A review by helynalc
A Bitter Drink by Azalea Forrest

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I enjoyed this book a lot! I loved Rowan as our protagonist - this hedonist leaf-man is not a character one would expect to follow through an epic fantasy adventure. But then again, even the adventure was irregular: most of the time we are in Bisia, capital city of the country and only hear about the happenings in other lands. That's not to say it's hard to imagine those happenings, though, and there are clear stakes here and danger. Rowan screws up quite early in the book...or, let's say, he's just being himself, and have to deal with the consequences of his inaction...and figure out whether he even cares about those consequences. A group of newly-found friends (and a romantic love interest) luckily helps him in that. I really liked Clover, Tani, and Dagan, and I wished we could know even more about them! I liked that there was a member of each species who tried to stop the evil plans endangering them, which were quite evil indeed. Pretty dark stuff.

The ending was satisfying but left room for imagination about Rowan's future journey. His character development is certainly the focal point of the story.

I also liked Gwendolyn and the whole inspiring and healing with song from Clover! Damn, I love dwarves x)