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A review by leann_bolesch
Dividing Eden by Joelle Charbonneau
3.0
The start was soooooooo slow for me. Props to the author for actually making the nobility act proper and conniving, but too much formality in everything the characters do really made all the setup for the conflict drag.
Once the trials actually began and especially once there was legitimate competition between the twins, I started to get into the book. A lot. If the whole thing read at the pace of the second half, I'd give it an extra star, and I have my fingers crossed for the second book--even if there is worrisome setup for an unbalanced love triangle. (Although not having known that this would be a series at the start, I'm sore about their being more than one book. I never like realizing 3/4 of the way through a book that the story won't fit into one installment.)
Really, once I got into it, it was great. The character motivations were believable, and it was fun to watch everyone conspiring behind one another with multiple factions all playing their own games with wild cards in the mix.
Aside from the early pacing, my only criticism would be the speed with which one of the twins gets power hungry. It takes only a chapter of paranoia to undo years of loyalty, and even if their is foreshadowing about where the two stand with one another, it felt like everything fell apart too fast. I love to see characters spiral downward into monsters, but it's more satisfying when it happens over time.
Once the trials actually began and especially once there was legitimate competition between the twins, I started to get into the book. A lot. If the whole thing read at the pace of the second half, I'd give it an extra star, and I have my fingers crossed for the second book--even if there is worrisome setup for an unbalanced love triangle. (Although not having known that this would be a series at the start, I'm sore about their being more than one book. I never like realizing 3/4 of the way through a book that the story won't fit into one installment.)
Really, once I got into it, it was great. The character motivations were believable, and it was fun to watch everyone conspiring behind one another with multiple factions all playing their own games with wild cards in the mix.
Aside from the early pacing, my only criticism would be the speed with which one of the twins gets power hungry. It takes only a chapter of paranoia to undo years of loyalty, and even if their is foreshadowing about where the two stand with one another, it felt like everything fell apart too fast. I love to see characters spiral downward into monsters, but it's more satisfying when it happens over time.