waves (some bigger than others) hitting the beach (or rocks) and retreating. This felt like the ocean during a hurricane.
The book:
The book itself was well written with no (noticeable) errors. There is sex described (if that is important to you).
The book is 226 pages long, spread over 36 chapters, told from Rissa's and Rydekar's point of view.
Final thoughts:
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book and all I can say is the book showed great potential. I mean, it really had everything it needed but felt very rushed. I would have loved for the book to slow down and let certain events/feelings marinate a bit before moving on. It was going too fast for me to build up a connection with the characters and this actually made me super sad, because you can just feel what could have been :(
Worldbuilding:
The world is amazing and has great potential to create many more beautiful stories.
I did, however, experience a bit of an information dump and didn't really get a feel for what it meant living in this world or being part of this or that court.
Character development:
The characters were awesome! Rissa, Ryedekar, Khal and all the others were absolutely great... I just didn't connect to them... at all :(
It was when I was about 1/3 into the book that I started wondering what was wrong. I read about the characters, I got some info here and there but I missed the feeling, the empathy I normally feel towards characters I read about.
Pacing and flow:
A lot is going on and while there is a good balance between all the action and conversations, it felt very rushed. I missed a good flow throughout the story, well, not that's not true, it was there, but as things were happening so fast after each other, you just didn't get the time to come to terms with what just came to pass. I often compare this part with an ocean on a normal day, the waves (some bigger than others) hitting the beach (or rocks) and retreating. This felt like the ocean during a hurricane.
The book:
The book itself was well written with no (noticeable) errors. There is sex described (if that is important to you).
The book is 226 pages long, spread over 36 chapters, told from Rissa's and Rydekar's point of view.
Final thoughts:
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book and all I can say is the book showed great potential. I mean, it really had everything it needed but felt very rushed. I would have loved for the book to slow down and let certain events/feelings marinate a bit before moving on. It was going too fast for me to build up a connection with the characters and this actually made me super sad, because you can just feel what could have been :(