A review by woodsybookworm
Birth of a Dynasty by Chinaza Bado

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

There was almost too much and too little happening all at once in Birth of a Dynasty. Opening the story on a major conflict, I felt thrown into the chaos with no grasp on what was happening. The story and world building started to unravel as the novel went on but the pacing and unending dialogue had me in a tailspin. 

I think listening to this on audio helped because if I'd been reading this in another format I would probably have DNFed, but the audio kept me invested enough to finish the story. 

This is an epic fantasy with courtly drama, warring families, and political intrigue - no wonder it's marketed as being similar to Game of Thrones - but epic fantasy seems like an incredibly difficult genre to tackle and I felt like it wasn't investing enough for me to continue reading the series. For an entry into epic fantasy, I believe the author put a lot of effort into the story and it will most likely get better as the series progresses but I'm going to step away from reading further.