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A review by mikasana
Echo of Wings by Sophia St. Germain
Did not finish book. Stopped at 40%.
DNF @ 40%
While the premise is interesting and the writing is good, there were a number of things that kept me from finishing this. Mostly small, fixable but distracting things. These are my opinions so take them with a grain of salt.
My number one issue was pacing. Most stories that have issues with pacing are because certain scenes and intros are too slow. This story had the opposite effect. At times it felt like there were too many things happening at once and some moments felt like they were immediately glossed over without being able to conceptualize them. Due to this, it felt like the “good” parts were rushed and as a reader, you don’t get a chance to digest it or connect with the characters at a depth I would have liked. There’s also a lot of telling and not showing that happens during very emotional scenes which I think could have been better. Meanwhile there are other moments that I felt were not necessary for the plot and they could have been cut out instead while focusing on the plot-essential scenes.
My other issues were that it felt a little too cheesy at times. Some of the dialogue had me wincing. But that’s mostly a me thing.
Then there were other scenes that felt like I was just transported back into Fourth Wing and some events were too similar even for me. It ruined the moment for me because then it just felt like I was in fanfic territory and lost my connection with the story.
My DNFs are usually 1 star ratings but since this had a lot of cool elements and I still thought the writing and premise were interesting, I want to rate it higher. And since this is a debut album, I am hoping the author continues to write more fantasy and that the books continue to only get better. I can see myself reading more from them in the future and look forward to more stories from them.
While the premise is interesting and the writing is good, there were a number of things that kept me from finishing this. Mostly small, fixable but distracting things. These are my opinions so take them with a grain of salt.
My number one issue was pacing. Most stories that have issues with pacing are because certain scenes and intros are too slow. This story had the opposite effect. At times it felt like there were too many things happening at once and some moments felt like they were immediately glossed over without being able to conceptualize them. Due to this, it felt like the “good” parts were rushed and as a reader, you don’t get a chance to digest it or connect with the characters at a depth I would have liked. There’s also a lot of telling and not showing that happens during very emotional scenes which I think could have been better. Meanwhile there are other moments that I felt were not necessary for the plot and they could have been cut out instead while focusing on the plot-essential scenes.
My other issues were that it felt a little too cheesy at times. Some of the dialogue had me wincing. But that’s mostly a me thing.
Then there were other scenes that felt like I was just transported back into Fourth Wing and some events were too similar even for me. It ruined the moment for me because then it just felt like I was in fanfic territory and lost my connection with the story.
My DNFs are usually 1 star ratings but since this had a lot of cool elements and I still thought the writing and premise were interesting, I want to rate it higher. And since this is a debut album, I am hoping the author continues to write more fantasy and that the books continue to only get better. I can see myself reading more from them in the future and look forward to more stories from them.