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A review by merrikat
The Waking Land by Callie Bates
2.0
I thought there was a lot of potential that was not fully explored. The power to "wake the land", to see through forest creatures' eyes, to feel rivers flowing through your veins, I really wish that this kind of magic would have been dug into even more in the course of the story.
My main concern was the characters. Elanna, the protagonist, constantly grinded my gears. I often found her to very unsreasonable und unlikeable. Relationships to other characters, most of them with very little background of their own, felt somehow superficial and shallow. I just couldn't get emotionally involved enough to be really affected by their fates.
I think these factors were most prominent in the first part of the book, as they were so central in Elanna figuring out her loyalties and position in the war between her two home countries. As a reader, one cannot relate.
I enjoyed the later chapters, once Elanna has more of a direction and feels a purpose, a lot more; and I am a little bit curious about the following novels after all.
My main concern was the characters. Elanna, the protagonist, constantly grinded my gears. I often found her to very unsreasonable und unlikeable. Relationships to other characters, most of them with very little background of their own, felt somehow superficial and shallow. I just couldn't get emotionally involved enough to be really affected by their fates.
I think these factors were most prominent in the first part of the book, as they were so central in Elanna figuring out her loyalties and position in the war between her two home countries. As a reader, one cannot relate.
I enjoyed the later chapters, once Elanna has more of a direction and feels a purpose, a lot more; and I am a little bit curious about the following novels after all.