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gnm125 's review for:
The Swan Harp
by Elizabeth Creith
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I was excited by the unique premise and pretty cover. As much as we should not judge a book by its cover, this one was gorgeous. I wanted to love the story so badly, but the characters felt a bit one-dimensional. Additionally, the reason why the book is called The Swan Harp is foreshadowed in the first 15% of the story, but doesn't actually get utilized until very near the end.
Plotwise, the story didn't really feel very cohesive. I felt that the author just kept coming up with new ideas and couldn't decide what to keep and what to cut. I also felt there wasn't really one overall plot, but rather several smaller subplots that didn't mesh well together.
I struggled a lot with reading this story due to the pacing. It was quite slow and we get a lot of over-explained info about their day-to-day activities without much that really feels like it's propelling the story forward. Especially since the whole summary blurb felt like it was explored within the first 20% of the book.
I also struggled a lot with the specific writing style of this book. It was very passive voice and felt very much like the author was telling instead of showing. I could not get sucked into this story at all. There was very little emotion in the beginning of the book and the little that there was appeared in the form of "the character was sad" instead of something like "the character was in tears" or "there was an ache in the character's heart". I don't know what I would use instead, I'm also not an author.
Overall, I feel like there was a lot of promise in such a unique setup, but was disappointed in the delivery. I will not be reading the sequel.
I was excited by the unique premise and pretty cover. As much as we should not judge a book by its cover, this one was gorgeous. I wanted to love the story so badly, but the characters felt a bit one-dimensional. Additionally, the reason why the book is called The Swan Harp is foreshadowed in the first 15% of the story, but doesn't actually get utilized until very near the end.
Plotwise, the story didn't really feel very cohesive. I felt that the author just kept coming up with new ideas and couldn't decide what to keep and what to cut. I also felt there wasn't really one overall plot, but rather several smaller subplots that didn't mesh well together.
I struggled a lot with reading this story due to the pacing. It was quite slow and we get a lot of over-explained info about their day-to-day activities without much that really feels like it's propelling the story forward. Especially since the whole summary blurb felt like it was explored within the first 20% of the book.
I also struggled a lot with the specific writing style of this book. It was very passive voice and felt very much like the author was telling instead of showing. I could not get sucked into this story at all. There was very little emotion in the beginning of the book and the little that there was appeared in the form of "the character was sad" instead of something like "the character was in tears" or "there was an ache in the character's heart". I don't know what I would use instead, I'm also not an author.
Overall, I feel like there was a lot of promise in such a unique setup, but was disappointed in the delivery. I will not be reading the sequel.