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A review by theladygonzalez
The Curse of Gremdon by Ciara Knight
4.0
The Curse of Gremdon was a well crafted fantasy rich with adventure and excitement. I loved the idea of Arianna being the only girl in a boys club. She is the only female warrior left in her rank and it has worked extremely hard to prove her worth. Arianna has been through a great deal during her life and she has faced every obstacle head on. When the book begins she is partaking in a fight with Tardon in hopes of becoming an elite warrior.
Tardon himself is an Elite warrior and he plays a large part in the story. You see, Tardon and Arianna fall in love, but they are forbidden from being together. It is against the law for Arianna (a female warrior) to have sex - which is something that I really didn’t understand. The reason given in the book is that it is believed it would mess with her ability to fight or something. The man warriors are encouraged to give into their desires; the Elder’s even send them “gifts” when they succeed in a battle. I understand that the double standard was necessary for the plot to move forward, but I wish it would have been explained a bit better.
Anyways, long story short, when the two are discovered a death sentence is hefted onto them. The only way they can redeem themselves (and earn the right to be together) is to set out on a dangerous quest for the Elder’s.
For me, this is when things started to fall apart a bit. About halfway through the book the plot began to drag. I especially had a difficult time getting through the scenes featuring Saldor. Saldor is the Dungeon Master (I don’t really know if that is the proper tile) and sort of takes Arianna under his wing. He develops a very strange attachment to her; much to Tardon’s (and my) dismay. I could never really understand what Saldor wanted and he just really rubbed me the wrong way. He is one of those characters that tries to do what’s best, but ends up making a huge mess of everything instead. And he does this repeatedly. I believe Knight intended readers to be sympathetic towards his character, but unfortunately I disliked him more and more as the book progressed.
Although the plot was slow at times, I did enjoy the overall story. And Let’s talk about the plot twists of all plot twists. About three quarters of the way through something happens that throws everything in Tardon and Arianna’s world on its head. It’s insane and I absolutely loved it.
I honestly enjoyed The Curse of Gremdon. It was heavier on the romance portion than I expected, but that didn’t really bother me. The underlying story was still well developed and the fantasy aspects well crafted, so everything balanced out rather nicely. Often with romance stories I find that the plot suffers, but that certainly wasn’t the case with The Curse of Gremdon.
Tardon himself is an Elite warrior and he plays a large part in the story. You see, Tardon and Arianna fall in love, but they are forbidden from being together. It is against the law for Arianna (a female warrior) to have sex - which is something that I really didn’t understand. The reason given in the book is that it is believed it would mess with her ability to fight or something. The man warriors are encouraged to give into their desires; the Elder’s even send them “gifts” when they succeed in a battle. I understand that the double standard was necessary for the plot to move forward, but I wish it would have been explained a bit better.
Anyways, long story short, when the two are discovered a death sentence is hefted onto them. The only way they can redeem themselves (and earn the right to be together) is to set out on a dangerous quest for the Elder’s.
For me, this is when things started to fall apart a bit. About halfway through the book the plot began to drag. I especially had a difficult time getting through the scenes featuring Saldor. Saldor is the Dungeon Master (I don’t really know if that is the proper tile) and sort of takes Arianna under his wing. He develops a very strange attachment to her; much to Tardon’s (and my) dismay. I could never really understand what Saldor wanted and he just really rubbed me the wrong way. He is one of those characters that tries to do what’s best, but ends up making a huge mess of everything instead. And he does this repeatedly. I believe Knight intended readers to be sympathetic towards his character, but unfortunately I disliked him more and more as the book progressed.
Although the plot was slow at times, I did enjoy the overall story. And Let’s talk about the plot twists of all plot twists. About three quarters of the way through something happens that throws everything in Tardon and Arianna’s world on its head. It’s insane and I absolutely loved it.
I honestly enjoyed The Curse of Gremdon. It was heavier on the romance portion than I expected, but that didn’t really bother me. The underlying story was still well developed and the fantasy aspects well crafted, so everything balanced out rather nicely. Often with romance stories I find that the plot suffers, but that certainly wasn’t the case with The Curse of Gremdon.