Scan barcode
A review by hotpinkmess
Seraphina's Lament by Sarah Chorn
Did not finish book. Stopped at 36%.
Given the reviews of this book, I desperately wanted to like it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the original take and strangeness on a unique magic system that I don't recall encountering quite like it, and there were moments of beautiful prose smattered here and there--but the pacing of this story was too fast for me. Characters seemed so immature and young, with stilted dialogue that didn't quite seem to fit them and their circumstances or ages. There were moments of such quicksilver emotional changes that jarred me from the story.
It wants to be a grimdark fantasy, and elements of that genre are present. Yet the quick way the book skips through everything makes it seem like an afterthought with little emotional impact on the reader.
I wasn't able to feel like I should care about anything.
And that is a shame because, again, this story has so much potential. It's so close to doing what I think it wants to do--but falls short of being emotionally impactful. I found myself skipping dialogue or skimming it when possible and realized that I was purposefully skipping pages trying to get to parts that would capture my interest.
I want to like this book, but I cannot. I am more than willing to keep giving the author's future books a try, but this one will have to go on my DNF.
I thoroughly enjoyed the original take and strangeness on a unique magic system that I don't recall encountering quite like it, and there were moments of beautiful prose smattered here and there--but the pacing of this story was too fast for me. Characters seemed so immature and young, with stilted dialogue that didn't quite seem to fit them and their circumstances or ages. There were moments of such quicksilver emotional changes that jarred me from the story.
It wants to be a grimdark fantasy, and elements of that genre are present. Yet the quick way the book skips through everything makes it seem like an afterthought with little emotional impact on the reader.
I wasn't able to feel like I should care about anything.
And that is a shame because, again, this story has so much potential. It's so close to doing what I think it wants to do--but falls short of being emotionally impactful. I found myself skipping dialogue or skimming it when possible and realized that I was purposefully skipping pages trying to get to parts that would capture my interest.
I want to like this book, but I cannot. I am more than willing to keep giving the author's future books a try, but this one will have to go on my DNF.