Accession

Sarath Web #1

by Terah Edun

Sixteen-year-old Katherine Thompson wasn’t trained to rule a coven. That was her sister – perfect, beautiful Rose. But when a mysterious plane crash kills off the heir presumptive of the Sandersville coven she has no choice.

After stepping in to fill her sister’s shoes, Katherine realizes she didn’t have a clue – faery wars, depressed trolls and angry unicorns are just the beginning.

For centuries, her family has served the high Queens on both sides of the Atlantic but it is a well-known rule that mid-level witches stay away from high-level Queens.

But when Katherine’s youngest cousin vanishes without a trace in the Atlanta court and no one wants to investigate, Katherine decides to step into the darkness on her own. She will soon discover that nothing, especially in a queen's court, is as it seems.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Witches, Romance, Paranormal, Magic

395 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 2014

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Reviews

[Dana · Rating 1 out of 5]

I now present: A review in One Gif

[Yzabel Ginsberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

(I was given a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

This was a fast read, but I'm afraid to admit that's because I ended up skimming after a while: I couldn't stand the telling-not-showing style. Actually, I was this close to DNFing, and only finished because I felt I had to write a review.

There was definite groundwork here for an interesting world (the witch queens of the original thirteen colonies, having to maintain political balance between various factions of supernatural creatures...). It is a rich world, with a lot of tensions, differences between the Queens and how they rule their respective territories, alliances that may be toppled at the slightest change, diplomatic conundrums to keep in mind, and a potential political assassination (Rose's death was pitched as an accident; I so can't believe that).

However, I think this setting wasn't exploited in a way that would have made the reading pleasant, mostly because of the pacing and the writing style—two aspects that tie into each other, in my opinion. I started sensing this problem in the first two chapters, and it got confirmed later, as more and more information was dumped onto the reader in the middle of scenes. For instance, there's this one scene where the Queen is sentencing a secondary character, and while it should have been filled with tension, it got slowed down by Katherine remembering information about other courts and other events: it wasn't uninteresting, but it definitely dragged the plot down. Other similar scenes suffered the same fate.

Also, Katherine's character just didn't appeal to me, both in personality and in how almost everything was introduced. She had a tendency to just voice out loud whatever went through her head, especially when she was alone, which looked really weird (this coming from someone who tends to think out loud, so if I find it bizarre, then it sure means something). She acted in immature ways, wasted time in useless bouts of dialogue. Worst, most of the time, I was told she was this and that, felt like this or that, supposed this or that character thought this or that... A lot of telling, and too little showing. It coincided with a few plot points coming out of the blue: we're told she's not popular at school, is picked on by teachers and at best ignored by a lot of pupils... but then, around the 25% mark, we suddenly learn she had a boyfriend six months ago. I think he should have been introduced sooner, since it was kind of important (all the more because of some big reveal later on).

As mentioned above, the writing consisted in much more telling than actual actions showing the characters as they really were, and I caught quite a few similes that looked pretty strange and useless:

"Their massive trunks were so wide at the base that the trees looked like the round teepees of the Native American shamans who came to Georgia once a year to renew the sacred 1850 concord of Coven-Shaman Relations."

Some sentences/paragraphs I had to read three times in order to get their meaning:

"I guess I can’t ever call life in Sandersville boring again, Katherine thought wryly as she ignored an itch in her eye that she firmly told herself she’d deal with later. She didn’t want to draw attention to her presence in the room now. Besides, it was more than an itch. As long as she ignored the sensation it would wait and simmer, like an itch at the corner of her eye. That itch that represented more than a space of skin in need of being scratched, it was the patch on her mind and heart that was holding closed a dark well ready to burst open with the rush of emotions boarded up behind its cap."

And the one mistake I really, really can't deal with:

"The gator’s mouth might as well of been a flimsy stick..."

This book would have needed a couple more rounds of editing.

Conclusion: I skimmed, I unfortunately got bored, I didn't really get a sense of a plot, and the writing style irked me in no time.

[Shelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

**I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

*Genre* Young Adult Paranormal
*Rating* 2-2.5

*MY THOUGHTS*

Accession is the first installment in a new series called Sarath Web by Terah Edun. The story is told in the first POV by Sixteen-year old Katherine Thompson. Accession has a variety of unusual paranormal characters like were-peacocks, licorn (twisted unicorns), along with fae, witches, daemons, and powerful queens who rule in the original 13 states.

Katherine has grown up knowing that her sister Rose would be the eventual heir to her mother the current Queen of Sandersville (Actual city in Georgia). Even though Katherine is probably more powerful than Rose (based on OTHER things that happen in the story), she really doesn't want anything to do with the throne itself, and would love to be able to finish school, and leave Sandersville completely behind. After Rose dies in an apparent plane crash, and other mysterious disappearance, Katherine finds herself thrust into the spotlight, and understands that nothing will be the same again.

I wanted to read Accession because I have been following right along with Terah's Sworn To series, and was hoping for something different than my usual reads. Katherine Thompson acts more like a 12 year old child, at times, rather than a 16 year old who has abilities than perhaps rival her own mothers. She doesn't exactly have the best relationship with her mother, or her sister, and has no real friends at school except perhaps Connor, the required gay character, and her cousin Cecily.

The situation behind Rose's death was kicked aside by different conflicts, and is never really explained, or deemed worthy by the Queen, her own mother. Katherine is then lured away from the entire situation when another important event happens, and she is required to work with her "frustrating" ex-boyfriend Ethan. There is no insta-romance, or 3 way love triangles in Accession which is one of the positives I must report.

As I haven't DNF'd a book in over 4 years, Accession came the closest to becoming the first and breaking my long streak. To say I am utterly puzzled and disappointed by Accession, is the understatement of the year. I truly believe that it should be absolutely mandatory for a story to go through a professional editing, even if you are an independent author, before releasing your work. It is YOUR work, why not put out the very best you can?

Accession suffers from silly mistakes that are common in books released by self published authors. Example: One minute Katherine is driving her own car, the next paragraph she's somehow driving her sisters, and then back again to her car. There's another situation involving Katherine's past which doesn't jive at all. There are missing words, words that are misspelled, and the story comes off as being discombobulated, and feeling as though it was rushed to publication. These kind of silly mistakes are easily caught with perhaps several different pair of eyes.

I said this in my updates, but I'll repeat it here. A writer should absolutely understand the culture and setting of where their story is being told. Nobody that I know of in the South uses the term calm as a cucumber. Calm before the storm would have been more appropriate. Having lived here for 15 years, I would have remembered if they did.

We might also use the term cold as the other side of the pillow, or colder than a witches tit, or how about cold as a river in winter? You are also talking about Georgia, where people use y'all, and drink tons of sweet tea. At times, Katherine's dialogue comes across as being a bit proper British English. Unless she herself was born there, I highly doubt she would be speaking in this manner.

At this point, I am unable to commit to reading the next book in the series even though Accession leaves off on a cliffhanger. Although I would like to know what happened to certain characters, I am probably going to wait until a few dozen reviewers I trust, have read the book first.

*Recvd 08/05/2014 via NetGalley* Released: August 5th 2014 by Amazon Digital

[Mollie! · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 57%. Terah Edun, I don't know how or why, but the Sworn series (I only read the first book) was all that I could read of your work. This is the second time I have been unable to finish one of your books. I had to keep pushing myself, when I really should have given up and called it a day. It wasn't until the inevitable death of Katherine's sister that I started to feel like I was forcing myself to keep reading when I COULD have been reading something better.

Here's why I couldn't get any further than 57%:
1) Unlikeable MC. Not only can I not relate to her in any way, but she claims to be this loser/loner/weirdo/outcast--yet she has a boyfriend??? A seemingly normal boyfriend? Suddenly she's Normal Nancy instead of Weirdo Wendy. Consistency, please!
2) Speaking of consistency: WHAT was going on with the plot progression? We go from hearing about her sister nonstop, to hearing nothing at all. Suddenly, we are on the day of her death and 100% focused on some singing trolls and poorly-developed fae. The pacing is just weird with how choppy and stagnant it is.
3) I really, really don't get why the MCs in this author's books have to constantly boast/brag/reinforce their family lineage. It's so freaking annoying! This was EXACTLY why I couldn't finish the last book I received to review. I. Know. Her. Mom. Is. Queen. Please stop reminding me. Also, since we're talking about character development: If you want your character to be perfect, then write them that way. I don't like being presented with a Bella Swan-awkward type who we all know is actually pretty, and therefore SUCH a special snowflake. I honestly find it extremely patronizing.
4) THE WRITING, GOB DONUT, THE WRITING! Here are some example sentences so that you may make your own judgements:
"Thinning her mouth into a thin line..."
"If there wasn't, the man had some explaining to do. Even if was mistake, the guy still had some explaining to do." (Yes 'it' is missing)
"As she watched the raindrops roll down the dark-tinted windows of the SUV she, her mother, and her aunt Sarah rode in, questions like how and when rolled through her mind."
Maybe it's just me, but I had to reread that last sentence like three times. I kept thinking that the three of them were inside the raindrops, not the SUV.
5) There's some dumb references to things that I guess are copyrighted so they're described in detail for (I guess) the reader to draw parallels from. I know there was more than one example, but there's this entire sentence devoted to what I think describes a Bratz doll.
"They looked a lot like those mutant dolls with the sparkly irises filled with a wide spectrum of colors."
That sounds like Bratz, right? Why was that necessary? Why couldn't the eyes have been described as "eerily dazed, and yet full of color" or something else that doesn't pinpoint a specific, unnamed toy? DUUUUMB.

I tried. I really did. You can see my update where I said that I really wanted to give this one a shot.
More like shot in the dark, because this was a miss. As always, I'm sure someone out there will love it, but it's not for me, and I definitely wouldn't recommend it.

***this arc was given to me through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

[Melankalia · Rating 1 out of 5]

“He what? We’re tapping people’s phones now?” said Katherine.
“Not tapping”, huffed the fire marshal, “merely tracking activity. As you well know, the faerie are addicted to their phones. Won’t go anywhere without them. Which works to our advantage. It’s out only way this late in the game to know where the dark faerie gatherings will be tonight.”

That quote showcases my major issue with this book. So much of our introduction to this world is through various talking heads. I went back, twice, to make sure that this was book one in this series, as I constantly felt I had started at the second or third in a non-stand-alone series.

Between Katherine’s abrasively spoiled “I am better and more powerful that you” voice, and the author’s weird assumption that the reader intuitively understands the varied differences in this world, I was left with a near constant feeling that I was being talked down to. The combo just created a very “psh, you should already know this, duh” sort of vibe.

My other issue was with the transitions from one point of view and the next. The shift between character perspectives was so abrupt and unclear that I found myself re-reading many pages SLOWLY while trying to puzzle out who’s head we were in. This was especially bad in scenes featuring both Katherine and Cecily. Honestly, after a while I just started pretending they were the same person. It didn’t make much sense for the narrative, but it was significantly less aggravating to read that way.

[ARC received courtesy of Netgalley]

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an eARC review, source from the publisher via NetGalley.

~this book was kind of a hot mess.

Note to self, book covers can deceive you, book blurbs can also deceive you.


This was 1.5 stars but only because I managed to finished it. Well I managed to read up to 70% then it was all skimming and skipping for the rest.


My main issues including how this book was constructed. I thought the pace of the book was quite off, for example in one particular scene the Queen was punishing someone in court, which suppose to be pretty serious and intense, then Katherine's point of view interrupted the scene and proceed to give us bunch of information and a stroll down memory lane. (What the...). In fact Katerine's point of view would continue and frequently interfere with scenes throughout the book. (I don't get it)

I also have problem with how this book was written, so it was written in third-person view and of Katherine's point of view. In one particular chapter the Queen's character (Katherine's mother) was referenced in three different ways. First it referenced her as Queen, then it was Leanna Thompson, and then it was something else that I can't bother to remember. I was quite confused by the narrative's voice.

I am not so sure if there was an actual plot, because basically the scenes would just jumped from one to another. It was not smooth, and the gaps in between scenes made it quite difficult to stay connected to the story. I remember reading about Katherine explaining in great detail of how much she hated her sister, Rose, then the next thing you know, Rose is dead. You would think that's a big deal for the plot, however the book didn't spend too much time on the issue. Because something else urgent has happened, that apparently was too important so no one would bother to investigate the accident behind the future Queen's dead.

Katherine's character was very hard to like, she was immature and whiny. Supposedly Katherine was powerful, and she would often talked about it. This would went on and on, she would explained the reason she lets her sister and classmates in school to bullied her. Because she can never show her power, her magic was too powerful and she can't control it. So for a while I thought no one really know what Katherine was capable of, after all if she were indeed as fearsome as she claimed, wouldn't her sister avoid to angry Katherine at all cause? But then at some point in the book the Queen warned Katherine not to use or show her power, which leads me to believe the Queen knew it well. And if the Queen knew the extend of Katherine's power, wouldn't her sister, Rose, aware of it as well?

I think I would've like to learned more about Katherine's power, and how she could utilize them. Her power was actually quite interesting, she can senses death, she can called upon death or something like that. Since the book never really bother to explore and explain of her power, I wouldn't know.

Instead, we were constantly told about how much Katherine hated everything and everyone. Her relationship with her mother was a strange one as well. I can't tell if Katherine's cousin Cecily was suppose be someone important to the plot, she was there then forgotten, then mentioned again when she went missing. And what about Ethan, Katherine's ex-boyfriend, who appear in midway or later in the book. Before that the book never even indicated Katherine had a boyfriend. And guess what, Ethan and Cecily were actually siblings though not blood related. (Do you see the problem here??)

Overall, I didn't like this book. I thought the writing was messy, the plot was unclear. Characters were not only unlikable, it was difficult to tell who was important by how they were each introduced in the book.

[Brittany (Brittany's Book Rambles) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Looking at my reviews lately, it feels like I go from one extreme to another. A book is really good, or it's horrible. Unfortunately, this falls in the latter of those two. This book had so much going on, there were singing trolls, dark faeries, bitchy witches, inebriated unicorns, and evil were-peacocks. Despite all of that, this book had no apparent plot to be found. It was like it was written from the seat of the author's pants.

Check out my full review by clicking here.

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Goofy world-building, puerile interactions, outrageous morality, and the book has no conclusion. Seriously, the author decided to finish the story in another book. Unacceptable!

[Sassy Sarah Reads]

Nope. Can't do it. The reviews are too bad.

[Toby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fifth book in the anthology...

...and this one fell flat for me. Sadly.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but then when I got to the end, it was like, "Wait a second... what just happened?!"

Edun created a really unique world in this book/start of a series. There are werepeacocks, drunk unicorns, depressed trolls, dark faeries, and a kobold named Gestap. There's also a lot of political "stuff" between the queen witches of the original 13 colonies.

So perhaps with all of that, you can see why I was interested in reading this book and seeing where it was going. However, there were some problems with the book as a whole.

1) It ends on a cliffhanger. Okay, not even a cliffhanger -- it's like... the book just suddenly stops. Thankfully the anthology mentions whether a book ends on a cliffhanger or not, so I was prepared (at least, kind of)... but authors who end books on cliffhangers piss me off on the best of days, since that's basically telling the reader "yeah and now you have to buy my next book to find out what happens, hahaha, joke's on you!!"

2) The plot was... wait, WHAT PLOT? So Katherine is the Queen's younger daughter... her older sister, Rose, dies unexpectedly... Katherine seems to be trying to find out what killed Rose since what happened shouldn't have happened... but then she's trying to learn the ropes as new heir to the queendom... but then she's trying to help her ex-boyfriend find her cousin Cecily... and then...... *scratches head*

3) Katherine isn't really likable. I mean, I didn't dislike her as much as some of the other reviewers did, but... the reader doesn't really get to know her. There was one point in the book where Katherine was thinking that no one knows who she really is, and I was sitting there thinking to myself, "Well, and the reader doesn't know who you really are either!! So far you're a queen's younger daughter turned heir, with weird powers -- but why those powers are weird isn't really ever explained."

4) No character development. None. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

5) Weird wording, misspellings, missed words -- it was like Accession was rushed to print without being edited at all prior to being published. This wasn't as common as it is in the absolute worst books I've seen, but there were mistakes that were glaringly obvious to me, such as "should of" instead of "should have."

I would be very pleased, though, if Ms. Edun would consider rewriting this (if authors even do that...), because the world she created is a unique one, and if the writing weren't so poor, I'd consider reading the next one in the series. I love it when authors have unique ideas about urban fantasy, since so often ideas are reused with slightly different formatting. But when the ideas are so poorly carried out (including poor grammar/spelling/sentence structure), I'm sorry, I'm not going to go and buy the next in the series. I have too many other books on my TBR list that all have much better potential.

[BookishBexx&theCats · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea how I managed to read this whole novel. Was it strength of will? Was it great determination? Or was I punishing myself for something? I really have no idea. When you learn to write creative pieces in grade school you are taught to show, not tell. Based on this novel I would say that perhaps the author was absent the days they went over that in class. This novel could have used an editor or two, it's full of mistakes. For example: “Katherine narrowed her eyes. She didn’t want to debate lineage with her mother now. Although she was very much aware that the queen’s mother and her sister’s mother were different individuals. It was why the younger sister was Queen of Sandersville and the older one was not.” (ch. 25 Loc. 2907) There is so much wrong here. It’s all telling, no showing. This is an info dump (a lot of info crammed into a short narration), and there is a sentence fragment in there. The line that starts with although needs more. Although they were different individuals they had a lot in common? Although they were different individuals they were still very much the same? Although they were different individuals what? Finish the thought please! The entire novel is full of mistakes like this and then it doesn’t end. That’s right; the novel just abruptly cuts off. Each novel in a series should have its own plot that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Even if there is a larger storyline that continues into the next novel the current one must have some sort of fulfillment or your reader will feel cheated and be ticked off. Accession does not have a plot that ends (I really had trouble finding any type of plot at all). There is no ending. And as a reader I do feel cheated and ticked off. At this point I don’t really care, but I would like to ask the author what exactly the plot was because I couldn’t find it. Don’t read this one, you’ll regret it like I do.
**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review via NetGalley.**


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[Frances · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, I would have really liked this book if it weren't so poorly edited and apparently poorly thought out. The plot is almost pretty good, sort of, and it honestly felt like it should have been a short story and had a whole lot of stuff hacked out of it.

The trolls underneath the bridge? Comedic, maybe but just sad because it almost seemed like a wacky side trip to prove that Katherine

Now, essentially, the story is so disjointed that I should give it less stars but I didn't want to because for the most part, I actually liked Katherine and I liked some of the tension in the story.

Marigold the car started out as a Camaro and ended up as a Volkswagen Beetle. Katherine's aunt Sarah was guarding Rose's body and then hadn't shown up at Rose's funeral. Those are two of the many inconsistencies that showed up in the novel. I started making notes...

There was a point when Catherine was in the fire captain's truck and speaking to her mother via speaker phone (or so it seemed). Then was as if her mother, the queen, just decided to take a break from talking for a while, while Katherine and the fire captain talked. Then, her mother spoke up. It was utterly disjointed.

There was another point, after the Queen had executed the head werepeacock, after she had elevated the servant to be the head of the werepeacocks, the new head had fluttered off into the night and then, one of the guards came in with, presumably a bucket with her former leader's head, where the formerly absent werepeacock gasped. I can go on and on about the inconsistencies, including the point where Katherine was called Rose even though Rose was already dead.

And I won't even get too far into other poor editing, including misspellings improper punctuation. I really wanted to really like this story. But, it was just so poorly edited. By the way, the world would be interesting and so would the trials and tribulations of Katherine, if the glaring inconsistencies and poor editing hadn't derailed the whole thing.

[Viking Jam · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://koeur.wordpress.com/2014/08/29...

Publisher: All Night Reads
Publishing Date: August 4, 2014
ISBN: xxxx
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 2.5/5

Publisher Description: Sixteen-year-old Katherine Thompson wasn’t trained to rule a coven. That was her sister – perfect, beautiful Rose. But when a mysterious plane crash kills off the heir presumptive of the Sandersville coven she has no choice. After stepping in to fill her sister’s shoes, Katherine realizes she didn’t have a clue – faery wars, depressed trolls and angry unicorns are just the beginning.

Review: Cover art is not too bad.

Katherine is a bitch witch whom is heir to the sleepy town of Sandersville. At 16 years old she wields immense magical powers which would be really frickin’ scary if it were true. A self-centered, vindictive, immature and nasty witch is no one you want to be around for long. And that’s what most people in her circle of influence do.

I really wanted to like Katherine, but she never gets it. She more or less is a tantrum based character that has issues with everyone and everything. Cecily was well crafted, but sadly doesn’t garner a large portion of the novel. The only thing to really like about this novel is the pace, some of the scenes and the general plot. There was quite a bit of info dumping during the development of tense scenes where you were left forgetting where the heck you just were, only to be thrust back into the scene again. There were also a myriad of grammatical errors and nonsensical topic shifts within paragraphs. In one scene, Katherine hot wires an SUV magic and hairpins then when the scene culminates she tosses the SUV keys to a guardian. There are few instances of logic fails throughout.

This novel needs a major cleanup. I would get another in this series as I am curious to see if the author’s voice develops as there is potential here.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can genuinely say I had no idea where half of Katherine's motivation came from in this book. While the world building seemed to be very in-depth, the way it was presented often left me scratching my head in confusion. Large chunks of narrative backstory were interjected during tense scenes which basically destroyed all the tension and left me skimming.

I also have a personal problem when a book (whether it's part of a larger arc or not) doesn't resolve anything by the end. As far as I could see, there was zero resolution to the overlying arc. While Katherine did figure out a few of the things thrown at her (how to act a little more like someone in charge, that a queen's life is full of hard decisions), it felt like we stopped mid-story as far as the main arc was concerned.

As far as Katherine herself, she never acted like someone who was grieving. Whether she was close to her sister or not, I had a hard time connecting with someone who didn't show much of any emotion when her entire life was thrown into disarray in a heartbeat. It was mentioned that she couldn't wait to escape Sandersville, yet when she becomes the heir she just sort of accepts that she's going to be stuck there now.

Uneven characterization and a virtual info dump of backstory at odd moments kept me from falling into this story and being able to suspend my disbelief. While I think the world building is solid, having all that information thrown about just made it tedious to wade through and disconnected me from any of the action taking place at the moment.

To be honest, I probably would have rated it higher if some part of the main arc had been resolved instead of leaving it all hanging. That's a personal peeve of mine, however, and I own it. Maybe Katherine's actions will make more sense as the series continues. I honestly don't know. Sadly, I'm not invested enough to find out.

-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal

[Lianne Mei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received this ARC in exchange for an honest review via the publisher via Netgalley.

I am really loving this so far. Generally, I am not a huge fan of witches or anything like it because I have read a lot of books that have the main character(s) be witches and they are practically all the same. Girl learns about her powers of being a witch and then someone else wants to expose them for it or kill them to gain their powers etc. Its really all the same to me. However this book was different. For once humans and witches are coexisting, albeit with witches being the rulers and humans being forced to coexist with them.

After reading the beginning part of this book I realize how I really dislike Katherine's sister, Rose because she thinks that just because she is going to be queen after their mother she thinks that everything revolves around her. So Rose is not the nicest to Katherine and is able to manipulate their mother into always siding with her because she has the power to do so. This is typical sibling rivalry but with a twist on it since Rose can use her magic at any point on Katherine but Katherine can not use her magic back on her ( read this book and you will understand why). You can probably guess that Katherine was my favorite character. I also really dislike Ethan and how Katherine treated him.

Wow so I just finished this and the synopsis definitely needs to be changed. There was no mention of Katherine's cousin going missing until about 90 % into this book. There was more problems going on with the fairy court and that problem needing to be resolved then Katherine trying to find her cousin. I really thought that the plot was going to start with Katherine's cousin missing and Katherine having to go to the Atlanta to find her.

[Alyssia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Katherine Thompson family has ruled Sandersville for generations, the role of queen being passed from mother to first daughter. Katherine is the second daughter and is, quite frankly, glad about the fact. She has no aspirations to be the heir and is quite happy to stay out of the politics of the town. But when her older sister, Rose dies in a plane crash, she is suddenly thrust into the role of heir in a time when the Thompson line is being challenged.

From the beginning, it is made clear that Katherine hates her sister although I, personally don't really see why, sure Rose seems mean and selfish but having an older sister myself I don't really see how it translates into hatred.

It was very annoying how in the middle of a revelation the author decides to give the reader a history lesson. To me it seems like half the novel is missing. Halfway through the book a situation with the fae arises. The queen deals with it. First suspect. No mystery. Over with a quarter of the book left to go. And then there is the ending which seems forced and is a cliffhanger. I feel as if no major questions have been answered (e.g. about Katherine's powers) and instead of ending the book where she did, the author should have combined Accession with whatever sequel she has planned and made it into one novel. Maybe then Accession would seem more complete but for now all I see is untapped potential.

[Tabby Shiflett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A supernatural YA novel set in contemporary Georgia. Just like in her other fantasy series, the author has created a magical world with some very interesting and strong characters. This work is the first in a new series, so much of the book is setup. I love all the species included in it. I finished it wanting to know more; more about the characters, more about the history of the community, and more about what happens next. A good Book 1, let's hope that the sequel includes the depth Edun's fans have come to love and expect from her. No pressure!

Net Galley Feedback

[Malenelouise · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting to read another of Terah's book. After reading the book I must say I am bit disappointed. I had expected more because of her other books. It was difficult to get into. The main character didn't act like her age a lot in the book. The wasn't a lot of character development and many of the characters felt flat to me. It was great there was no instant love or love triangle. There were a lot of misspelling or missing words which made it less enjoyable. I am not sure if I will read the next book in the series. I like the premise. It had great potential but felt flat in the end.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man that was bad…this book needs some serious editing…how did you just jimmy that car to start then toss the keys to someone else???…or you started your car but then ending up in your dead sisters car that you hate????…pet peeve of mine is making the synopsis sound completely different than what the book is actually about…grrr

[Malva · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, good thing there were witches! The writing didn't do it for me. I really disliked the swearing. In my head, the characters did not sound like the proverbial sailors. Anyway, it broke the immersion each time. I may read the sequel.

[Terah Edun · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Kara · Rating 1 out of 5]

More like 1.5/5 stars. Full review to be posted on Thursday.

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this book 2.5/5 rated down.

Full review can be found here.

[Bella Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected sth like the 4 horsemen of Tara Brown and iI got madly/ first frost.

[Kimber · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually listened to an audiobook of this. I thought I had hit my iPad and somehow skipped to the end of the book, but, no it just ended in the middle of the story. It has made me so mad/disgusted I won't buy her stuff ever again. Very tired of being ripped off by authors that are money grabbers.

[Alma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was instantly captivated by Accession’s blurb. I loved the concept! There was so much potential for an epic read. We have Wiccan royalty and the political balance between each of the royal families and how they interact with each other. Add to this the heir to the throne’s death, an unwilling replacement, and a potential kidnapping plot, and it really sounded like a book I could fall in love with.

Quite quickly into the book I realised that the writing style might turn into a problem. The writing didn’t draw any necessary emotion or reactions from me, and I didn’t connect with the characters or the story in the way I need to enjoy a book. I thought the dialogue was prone to info-dumping and structured a bit weird – this quote sums up what I mean:

Katherine asked, “Are they all caring detectors?”

“The human officers are,” said the fire marshal beside her while his eyes swept over the field for any sign of disturbance, his binoculars at the ready in his hands.

“And the warlock officers will use their senses,” said Katherine softly as she paced away from the cars, opening her own magic to the auras in the field.


Why did Katherine have to say “And the warlock officers will use their senses,” out loud? Shouldn’t this be an internal thought? This happens quite often, and it gave me the impression that Katherine constantly mutters to herself. When this happens, it is information that we need as readers to fully understand what is taking place. I can’t see why she has to speak this info out loud though! The book is written in the third person, and it seemed completely unnecessary. It felt like she was walking around doing a piece-to-camera, narrating the story for us the readers, and interacting with the other characters within the pages. I’ve never read anything done like this before, but I have to be honest and say it didn’t work for me.

I think I could have overlooked most of my gripes with the writing style if I liked the main character. I didn’t like Katherine at all. The way things are told, I know I’m supposed to be sympathetic toward her, but it felt like a glass wall was build up between my sympathies and Katherine’s story. I could pinpoint what I was supposed to feel for her, but there was a huge disconnect. She’s not the heir to the throne and has to pick up the slack. She appears disadvantaged in comparison to her elder sister Rose, and the regular every day responsibilities fall on her shoulders. She has a chip on her shoulder, and her attitude completely turned me against her. Yes, she has been dealt a bad card in life, but I thought she was unnecessarily bitchy. It became tiring when all she did was complain, bitch and moan about everything. She’s incredibly self-centred and a GROUCH! There is a snarky-ness that is entertaining, but I felt this just made Katherine’s character look terrible.

I’m quite disappointed with Accession. I feel there is so much potential for an awesome story here. I was expecting layers of royal and political intrigue, with Katherine out for revenge for her elder sisters death. Unfortunately, that never materialised, and with disliking the MC and a writing style that I didn’t enjoy, the book just didn’t work out favourably for me.

This review, and others, can be found on my blog - Journey Through Fiction

[Sarah Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

~*I received this book as an ARC ebook from the author and NetGally to read and review. This review is mine and 100% honest.*~

This story started out well, teaching us who the character and some of her family are. You get to know her last moments with her sister, and then about her daily life. It then moves on to the death of her sister and how that changes her life and what she had planned for herself. It then moves on to her cousin vanishing and her and an ex-boyfriend leaving to go find her. That's it...it ends.

It's got itself all ready for a next book in the series, but it never really wrapped up this book. I also felt there was a lot left out of this book and soooo much to be desired. The book seemed to have a decent story line, but then at some point you move on without the needed details and then the book is over. I literally closed my Kindle cover saying WTF! I feel like the beginning was filled with many more details (sometimes more than was needed) and then at some point the author was like ohhh yupp her comes the deadline I better wrap this up and get started on the next. Like the ending is just dumped on you with no details, her cousin is there through 3/4 of the book!!!! Then it jumps from the night of when her sister died to a few days after mourning when her mom forces her to go back to school. WHAT HAPPENED??? Lost, completely lost days! And then suddenly her cousin is missing, she vanished during those days, her cousin and her aunt didn't attend any of the mourning rituals, etc. How is there nothing??? What WERE the mourning rituals? I feel like a sister no matter how much they fought is an important person and there should have bit a bit more on the those days of mourning and how she felt, or how the rituals went, etc.

I was soooo confused. Like I literally went back through the previous pages thinking maybe I hit something on my Kindle and made it jump chapters or something? No, after skimming back through the previous hours reading I read everything that was there, so unless I got a bad ARC missing pages I read everything. I know this book was meant to be part of a series, but most series authors make the books so that they could be read and stand on their own if someone was to just pick up one book without knowing it was a series. This one most definitely doesn't, as it does nothing to end the story. It's not like most books where they have separate plots that all tie in together, this one must be one loooong plot!

This along with the bad grammar and spelling issues made me knock it down two stars. For a free book not completely horrible, but I would have been very upset if I had paid for this book!

I liked the story up until the last 1/4 where things just seemed to be rushed and missing and then the end. The Author has a great imagination introducing some various fairy tale/paranormal creatures making them new to you and not the same old over used ones.

I would like to continue reading to see what happens, but please tighten up your writing a bit and don't be so all over the place! Also I'm not sure if it's just me but at times I felt dizzy like we were jumping between 1st person and 3rd person, or things would be written that were hard to understand or you had to read it several times to figure out what character it was about.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sometimes, you forget that you have encountered a particular author before - their work was either completely forgettable or so terrible that you have blocked it out. Then you read another book, and the style feels familiar...a check of the name and of your reading history, and aha! You know them! You...forgot them. That never bodes well.

I'm still not sure whether I forgot about Ms. Edun's work because it was horrible or because it was relatively inoffensive other than the crime of hogtying the written word. I've certainly read other books that took the abuse of the rules of grammar to a more sadistic level.

Reading the teasers for Ms. Edun's novels, I can muster up excitement for her various worlds easily enough. Do they trot out some familiar tropes? Absolutely! But the ideas still contain enough of an original twist to get my attention.

If only the reality were more in line with the idea of what Ms. Edun's books could be. These are worlds I would love to explore through the characters. If the characters were not merely cardboard stand-ins, with a veneer of personality, this could be possible.

Flat characterization aside, there are pacing and continuity concerns. Characters perform an action at the start of the page, then repeat the action on the next. These are minor actions - Katherine opens her eyes to survey the store, for example - and perhaps there was a reason in the narrative that was not made clear due to the clunky writing.

At times, the word choice does not seem to fit - "emphatically" is used for a situation in which - based on Cecily's powers, and how Katherine is feeling - I believe Ms. Edun meant to use "empathically." Those two words are wildly differently. Perhaps she relied on spell check to catch the error - certainly Google's spell checker doesn't consider "empathically" a word, but it is in common usage, which would be enough for Ms. Edun's writing style. Homophone mix-ups also occur, as do instances of missing words and other grammatical slip-ups. No one is perfect, but the number of errors in this book imply that there was either no editorial involvement or that the novel was treated with kid gloves.

Sentence fragments also vie for attention. I believe they are meant to create emphasis or a faster flow, but there are so many, I found myself tripping in the narrative instead. I would need to re-read paragraphs to determine what had happened.

Ms. Edun also does not seem to know when to withhold information from the reader and when to give information. World-building is done largely through information dumps, and characterization is sometimes done the same way. I still am not certain what Ethan's proper name is (it changed three times in story - who am I to believe? Ethan? Katherine? Katherine again?) and when all we know of how he became Katherine's foster-cousin is "long story," there is a problem. THEY DATED. Surely the foster status had some form of impact, or could have - wouldn't it be awkward to date someone who lives with your aunt and cousin as a foster child? How long was he with them? We don't know - it's a "long story." Ugh.

I know that Ms. Edun has given free copies of her books in exchange for reviews. Since she's put out numerous other works, I have to wonder: is she reading the feedback and learning from it? It does not appear so, though I hope I am wrong.

[Zed Whisper · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the younger of two princesses, Katherine has grown up knowing her sister Rose would be the next queen of Sandersville. Not that Katherine would ever want to be queen anyway. She much prefers being able to do what she wants as a young witch, roam the forest, feed the strange family toad/monster pet, speak her mind and generally act in the opposite way as royalty would. Plus, Katherine doesn't fit in. She can't use her powers like other witches because her powers are darker and stronger and she's afraid of causing more damage then good.

But her life changes dramatically when rose dies in a plane accident and Katherine becomes the next heir to the throne. However, something is seriously wrong with Rose' accident and her sister is determined to find out. Her cousin, Cecily, has also gone amiss but no one is worried. Apparently she has gone on her first demon hunt but Katherine knows how sensitive Cecily is, there's no way she would go demon hunting. Especially not without telling her or her foster brother, who also happens to be Katherine's ex-boyfriend.

With Ethan's help, they set out to find out the truth behind rose' death and also to locate where Cecily has gone but will they be too late?

Katherine's character was fun to read. She was a very unique princess, with her angry outbursts and un-ladylike habits. I think this series will be good to read because there is a good mix of fantasy, drama, action and a hint of romance. I can't imagine who would be behind rose' death but I have a feeling that it has something to do with the dark/evil queens...

Favourite Quotes:

“Please gods, Mother of the Earth, Lord of the Skies, Tinkerbelle, whoever is out there,” Katherine mumbled, “if you get me to school today, I will do everything in my power not to set anything on fire…or kill anyone. I pinky-swear, I’m on my best behaviour.”

“I don’t care about your sorrys right now. Just get out. Because, as you pointed out, my control is kind of out the window, you being a bastard isn’t helping, and so help me god, if I see you still in this shop within the next minute, I will unleash a bolt of lightning so powerful you’ll be fried into a crisp,” she snapped.

She may not have wanted to inherit this small, piece-of-shit town in the middle of nowhere, but now that it was hers or going to become hers, she was starting to feel some responsibility for it.

Today sucked. Not only had she gotten sucker-punched into counselling, but she still had to go to school. Whoever had said life wasn’t fair had been prescient with the knowledge from the gods.

How do you heal when you can’t find closure? When no one else around you have sought out closure and no one else seemed to care?

[El · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review and more on So bookalicious

Sarath Web is the third series by Terah Edun that I’ve read. And I really liked her previous series, so I had high expectations for this new series of hers. I have to admit that Accession didn’t live up to my expectations.

There were still a lot of good things about the story. I really liked the concept of the book for example. Humans and the supernatural lived next to each other. In fact humans are even aware of the witches that live among them. The witches are after all the rulers of the town, counties and states. They are the ones who have to keep the balance between the supernatural and the humans. Terah Edun used all the whole range of supernatural creatures, trolls, kobolds, faeries… These creatures made the story interesting because they are all unique in their own way and they demand different things. When this bunches of supernatural creatures it thrown together there is always a conflict between some of them. So surprise is never far away.

The magic part of the witches was also very interesting to read about. But I already knew that this part of the story would be great since, magic is also a part of her other stories. Every witch has access to a different kind of magic. Some of the can control the wind or the trees, while others can control death. This part of the book was really fascinating and I hope that the author will explore this more in the next book in this series.

But then on the other side there wasn’t enough action in this book. Katerine
her sister, Rose, had died and she wanted to find out what had caused her death. So I kept waiting for something exciting to happen but it just never did. A lot of other things did happen but they were unrelated to Rose’s death. I think that the author got sidetracked after a while and then in the end she found her way back to the main storyline of this book. This book felt more like an introduction to this world to me than like an actual story.

And then there was the main character, Katherine. Honestly she frustrated me a lot. All that she did throughout the story was arguing with everyone she met. And most of the time her arguments didn’t even make sense to me. She sounded quite immature a lot of the time, seriously she really needs to grow up.

Overall I still liked this book but I had a feeling that it could have been better. And in my opinion this book wasn’t the author’s best work so far. So if you have only this book by Terah Edun so far and you didn’t like it, don’t let it discourage you. Her other books are still worth a shot! I’m still looking forward to the next book in this series, because I truly believe that that’s when the story will really start.