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A review by mckinney_shannon
Castle of Lies by Kiersi Burkhart
1.0
I was given an advanced readers copy of "Castle of Lies" by NetGalley for an open an honest review of the book.
With that being said, I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis sounded fantastic, and right up my alley - unfortunately the book didn't deliver for me.
The book is being marketed as YA (Young Adult) Fiction, and I was honestly SHOCKED by topics brought up. From the beginning of the book there is an overtone of severe alcoholism, and it continues throughout. Other topics that I personally think were quite strong, and descriptive for YA fiction include: detailed sexual encounters, incest, inter-species love, violence, talk of rape, and the list goes on and on. Those are some very heavy themes in my opinion for YA Fiction.
On top of the heavy subject matter I found the characters highly impersonal, and unlikable. By the end of it I really couldn't care less about what happened to them. At times things happening in the book were confusing, and not clearly communicated.
The plot was slow, and it barely kept my attention. It took me quite some time to finish this book. To be honest I only finished the book, because I was given an ARC otherwise I probably wouldn't have finished it. It was also (besides the heavy themes) a very typical YA, Fantasy, Romance, and the ending was quite predictable.
The publish date is set for May 7, 2019 as of now if you're interested in the strong subject matter I spoke of. Or, if you just want to see if I am being harsh you could always check it out for yourself. I however wouldn't recommend it, and I definitely wouldn't recommend it for the targeted age group starting at 13 and going up.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC
With that being said, I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis sounded fantastic, and right up my alley - unfortunately the book didn't deliver for me.
The book is being marketed as YA (Young Adult) Fiction, and I was honestly SHOCKED by topics brought up. From the beginning of the book there is an overtone of severe alcoholism, and it continues throughout. Other topics that I personally think were quite strong, and descriptive for YA fiction include: detailed sexual encounters, incest, inter-species love, violence, talk of rape, and the list goes on and on. Those are some very heavy themes in my opinion for YA Fiction.
On top of the heavy subject matter I found the characters highly impersonal, and unlikable. By the end of it I really couldn't care less about what happened to them. At times things happening in the book were confusing, and not clearly communicated.
The plot was slow, and it barely kept my attention. It took me quite some time to finish this book. To be honest I only finished the book, because I was given an ARC otherwise I probably wouldn't have finished it. It was also (besides the heavy themes) a very typical YA, Fantasy, Romance, and the ending was quite predictable.
The publish date is set for May 7, 2019 as of now if you're interested in the strong subject matter I spoke of. Or, if you just want to see if I am being harsh you could always check it out for yourself. I however wouldn't recommend it, and I definitely wouldn't recommend it for the targeted age group starting at 13 and going up.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC