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A review by katieg
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I didn't like this book. I will say that the premise was intriguing a fantasy historical romance has opportunity for a lot of interesting developments and I love to see two powerful characters of color at the center. I think a lot of people will enjoy this book, there are certainly aspects of the plot that are fun and entertaining, and I've heard others say that they found the book very funny, even if I did it.
My main critique of the book is that it doesn't really seem to know what genre it is existing in. I would say the plot mostly follows fantasy conventions, there is nothing of a typical romance plot or typical historical romance tropes. I'm primarily a fantasy reader, but I went into this expecting more of a romance, which was tremendously underdeveloped. The characters worked well enough as friends, but they never had any chemistry (also a note that the book remains very PG) there's nothing wrong with the romance being a side-plot, but that was not how it was marketed to me. I also felt that the plot was not well balanced. It felt very choppy in that conflicts would arise, and be solved only for a new conflict to arise. It never felt like there was a steady progression towards any type of conflict, although that may be due to the fact that I was able to predict a majority of the plot points, so the story lacked tension. The red herrings in this were not well placed. In the book's genre confusion, I felt that the tone was inconsistent. At times it felt purposefully campy in its absurdity and aware of it, other times it was completely sincere even in its most outlandish moments, and then there were moments of genuine heartfulness, especially when Zacharias was remembering his childhood. I wasn't sure while I was reading if I was supposed to be taking the book seriously or not, because the book didn't seem to know either.
The heroine in the book was also inconsistent. I really liked her in the first half, her strength in her motivations was great but it was nice to see moments of insecurity too. She felt like an entirely different character for the later half of the book, and I think that was due to the fewer number of chapters in her POV. Her character grew to be too bombastic in a way that was inconsistent with the tone and the rest of the characters, none of her 'emotional' moments landed in the third act because they either weren't from her POV or they were brushed aside too quickly. She started out with depth but lost it, which made her arrogance feel unearned despite the amount of power she held by the end. In comparison I loved Zacharias, he had complex relationships and feelings with his mentor and mother figure which I enjoyed. I enjoy reading level-headed characters like him, but also appreciated his moments of feeling. He's what kept me reading this.
Overall this book just didn't land for me. It struggled while juggling so many plot points, and I won't be reading the sequel.
My main critique of the book is that it doesn't really seem to know what genre it is existing in. I would say the plot mostly follows fantasy conventions, there is nothing of a typical romance plot or typical historical romance tropes. I'm primarily a fantasy reader, but I went into this expecting more of a romance, which was tremendously underdeveloped. The characters worked well enough as friends, but they never had any chemistry (also a note that the book remains very PG) there's nothing wrong with the romance being a side-plot, but that was not how it was marketed to me. I also felt that the plot was not well balanced. It felt very choppy in that conflicts would arise, and be solved only for a new conflict to arise. It never felt like there was a steady progression towards any type of conflict, although that may be due to the fact that I was able to predict a majority of the plot points, so the story lacked tension. The red herrings in this were not well placed. In the book's genre confusion, I felt that the tone was inconsistent. At times it felt purposefully campy in its absurdity and aware of it, other times it was completely sincere even in its most outlandish moments, and then there were moments of genuine heartfulness, especially when Zacharias was remembering his childhood. I wasn't sure while I was reading if I was supposed to be taking the book seriously or not, because the book didn't seem to know either.
The heroine in the book was also inconsistent. I really liked her in the first half, her strength in her motivations was great but it was nice to see moments of insecurity too. She felt like an entirely different character for the later half of the book, and I think that was due to the fewer number of chapters in her POV. Her character grew to be too bombastic in a way that was inconsistent with the tone and the rest of the characters, none of her 'emotional' moments landed in the third act because they either weren't from her POV or they were brushed aside too quickly. She started out with depth but lost it, which made her arrogance feel unearned despite the amount of power she held by the end. In comparison I loved Zacharias, he had complex relationships and feelings with his mentor and mother figure which I enjoyed. I enjoy reading level-headed characters like him, but also appreciated his moments of feeling. He's what kept me reading this.
Overall this book just didn't land for me. It struggled while juggling so many plot points, and I won't be reading the sequel.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Misogyny