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A review by malulu
Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson
3.0
I have to confess that [a:Margaret Rogerson|1021603|Margaret Rogerson|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] has a talent of creating unique worlds. First, [b:An Enchantment of Ravens|30969741|An Enchantment of Ravens|Margaret Rogerson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1486244049l/30969741._SY75_.jpg|51586838] with it's Fae world and then (even if the story was lacking), [b:Sorcery of Thorns|42201395|Sorcery of Thorns (Sorcery of Thorns, #1)|Margaret Rogerson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541621322l/42201395._SY75_.jpg|61425757] with magical grimoires being able to change the world (which was a huge success) and now this, a world full of undead spirits. It is a marvel to see what she comes up with every time, because she takes a fresh look for each of them.
What is missing from all of them is the world-building. Despite the uniqueness of the each work, all of them quite lack the small details that keep the world alive instead of mostly a story. The world of Loraille is very basic with more information trickling in the more you read, but it is never enough. There is not enough backstory even though it is mentioned a lot of times. At first it is basically unknown, but the more you learn about the truth, the more elusive the past gets because by that point, we should have gotten more details of how things went down. However, only convenient details reached our eyes.
After the success of Sorcery of Thorns, my expectations were pretty high up and Vespertive did not rise to the challenge. It all starts with the choice of the main protagonist. I understand the thinking behind Artemisia, but it is laid a bit too thick; she is antisocial, ugly in her own eyes, scary, lonely, useless in her own eyes again and generally a very negative person, yet defiant in unexpected ways. Instead of promoting a more relatable character, we get to have someone who, for the most part of the book, keeps putting herself down in everything. There were only a few times that I could honestly really like her and it didn't have to do with her Revenant.
Which brings us to the next point. This book heavily relies on witty banter, like Sorcery of Thorns. It is not inherently bad (it might even be one of the biggest saving graces of the book), but it leaves a bit of a sour aftertaste since it is as if she is copying her own self. Despite that, the dialogue between her and Revenant are always great to read and their relationship progresses steadily. There are not many other characters in the story that are truly important, but some do exist that come along the way to fill in the unkown gaps in Artemisia's heart.
The story and development of it are decent, yet slow and the opposite of intense. Somehow this was book was categorised as a first book of a series, but it does not seem to be the truth as it has a solid start and end, which makes the slow pace throughout the book a bad experience since this is not an introductory book to a series. And despite the writing being fun to read, there were obvious "traps" for the reader and the conclusion was much too fast.
But what is good about this book? The setting is great, as well as the dialogues between Artemisia and Revenant, as well as the potential of the book is immense. If you are like me, the true downside is that it does not offer more, even though it has a great base.
What is missing from all of them is the world-building. Despite the uniqueness of the each work, all of them quite lack the small details that keep the world alive instead of mostly a story. The world of Loraille is very basic with more information trickling in the more you read, but it is never enough. There is not enough backstory even though it is mentioned a lot of times. At first it is basically unknown, but the more you learn about the truth, the more elusive the past gets because by that point, we should have gotten more details of how things went down. However, only convenient details reached our eyes.
After the success of Sorcery of Thorns, my expectations were pretty high up and Vespertive did not rise to the challenge. It all starts with the choice of the main protagonist. I understand the thinking behind Artemisia, but it is laid a bit too thick; she is antisocial, ugly in her own eyes, scary, lonely, useless in her own eyes again and generally a very negative person, yet defiant in unexpected ways. Instead of promoting a more relatable character, we get to have someone who, for the most part of the book, keeps putting herself down in everything. There were only a few times that I could honestly really like her and it didn't have to do with her Revenant.
Which brings us to the next point. This book heavily relies on witty banter, like Sorcery of Thorns. It is not inherently bad (it might even be one of the biggest saving graces of the book), but it leaves a bit of a sour aftertaste since it is as if she is copying her own self. Despite that, the dialogue between her and Revenant are always great to read and their relationship progresses steadily. There are not many other characters in the story that are truly important, but some do exist that come along the way to fill in the unkown gaps in Artemisia's heart.
The story and development of it are decent, yet slow and the opposite of intense. Somehow this was book was categorised as a first book of a series, but it does not seem to be the truth as it has a solid start and end, which makes the slow pace throughout the book a bad experience since this is not an introductory book to a series. And despite the writing being fun to read, there were obvious "traps" for the reader and the conclusion was much too fast.
But what is good about this book? The setting is great, as well as the dialogues between Artemisia and Revenant, as well as the potential of the book is immense. If you are like me, the true downside is that it does not offer more, even though it has a great base.