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A review by courtney_saba
The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones
4.0
I loved The Bone Houses so much, so of course I was going to read ELJ's next book.
I so wish this was another 5 star read. However, emotional ties and a character-driven story were sadly missing. The plot was brilliant: love heists, love morally gray characters/antiheroes, love the fae, love everything about this story. That was why I'm extremely disappointed in the lack of emotion involved here throughout all her characters. I don't need a full-blown romance or sex or angst, but I do need more in my characters: more emotion, more quiet moments, something to make me feel for them and champion them throughout their journey. I expected that in ELJ's fantasy since her books are so fantastic. Maybe since her characters were always going non-stop, there wasn't any time for emotionally driven scenes, but her characters here fell a bit flat, even beautiful Fane and all his sorrow. He had some great one-liners here!
"Finished staring?"
"I could stare longer, if that pleases you."
Ugh, this was SO GOOD, said with such sincerity and seriousness and no charming smirk found anywhere here, thank the heavens. So much potential here for ELJ's characters! I understand she wanted a more plot-driven type of story, and maybe heartfelt moments aren't needed in this type of story, but she MISSED OUT on the glorious opportunities with her glorious characters. They were there for her to play with and she missed it.
I so wish this was another 5 star read. However, emotional ties and a character-driven story were sadly missing. The plot was brilliant: love heists, love morally gray characters/antiheroes, love the fae, love everything about this story. That was why I'm extremely disappointed in the lack of emotion involved here throughout all her characters. I don't need a full-blown romance or sex or angst, but I do need more in my characters: more emotion, more quiet moments, something to make me feel for them and champion them throughout their journey. I expected that in ELJ's fantasy since her books are so fantastic. Maybe since her characters were always going non-stop, there wasn't any time for emotionally driven scenes, but her characters here fell a bit flat, even beautiful Fane and all his sorrow. He had some great one-liners here!
"Finished staring?"
"I could stare longer, if that pleases you."
Ugh, this was SO GOOD, said with such sincerity and seriousness and no charming smirk found anywhere here, thank the heavens. So much potential here for ELJ's characters! I understand she wanted a more plot-driven type of story, and maybe heartfelt moments aren't needed in this type of story, but she MISSED OUT on the glorious opportunities with her glorious characters. They were there for her to play with and she missed it.