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A review by eefera
Updraft by Fran Wilde
3.0
OVERALL:
- Interesting concept that needed more explanation and depth. I was intrigued by many of the worldbuilding elements, I just wish more attention had been paid to them.
- Characters were mostly lackluster, and I found it hard to connect with them.
- Plotline was laborious until the last 100-150 pages and the first 100 pages were painfully slow. The last section picked up in pace and excitement a bit, although I don’t know how much of my interest was created by the relief that things were finally moving at a faster pace.
CONCEPT:
- I think the concept has a lot of potential. Interesting environment with the bone towers and society structure. Definitely the presence of a upper vs. lower class uprising trope.
- The concept was interesting but not well explained, it was left vague and I would’ve liked to see a lot more richness to the world. It felt more like a skeleton (no pun intended) than a truly fleshed out world. Almost as if it were unfinished.
- I was intrigued by the idea of the skymouth monsters. Very interesting and terrifying concept, and again, I don’t believe that the sense of urgency was created around them in the beginning of the book. They were written less terrifying in the beginning and then later we were expected to be terrified by them.
- The world is exceptionally organic which I appreciated.
- I would consider this book a concept driven novel, and I wish it would have been explored more.
PLOTLINE:
- The first 100 pages are laboriously slow. I almost stopped reading it several times but decided to give it another 100 pages to make sure. I started getting more drawn in around page 210 although there were a few good moments before then.
- The plot itself is not complex and follows a “chosen one” trope mixed with the lower-class uprising trope. I’m not against these tropes when they are done well, I just didn’t feel like this one met the standard.
- The events of the story didn’t start becoming more dynamic until about 150 pages from the end.
CHARACTERS:
- As a character driven novel obsessed reader, this book really missed the mark for me here. The characters felt exceptionally lackluster through well over half of the book, and the relationships felt contrived and awkward.
- Sellis gave me whiplash with her back and forth behavior toward Kirit (MC) and it seemed like her character was there just to cause drama. The one brief mention of Sellis’ relationship with Rumul was completely unnecessary and seemed to just be thrown in for added effect.
- The relationship between Kirit and her mother Ezarit was very strange in the beginning and their conversations bordered on cringeworthy at several points.
- The relationship between Kirit and her childhood friend Nat was a disappointment to me as well, since the author spent most of the time telling us how close they were while the actions of the two characters seemed anything but.
- I will say that I appreciated the fact that romance was not a core element of this book. I had several expectations based on common tropes and neither one of them came to fruition, which I found to be a relief, especially since I didn’t connect enough with the characters to want them to be in a relationship.
- Kirit (MC) herself was painfully robotic most of the time. She was a headstrong, chosen one archetype, but being headstrong alone isn’t enough to create a deep character. It seemed as if she existed solely to do all the things that none of the other characters were willing to.
- Interesting concept that needed more explanation and depth. I was intrigued by many of the worldbuilding elements, I just wish more attention had been paid to them.
- Characters were mostly lackluster, and I found it hard to connect with them.
- Plotline was laborious until the last 100-150 pages and the first 100 pages were painfully slow. The last section picked up in pace and excitement a bit, although I don’t know how much of my interest was created by the relief that things were finally moving at a faster pace.
CONCEPT:
- I think the concept has a lot of potential. Interesting environment with the bone towers and society structure. Definitely the presence of a upper vs. lower class uprising trope.
- The concept was interesting but not well explained, it was left vague and I would’ve liked to see a lot more richness to the world. It felt more like a skeleton (no pun intended) than a truly fleshed out world. Almost as if it were unfinished.
- I was intrigued by the idea of the skymouth monsters. Very interesting and terrifying concept, and again, I don’t believe that the sense of urgency was created around them in the beginning of the book. They were written less terrifying in the beginning and then later we were expected to be terrified by them.
- The world is exceptionally organic which I appreciated.
- I would consider this book a concept driven novel, and I wish it would have been explored more.
PLOTLINE:
- The first 100 pages are laboriously slow. I almost stopped reading it several times but decided to give it another 100 pages to make sure. I started getting more drawn in around page 210 although there were a few good moments before then.
- The plot itself is not complex and follows a “chosen one” trope mixed with the lower-class uprising trope. I’m not against these tropes when they are done well, I just didn’t feel like this one met the standard.
- The events of the story didn’t start becoming more dynamic until about 150 pages from the end.
CHARACTERS:
- As a character driven novel obsessed reader, this book really missed the mark for me here. The characters felt exceptionally lackluster through well over half of the book, and the relationships felt contrived and awkward.
- Sellis gave me whiplash with her back and forth behavior toward Kirit (MC) and it seemed like her character was there just to cause drama. The one brief mention of Sellis’ relationship with Rumul was completely unnecessary and seemed to just be thrown in for added effect.
- The relationship between Kirit and her mother Ezarit was very strange in the beginning and their conversations bordered on cringeworthy at several points.
- The relationship between Kirit and her childhood friend Nat was a disappointment to me as well, since the author spent most of the time telling us how close they were while the actions of the two characters seemed anything but.
- I will say that I appreciated the fact that romance was not a core element of this book. I had several expectations based on common tropes and neither one of them came to fruition, which I found to be a relief, especially since I didn’t connect enough with the characters to want them to be in a relationship.
- Kirit (MC) herself was painfully robotic most of the time. She was a headstrong, chosen one archetype, but being headstrong alone isn’t enough to create a deep character. It seemed as if she existed solely to do all the things that none of the other characters were willing to.