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A review by a_j_torres0
Mist & Whispers by C.M. Lucas
4.0
*NEW*
Ok, so since the sudden closing of Eight Little Pages, this author's small publishing company, the author has left social media entirely. I don't know if she will ever return to announce future books in this series. So if you do decide to give this book a try, please be aware that there is no knowing if this series will ever get finished.
****
This book is a Young Adult Fantasy novel book 1.
Book Cover: 5* - Can I say, this cover is beautiful. The illustration is amazing as the swirling light provides a bit of mysticism on the cover. I'm going to be honest, this book was a hardcore cover buy for me lol.
Summary/Tagline: 3.5* - The tagline I think is pretty straightforward in my opinion and something I've heard before. "To save a bookshop, first she must save a kingdom." See, nothing crazy, although I was curious how saving a bookshop and a kingdom coincide in this book lol. Now the summary itself is something I'm not sure about. Like I'm curious, but I could leave it as well. I mean it is a simple summary telling me that the main character has a place she loves, she is about to lose it, and in order to save it, she goes world hopping. It does sound like something I've heard before but that isn't always a bad thing, it's just the summary didn't grab me as well as the cover did.
Characters: 4* - Now the characters in this book are something. First is the main character, Anya. She is a spunky kid that loves to read books, sounds like someone I could be friends with lol, BUT, but, but, but, although she is spunky she has a lot of moments of backing off too easily or loses her temper and beats the crap out of someone after talking s***, and it normally depends on the character. Her ex-boyfriend Michael . . . Oh BOY! I couldn't stand this character. He was whiny, complaining, tried to make every situation about him, and always kept trying to make Anya feel bad about breaking up with him. I didn't want him dead but I did want him gone from the story, he was just pissing me off every time he opened his mouth and tried to start crap, not to mention he is so easily jealous when Anya talks to other male characters, GOD I hate Michael. There are 2 couple characters that journey with Anya, Stephanie and Tim. I thought these two are really sweet and kind characters, especially when they try to put up with Anya and Michael arguing lol. They really try their hardest not to yell at them to shut up lmao. There are 2 villain characters in this book but saying their names may be spoiler so I will just say this, their are an obvious evil, vile, heinous, and you can tell by their actions towards Anya and her friend Stephanie that they've probably raped women before regardless of age. They were also just plain out creepy. There are 2 characters that I wish I got more of because they were more interesting than the characters from the core group. A fairy Prince named Harrion and a dragon boy named Lorcan. They were kind, helpful, suggesting things to Anya instead of just telling her what to do as if she was an idiot, and just great guys and no, both were not love . . . ok one of them may be a potential love interest but the other was meant to be more like a brother to Anya, which was a great change for me. Not every. Single. Male character. Has to be a love interest. I actually liked these 2, but they weren't in most of the book sadly so I was stuck with Michael constantly trying to "Protect" Anya. There were a few other characters but they weren't as noteworthy as these characters. Just know I liked some and didn't care about others lol.
World Building: 3* - Ok so the world building wasn't fully lacking but it wasn't fully there either, more like it wasn't a focus I guess. Anya and her friends are from our world, nothing special, but in order to find these amazing, bookshop saving books, they had to follow a riddle that landed Anya and her friends in another world. Magic is a thing but can only be done by the royal family. Even Lorcan's appearance was because of the King's little sister, so curses can be done too but I still had a lot of questions about the magic system that just weren't answered for me. It was also neat learning about some of the Gods in this new world and why some buildings and rooms are shaped a certain way, that was really neat.
Story: 3.5* - All right I am just going to say this now, the story was WAY to fast paced for me. We go jumping from moment to moment to moment, most of which I was like wait weren't we just eating outside when did we get back at the tent to talk about the riddle or we went from talking to the King to already journeying outside camp. It was very jarring for me, as though things needed to be happening all the time without much of a slowdown, and when there is a slowdown it only lasted for a bout a page or so before something crazy happens that Anya needs to try and get her and her friends out of. Other than that as I've explained in the summary, the bookshop that Anya recently started working at and loves is about to close for good. A rival bookshop is exclusively selling books that is putting Anya's bookshop out of business. She has the idea from the bookshop owner that there may be more of those books that haven't been found and those books may save the bookshop. Instead they find a riddle that sends them teleporting to another world. I have a feeling each book will be Anya in other worlds looking for these books, and if I remember correctly, there are 6 books she needs to find, so probably 6 worlds to go through . . . Maybe, it depends on the riddle and the author lol. After arriving to the new world Anya discovers that she is the "Prophesied Chosen One" . . . Yup. She has a mark on her hand suddenly that proves it. Many people that "Support" the King find it an insult that a "Little Girl" would try and save them from the darkness that engulfs the world and so she needs to prove herself while looking for these special books to save the bookshop. So, shenanigans ensue lol.
Over All: 3.5 to 4* - So far, I'm not sure how to feel about this book. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I honestly keep going back and forth from 3.5 to 4 stars. I'll probably put it down as 4 but I am still back and forth with my own, personal score. Anya is a pretty good kid but she needs to find the spine to tell Michael to back off. I hope to get more of Lorcan and I look forward to seeing Stephanie and Tim again. I'm also pretty sure the villain that got away is one that Anya will need to face in the end, but if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. The next world Anya and her friends were dropped off at is one I wasn't expecting to be a world of its own. I would still read the next book in the series when it does come out. I would recommend this book for those who just got off reading Middle Grade books and are ready to get started on Young Adult books, this is a great first start, but know this, it gets really dark towards the end of the novel. There will be hanging heads and decapitated hands that make up a throne . . . It's gross. There's more but I will leave that up to you whether or not you want to read this.
Ok, so since the sudden closing of Eight Little Pages, this author's small publishing company, the author has left social media entirely. I don't know if she will ever return to announce future books in this series. So if you do decide to give this book a try, please be aware that there is no knowing if this series will ever get finished.
****
This book is a Young Adult Fantasy novel book 1.
Book Cover: 5* - Can I say, this cover is beautiful. The illustration is amazing as the swirling light provides a bit of mysticism on the cover. I'm going to be honest, this book was a hardcore cover buy for me lol.
Summary/Tagline: 3.5* - The tagline I think is pretty straightforward in my opinion and something I've heard before. "To save a bookshop, first she must save a kingdom." See, nothing crazy, although I was curious how saving a bookshop and a kingdom coincide in this book lol. Now the summary itself is something I'm not sure about. Like I'm curious, but I could leave it as well. I mean it is a simple summary telling me that the main character has a place she loves, she is about to lose it, and in order to save it, she goes world hopping. It does sound like something I've heard before but that isn't always a bad thing, it's just the summary didn't grab me as well as the cover did.
Characters: 4* - Now the characters in this book are something. First is the main character, Anya. She is a spunky kid that loves to read books, sounds like someone I could be friends with lol, BUT, but, but, but, although she is spunky she has a lot of moments of backing off too easily or loses her temper and beats the crap out of someone after talking s***, and it normally depends on the character. Her ex-boyfriend Michael . . . Oh BOY! I couldn't stand this character. He was whiny, complaining, tried to make every situation about him, and always kept trying to make Anya feel bad about breaking up with him. I didn't want him dead but I did want him gone from the story, he was just pissing me off every time he opened his mouth and tried to start crap, not to mention he is so easily jealous when Anya talks to other male characters, GOD I hate Michael. There are 2 couple characters that journey with Anya, Stephanie and Tim. I thought these two are really sweet and kind characters, especially when they try to put up with Anya and Michael arguing lol. They really try their hardest not to yell at them to shut up lmao. There are 2 villain characters in this book but saying their names may be spoiler so I will just say this, their are an obvious evil, vile, heinous, and you can tell by their actions towards Anya and her friend Stephanie that they've probably raped women before regardless of age. They were also just plain out creepy. There are 2 characters that I wish I got more of because they were more interesting than the characters from the core group. A fairy Prince named Harrion and a dragon boy named Lorcan. They were kind, helpful, suggesting things to Anya instead of just telling her what to do as if she was an idiot, and just great guys and no, both were not love . . . ok one of them may be a potential love interest but the other was meant to be more like a brother to Anya, which was a great change for me. Not every. Single. Male character. Has to be a love interest. I actually liked these 2, but they weren't in most of the book sadly so I was stuck with Michael constantly trying to "Protect" Anya. There were a few other characters but they weren't as noteworthy as these characters. Just know I liked some and didn't care about others lol.
World Building: 3* - Ok so the world building wasn't fully lacking but it wasn't fully there either, more like it wasn't a focus I guess. Anya and her friends are from our world, nothing special, but in order to find these amazing, bookshop saving books, they had to follow a riddle that landed Anya and her friends in another world. Magic is a thing but can only be done by the royal family. Even Lorcan's appearance was because of the King's little sister, so curses can be done too but I still had a lot of questions about the magic system that just weren't answered for me. It was also neat learning about some of the Gods in this new world and why some buildings and rooms are shaped a certain way, that was really neat.
Story: 3.5* - All right I am just going to say this now, the story was WAY to fast paced for me. We go jumping from moment to moment to moment, most of which I was like wait weren't we just eating outside when did we get back at the tent to talk about the riddle or we went from talking to the King to already journeying outside camp. It was very jarring for me, as though things needed to be happening all the time without much of a slowdown, and when there is a slowdown it only lasted for a bout a page or so before something crazy happens that Anya needs to try and get her and her friends out of. Other than that as I've explained in the summary, the bookshop that Anya recently started working at and loves is about to close for good. A rival bookshop is exclusively selling books that is putting Anya's bookshop out of business. She has the idea from the bookshop owner that there may be more of those books that haven't been found and those books may save the bookshop. Instead they find a riddle that sends them teleporting to another world. I have a feeling each book will be Anya in other worlds looking for these books, and if I remember correctly, there are 6 books she needs to find, so probably 6 worlds to go through . . . Maybe, it depends on the riddle and the author lol. After arriving to the new world Anya discovers that she is the "Prophesied Chosen One" . . . Yup. She has a mark on her hand suddenly that proves it. Many people that "Support" the King find it an insult that a "Little Girl" would try and save them from the darkness that engulfs the world and so she needs to prove herself while looking for these special books to save the bookshop. So, shenanigans ensue lol.
Over All: 3.5 to 4* - So far, I'm not sure how to feel about this book. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I honestly keep going back and forth from 3.5 to 4 stars. I'll probably put it down as 4 but I am still back and forth with my own, personal score. Anya is a pretty good kid but she needs to find the spine to tell Michael to back off. I hope to get more of Lorcan and I look forward to seeing Stephanie and Tim again. I'm also pretty sure the villain that got away is one that Anya will need to face in the end, but if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. The next world Anya and her friends were dropped off at is one I wasn't expecting to be a world of its own. I would still read the next book in the series when it does come out. I would recommend this book for those who just got off reading Middle Grade books and are ready to get started on Young Adult books, this is a great first start, but know this, it gets really dark towards the end of the novel. There will be hanging heads and decapitated hands that make up a throne . . . It's gross. There's more but I will leave that up to you whether or not you want to read this.