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A review by shaunnareads
Kingdom Cold by Brittni Chenelle
2.0
I received a copy of Kingdom Cold free from Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of this novel.
Kingdom Cold is an easy and fast-paced YA fantasy novel set against an Arthurian back-drop. Brittni Chenelle has a nice writing style that flows easily, and allows the reader to fly through the book pretty quickly.
However, I felt like this novel could have done with some heavier editing. There was one too many POVs in Kingdom Cold and, with none of the character’s voices feeling particularly distinctive, it sometimes became a little confusing if I forgot to check whose chapter it was when reading — especially when a fair portion of the first part of book was dual-perspective, and then suddenly three more perspectives were added out of the blue. The pacing was also an issue for me, with the timing making little sense (like how fast journeys were made), and many of the scene changes feeling clunky and abrupt.
Lastly, Kingdom Cold suffered heavily from insta-love, which I really can’t stand when reading novels. Plenty of YA authors have managed to write realistic, fleshed-out romances without resorting to this awful trope, and I wish more would take note. I also found it difficult to connect with the characters, and that made their adoration for each other all the less believable.
Overall, I think Kingdom Cold had the potential to be a decent YA fantasy novel but, in the end, fell short and failed to bring anything new to the table.
Kingdom Cold is an easy and fast-paced YA fantasy novel set against an Arthurian back-drop. Brittni Chenelle has a nice writing style that flows easily, and allows the reader to fly through the book pretty quickly.
However, I felt like this novel could have done with some heavier editing. There was one too many POVs in Kingdom Cold and, with none of the character’s voices feeling particularly distinctive, it sometimes became a little confusing if I forgot to check whose chapter it was when reading — especially when a fair portion of the first part of book was dual-perspective, and then suddenly three more perspectives were added out of the blue. The pacing was also an issue for me, with the timing making little sense (like how fast journeys were made), and many of the scene changes feeling clunky and abrupt.
Lastly, Kingdom Cold suffered heavily from insta-love, which I really can’t stand when reading novels. Plenty of YA authors have managed to write realistic, fleshed-out romances without resorting to this awful trope, and I wish more would take note. I also found it difficult to connect with the characters, and that made their adoration for each other all the less believable.
Overall, I think Kingdom Cold had the potential to be a decent YA fantasy novel but, in the end, fell short and failed to bring anything new to the table.