hollyblack56 's review for:

Iron & Embers by Helen Scheuerer

DID NOT FINISH: 5%

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DNFed 5% in, mainly because the writing style wasn't to my liking and I was way too confused by the story. Haven't read the previous 4 books set in that realm, of what I can only assume is the actual war we are seeing 5 years after. Some characters seem already fully fleshed out and grossly described, from those books surely. Our MMC and FMC are not that compelling imo. Chapters in the beginning are way too short. they are like 5 pages long between them, interceded with flash backs. So a difficult scene to set. I would have preferred something more action packed to start with and then the author can take us through the world and call backs to previous characters or events. Instead we have a rather weak beginning with obvious insta-love (they acknowledged it 4yrs prior to the story beginning) and a "no we shouldn't but I love you" dynamic with the guise of a mystery to create that forced proximity. 
Its also very simply written. Not in a good, accessible kind of way, more so in a "I could have written that" kind of way.