jaedyn's reviews
418 reviews

Bone Crier's Moon by Kathryn Purdie

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Reign Returned by Katie Keridan

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I gave this book 4 stars. It was fun, with under-hyped tropes, goofy side characters, and an original world. I look forward to continuing the series and discovering what our protagonists do next.

I recommend picking this up if you love things like animal familiars, reincarnated lovers, portals, and spending time in caves.

Positives

An original plot with some fun tropes
Adorable animal familiars
An interesting world structure
Easy to read

Negatives
World-building is lacking
The use of Celtic languages in the magic system is unfortunate

The Plot

The plot of this book was original, fun, and addictive. It was well-structured and well-paced, which made it easy to read, but resulted in the narrative reading quite young, probably best for early to mid-teens. However, this is not to the book’s detriment, as it holds other strengths.

For example, the story includes loads of fairytale elements, such as portals, dragons, familiars, and magic. It read similarly to how I imagine a novelised animated Barbie movie would read - with simple chronology, interesting twists, romance, and funny talking animals.

The plot felt refreshing - something other than the same fae romances being pumped out at the moment. Once I got through the first couple of chapters, I flew through.

One thing that needs to be noted is the author’s use of dreams as a plot device. While I think it worked well for the most part, it added to the youthfulness of the narration. Dreams often feel lazy; however, what the dreams revealed were some of my favourite parts, so I can’t complain.

The book ends on a pretty satisfying cliffhanger, which sets up the next book in the series. I’m excited to see where the story takes us, because the author uses one of my favourite tropes - reincarnated lovers (this is not a spoiler; it’s the epilogue) - and I’m curious to see how she plays with its potential fallout.

The Characters

The characters in the book are very lovable. Like many other YA books, Sheridan uses the grumpy x sunshine trope. However, I adored how sweet Sebastian was once you read between his broody lines. And Kyra doesn’t disappoint with her soft yet determined disposition. But it’s not the protagonists that steal the show, it’s the cartoonishly animated familiars.

Within this universe, every person is assigned an animal who will help guide them through life. They are bonded so that the humans can converse with their animal, and the animal can read their minds and emotions.

The protagonists have wonderful familiars, but Sebastian’s bat companion, Batty, was my favourite. I picture him as Pimm from Barbie in the Nutcracker - sweet, funny, mysterious, and perfectly complementary to Sebastian’s angst.

If you know me, you know I am not a fan of dragons (shock horror). However, if I were a fan, it would be because of stories like this. Sheridan perfectly captures that Merlin-esque dragon who hoards treasure and gives cryptic advice. The dragon added a level of whimsy to this story, which bumped my rating up.

The World

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will be continuing with the series. However, my biggest issue is with the world-building and magic system.

Reign Returned does an unfortunate thing that plagues the fantasy writing space - it appropriates Celtic languages.

While reading, I was taken out of the story by the suspiciously familiar language system used to conduct magic. Upon further inspection (AKA Google), it turns out that the majority of the magical language was Welsh, and the rest was Gaelic. Discovering this was unfortunate, but not uncommon in the fantasy space. If given the opportunity, this should be reviewed, as it tarnishes an otherwise fantastic magic system.

Besides the magic system, the world-building could use some work, too. The structure is quite simple to follow - two realms, divided by blood. However, glaring holes started to form when I thought too hard about the world. What was disappointing is that some of those holes felt positioned for
convenience of the story.

The author mentions broader political and social issues within the worlds, which give an idea of where the plot is headed. I look forward to exploring them in the next books, as there is potential for more political intrigue.

I’m not going to excuse poor world-building just because this is a YA book - I’ve read fantastic YA fantasies with strong world-building. However, I’ll give Sheridan the benefit of the doubt and assume the lack of depth is due to following two individuals who don’t understand much about their worlds either.

Originality

This book is a solid 7.5/10 for originality. I enjoyed the tropes and how the author used them. The world-building may be lacking, but it’s going somewhere interesting. While the protagonists were fairly standard for YA, they were endearing, and the side characters were a lot of fun.

Overall

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I look forward to reading the rest of the series and discovering what our protagonists do next. I hope Sheridan expands the worlds more as the series progresses, and I can’t wait to see if Kyra and Sebastian's relationship develops.

Disclaimer:

Thank you to Bookinfluencers.com for sending me the trilogy in exchange for an honest review.

Instagram: @KatieKeridan; Tiktok: @KatieKeridan; X: @KKeridan; Facebook: @KatieKeridan #reignreturned #blooddivided #realmunited #felserpentchronicles

These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan

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medium-paced