Scan barcode
A review by tashasbooks
This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson
adventurous
medium-paced
2.25
This Dark Descent is pitched as Peaky Blinders meets The Scorpio Races but it really missed the mark for me.
Mikira Rusel is from a family of breeding enchanted horses and helps her family's ranch after their fall from grace. They are threatened increasingly by Kelbra house, which they owe their debts to. Mikira is backed into a corner in order to protect her father and farm, and enters into the dangerous Illinir, a horse race with enchanted horses but she isn't allowed to race with an enchanted horse. Mikira has to work with Damien Adair, another lesser house lord. She meets Arielle through Damien, a black market enchanter, who is to help Mikira win the race. All have their hidden reasons for working together.
We follow two different POVs throughout this book, Mikira and Arielle. Damien and Reid, a servant of Damien, are also two main characters we follow through the plot. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to really connect with them. We are told about the characters and their characteristics, like Mikira is different from others girls and comes off prickly, rather than being immersed in the story and seeing it through her actions. As a whole, I had a truly hard time connecting with them and didn't really care for them as a whole. This also translated into the romance. I do think the romance aspects were well written and there was LGBTQ+ representation, but due to my lack of connection with the characters I just couldn't connect with the romance well.
The plot takes off so quickly, like within the first three chapters so much has happened and sets it up for the rest of the book, but then the middle slogs so so much until you get to the last 20%. Essentially huge changes happen in the character's lives before we really meet them so it lacks any emotional connection. The world-building was there, but it was lacking. It talks about a huge war and all these different regions but there was no map for me to follow along. It has a large ancestry chart of the royals which truly was not needed as we only meet the King and his two children, but maybe for the sequels? I will say the Kinnish people are based on Jewish people, with their religion, anti-seminitism, and history, and this was very fleshed out and in depth. Another question I had was why horses? Why did they use enchantments on animals and why was that the most used function of it when they could also use it for pretty much everything else in their life such as household items and inanimate objects?
For a book that is pitched about horses and centers around them so much, I was really hoping the author would apply an extensive knowledge of breeding, riding, and temperament of horses. Instead it felt it was written the same as when any horses are included in fantasy. When discussing breeding, it's relatively only in regards to the magic. I might have just been giving myself higher expectations, but I was hoping that a lot more of the scenes with horses would include more depth of knowledge of the animal. Additionally, this is comped with Peaky Blinders and I was really looking forward to that side of the story. And yes there is violence, betrayal, and gangs, but the actual writing leans extremely younger YA and each character does not seem mature enough in those settings. It was just a weird combination of the setting and writing that did not jive with me.
The last 20% did actually hook me a bit more. The plot finally came together in a way, whereas before there were SO many different plot lines that we had to follow. There is betrayal and some things I didn't see coming and it leaves on a cliffhanger that definitely wants you to pick up the next book.
However, this book just didn't really work for me, but I do think I am in the minority. I do plan to read other books by this author, but I will not be continuing this series.
Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group/Roaring Book Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Mikira Rusel is from a family of breeding enchanted horses and helps her family's ranch after their fall from grace. They are threatened increasingly by Kelbra house, which they owe their debts to. Mikira is backed into a corner in order to protect her father and farm, and enters into the dangerous Illinir, a horse race with enchanted horses but she isn't allowed to race with an enchanted horse. Mikira has to work with Damien Adair, another lesser house lord. She meets Arielle through Damien, a black market enchanter, who is to help Mikira win the race. All have their hidden reasons for working together.
We follow two different POVs throughout this book, Mikira and Arielle. Damien and Reid, a servant of Damien, are also two main characters we follow through the plot. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to really connect with them. We are told about the characters and their characteristics, like Mikira is different from others girls and comes off prickly, rather than being immersed in the story and seeing it through her actions. As a whole, I had a truly hard time connecting with them and didn't really care for them as a whole. This also translated into the romance. I do think the romance aspects were well written and there was LGBTQ+ representation, but due to my lack of connection with the characters I just couldn't connect with the romance well.
The plot takes off so quickly, like within the first three chapters so much has happened and sets it up for the rest of the book, but then the middle slogs so so much until you get to the last 20%. Essentially huge changes happen in the character's lives before we really meet them so it lacks any emotional connection. The world-building was there, but it was lacking. It talks about a huge war and all these different regions but there was no map for me to follow along. It has a large ancestry chart of the royals which truly was not needed as we only meet the King and his two children, but maybe for the sequels? I will say the Kinnish people are based on Jewish people, with their religion, anti-seminitism, and history, and this was very fleshed out and in depth. Another question I had was why horses? Why did they use enchantments on animals and why was that the most used function of it when they could also use it for pretty much everything else in their life such as household items and inanimate objects?
For a book that is pitched about horses and centers around them so much, I was really hoping the author would apply an extensive knowledge of breeding, riding, and temperament of horses. Instead it felt it was written the same as when any horses are included in fantasy. When discussing breeding, it's relatively only in regards to the magic. I might have just been giving myself higher expectations, but I was hoping that a lot more of the scenes with horses would include more depth of knowledge of the animal. Additionally, this is comped with Peaky Blinders and I was really looking forward to that side of the story. And yes there is violence, betrayal, and gangs, but the actual writing leans extremely younger YA and each character does not seem mature enough in those settings. It was just a weird combination of the setting and writing that did not jive with me.
The last 20% did actually hook me a bit more. The plot finally came together in a way, whereas before there were SO many different plot lines that we had to follow. There is betrayal and some things I didn't see coming and it leaves on a cliffhanger that definitely wants you to pick up the next book.
However, this book just didn't really work for me, but I do think I am in the minority. I do plan to read other books by this author, but I will not be continuing this series.
Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group/Roaring Book Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!