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A review by marie_22
The Serpent and the Wolf by Rebecca Robinson
adventurous
tense
3.0
When I read the blurb for this book, I was very intrigued by it. Enemies to lovers in an arranged marriage who must work together to fight against evil? Yes, please.
Unfortunately, while the potential was there, the execution fell flat for me.
The first like 30% of this, I really struggled to get into it. The writing was a bit messy, the pacing felt off, and I didn’t really like the characters.
That first scene in the beginning could have been so much longer. Like give me some context, maybe the wedding that happened on that same day? Or her travelling there? Let me get into her head a bit to understand what’s happening and why she doesn’t like him and acts the way she does? Like that scene had such potential, the set-up was so good and could have really worked well a bit later on to build tension between the two main characters, missed opportunity imo.
It turned into somewhat of an easy read (once I got past that weird beginning) even though I found the pacing to be a bit choppy.
The world building felt kind of half-baked, like a lot is explained but not in a satisfying way? I just never felt like I had a real grasp on this world and everything that was happening in it. Same with the whole plot tbh, it just left me confused most of the time.
I did like Vaasa, the fmc, she was an interesting character, albeit a confusing one. Reid, the mmc, felt very much two-dimensional to me. Also, kind of disappointing that he's described as brutal, feared by everyone, merciless, notorious, threatening (I could go on), and then he wasn’t like that at all.. He was kind of the opposite? And that’s fine! But why make him out to be something he is not? Oh yeah, because every mmc in a romantasy has to be this morally grey horrible person or whatever..
The romance between them was somewhat of a slow burn, and I appreciated that. Something else I realised while halfway through, there was no excessive talk about how insanely beautiful everyone was, and I found that to be very refreshing.
Overall, an interesting debut with potential for the sequel.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, while the potential was there, the execution fell flat for me.
The first like 30% of this, I really struggled to get into it. The writing was a bit messy, the pacing felt off, and I didn’t really like the characters.
That first scene in the beginning could have been so much longer. Like give me some context, maybe the wedding that happened on that same day? Or her travelling there? Let me get into her head a bit to understand what’s happening and why she doesn’t like him and acts the way she does? Like that scene had such potential, the set-up was so good and could have really worked well a bit later on to build tension between the two main characters, missed opportunity imo.
It turned into somewhat of an easy read (once I got past that weird beginning) even though I found the pacing to be a bit choppy.
The world building felt kind of half-baked, like a lot is explained but not in a satisfying way? I just never felt like I had a real grasp on this world and everything that was happening in it. Same with the whole plot tbh, it just left me confused most of the time.
I did like Vaasa, the fmc, she was an interesting character, albeit a confusing one. Reid, the mmc, felt very much two-dimensional to me. Also, kind of disappointing that he's described as brutal, feared by everyone, merciless, notorious, threatening (I could go on), and then he wasn’t like that at all.. He was kind of the opposite? And that’s fine! But why make him out to be something he is not? Oh yeah, because every mmc in a romantasy has to be this morally grey horrible person or whatever..
The romance between them was somewhat of a slow burn, and I appreciated that. Something else I realised while halfway through, there was no excessive talk about how insanely beautiful everyone was, and I found that to be very refreshing.
Overall, an interesting debut with potential for the sequel.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.