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A review by shaysshelf
Rising Sun by Donna Grant
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.5
overall 3.5 stars Yasmin & Ravi
ARC: 4 stars
This was a great read for the first book in a fantasy series. I honestly haven't read a lot of fantasy involving elves, so it was fun to learn more about these magical creatures. This story lead Yasmin & Ravi on an exhilarating quest. Yasmin, a human who seriously hates elves, is forced to lead Ravi, an elf not super fond of humans, to a top secret place of debauchery - a place she barely escaped with her life. They're on a mission to break in, retrieve a weapon that is intended to be used against the elves and get out alive without being caught.
It's an exciting adventure with some interesting world building. The character development is solid. It was heartwarming to see Yasmin open up to Ravi and Ravi fall for her once he begins to understand her more. Yasmin is a very strong FMC. She has been through some incredibly horrific things, but still opened her heart to take in and care for abandoned and abused human children, kept her word on the mission regardless of having several opportunities to attempt an escape and faced her trauma head on like an absolute bad@ss.
ALC: 3 stars
In fantasy books where the POV is regularly shifting, I think it's important to either have multiple narrators or distinctive voices for even internal dialogue between the various characters.
I'll be honest in saying Shane East isn't my favourite narrator. He didn't deliver a bad performance by any means, however I do feel like there was room for improvement or this book would have been better off if narrated by a female or a voice actor with more dynamic tone. Personally, I really don't like Shane East's version of a female voice and that's the main reason I'm not a fan of his narration. I feel as though I would enjoy it more if he did works in duet narration. As the only narrator, there were times were times where I couldn't tell whether he was narrating from the FMC or the MMCs POV, as even the internal dialogue was delivered with the same tone.
Thank you to NetGalley, Donna Grant and Tantor Audio for the ALC & ARC.
ARC: 4 stars
This was a great read for the first book in a fantasy series. I honestly haven't read a lot of fantasy involving elves, so it was fun to learn more about these magical creatures. This story lead Yasmin & Ravi on an exhilarating quest. Yasmin, a human who seriously hates elves, is forced to lead Ravi, an elf not super fond of humans, to a top secret place of debauchery - a place she barely escaped with her life. They're on a mission to break in, retrieve a weapon that is intended to be used against the elves and get out alive without being caught.
It's an exciting adventure with some interesting world building. The character development is solid. It was heartwarming to see Yasmin open up to Ravi and Ravi fall for her once he begins to understand her more. Yasmin is a very strong FMC. She has been through some incredibly horrific things, but still opened her heart to take in and care for abandoned and abused human children, kept her word on the mission regardless of having several opportunities to attempt an escape and faced her trauma head on like an absolute bad@ss.
ALC: 3 stars
In fantasy books where the POV is regularly shifting, I think it's important to either have multiple narrators or distinctive voices for even internal dialogue between the various characters.
I'll be honest in saying Shane East isn't my favourite narrator. He didn't deliver a bad performance by any means, however I do feel like there was room for improvement or this book would have been better off if narrated by a female or a voice actor with more dynamic tone. Personally, I really don't like Shane East's version of a female voice and that's the main reason I'm not a fan of his narration. I feel as though I would enjoy it more if he did works in duet narration. As the only narrator, there were times were times where I couldn't tell whether he was narrating from the FMC or the MMCs POV, as even the internal dialogue was delivered with the same tone.
Thank you to NetGalley, Donna Grant and Tantor Audio for the ALC & ARC.