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A review by gorgonine
Transformation by Carol Berg
5.0
14 Feb 2021
Plot: Slave from conquered civilization who's trying very hard to forget his old life (and mostly succeeding) is bought by a cruel prince. Slave finds it harder and harder to stay away from his past.
1. I love the first third of this book so much? The growing relationship between Seyonne and Aleksander. Aleksander being a complete asshole who is also SOMEHOW an interesting, compelling character. The slow change in Aleksander because of Seyonne. All of this is really great stuff.
2. The other two thirds of the book were not quite as compelling but to be fair the first third was VERY compelling so that still leaves a lot of room a good story filled with tragic pasts and backstories and recoveries and battles for people's sanity. It becomes way more focused on Seyonne and less so on Aleksander, though which is kind of a disappointment because that asshole is my favorite.
3. One thing I didn't like was It was pretty underwhelming.
4. The plot was fine. The prose is sometimes almost agonizingly beautiful, especially in the first third when Seyonne is still denying his past and has to live with the knowledge of how broken he is.
Plot: Slave from conquered civilization who's trying very hard to forget his old life (and mostly succeeding) is bought by a cruel prince. Slave finds it harder and harder to stay away from his past.
1. I love the first third of this book so much? The growing relationship between Seyonne and Aleksander. Aleksander being a complete asshole who is also SOMEHOW an interesting, compelling character. The slow change in Aleksander because of Seyonne. All of this is really great stuff.
2. The other two thirds of the book were not quite as compelling but to be fair the first third was VERY compelling so that still leaves a lot of room a good story filled with tragic pasts and backstories and recoveries and battles for people's sanity. It becomes way more focused on Seyonne and less so on Aleksander, though which is kind of a disappointment because that asshole is my favorite.
3. One thing I didn't like was
Spoiler
whatever the fuck Ysanne was doing in the plot. Lydia didn't have much of a role but she was wonderful in the few scenes she actually had. You could tell this was a strong willed, intelligent woman. But Ysanne? Seyonne goes on and on about her beauty and that's about it. She doesn't show herself to be competent or ruthless, or anything but a convenient love interest.4. The plot was fine. The prose is sometimes almost agonizingly beautiful, especially in the first third when Seyonne is still denying his past and has to live with the knowledge of how broken he is.