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A review by fulltimefiction
The Waking Land by Callie Bates
1.0
I decided to read this book during finals period. You know the book is no good when you find yourself preferring to study instead of reading it.
I don't have much to say about The Waking Land. It had potential, lots of it. A girl with magical powers that can wake the land, returning to her homeland to lead a rebellion? As much as cliche this sounds, I actually enjoy these stuff. However, I ended up bored most of the time because this book dragged a lot. Now I know this is a debut and I shouldn't be harsh so I'll keep this review short.
The characters:
We had many characters in this book. Some were okay, others totally forgettable. The main character, Elena, irritated me. She's always lost and no I shouldn't do this, no I shouldn't go there.. all of this was very repetitive and annoyed the hell out of me. The characters were flat and I couldn't connect with any of them. I only liked Sophie but still, not much. The villains were the typical stereotypes, I'm bad because I want power and I'll do anything to get it with no personality whatsoever beyond evil.
The romance:
Oh, the romance... It made me cringe. This is supposed to be a YA fantasy, right? Don't be fooled. It has some graphics.
Now I don't know about you, but I don't like the girl to "propose" especially if she doesn’t know the guy. I didn't feel any chemistry between Elena and Jahan. I didn't hate him but I wasn't swooning. She also wed the land? Sorry, what??
Story and plot:
It would've been better if it was shorter. It stretched a lot and the pacing was off. The real action only started toward the end and by then, I had already lost all interest. If you skipped to the end, you would still understand everything. A bad sign. The plot didn't offer any surprises and I would've said predictable, however, I couldn't even bring myself to guess what will happen. It was just tiring. Others might enjoy this book but it wasn't for me.
There are many plot holes and things that don't make sense. The book was also confusing sometimes. For example, when they escape, they don't cover their trail or do anything to misguide their pursuers. Her friend was able to track them but the royal guard couldn't. Wow.
Writing and world building:
The writing was nothing impressive. There's a lot of skin touching *eye roll*. The same thoughts are repeated all the time. While we read too much about the history, we still barely know anything about the world. The world building was lacking. So much information dropping. I couldn't keep track of all the names and I didn't even try to because I had 0 interest in the story.
The best thing about this book is that pretty cover.
Now I'll be quoting a part of the book's descriptions I found on GR (different editions).
"A bold and gorgeous fantasy featuring a brilliant heroine on the cusp of womanhood, The Waking Land is the first of a trilogy that will delight fans of The Red Queen, Six of Crows, and Court of Thorns and Roses."
Now if by the comparison to Red Queen they mean both are bad... then I agree. Oh, the revolution! Silly me.
Common points with ACOTAR? Annoying heroine? (Feyre annoyed me in ACOTAR but now she's alright). Oh.. You mean the spring court and the whole plants and shit like this! But they are not similar in any way.
I haven't read Six of Crows yet but I know they have nothing in common.
"In the lush and magical tradition of Naomi Novik s award-winning Uprooted comes this riveting debut from brilliant young writer Callie Bates whose boundless imagination places her among the finest authors of fantasy fiction, including Sarah J. Maas and Sabaa Tahir."
AM I SERIOUSLY READING THIS??????????????????
Uprooted certainly isn't fast-paced but I enjoyed EVERY minute of it. I loved the characters, the world, the story, everything.
Even though I'm not her biggest fan, SJM nails the world building. Something that was very lacking here.
And Sabaa? You mean AEITA?? I loved it, yes one of my favorite YA fantasy.
This book has nothing to do with these POPULAR books/authors.
I guess this is the new way to promote every new book. I can't guarantee that everyone won't be fooled, though.
arc received via NetGalley
I don't have much to say about The Waking Land. It had potential, lots of it. A girl with magical powers that can wake the land, returning to her homeland to lead a rebellion? As much as cliche this sounds, I actually enjoy these stuff. However, I ended up bored most of the time because this book dragged a lot. Now I know this is a debut and I shouldn't be harsh so I'll keep this review short.
The characters:
We had many characters in this book. Some were okay, others totally forgettable. The main character, Elena, irritated me. She's always lost and no I shouldn't do this, no I shouldn't go there.. all of this was very repetitive and annoyed the hell out of me. The characters were flat and I couldn't connect with any of them. I only liked Sophie but still, not much. The villains were the typical stereotypes, I'm bad because I want power and I'll do anything to get it with no personality whatsoever beyond evil.
The romance:
Oh, the romance... It made me cringe. This is supposed to be a YA fantasy, right? Don't be fooled. It has some graphics.
Now I don't know about you, but I don't like the girl to "propose" especially if she doesn’t know the guy. I didn't feel any chemistry between Elena and Jahan. I didn't hate him but I wasn't swooning. She also wed the land? Sorry, what??
Story and plot:
It would've been better if it was shorter. It stretched a lot and the pacing was off. The real action only started toward the end and by then, I had already lost all interest. If you skipped to the end, you would still understand everything. A bad sign. The plot didn't offer any surprises and I would've said predictable, however, I couldn't even bring myself to guess what will happen. It was just tiring. Others might enjoy this book but it wasn't for me.
There are many plot holes and things that don't make sense. The book was also confusing sometimes. For example, when they escape, they don't cover their trail or do anything to misguide their pursuers. Her friend was able to track them but the royal guard couldn't. Wow.
Writing and world building:
The writing was nothing impressive. There's a lot of skin touching *eye roll*. The same thoughts are repeated all the time. While we read too much about the history, we still barely know anything about the world. The world building was lacking. So much information dropping. I couldn't keep track of all the names and I didn't even try to because I had 0 interest in the story.
The best thing about this book is that pretty cover.
Now I'll be quoting a part of the book's descriptions I found on GR (different editions).
"A bold and gorgeous fantasy featuring a brilliant heroine on the cusp of womanhood, The Waking Land is the first of a trilogy that will delight fans of The Red Queen, Six of Crows, and Court of Thorns and Roses."
Now if by the comparison to Red Queen they mean both are bad... then I agree. Oh, the revolution! Silly me.
Common points with ACOTAR? Annoying heroine? (Feyre annoyed me in ACOTAR but now she's alright). Oh.. You mean the spring court and the whole plants and shit like this! But they are not similar in any way.
I haven't read Six of Crows yet but I know they have nothing in common.
AM I SERIOUSLY READING THIS??????????????????
Uprooted certainly isn't fast-paced but I enjoyed EVERY minute of it. I loved the characters, the world, the story, everything.
Even though I'm not her biggest fan, SJM nails the world building. Something that was very lacking here.
And Sabaa? You mean AEITA?? I loved it, yes one of my favorite YA fantasy.
This book has nothing to do with these POPULAR books/authors.
I guess this is the new way to promote every new book. I can't guarantee that everyone won't be fooled, though.
arc received via NetGalley