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A review by breabooks
The Elflaine Chronicles: Ballad of Dawn by Haley Hamilton
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I received an eARC and all opinions are honest and my own. The last third of the book was amazing- I couldn’t put it down! I can’t wait for the next book. This book has it all- animal companions, strong FMC, broody MMC, fae, witches, magic, and dragons.
The story builds slowly- We join Ailia in her epic quest to find her sister, Elideh, who has probably found the mythical land of Elflaine in Scotland. She joined by Reed, a witch from her past. It was… very slow until Callum shows up. Callum really makes the whole book, in my opinion.
The writing improved throughout the book, but I can tell this is a debut novel with the quality of writing. The first half of the book is written very simply, which is fine, but a little frustrating as I’m used to epic fantasies having a certain amount of flourish. The first half of the book was very repetitive. I’m not a writer myself and commend ANYONE who writes a book because I could never. It’s a huge feat. That being said, the line writing for the first half was very simple. I was begging to get frustrated with the amount of sentences that used “and.” Breaking the sentences up would have made the flow so much better. As I said, the writing significantly improved throughout the story.
Now the story! I enjoyed the modern day setting with a very believable jump into fantasy. I feel like this first book was mostly character and world building. Don’t get me wrong, the world building and character building was great! Reed was possessive but *just* tolerable enough to like. Ailia is, well, a wonderful heroine. Callum… I just love Callum. I can’t say much without spoilers. The real nitty gritty of a unique plot with twists and turns only really occurred in the last 100 pages.
I would definitely suggest this book to anyone wanting to dip their toes into epic fantasy.
The story builds slowly- We join Ailia in her epic quest to find her sister, Elideh, who has probably found the mythical land of Elflaine in Scotland. She joined by Reed, a witch from her past. It was… very slow until Callum shows up. Callum really makes the whole book, in my opinion.
The writing improved throughout the book, but I can tell this is a debut novel with the quality of writing. The first half of the book is written very simply, which is fine, but a little frustrating as I’m used to epic fantasies having a certain amount of flourish. The first half of the book was very repetitive. I’m not a writer myself and commend ANYONE who writes a book because I could never. It’s a huge feat. That being said, the line writing for the first half was very simple. I was begging to get frustrated with the amount of sentences that used “and.” Breaking the sentences up would have made the flow so much better. As I said, the writing significantly improved throughout the story.
Now the story! I enjoyed the modern day setting with a very believable jump into fantasy. I feel like this first book was mostly character and world building. Don’t get me wrong, the world building and character building was great! Reed was possessive but *just* tolerable enough to like. Ailia is, well, a wonderful heroine. Callum… I just love Callum. I can’t say much without spoilers. The real nitty gritty of a unique plot with twists and turns only really occurred in the last 100 pages.
I would definitely suggest this book to anyone wanting to dip their toes into epic fantasy.