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A review by thewordslinger
A Deal with the Shadow King by Anya J Cosgrove
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it.
There's virtually no world building, no character development, no training for a reason that's never explained, not explanation of how or why Nell has magic, nor any description of exactly what her magic is or does. There's no <i>plot</i>.
For all the time I spent in Nell's head, I don't think she's got a single ounce of personality. She's at once prudish (given her 'old world' upbringing this isn't surprising) and totally 100% open to 'new world' things.
The Shadow King and his curse and whoever or whatever he's fighting make no sense, aren't well explained and by the time things actually began to clear up I'd long ago quit giving a shit.
The relationship fizzled before it ever even got started. Not only because it's confusing as hell who I'm even supposed to like as the MMC but because the MMC and FMC don't spend hardly any time together.
The jumping back and forth between worlds every 2 weeks was stupid and pointless and wasted time.
The 'old world' 'new world' stuff was dumb. It's hard to stay engaged when one character's babbling on about purity and wearing corsets and another's got a tramp stamp and wears jeans and uses an ipod.
I connected with exactly zero of the characters.
This book was a bit of a mess. But I tried. I got through it - though I don't know how because this was a big ol' nothing burger for me.
MAYBE that's because apparently this book is set in a world that's already been explored in other series by this author. It's marketed as a new series, though, and not as a spin off where you'd have to read previous books to truly understand what's going on. So I don't know.
I can tell that the author's got talent. The writing itself was decent. I just - based on this single book - am not confident that Cosgrove is a competent storyteller. Maybe that's harsh, but this book just wasn't a very good first impression.
There's virtually no world building, no character development, no training for a reason that's never explained, not explanation of how or why Nell has magic, nor any description of exactly what her magic is or does. There's no <i>plot</i>.
For all the time I spent in Nell's head, I don't think she's got a single ounce of personality. She's at once prudish (given her 'old world' upbringing this isn't surprising) and totally 100% open to 'new world' things.
The Shadow King and his curse and whoever or whatever he's fighting make no sense, aren't well explained and by the time things actually began to clear up I'd long ago quit giving a shit.
The relationship fizzled before it ever even got started. Not only because it's confusing as hell who I'm even supposed to like as the MMC but because the MMC and FMC don't spend hardly any time together.
The jumping back and forth between worlds every 2 weeks was stupid and pointless and wasted time.
The 'old world' 'new world' stuff was dumb. It's hard to stay engaged when one character's babbling on about purity and wearing corsets and another's got a tramp stamp and wears jeans and uses an ipod.
I connected with exactly zero of the characters.
This book was a bit of a mess. But I tried. I got through it - though I don't know how because this was a big ol' nothing burger for me.
MAYBE that's because apparently this book is set in a world that's already been explored in other series by this author. It's marketed as a new series, though, and not as a spin off where you'd have to read previous books to truly understand what's going on. So I don't know.
I can tell that the author's got talent. The writing itself was decent. I just - based on this single book - am not confident that Cosgrove is a competent storyteller. Maybe that's harsh, but this book just wasn't a very good first impression.