A review by strangethedreamer
The Waking Land by Callie Bates

1.0

All of the worst YA fantasy tropes are on display here: insta-love, Mary Sue main character who is unbearably annoying (she changes her mind or contradicts herself at least 5 times a page, for all 300+ pages, and is an all round shit to everyone she meets), halfhearted world building, boring one-dimensional villains, too many side characters, and a plot that’s flimsier than a wet tissue. If this wasn’t the fourth disappointing book I had picked up in the span of two days, I might have generously added another star. But tough break for this novel, I guess, for coming last in a line of mediocre wastes of paper, masquerading as books. Ugh. Waste of my time.