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A review by ephemerily
By Wingéd Chair by Kendra Merritt
4.0
I loved a lot of things about this book: the world it was set in, the heroine and her "snarky" or clever comments, seeing a main character in a wheelchair, and the shape-shifting creatures. I also liked some of the deeper themes, like how what appears to be a flaw can actually be a strength, or the balance between good/evil/right/wrong, or the religious ideas that are presented but somewhat rejected by the narrator, so that the reader is free to take them as they want to.
I thought a few things could have been done better, though.
(1) The action starts right in the first chapter with an attack by monsters and Merry preparing to cast a spell, and the arrival of the team of monster hunters to save her. I was able to follow along well enough, so it was refreshing to have the action start like this. But at the same time, I didn't really know Merry yet, so I didn't have much reason to like her. She talked about being kicked out of boarding school, but I didn't know why (maybe she performed illegal magic that endangered the other students). And she was angry a lot, which I didn't understand at all until I learned more about her several chapters in. For example, she is angry with Whyn for saving her from the monster when she supposedly could have done it herself, but she did not seem confident she could succeed (she calls the attack her "unmaking" and is threatened by panic) and Whyn would have no way of knowing she knew magic and wouldn't have time to ask her. So I didn't care about her from the start as much as I might have.
(2) The plot seemed to fall apart somewhat, around the time of the train scene. Events and characters would appear that hadn't been set up (like the Duchess and John's motivations) or just didn't make sense. In particular, Cecily's reappearance confounded me. I also started to lose a grasp on how the magic worked. There seemed to be multiple types (spells and/or harnessing vytl) but I was not clear on how they differed or why Merry could sometimes use them and other times not be able to.
(3) Merry's insistence to herself that Whyn didn't like her because of one failed kiss started to grate after a while. I liked when we learn the reason he blanched after her kiss, but it didn't seem like enough to keep them apart for the entire book, and I wish there had been some more interactions or something to keep that tension going.
But overall, I enjoyed it!
I thought a few things could have been done better, though.
(1) The action starts right in the first chapter with an attack by monsters and Merry preparing to cast a spell, and the arrival of the team of monster hunters to save her. I was able to follow along well enough, so it was refreshing to have the action start like this. But at the same time, I didn't really know Merry yet, so I didn't have much reason to like her. She talked about being kicked out of boarding school, but I didn't know why (maybe she performed illegal magic that endangered the other students). And she was angry a lot, which I didn't understand at all until I learned more about her several chapters in. For example, she is angry with Whyn for saving her from the monster when she supposedly could have done it herself, but she did not seem confident she could succeed (she calls the attack her "unmaking" and is threatened by panic) and Whyn would have no way of knowing she knew magic and wouldn't have time to ask her. So I didn't care about her from the start as much as I might have.
(2) The plot seemed to fall apart somewhat, around the time of the train scene. Events and characters would appear that hadn't been set up (like the Duchess and John's motivations) or just didn't make sense. In particular, Cecily's reappearance confounded me. I also started to lose a grasp on how the magic worked. There seemed to be multiple types (spells and/or harnessing vytl) but I was not clear on how they differed or why Merry could sometimes use them and other times not be able to.
(3) Merry's insistence to herself that Whyn didn't like her because of one failed kiss started to grate after a while. I liked when we learn the reason he blanched after her kiss, but it didn't seem like enough to keep them apart for the entire book, and I wish there had been some more interactions or something to keep that tension going.
But overall, I enjoyed it!