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A review by enchantedfiction
Havenfall by Sara Holland
4.0
After finding out her mother has been put on death row, Maddie wants nothing more than to go where she feels safe and at home, which is not back in Sterling with her father. It's at Havenfall, an inn where the different Realms gather every summer to negotiate and trade. Maddie wants nothing more than to make Havenfall her permanent home, and be taught by her uncle how to be the Innkeeper for when he retires. But this summer is going to be unlike any other. The door to Solaria that has been closed for a decade has reopened, and people are getting hurt and enchanted. Will Maddie be able to put a stop to the chaos before the delegates find out what is going on and save Havenfall? Or will everything fall apart under her watch?
This book had me constantly wanting to pick it up even when I was supposed to be doing other things. There was just the right hint of mystery around what was happening, and just when I thought all would be revealed it managed to move away from what we were finding out in a way that was realistic. Although I felt Maddie to be a little over emotional of a main character, she cried or almost cried for what felt like half the book, but she started coming into herself by the end. I just wish that she had been a little bit stronger of a character and able to persevere a little more. She had her reasons for not believing in herself which I understand, but with all that she was dealing with I felt like she was really weepy in front of people and she should have been a little bit stronger on the outside. I think it would have spoken more to her character if she only had meltdowns when she was alone. I also felt that some parts were repeated constantly, like we were meant not to forget them, and that would have been okay, but those parts happened really close together, within a paragraph of each other, so it just felt unnecessarily repetitive to me.
That being said, there were things I thought I knew throughout the story that were either wrong, or not totally what I had expected. I like being fooled by books or left hanging until the end to find out what is happening, though there were some subtle hints to the final plot throughout the story that got put together nicely by the end. It was pretty fast paced and there were added elements that are relevant for bigger issues going on in our world today. I'm excited to see where the story goes because it left it in a place that was a little unnerving and I want to know more of what happens next.
This book had me constantly wanting to pick it up even when I was supposed to be doing other things. There was just the right hint of mystery around what was happening, and just when I thought all would be revealed it managed to move away from what we were finding out in a way that was realistic. Although I felt Maddie to be a little over emotional of a main character, she cried or almost cried for what felt like half the book, but she started coming into herself by the end. I just wish that she had been a little bit stronger of a character and able to persevere a little more. She had her reasons for not believing in herself which I understand, but with all that she was dealing with I felt like she was really weepy in front of people and she should have been a little bit stronger on the outside. I think it would have spoken more to her character if she only had meltdowns when she was alone. I also felt that some parts were repeated constantly, like we were meant not to forget them, and that would have been okay, but those parts happened really close together, within a paragraph of each other, so it just felt unnecessarily repetitive to me.
That being said, there were things I thought I knew throughout the story that were either wrong, or not totally what I had expected. I like being fooled by books or left hanging until the end to find out what is happening, though there were some subtle hints to the final plot throughout the story that got put together nicely by the end. It was pretty fast paced and there were added elements that are relevant for bigger issues going on in our world today. I'm excited to see where the story goes because it left it in a place that was a little unnerving and I want to know more of what happens next.