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jenerally_sassy 's review for:
Mortal Follies
by Alexis Hall
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
So. I will claim that a fairly good-sized chunk of Mortal Follies not really landing with me is probably (in part!) due to me going into this book expecting a romance. Not a fantasy with a romance subplot, not a romantasy with the main love interests getting together in between battles to save the kingdom; I was expecting a capital-R ROMANCE; and that's on me for not checking the tags for the genres more closely. There is a romance subplot, for sure, but the overall focus was more on the fantasy/mythology of the setting and (at least in the first half of the book) the solving of the mystery of who is cursing Maelys. That being said, I will add a little warning that if you are wanting more romance than fantasy, or even a romantasy where it's more heavily skewed to the love interests than the fantastical elements, then this slow slow slow burn with...not quite closed door? but definitely more alluding to any intimate acts than naming the acts themselves or even naming the parts involved, if that's not your cup of tea when it comes to your romance reads, then Mortal Follies is probably not for you.
The mystery of who is behind the goddess cursing Maelys is solved a little over halfway through the book, and so the main plot point that kicks off all of the action of the book and most of the interactions between the characters, that plot doesn't even carry through the entirety of the novel. The later curse that the goddess herself directly places on Georgiana (through making her watch Maelys suffer a slow death) felt incredibly random, and like the author remembered that there needed to be a conflict closer to the climax and the falling action of the book.
The narration being done by Robin had its benefits to the story for sure, but having Robin detachedly observe the plot playing out unfortunately detaches the reader fro it at times as well, and I found this to be the case the majority of the times that Georgiana was on page. I didn't care about Georgiana, and there was nothing compelling me to invest in her as the love-interest for Maelys.
This is a romance book that would have GREATLY benefitted from having alternating chapter POVs from each of the love interests, even if Robin was still narrating for both Maelys and Georgiana. But, since the readers don't get to see all that much of Georgiana or her inner reservations or motivations, then she just reads as a very flat character. While you for sure want your side characters to be just as complex and fleshed-out as your main characters, you don't want your side characters to outshine your main characters, which is exactly what Miss Bickle did to Georgiana; I couldn't care less about what happened to the Duke of Annadale at any point in this book but oh yes how I'm hoping we'll get more of Lysistrata in the background of John's book!
Also, the whole "you have to convince me to be with you and you have to wear down my reservations or tell me to get over my fears" microtrope was toxic and manipulative and cringe-y way back when I first encountered it when reading the Twilight saga when I was in middle school, and it is not at all a microtrope that ages well. Stop. With. This. Icky. Powerplay. Dynamic! I'm instantly turned off of books that feature a love interest like this, and that is the opposite of what you want for your romance book.
I will probably read Confounding Oaths, if for nothing more than to see John get his own HEA, but mostly to see if my disconnect to this one was due to the unusual narrator or if it is the style of writing that is just not for me.
The mystery of who is behind the goddess cursing Maelys is solved a little over halfway through the book, and so the main plot point that kicks off all of the action of the book and most of the interactions between the characters, that plot doesn't even carry through the entirety of the novel. The later curse that the goddess herself directly places on Georgiana (through making her watch Maelys suffer a slow death) felt incredibly random, and like the author remembered that there needed to be a conflict closer to the climax and the falling action of the book.
The narration being done by Robin had its benefits to the story for sure, but having Robin detachedly observe the plot playing out unfortunately detaches the reader fro it at times as well, and I found this to be the case the majority of the times that Georgiana was on page. I didn't care about Georgiana, and there was nothing compelling me to invest in her as the love-interest for Maelys.
This is a romance book that would have GREATLY benefitted from having alternating chapter POVs from each of the love interests, even if Robin was still narrating for both Maelys and Georgiana. But, since the readers don't get to see all that much of Georgiana or her inner reservations or motivations, then she just reads as a very flat character. While you for sure want your side characters to be just as complex and fleshed-out as your main characters, you don't want your side characters to outshine your main characters, which is exactly what Miss Bickle did to Georgiana; I couldn't care less about what happened to the Duke of Annadale at any point in this book but oh yes how I'm hoping we'll get more of Lysistrata in the background of John's book!
Also, the whole "you have to convince me to be with you and you have to wear down my reservations or tell me to get over my fears" microtrope was toxic and manipulative and cringe-y way back when I first encountered it when reading the Twilight saga when I was in middle school, and it is not at all a microtrope that ages well. Stop. With. This. Icky. Powerplay. Dynamic! I'm instantly turned off of books that feature a love interest like this, and that is the opposite of what you want for your romance book.
I will probably read Confounding Oaths, if for nothing more than to see John get his own HEA, but mostly to see if my disconnect to this one was due to the unusual narrator or if it is the style of writing that is just not for me.