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novelshire 's review for:
Snowblooded
by Emma Sterner-Radley
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Vinterstock, in 18th century Scandinavia, is a grim place to live. Wars keep draining the population, the drugs trade (a semi- magical range called 'ness) is rife and the city's ruler has no qualms in keeping a whole order of assassins to remove anyone they find problematic.
Petrichor and Valour are the two bright young stars of the order, and are given the task of finding and eliminating Brandquist, the drugs overlord. It is obviously not going to be that simple.
Firstly, Petrichor and Valour hate each other, the majority of their interactions are just childish bickering.
Secondly, no one seems to know who this Brandquist is, and are they really the villain?
This means that the first half of the book is mix of the two of them wandering about trying to look for clues and bickering with each other. It drags. It's too long.
The second half, as they finally manage to work together more and occasionally manage to speak to each other without hurling insults, is much stronger. There's some decent twists and action and a hint of some more of the Norse mythology related magic/religion (underutilised in my opinion)
I'm not sure about the comparisons to The Princess Bride and Six of Crows - although there is a Rodent of Unusual Size, I didn't find it especially humorous nor the protagonists charismatic or cunning enough. Despite being in their twenties, they were too childish for too much of it and I think if that had been toned down and their supposed competence as assassins shown more clearly, I'd have liked this more.
Overall, not bad but not mind-blowing
Thanks to Rebellion for providing a netgalley copy for review
Petrichor and Valour are the two bright young stars of the order, and are given the task of finding and eliminating Brandquist, the drugs overlord. It is obviously not going to be that simple.
Firstly, Petrichor and Valour hate each other, the majority of their interactions are just childish bickering.
Secondly, no one seems to know who this Brandquist is, and are they really the villain?
This means that the first half of the book is mix of the two of them wandering about trying to look for clues and bickering with each other. It drags. It's too long.
The second half, as they finally manage to work together more and occasionally manage to speak to each other without hurling insults, is much stronger. There's some decent twists and action and a hint of some more of the Norse mythology related magic/religion (underutilised in my opinion)
I'm not sure about the comparisons to The Princess Bride and Six of Crows - although there is a Rodent of Unusual Size, I didn't find it especially humorous nor the protagonists charismatic or cunning enough. Despite being in their twenties, they were too childish for too much of it and I think if that had been toned down and their supposed competence as assassins shown more clearly, I'd have liked this more.
Overall, not bad but not mind-blowing
Thanks to Rebellion for providing a netgalley copy for review