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A review by claire_loves_books
Apprentice by Rachel E. Carter
3.0
I really enjoyed some aspects of this book but I wish there had been less emphasis on the 'romance' aspect.
Unlike the previous book this one is set over 4 years across the whole of the country, and it was interesting to visit the other areas of Jerar. I feel like the different places could have been described a bit more a made a bit more unique (it was a bit generic fantasy-land in places). It was quite refreshing to have a book set at a school to not be one year per book but I did feel like the timeline was quite jumpy, suddenly we'd be three months further forward.
I would have liked more magic- Ry does do a fair amount of magic but none of it's explained as well as it was in the first book so I didn't feel like I was along side Ryiah as she did it.
However everything was overshadowed by the romance, I am really done with love triangles and tragically the love triangle plays a big part in Apprentice.there's so much drama and angst as Ryiah bounces back and forth between Ian (who seems to like her and want a relationship) and Darren (who seems to hate Ryiah most the time, occasionally throwing her a breadcrumb to keep her on the hook). Ryiah spend so much time choosing between them and seems to think she can either be with Ian or have something from Darren (I have no idea what she actually expects, he's been engaged to Priscilla since the previous book) she doesn't even consider taking a step back from both of them for the time being- I wanted to shout at her "You don't need a man! Be your own person!" (but I didn't because shouting at books makes you look crazy).
I just felt like Ryiah didn't develop much as a character- Alex and Ella's relationship develops as they both grow up, Derrick grows up, Ian grows up, we even get more depth to Priscilla but Ryiah doesn't seem to develop much from the first book and spends most the book alternately lusting after/ moping over/ being miserable about Darren, and it's a long book- 4 years for her- I feel like Darren has pretty much ruined 4 years of her life for her and I don't really get how she thinks he could possibly care about or respect her after everything he's put her through.
I didn't like Darren of what he was doing to Ryiah and I didn't like Ryiah of what she was doing to Ian, I just wanted to shake them both.
Unlike the previous book this one is set over 4 years across the whole of the country, and it was interesting to visit the other areas of Jerar. I feel like the different places could have been described a bit more a made a bit more unique (it was a bit generic fantasy-land in places). It was quite refreshing to have a book set at a school to not be one year per book but I did feel like the timeline was quite jumpy, suddenly we'd be three months further forward.
I would have liked more magic- Ry does do a fair amount of magic but none of it's explained as well as it was in the first book so I didn't feel like I was along side Ryiah as she did it.
However everything was overshadowed by the romance, I am really done with love triangles and tragically the love triangle plays a big part in Apprentice.there's so much drama and angst as Ryiah bounces back and forth between Ian (who seems to like her and want a relationship) and Darren (who seems to hate Ryiah most the time, occasionally throwing her a breadcrumb to keep her on the hook). Ryiah spend so much time choosing between them and seems to think she can either be with Ian or have something from Darren (I have no idea what she actually expects, he's been engaged to Priscilla since the previous book) she doesn't even consider taking a step back from both of them for the time being- I wanted to shout at her "You don't need a man! Be your own person!" (but I didn't because shouting at books makes you look crazy).
I just felt like Ryiah didn't develop much as a character- Alex and Ella's relationship develops as they both grow up, Derrick grows up, Ian grows up, we even get more depth to Priscilla but Ryiah doesn't seem to develop much from the first book and spends most the book alternately lusting after/ moping over/ being miserable about Darren, and it's a long book- 4 years for her- I feel like Darren has pretty much ruined 4 years of her life for her and I don't really get how she thinks he could possibly care about or respect her after everything he's put her through.
Spoiler
In the end it's all supposedly made okay after it turns out he has though he's loved her, but I don't like the whole 'be horrible and push the girl way for her own good' it just doesn't strike me as something you'd do to someone you respected and its kind of twilight-esque.I didn't like Darren of what he was doing to Ryiah and I didn't like Ryiah of what she was doing to Ian, I just wanted to shake them both.