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holleakk 's review for:
Cursebound
by Saara El-Arifi
i do not know why i read this as i did not love the first one. the exposition is crazily and unnecessarily overdone, the characters are inconsistent and petulant, the politics and wars between the various tribes and kingdoms seem childish and are not taken seriously by yeeran and lettle. this whole book felt rushed in terms of plot and prose, and probably was considering that the author had two books released this year, with this one due for publication in february 2025. sometimes it's worth it to slow down and write something better! i used to love el-arifi's writing but the quality (of the plot, characters, pacing, worldbuilding, dialogue, prose, etc.) has significantly decreased. it was also SO predictable! i knew who alder was by the second time we met him. i'm not really sure what the important elements of this book were, as there were multiple subplots that didn't really go anywhere or add anything of value. and there were SO many lines in this book that just went on and on without commas or semicolons that were desperately needed -- it felt like fanfiction. i wanted to enjoy this, i really did, but everything just fell completely flat.
gorgeous cover, though.
[thank you to netgalley for the copy of this book! all opinions are my own.]
gorgeous cover, though.
[thank you to netgalley for the copy of this book! all opinions are my own.]