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A review by jaclynder
The Waking Land by Callie Bates
3.0
The Waking Land started off very promising; there was so much potential! But, the kind of character complexity that I was looking for was ultimately missing.
Lady Elanna Valtai was taken hostage as a young girl when her father tried to launch a rebellion. Over the past 14 years, Elanna has adopted the attitudes of her captors, to the point that she views the king - the man that held a gun to her head - as a father figure. Obviously, Elanna has some issues with her parents. So, when Elanna is accused of murdering the king and reunited with her parents and their people, she is resistant to being part of their movement to crown a new king.
I liked the fact that Elanna had to deal with her own notions about her people and the lies that she has been told over the years. This personal journey was great and I think it was an important part of the story. However, with the amount of time indicating the issues Elanna had with both of her parents, I was left surprised and disappointed that there wasn't more time spent on their relationship. I think The Waking Land would have been a much strong read had more time been given to exploring Elanna's conflicted emotions to her parents. As it stood, I felt that there was very little reason for Elanna to feel as strongly compelled to help her parents as she did. The core issues of their familial relationship were essentially left unresolved.
A more elaborate approach to the relationships between Elanna and other characters would have been beneficial to creating a more interesting main character and fleshed out some of Elanna's internal conflict. That being said, the world created by the author was interesting, especially due to it's environmental connection.
The Waking Land was a promising fantasy debut. Those who value a stronger sense of character development may be somewhat disappointed, but, there's a lot here that will interest fantasy readers.
*Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
Lady Elanna Valtai was taken hostage as a young girl when her father tried to launch a rebellion. Over the past 14 years, Elanna has adopted the attitudes of her captors, to the point that she views the king - the man that held a gun to her head - as a father figure. Obviously, Elanna has some issues with her parents. So, when Elanna is accused of murdering the king and reunited with her parents and their people, she is resistant to being part of their movement to crown a new king.
I liked the fact that Elanna had to deal with her own notions about her people and the lies that she has been told over the years. This personal journey was great and I think it was an important part of the story. However, with the amount of time indicating the issues Elanna had with both of her parents, I was left surprised and disappointed that there wasn't more time spent on their relationship. I think The Waking Land would have been a much strong read had more time been given to exploring Elanna's conflicted emotions to her parents. As it stood, I felt that there was very little reason for Elanna to feel as strongly compelled to help her parents as she did. The core issues of their familial relationship were essentially left unresolved.
A more elaborate approach to the relationships between Elanna and other characters would have been beneficial to creating a more interesting main character and fleshed out some of Elanna's internal conflict. That being said, the world created by the author was interesting, especially due to it's environmental connection.
The Waking Land was a promising fantasy debut. Those who value a stronger sense of character development may be somewhat disappointed, but, there's a lot here that will interest fantasy readers.
*Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.