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pagesofwyn's reviews
353 reviews
Dauntless by Elisa A. Bonnin
4.0
First I have to thank Elisa and the publisher for the eARC!
Now, sapphic asian-inspired fantasy already sounded right up my alley and I had a blast reading this. I'll divide my review into characters, worldbuilding, plot and relationships.
Characters: I thought they were all so well-built! We have 3 MCs with their distinctive POVs, Seri, Tsana and Eshai and all of them felt like fully realized people whose motivations I could easily understand and empathize with, not to mention how real all of their struggles felt. With no spoilers, Seri trying to reconcile with a bad past, Eshai struggling with command and Tsana being divided between two sides, they were all done great in my opinion.
Worldbuild: it felt very rich to me, I kept imagining the parts beyond what we get to see in the book and how many other stories could be happening, not in a way that made me wish I was reading those instead, mind you. I just mean to say that I could definitely see myself enjoying a myriad of other stories taking place in this same universe.
Plot: Okay now, this part, I don't know if it was because I was reading a digital copy and I just have a hard time reading ebooks, but some of the pacing felt a little off to me. Just some scenes here and there that I thought were a bit too quick. But otherwise, I think there was a very good balance between the main conflict and Seri and Tsana's romance for example.
Relationships: They had such great dynamics. Seri and Eshai's mentor/mentee relationship was lovely and I loved how protective Eshai grew of Seri meanwhile recognizing, by the end, how much she had grown and being so proud of her for it. And obviously, Seri and Tsana. They were seriously adorable, how they didn't quite see eye to eye at one point but they went out of their way to understand each other because they wanted to, they wanted to be together and worked for it. And then there's also Tsana and Srayan, our main villain, which I thought was interesting but I wish we'd could've gotten a bit more of.
Overall this was such a great read and I'm excited for Stolen City!
Now, sapphic asian-inspired fantasy already sounded right up my alley and I had a blast reading this. I'll divide my review into characters, worldbuilding, plot and relationships.
Characters: I thought they were all so well-built! We have 3 MCs with their distinctive POVs, Seri, Tsana and Eshai and all of them felt like fully realized people whose motivations I could easily understand and empathize with, not to mention how real all of their struggles felt. With no spoilers, Seri trying to reconcile with a bad past, Eshai struggling with command and Tsana being divided between two sides, they were all done great in my opinion.
Worldbuild: it felt very rich to me, I kept imagining the parts beyond what we get to see in the book and how many other stories could be happening, not in a way that made me wish I was reading those instead, mind you. I just mean to say that I could definitely see myself enjoying a myriad of other stories taking place in this same universe.
Plot: Okay now, this part, I don't know if it was because I was reading a digital copy and I just have a hard time reading ebooks, but some of the pacing felt a little off to me. Just some scenes here and there that I thought were a bit too quick. But otherwise, I think there was a very good balance between the main conflict and Seri and Tsana's romance for example.
Relationships: They had such great dynamics. Seri and Eshai's mentor/mentee relationship was lovely and I loved how protective Eshai grew of Seri meanwhile recognizing, by the end, how much she had grown and being so proud of her for it. And obviously, Seri and Tsana. They were seriously adorable, how they didn't quite see eye to eye at one point but they went out of their way to understand each other because they wanted to, they wanted to be together and worked for it. And then there's also Tsana and Srayan, our main villain, which I thought was interesting but I wish we'd could've gotten a bit more of.
Overall this was such a great read and I'm excited for Stolen City!