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A review by laine37
Blood Faerie by India Drummond
2.0
DNF - about 70%.
*relatively spoiler free*
I stopped reading because I grew bored, and that may be quite a remarkable statement since recently the average page count of the novels I've read to completion is 600 pages. Though, the experience certainly wasn't terrible and the most decisive factor in my stopping felt like distraction rather than disapproval.
--- The Bad ---
The book's biggest problem was that it was rather meandering and by extension the plot feels ineffectively structured.
Furthermore, I felt the romance was somewhat weak and the attitudes of each character did not feel natural. Especially so in that each fae character was not supposed to have met the protagonist in over 100 years(iirc?), yet it felt like they had been separated for months instead.
The world building also felt a bit silly, concerning the present magic systems and how different factions react to them.
Some of the characters were a bit thinner than what they ought to have been.
The romance felt weird, being that the deuteragonist thinks his love interest looks like a child and it's weird that his feelings may or may have not been invoked via magic. It also felt a little childish at times.
--- The Middling ---
The prose is fine. It's above what the average person would type out, though I think writers should be held to higher standards. One of the things which dragged it down in my opinion was the apparent tendency of the author to mix segments of dialogue with lengthy descriptions of actions/thoughts.
2 examples are listed below.
She nodded. “As darkness falls, I will be able to see much better than you. Take my hand.” She offered her long, pale fingers, but he hesitated before accepting. When the skin of his palm engulfed hers, heat washed into her, racing up her arm. A wave of concern passed over her. Was he ill? She didn’t worry about contracting a disease from him. The fae did not succumb to human ailments, but she searched his eyes. He did seem slightly red in the face, but she had no time to worry for him. She could not be found here once darkness fell. “Come, I will guide you to the city.”
“All right then, pet. I’ll tell the doctor,” she said. In a quieter voice, as though speaking to someone on the other side of the room, she added, “‘Twisted,’ he said. His fever isn’t coming down.” She tutted, and Munro felt the curtained cubicle empty.
With that being said, my experience as is quite limited, so perhaps I'm jumping the gun on this criticism. I did, however, find that this segmentation made the reading experience slightly less comfortable.
--- The Good ---
There wasn't anything astoundingly good within these pages. The characters were consistent enough. The plot was largely fine, some world building issues aside. The magic systems were generally okay in and of themselves.
Probably the best thing about this book though was the fact that there wasn't anything terribly bad about it either.
--- Would I recommend ? ---
Yes. But only to people whom have an interest in both romance and fantasy, particularly romance. And only if they don't mind a slow plot with mild contrivances.
*relatively spoiler free*
I stopped reading because I grew bored, and that may be quite a remarkable statement since recently the average page count of the novels I've read to completion is 600 pages. Though, the experience certainly wasn't terrible and the most decisive factor in my stopping felt like distraction rather than disapproval.
--- The Bad ---
The book's biggest problem was that it was rather meandering and by extension the plot feels ineffectively structured.
Furthermore, I felt the romance was somewhat weak and the attitudes of each character did not feel natural. Especially so in that each fae character was not supposed to have met the protagonist in over 100 years(iirc?), yet it felt like they had been separated for months instead.
The world building also felt a bit silly, concerning the present magic systems and how different factions react to them.
Some of the characters were a bit thinner than what they ought to have been.
The romance felt weird, being that the deuteragonist thinks his love interest looks like a child and it's weird that his feelings may or may have not been invoked via magic. It also felt a little childish at times.
--- The Middling ---
The prose is fine. It's above what the average person would type out, though I think writers should be held to higher standards. One of the things which dragged it down in my opinion was the apparent tendency of the author to mix segments of dialogue with lengthy descriptions of actions/thoughts.
2 examples are listed below.
She nodded. “As darkness falls, I will be able to see much better than you. Take my hand.” She offered her long, pale fingers, but he hesitated before accepting. When the skin of his palm engulfed hers, heat washed into her, racing up her arm. A wave of concern passed over her. Was he ill? She didn’t worry about contracting a disease from him. The fae did not succumb to human ailments, but she searched his eyes. He did seem slightly red in the face, but she had no time to worry for him. She could not be found here once darkness fell. “Come, I will guide you to the city.”
“All right then, pet. I’ll tell the doctor,” she said. In a quieter voice, as though speaking to someone on the other side of the room, she added, “‘Twisted,’ he said. His fever isn’t coming down.” She tutted, and Munro felt the curtained cubicle empty.
With that being said, my experience as is quite limited, so perhaps I'm jumping the gun on this criticism. I did, however, find that this segmentation made the reading experience slightly less comfortable.
--- The Good ---
There wasn't anything astoundingly good within these pages. The characters were consistent enough. The plot was largely fine, some world building issues aside. The magic systems were generally okay in and of themselves.
Probably the best thing about this book though was the fact that there wasn't anything terribly bad about it either.
--- Would I recommend ? ---
Yes. But only to people whom have an interest in both romance and fantasy, particularly romance. And only if they don't mind a slow plot with mild contrivances.