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A review by chillvamp
Ruinsong by Julia Ember
2.0
This book had a lot of potential but unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The pacing is just horrendous. Part of it is possibly me being a story structure nerd, but it really felt like there was no tension and the important moments had very little impact.
The problem I think lies in that Cadence's choice (whether to rebel or not) is dragged out throughout the whole book and only really resolved at the very end. The choice whether to act or not is interesting as character conflict for about a third of the book, but it can't sustain a whole novel. It has to be forced sooner, otherwise it just feels like this: like the choice was isolated and didn't really change who she is as a character, and it's boring to read about characters that don't change. Remi has a similar problem.
It's just very static and that's sad, because I do like the setting, but it just felt like a succession of catalysts thrown at Cadence (this bad thing happens! then this bad thing happens! then this other bad thing!) but at a certain point it's difficult to care because it seems no matter what happens she won't act.
Since it was marketed as Phantom of the Opera-ish, I had expected that the stakes would be much higher, that Cadence would be expelled (could have introduced the factoid about Expelled mages rediscovering their power through the main character!) and maybe then return for the ball (how cool would it be to have a silent singer sneaking back into the ball hidden by a mask!) but unfortunately the author seemed afraid to truly push her characters to breaking point. Nothing wrong with a softer tale, it just seemed to want to be very dark at times and at others it lost its nerve. I almost didn't finish it, but well, I will do anything for lesbian romance books, as it turns out.
The problem I think lies in that Cadence's choice (whether to rebel or not) is dragged out throughout the whole book and only really resolved at the very end. The choice whether to act or not is interesting as character conflict for about a third of the book, but it can't sustain a whole novel. It has to be forced sooner, otherwise it just feels like this: like the choice was isolated and didn't really change who she is as a character, and it's boring to read about characters that don't change. Remi has a similar problem.
It's just very static and that's sad, because I do like the setting, but it just felt like a succession of catalysts thrown at Cadence (this bad thing happens! then this bad thing happens! then this other bad thing!) but at a certain point it's difficult to care because it seems no matter what happens she won't act.
Since it was marketed as Phantom of the Opera-ish, I had expected that the stakes would be much higher, that Cadence would be expelled (could have introduced the factoid about Expelled mages rediscovering their power through the main character!) and maybe then return for the ball (how cool would it be to have a silent singer sneaking back into the ball hidden by a mask!) but unfortunately the author seemed afraid to truly push her characters to breaking point. Nothing wrong with a softer tale, it just seemed to want to be very dark at times and at others it lost its nerve. I almost didn't finish it, but well, I will do anything for lesbian romance books, as it turns out.