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A review by lotoazul
Garden of Thorns and Light by Shylah Addante
4.0
i am giving this book four stars with the caveat that the last star is entirely for one benjamin taylor, who is utterly precious and deserves every star in the sky.
full disclosure: i know shylah personally; we're fellow members of the hunger games fansite community so we've been friendly for years. given our familiarity, i feel it appropriate for me to summarize my feelings as i finish this book thusly:
SHYLAH. WHAT.
that said, i really did enjoy this book a lot. both amethyst and ben felt like real teenagers, and the conflict between the fairy world and the human world is rife with opportunities-- still plenty of places for it to go; even when it's been done often in this age of fantasy and urban fantasy, i think this is a fresh take on it. and as i suggested earlier, if you don't absolutely fall in love with ben, i don't know what's wrong with you because ben should be everyone's boyfriend.
the lore of the fairy world was interesting and made me want to know more, and i really liked how it weaved down into the dynamics of amethyst's family. i was already super curious about her mother's death as it was, so later twists that involved even more relatives really worked for me, and i liked the way it all came together.
still, it's not a perfect book. i did, at points, feel like amethyst was being a little too credulous about absynth's intentions ("has this girl never watched a horror movie?!" was a common refrain as i read through the book). however, i think considering that she's been treated like a weirdo her entire life, her gullibility is understandable, if not personally relatable. and i did think the climax was a little too quick. i could've used a little less padding in the middle if that meant the ending could be a little more stretched out. BUT! i can forgive that as long as we get a sequel, hint hint nudge nudge.
all in all, though, this is pretty damn good for a first outing. congrats to shylah, and hope to see much more of this universe in the future!
full disclosure: i know shylah personally; we're fellow members of the hunger games fansite community so we've been friendly for years. given our familiarity, i feel it appropriate for me to summarize my feelings as i finish this book thusly:
SHYLAH. WHAT.
that said, i really did enjoy this book a lot. both amethyst and ben felt like real teenagers, and the conflict between the fairy world and the human world is rife with opportunities-- still plenty of places for it to go; even when it's been done often in this age of fantasy and urban fantasy, i think this is a fresh take on it. and as i suggested earlier, if you don't absolutely fall in love with ben, i don't know what's wrong with you because ben should be everyone's boyfriend.
the lore of the fairy world was interesting and made me want to know more, and i really liked how it weaved down into the dynamics of amethyst's family. i was already super curious about her mother's death as it was, so later twists that involved even more relatives really worked for me, and i liked the way it all came together.
still, it's not a perfect book. i did, at points, feel like amethyst was being a little too credulous about absynth's intentions ("has this girl never watched a horror movie?!" was a common refrain as i read through the book). however, i think considering that she's been treated like a weirdo her entire life, her gullibility is understandable, if not personally relatable. and i did think the climax was a little too quick. i could've used a little less padding in the middle if that meant the ending could be a little more stretched out. BUT! i can forgive that as long as we get a sequel, hint hint nudge nudge.
all in all, though, this is pretty damn good for a first outing. congrats to shylah, and hope to see much more of this universe in the future!