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A review by lauraschroniclife
Celestial Academy: Essence by Olivia Pharos
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
Thank you to Netgalley and Seventh Wonder Press for the ARC kindle edition. All opinions are my own.
Celestial Academy Essence is a fantasy story where Angels and Demons seem to run the earth and humans. Wen is an owned human - meaning she's a slave to a demon. She is struggling out in the Afterworld, as it's called, and finds herself dealing drugs. Well, one specific drug that only she can make and it's a hot commodity. Things seem to be going fine until she meets Godric. And that's where I DNF'ed.
I really wanted to like this book. And I think the story has good potential. I feel like it needs to go back to editing though. This felt like reading a rough draft. It's very choppy and the prose doesn't flow well. I had to reread many parts because I kept tripping up on the writing. I made it about 20 percent and it was a struggle.
I do appreciate the world building effort, but again it was super easy to get lost with all the information coming at you in a very disjointed manner.
There also should be a balance of snark and banter but our main character Wen is nothing but snark and not in a clever way either. It wasn't enjoyable and I love witty banter usually.
In the end I just couldn't finish the book and was frustrated about it because I think the story has real potential.
Celestial Academy Essence is a fantasy story where Angels and Demons seem to run the earth and humans. Wen is an owned human - meaning she's a slave to a demon. She is struggling out in the Afterworld, as it's called, and finds herself dealing drugs. Well, one specific drug that only she can make and it's a hot commodity. Things seem to be going fine until she meets Godric. And that's where I DNF'ed.
I really wanted to like this book. And I think the story has good potential. I feel like it needs to go back to editing though. This felt like reading a rough draft. It's very choppy and the prose doesn't flow well. I had to reread many parts because I kept tripping up on the writing. I made it about 20 percent and it was a struggle.
I do appreciate the world building effort, but again it was super easy to get lost with all the information coming at you in a very disjointed manner.
There also should be a balance of snark and banter but our main character Wen is nothing but snark and not in a clever way either. It wasn't enjoyable and I love witty banter usually.
In the end I just couldn't finish the book and was frustrated about it because I think the story has real potential.