Review: The Crown's Game (The Crown's Game #1) by Evelyn Skye

Firstly, thanks to HarperCollins Australia for this review copy <3



Date Read: June 8 - 23 2016
Date Released: July 1st 2016
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Source: Review copy via publisher
Genre: Fantasy
My Rating:

Synopsis:

"Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air.

They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side. And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love . . . or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear . . . the Crown’s Game is not one to lose."

---

When The Crown’s Game was first pitched to me as a Russian fantasy with an amazing love triangle between a prince, a female and male enchanter I wanted this book in my life like nothing else. The cover looked stunning and the premise had me tripping over my own feet trying to get hold of The Crown’s Game. It’s unfortunate I have to add this to the growing pile of disappointing 2016 releases.

What shits me is the book had a fantastic premise, beautiful descriptions and somewhat interesting characters but nothing ever bloody happened. The pace was so off I wanted to DNF so many times – but I soldiered on y’all. I think I deserve a gold medal for it. More than 2 freaking weeks to read this book and it put me off wanting to read altogether because I was so bored.

Vika, the female enchanter at the centre of this story is quite likeable. She’s fiery and full of passion and I liked that her emotions were always on at full force. She acted on instinct; attack first, think later. As someone who grew up on a secluded island she’s naturally slow to trust which came through in the book. I liked the way she reacted to Nikolai and the internal conflict she continually suffered as a result of the Game. Can’t say I had too many qualms with Vika.

Nikolai, too I didn’t have many problems with. Likeable dude who’s had to make his way in the world. Grown up in a home without love but he appreciates what he has and doesn’t complain being taken in by a rich woman to be trained in magic. I also like his progression through the story in regards to internal conflict after meeting Vika.

Love triangle you said. A love triangle that was well done you promised. LIES. ALL LIES. BURN THEM ALL. This was not a desirable love triangle. I felt no passion or angst or ANYTHING. It’s way too subtle and this annoyed me because I was promised a hot love triangle. It would have been way better had it not been sold to me like that. I didn’t glean romantic vibes from Vika or Nikolai for most of the book, save like this one time they properly meet. And the prince is obsessed after one sighting and it’s like whaaaaaaaaaaaat you barely know each other. I don’t buy it.

The writing faltered at the beginning but then it gets really good. Skye’s imagery is stunning and the magic she has the enchanters do is lovely and picturesque. The world building is fantastic and I could picture colourful canals, buildings with intricate columns and painted in pastel. Skye goes into a lot of detail to describe the surroundings and the imaginings of the young enchanters which I appreciated.

But see here’s my problem – the loveliness. Y’all these two are meant to be in a competition to the death. It’s meant to be magic in full force. I expected flaming swords and flying walls of sharp ice. I don’t know I think I went in with very different expectations. I couldn’t believe this was a fight to a death most of the time, more like a show of “my magic is better than yours as you can see by way of my decorating St Petersburg”.

So there’s this going back and forth as they decorate the city to impress the crown and I was bored out of my damn mind because no dire, near death situations were really happening. Or if they were, there was so much loveliness going on it got swept up under the pretty magic rug. It dragged on. And on. And on. It didn’t take long to read, but it was so slow I didn’t want to read anymore. Then the ending happened and it’s meant to be a bit of a twist and shocker but I was so groggy at this point I didn’t even care anymore. It was like yeah whatever next?

I mean if you like a really (and I mean really) slow burn, with lovely light magic and pretty descriptions then this might be for you. May the odds be ever in your favour.

Review: The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Firstly, thanks to Allen & Unwin for this review copy <3



Date Read: May 22-30 2016
Date Released: May 2016
Publisher: Allen & Unwin/Hot Key Books
Source: Review copy via publisher
Genre: Sci-fi/time travel
My Rating:

Note this review may contain some spoilery ranting.

Synopsis:
"Sixteen-year-old Nix Song is a time-traveller. She, her father and their crew of time refugees travel the world aboard The Temptation, a glorious pirate ship stuffed with treasures both typical and mythical. Old maps allow Nix and her father to navigate not just to distant lands, but distant times - although a map will only take you somewhere once. And Nix's father is only interested in one time, and one place: Honolulu 1868. A time before Nix was born, and her mother was alive. Something that puts Nix's existence rather dangerously in question...

Nix has grown used to her father's obsession, but only because she's convinced it can't work. But then a map falls into her father's lap that changes everything. And when Nix refuses to help, her father threatens to maroon Kashmir, her only friend (and perhaps, only love) in a time where Nix will never be able to find him. And if Nix has learned one thing, it's that losing the person you love is a torment that no one can withstand. Nix must work out what she wants, who she is, and where she really belongs before time runs out on her forever."

---

You guys it happened again *cries*. I got sucked in by a pretty cover and lost. The Girl from Everywhere started so strong, in seven short chapters we’d travelled to three different countries and centuries. And after that it all went downhill.

I found that the blurb didn’t explain the book properly. It did not meet my expectations and sadly I felt misled. What I was expecting: a mad race across eras and countries in search of this map to find Nix’s mother (the blurb on my edition didn’t even explain this, all it says is the MC is in danger), something along the lines of Passenger. What I got: 75% of the book spent in Hawaii planning a lame and stupid heist.

The premise goes like this, Nix and her father can time travel through maps (I felt this wasn't properly explained, I felt jipped). And her father’s whole life has been spent trying to get back to Hawaii in the late 19th century to go back to Nix’s mother. The book could have been an action-packed wild goose chase, instead it was a steady bore with them docked in Hawaii for the most part.

Nix was so bland ugh. She’s spent time in the 21st century so she’s got the qualities of a modern teen which is fine. But she’s also meant to have spent just as much time in the 18th – 20th centuries… So when they’re in the 19th century she’s all like “oh I need to act like the Victorian era otherwise ppl will be sus” but she doesn’t? Like what I thought you were meant to have lots of travelling experience how have you not learnt to assimilate into cultures? You could say she’s rebellious but when it comes the time to be rebellious and brave she backs out. Girl get your priorities in order. Pretty sure 90% of the book is her sulking that her dad wants to find her mum and not for one moment does she wonder what it would be like to meet her mum.

Which brings me to the next point. There’s heaps of characters and they all have stories and yet the relationships between these characters are not explored. Father and daughter seemed so fake, no idea how the crew members joined the ship, no inkling of Slate’s (her dad) relationships and feelings towards anybody else except his obsession with Lin (momma Song). And also no mention of whether mother cared for daughter at any point. Where were the connections? The feelings and emotions?

Oh wait! They were too busy being concentrated on the attempt at not-a-love-triangle-but-it-really-is GAGGGG. This was absolutely terrible. Heilig was trying oh so very hard (or maybe not so hard) to make the romance not a love triangle but it 100% was (I’m not sure why I keep using percentages in this review LOL). I was completely on board with one guy but the other guy was completely unbelievable. She was saying how she had feelings for him and I was like no you don’t, you totally like the other guy. AND APPARENTLY THERE’S A SEQUEL SO?

As I mentioned in the beginning, my biggest gripe was with the plot. I felt very misled because there was barely any time travel and it wasn’t some dangerous adventure at all. Ok it sort of was but I was so bored I didn’t feel it. And unfortunately that’s the word I’d use to describe this book: boring. Chapters 1-7 are pretty interesting time travel, then 8 onwards is spent in Hawaii where nothing happens. There’s supposed plotting and schemes but it was all happening extremely slowly. And then Heilig chucks in this random place near the end like no that does not make it better *yawns*.

At first I thought the world-building was good and the writing decent. Then I was speaking with another blogger and she was saying how the Mandarin was wrong and the Hawaiian research was actually not properly done and I was even more disappointed because at this point the book is beyond saving.

Then I got to the end and I was like ARE YOU JOKING ALL OF THAT FOR WHAT? I can’t imagine what the sequel could be about because this story is way finished. 

Review: The Glittering Court (The Glittering Court #1) by Richelle Mead

Firstly, thanks to Penguin Teen Australia for this review copy <3

Date Read: April 18 - 24 2016
Date Released: April 5th 2016
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Source: Review copy via publisher
Genre: Fantasy
My Rating:

Synopsis:

"Big and sweeping, spanning the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.

Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies capable of arranging powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. Adelaide naturally excels in her training and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court.

When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together, they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide’s deception. Complications soon arise—first, as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and later, when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor.

But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vastly uncharted lands."

---

This is not so much a review as a rant with possible spoilers because this book made me roll my eyes so much.

If you know me at all, you know I freaking love Vampire Academy. That series is one of my favourites of all time – like outside of Harry Potter, it’s probably tied for first as my favourite completed series along with Covenant. Romitri is my ultimate ship and I sing praises about VA everywhere (Shadow Kiss cabin scene hnnnng). I also quite like Bloodlines. Thus, when it was announced Richelle Mead was doing a new YA series and I saw the cover for The Glittering Court, I was like GIMME GIMME. Pretty covers: 1, Jaz: 0. I don’t know what happened with this book. I really don’t but it was a major mistake.

The tl;dr is the MC is a Countess, a descendant of one of the founders of her realm. Her family is going broke so she’s about to be married off to another rich noble to save face. She’s like nahhhh pls I don’t wanna be forced into an arranged marriage so I’ll run away to this thing where pleb girls are trained to be upper class women, then shipped off to one of the New Colonies to be married off to rich men. LIKE DO YOU SEE THE PROBLEM HERE? What she did was utterly pointless. Choice taken away from her in the beginning, only to be essentially forced into another marriage in the end? Sure she may get to somewhat ‘choose’ but not really, as you’ll see if you do decide to pick up this mess of a story.

The alias our Countess takes on is Adelaide when she runs away to join the Glittering Court. The first thing I’ll say is that I felt nothing for Adelaide. No sympathy, no pity, I could not relate to her for most of the book. Don’t want to be forced into an arranged marriage? Great I get that. But the decisions she makes ultimately have her end up in situations of powerlessness and this pissed me off so much. She throws away her title, her wealth and ties to her family so she can be trained to be something she already is. Then she gets herself into a whole lot of shit and complains that she’s suffocating again and we’re back to square one. WHYYYYYY? There was no love in the initial arranged marriage and she KNOWS that the suitors she’ll get from the Glittering Court will also be political. Pointless.

Mira and Tamsin are the main secondary characters introduced as her besties. Mira disappears a lot throughout the book doing God knows what and Tamsin is this ambitious girl who wants to be the best and marry the richest. While it’s great Adelaide has friends I didn’t see the point to these two. Their stories could really be expanded upon more and I thought they were just… Used. They were there for the sake of Adelaide’s convenience so that if anything happened, the besties were used as plot devices to get her out of trouble. Really? I’m hoping that their motives and stories are expanded upon in sequels (this seems to be a series) because this was ultimate character wastage.

Yes there’s romance, no there’s no love triangle thank goodness or I would have thrown a fit and the book too (nah not really, that cover’s still too pretty). Do I ship it? I guess? Is he comparable to Dimitri or Adrian? AHAHAHAHAHAHA PLEASE MOVE TO THE END OF THE LINE CEDRIC. I had no feels. None. I mean how did we go from Romitri and Sydrian to THIS? This… Nothing. I know I shouldn’t compare but I can’t help it. I mean don’t get me wrong, Cedric seems like a lovely young man, upstanding citizen, nice guy you get what I mean but the feels were missing. I was like ok yeah great get on with it now please.

Now the plot. What a mess. What was even going on? There was religion/heresy mixed in with the supposed challenges of inhabiting new colonies that were forcefully taken from indigenous peoples. But this wasn’t expanded upon either. It’s like Mead added these onto the side in an attempt to give this more substance than a pure Bachelor (that TV show that everybody watches but I refuse to hah) style story. It did not work at all. I got mega confused and when these were tied into the plot, especially at the end, it just added a whole lot of WTF. Like wait this was happening and it had such an effect but it was never actually talked about? I CAN’T EVEN.

This was made all the worse by poor world-building and terribad writing. It’s not a fantasy world. It’s like Mead just took early colonised USA and changed the names. Osfrid is very reminiscent of England, the Icori are basically the Scottish and the New Colonies are California during the Gold Rush. But it didn’t feel historical because the language was so modern. Minus the tech, the slang and colloquialisms were very 21st century. It’s like taking late 19th century/early 20th century US, with English fashion/customs and dropping a bunch of 21st century teens in costumes into this setting. It doesn’t work. It really doesn’t. Then add on Adelaide’s first person POV which is written in a very detached manner and it’s like I’m being told everything rather than shown. ALL THE TELLING. She breaks down into tears for a lot of things but I don’t feel anything because she TELLS me she’s crying. Her feelings aren’t explained. Everything is seen almost from behind a glass wall. Worstttttt.

Welps I just wrote a 1,000 word review for a pointless book. Rip. Save yourself 400 pages and read something better.

Review: What We Left Behind by Robin Talley

Firstly, thanks to Harlequin Teen Australia for this review copy <3



Date Read: October 7 - 17 2015
Date Released: October 19th 2015
Publisher: Harlequin Teen Australia

Product Page: What We Left Behind on Harlequin Teen Australia

Source: Review copy via publisher
Genre: Contemporary
My Rating:

Synopsis:

"From the critically acclaimed author of Lies We Tell Ourselves comes an emotional, empowering story of what happens when love isn't enough to conquer all.

Toni and Gretchen are the couple everyone envied in high school. They've been together forever. They never fight. They're deeply, hopelessly in love. When they separate for their first year at college—Toni to Harvard and Gretchen to NYU—they're sure they'll be fine. Where other long-distance relationships have fallen apart, their relationship will surely thrive.

The reality of being apart, however, is a lot different than they expected. As Toni, who identifies as genderqueer, falls in with a group of transgender upperclassmen and immediately finds a sense of belonging that has always been missing, Gretchen struggles to remember who she is outside their relationship.

While Toni worries that Gretchen, who is not trans, just won't understand what is going on, Gretchen begins to wonder where she fits in Toni's life. As distance and Toni's shifting gender identity begin to wear on their relationship, the couple must decide—have they grown apart for good, or is love enough to keep them together?"

---

What We Left Behind started with a prologue of instalove. Alarm bells were going off in my head when I read this. I decided to give WWLB the benefit of the doubt as I progressed through the first chapter because this book deals with very important issues. Transgender/genderqueer books are rare and few, and pretty much non-existent in YA. I’m not at all knowledgeable about this community of people who don’t identify with the sex they were born with. As such I thought by reading WWLB I would have a better understanding of genderqueer people and what they have to face.

What I got instead were two teenage girls going off to college and both wallowing in self-pity. We have Toni who identifies with being genderqueer (somewhat, I’ll get onto this later) and her (his?) high school sweetheart Gretchen who’s all sorts of supportive and an amazing girlfriend. They’re hailed as the perfect couple but there’s trouble in paradise when they go to college in different states and find their own friends. Toni finds the genderqueer community at Harvard and fits right in, while Gretchen just sort of trudges through her college life at NYU.

In reality this isn’t about Toni and Gretchen. It’s really about Toni and the effect her/his selfishness has on those around them. Honestly Toni got worse and worse for me throughout the book. I wanted to shake this girl/guy so hard. They’re struggling to figure out where they fit in on the gender scale and says they’re non-binary (identifying as neither male or female) which is fine by me. But she/he decides to lecture everybody else on this. Toni goes on and on about how they hate gender pronouns (I just went through this whole paragraph editing because I wrote ‘she’) and I swear to god every time I read from their perspective I felt like I was getting a textbook lecture. Yes you’re struggling with your identity Toni, yes everybody is different, but no you are NOT the centre of the world. Toni has this amazing support network of other transgender and genderqueer students as soon as she/he enters Harvard but feels they too need to be lectured. That nobody should be using gender pronouns. This pissed me off because some of those people clearly wanted to identify as a particular gender and Toni was denying them that which they had struggled so much to reach. It was like Toni’s opinion of not fitting in a particular gender applied to everybody but nobody else understood her/him. As a result Toni pushes away anybody who isn’t part of his/her community and assumes such outsiders couldn’t ever possibly understand what he/she is going through. No consideration for other people’s feelings whatsoever. Nope. This selfishness. Went. On. For. The. Whole. Damn. Book.

Poor Gretchen tries to understand what Toni is going through. Gretch is actually the most supportive girlfriend ever. She’s always thinking about what she’s saying so as not to offend Toni, she stops using gender pronouns too. I really liked Gretchen as a person overall. She’s very selfless but at the same time a bit of a doormat. It annoyed me the way she let other people walk over her (especially Toni). However, she does grow as a person and I liked her character development towards the end of the book.

I generally liked the supporting characters, especially Toni’s friends. I liked Derek’s enthusiasm and being able to see Eli’s transition – his struggles and the family aspect. I thought that, of Toni’s friends, Nance was the most realistic. Nance wasn’t afraid to tell Toni that she thought Toni was acting all high and mighty. On Gretchen’s side we got very little. She had one friend and one roommate and I would’ve liked more of this. What I didn’t like about the secondary characters was that anybody who was straight/cis was portrayed as ignorant and/or hateful, even the nicer characters (or they barely appeared in the book). Like what, we’re not all like that. Some of us want to understand (hence why I read this book).

Romance wise I just did not get the feels. I was just annoyed at Toni because Gretchen kept giving and Toni kept taking and not giving back. That is not how relationships work. I have nothing more to say about this because the romance just didn’t work for me.

Plot wise, the story is just the progression through the school year following Toni as they try to find their identity with bits of Gretchen interspersed. I thought there could have been a whole lot more world-building with regards to college life and the difference between Harvard and NYU.

And let’s also add in that as genderqueer/transgender representation goes, this book was centred on a college community within Harvard. All these students are privileged either way. So what, you might think, doesn’t mean they don’t have the same problems as others. But being privileged changes many things. Toni’s friends and himself/herself included were loaded. They could all afford to buy the things they needed/wanted and pay for doctors/treatment. Toni took their family’s money for granted and would just spend and spend their parent’s credit card. Toni had no job, couldn’t technically support himself/herself (most people I know had their own income in college, myself included) and I thought that while they were struggling with gender identity, being affluent meant they were ignorant to a whole lot of other issues. I mean this isn’t even that important/doesn’t really relate to the book but it was another thing that ticked me off.

I felt that What We Left Behind could have been a really good book because the premise is fantastic, addressing a topic that’s not widely talked about in YA. Sadly it just fell short and I couldn’t enjoy it at all.

Review: After Eden (After Eden #1) by Helen Douglas

Firstly, thanks to Bloomsbury Australia for this review copy <3



Date Read: November 28 - 30 2013

Date Released: January 1st 2014

Publisher: Bloomsbury Australia

Source: ARC via publisher

Genre: Sci-fi/time travel
My Rating: 

Synopsis:

"When mysterious new boy Ryan Westland shows up at her school Eden Anfield is intrigued. On the face of it, he's a typical American teenager. So how come he doesn't recognise pizza and hasn't heard of Hitler? What puzzles Eden most, however, is the interest he's taking in her.

As Eden falls in love with Ryan, she stumbles across a book in Ryan's bedroom - a biography of her best friend - written fifty years in the future. Unravelling Ryan's secret, she discovers he has one unbelievably important purpose ... and she might just have destroyed his only chance of success."

---

I’m not quite sure how I feel about After Eden. I’d wanted to read this since hearing about it in 2012 but the Australian release date kept getting pushed back; by the time I got my hands on this I think the hype just sort of died and I wasn’t as excited to read it anymore. There was also the issue that I’d read another time travel book before this, and the former really blew me away. I couldn’t help but compare the two which meant After Eden wasn’t as great as I wanted it to be.

In a small English town, new kid, beautiful and mysterious Ryan, is drawn to seemingly ordinary Eden. As the two become closer questions arise, friendships are tested, and there don’t seem to be enough answers for Ryan’s presence and his mysterious ways.

Eden was so bland and boring. She’s not ambitious or strong, just sort of goes with the flow with wherever life is taking her. A lot of the time I thought she was lost in her own little world, going about her daily life in the here and now and not thinking at all about her future. I guess that’s alright given that I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after high school, but the fact that she doesn’t care… well it made me not care for her. I couldn’t really relate to her.

Ryan was sweet I guess. I liked that he wasn’t damaged or broken. However, his secrets and mysteriousness coupled with how keen he was on Eden made me just a little wary. Let’s be honest, in real life, his enthusiasm would border on obsession and I just wasn’t as ok with that as I wanted to be.

In the face of the actual plot dealing with time travel, I thought After Eden lacked the focus it should’ve had on this aspect and instead concentrated too much on the high school life. I got none of the impending rush or doom that usually accompanies a revelation of this scale. For ¾ of this I felt like I was watching everything on mute, or through a hazy veil which significantly dulled my emotions and response to this book.

I really liked the astronomy aspect to this book – it gave it a very romantic feeling. Instead of accentuating the time travel and supposed seriousness of the plot though, I thought this took away from the point of the book and made it a fluffy high school read.

Not much else to say because I just have this sense of ennui after reading this book. Hopefully the sequel holds more promise.

Review: Shadowfell (Shadowfell #1) by Juliet Marillier

Firstly, thanks to Pan Macmillan Australia for this review copy <3

Date Read: December 1 - 8 2013
Date Published: July 21st 2012
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Source: Review copy via publisher
Genre: High fantasy
My Rating: 

Synopsis:
"The people of Alban are afraid.
The tyrannical king and his masked Enforcers are scouring the land, burning villages and enslaving the canny.

Fifteen-year-old Neryn has fled her home in the wake of its destruction, and is alone and penniless, hiding her extraordinary magical power. She can rely on no one – not even the elusive Good Folk who challenge and bewilder her with their words.

When an enigmatic stranger saves her life, Neryn and the young man called Flint begin an uneasy journey together. She wants to trust Flint but how can she tell who is true in this land of evil?

For Neryn has heard whisper of a mysterious place far away: a place where rebels are amassing to free the land and end the King's reign.

A place called Shadowfell.

A story of courage, hope, danger and love from one of the most compelling fantasy storytellers."

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I think choosing Shadowfell as my first Juliet Marillier book was a mistake. I’m told I should’ve started with her Sevenwaters series. I was so excited when I was asked to review this because I could finally read something by Marillier. However, it’s taken me over a year after reading this to finally review it because I barely have anything to say about Shadowfell.

Neryn is a 15 year-old who can apparently see the Good Folk, a trait that either gets people in the Kingdom of Alban killed or recruited and used by the tyrannical king to exact cruelty and inflict fear on its people. So Neryn runs and tries to remain hidden. She aims to reach Shadowfell to aid the rebellion with her skills. I can’t say much about Neryn’s character. She wasn’t amazing. She didn’t stand out. She was just flat. Quiet and shy, trying to stay hidden she sort of went about everything hesitantly and with doubt. I don’t know, I feel that a 15yo protagonist with such a weight on her shoulders is just a bit much. I saw no strength or determination to her and those attributes are, in my opinion, key to a successful YA high fantasy heroine.

The majority of Neryn’s journey is spent alone, interspersed with some appearances by the Good Folk who aid her journey despite her reservations. As a result I can’t say there was much of a supporting cast. For me, this made the story a bit dull as the Good Folk didn’t have a lasting impression on me.

One presence though was Flint. He’s the mysterious man who keeps saving her but seems to have his own agenda. I really liked the intrigue of his character although I could easily guess who he was. I aim eager to hear more about his history though as he’s quite a conflicted character.

What’s a YA high fantasy without a little romance? I liked how the romance was in the background and was very slow to develop and not at the forefront of the story. It made Neryn’s journey the focus which was the most important thing. This could have foregone the romance and Marillier would have still delivered.

My biggest issue with this book was the pacing. A snail’s pace. It made it seem like the story never moved on. There is walking. And walking. And walking. And more walking. Barely anything happens but this incessant amount of walking. There’s like self-discovery and stuff at certain points but coupled with the exceedingly slow movement I just couldn’t wait for this book to end. I just needed something to happen and nothing ever did. The walking never really built up to anything spectacular. Maybe this improves in the next book?

Marillier has a lovely writing style and her world-building is detailed, filled with lush descriptions and entrancing words. However, it just wasn’t for me. The way words were strung together were too much for me – I couldn’t concentrate properly and it made the slow pace of the book drag even more because I thought there were a lot of unnecessary words that hindered the story’s movement and progression. It’s fantasy style writing which I usually adore but for some reason it just didn’t work for me.

While I can see the potential for this series and why people love Marillier, this book wasn’t for me. I had too many problems with it and it was just so boring. There I said it. What this review amounted to – this book bored me so much I nearly DNF’d it. But I did and I WILL try Raven’s Flight because I have hope.