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A review by meganyntan
Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven
4.0
grace draven is a good writer and it shows. i enjoyed this book and will be picking up the sequel (not sure what's gonna happen tho bc this wrapped up nicely and had an air of finality)
what i liked:
- competent characters with flaws
- interesting premise
- good writing
what i didn't like:
- fantasy books without maps should be a crime
- didn't feel like the characters had completely believable chemistry? it was slow burn for most of the book and then straight into an "i love you" declaration. we do see Gilene warming up to Azarion and him seeing her as less of a tool and more of a person but eh not that believable imo
- in that same vein: how Azarion treated her and it's all just kinda brushed aside
this book def dragged in the middle, which was a little disappointing after starting with a bang but i'm sure i'd complain also if it was just all fast-paced plot and no world building. i acknowledge it can be hard to get the right ratio and the author made a decent attempt and it wasn't too jarring for me
3.5/5
what i liked:
- competent characters with flaws
- interesting premise
- good writing
what i didn't like:
- fantasy books without maps should be a crime
- didn't feel like the characters had completely believable chemistry? it was slow burn for most of the book and then straight into an "i love you" declaration. we do see Gilene warming up to Azarion and him seeing her as less of a tool and more of a person but eh not that believable imo
- in that same vein: how Azarion treated her and it's all just kinda brushed aside
this book def dragged in the middle, which was a little disappointing after starting with a bang but i'm sure i'd complain also if it was just all fast-paced plot and no world building. i acknowledge it can be hard to get the right ratio and the author made a decent attempt and it wasn't too jarring for me
3.5/5