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ali_km 's review for:
Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven
by Bella Forrest
I don't remember how this ended up on my to-read list, but I found the title interesting, so when taking a month away from my book club I decided to give it a go. And... it was... fine.
TL/DR: I like (YA) urban fantasy series, but I will not be reading books 2-20 of this one.
Things started well, the first chapter had me hooked. But I was almost certain from the get-go that I was not going to like things as much once magic actually entered into things. The (essentially) prologue of an empath working for a casino was super-fun and, I was sadly correct, the rest of the book wasn't as interesting as that starting concept.
What I didn't know was the biggest disappointment would be the overwhelming amount of (sung to the tune of Rock Me Amadeus): Exposition, Exposition... Exposition! Exposition, Exposition... Exposition! Exposition, Exposition... Ex-ex-ex-exposition!
Like, wow, I understand world-building needs to happen in a first book, but... I actually found what I am pretty certain was the first scene written because it unnecessarily reiterated (re-expositioned?) more than one piece of (actually wholely unnecessary) information that had already been explained much earlier. And, also, how much world-building do you really have to do when your main concept is "we are most definitely NOT Harry Potter" (despite taking place in a hidden-in-plain-sight magical world, where they teach and house magical people and have a huge emphasis on an annual (*cough* House) points system, which really matters now that an ominous individual from the past wants to destroy the magical world and gain unlimited power). I even gave some consideration to whether this series started its life as HP fanfic (it wouldn't be the first), but decided on "No... maybe".
All that being said, I assume (now that the world is built) subsequent books would have more matter and less method. Also, I enjoyed the characters created and there are a couple remaining mysteries that I would like to know the answer to, but none of that is compelling enough to get me to read further books in the series.
TL/DR: I like (YA) urban fantasy series, but I will not be reading books 2-20 of this one.
Things started well, the first chapter had me hooked. But I was almost certain from the get-go that I was not going to like things as much once magic actually entered into things. The (essentially) prologue of an empath working for a casino was super-fun and, I was sadly correct, the rest of the book wasn't as interesting as that starting concept.
What I didn't know was the biggest disappointment would be the overwhelming amount of (sung to the tune of Rock Me Amadeus): Exposition, Exposition... Exposition! Exposition, Exposition... Exposition! Exposition, Exposition... Ex-ex-ex-exposition!
Like, wow, I understand world-building needs to happen in a first book, but... I actually found what I am pretty certain was the first scene written because it unnecessarily reiterated (re-expositioned?) more than one piece of (actually wholely unnecessary) information that had already been explained much earlier. And, also, how much world-building do you really have to do when your main concept is "we are most definitely NOT Harry Potter" (despite taking place in a hidden-in-plain-sight magical world, where they teach and house magical people and have a huge emphasis on an annual (*cough* House) points system, which really matters now that an ominous individual from the past wants to destroy the magical world and gain unlimited power). I even gave some consideration to whether this series started its life as HP fanfic (it wouldn't be the first), but decided on "No... maybe".
All that being said, I assume (now that the world is built) subsequent books would have more matter and less method. Also, I enjoyed the characters created and there are a couple remaining mysteries that I would like to know the answer to, but none of that is compelling enough to get me to read further books in the series.