A review by openmypages
The Beholden by Cassandra Rose Clarke

3.0

A young debutante makes a deal with a god to help her find a worthy husband, in the process she, her sister (a scholar) and their guide (a pirate) are made beholden to this goddess. Years later, the goddess calls in that favor and the three find themselves on an epic quest to capture an evil force bent on the destruction of the world as they know it. Their journey takes them through dangerous jungles, hidden cities and an epic cold desert. It also places them at odds with the emperor. Danger abounds and each of the three react quite differently.

This one took me a long time to get through, two weeks where I had to really press myself to keep going. I'm not sure quite what it was, there is interesting magic, an epic quest, the walking dead, hidden cities and arguing Gods. I think maybe it was the lack of attachment to the characters? No real character development? The writing was overly descriptive which was immersive but it meant there were long stretches without much action. I think had this been a 300 page book with an editor that tightened it up significantly, it would have scored much better for me. 

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this novel. All opinions above are my own.