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A review by so_many_books
Grave Situation by Louisa Masters
Did not finish book. Stopped at 63%.
I'm so disappointed by this book. It started out as a great fantasy with promising world building elements that I was excited for.
Then, it unfortunately turned downhill pretty fast after a major event (see details below after the spoiler warning).
The elements that intrigued me from he get-go are the humorous storytelling, the lovely characters, Talon and Tia's twin telepathic bond, and the magic system with the zombies. In combination, they seemed to merge into a fun adventure with an important and grave mission. For the first 45%, I truly believed this would be a lighthearted fantasy with a touch of romance and a great found family on a mission. Instead, it turned very, very dark very quickly. The book kinda lost me after that.
The romance between Talon, our main character, and Jaimin, the love interest, is subpar. They have literally no chemistry or relationship development. Talon has more in-depth conversations with his other travelling companions than with Jaimin before they confess their undying love for each other. It was not satisfying at all.
I honestly loved their little unit from the beginning. The group grew with more and more great additions. And not the kind that we're used to. But with sweet but fierce warriors and young but wise boys. Together with Talon and his grumpy anti-hero self, Jaimin's kind demeanour, and Tia's fierce bravery, it could have been a great story.
I'm really sad that the great building blocks of a great fantasy were used so poorly. It could have been so good. I am honestly shocked by all the 5-star reviews.
SPOILERS AFTER THIS.
Now, let's talk about the death of one of the main characters. I don't consider Tia, Talon's twin, who he has a constant connection with a secondary character. So her death to move the story along was a very cheap move. And don't even get me started on killing off the ONLY meaningful female character. I started to notice this very disturbing trend in MM authors that they focus so much on having enough male characters to build their never-ending series that they literally don't have females in their books. It's freaking weird to me. And in this book? Tia was one of my favourite characters, and I was so happy that such an important role as the MC's twin is cast to a strong and capable female. A fearless dragon rider. So when she was killed off to further his brother's plot, I was furious. I can't look past this.
HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book to share my honest review.*
Then, it unfortunately turned downhill pretty fast after a major event (see details below after the spoiler warning).
The elements that intrigued me from he get-go are the humorous storytelling, the lovely characters, Talon and Tia's twin telepathic bond, and the magic system with the zombies. In combination, they seemed to merge into a fun adventure with an important and grave mission. For the first 45%, I truly believed this would be a lighthearted fantasy with a touch of romance and a great found family on a mission. Instead, it turned very, very dark very quickly. The book kinda lost me after that.
The romance between Talon, our main character, and Jaimin, the love interest, is subpar. They have literally no chemistry or relationship development. Talon has more in-depth conversations with his other travelling companions than with Jaimin before they confess their undying love for each other. It was not satisfying at all.
I honestly loved their little unit from the beginning. The group grew with more and more great additions. And not the kind that we're used to. But with sweet but fierce warriors and young but wise boys. Together with Talon and his grumpy anti-hero self, Jaimin's kind demeanour, and Tia's fierce bravery, it could have been a great story.
I'm really sad that the great building blocks of a great fantasy were used so poorly. It could have been so good. I am honestly shocked by all the 5-star reviews.
SPOILERS AFTER THIS.
Now, let's talk about the death of one of the main characters. I don't consider Tia, Talon's twin, who he has a constant connection with a secondary character. So her death to move the story along was a very cheap move. And don't even get me started on killing off the ONLY meaningful female character. I started to notice this very disturbing trend in MM authors that they focus so much on having enough male characters to build their never-ending series that they literally don't have females in their books. It's freaking weird to me. And in this book? Tia was one of my favourite characters, and I was so happy that such an important role as the MC's twin is cast to a strong and capable female. A fearless dragon rider. So when she was killed off to further his brother's plot, I was furious. I can't look past this.
HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book to share my honest review.*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death