DNF at 65% I just couldn’t force myself to read anymore, zero plot development and very flat overall in terms of the characters and world building.
The world is interesting it’s just not very vibrant or well explored. It felt like the book was just a mess of so many different things and ideas that just can’t all be properly used or explored. I think it had potential but ended up as just a group of kids wandering around doing not a whole lot.
This is very YA and not at all what I was expecting, if you’re looking for a very relaxed paced, teen book then I recommend it. But if you’re like me and prefer a fast paced, adult, epic fantasy then it’s not going to be your thing. In fairness I wouldn’t have read it if I had known it was YA and so young, with all of the characters in their teens.
I love the more original and accurate fae depictions, so I had high hopes it would pick up in the beginning and be a nice original read, but I was sadly disappointed.
The writing is okay but it gives no immediate introduction of the characters and no reason to care about them.
I also found this a little uncomfortable to read, with no diversity at all, every single character is a cis, white, straight person. Unless you count this scene with a blue/mossy person? Which also made me uncomfortable.
“The woman was unearthly beautiful, and her smile was bright behind full lips.
"You are newcomer," she said, heavily accented.
It was an accent Ella couldn't place.
"Um, yes," Ella replied with a half-smile.
"This is tough place for newcomer," the woman scrutinised her for a moment, making Ella shift uncomfortably.”
The writing started out rough but did improve. It is quite plain but with a lot of weird phrasing thrown in, so you’d have “Her chestnut brown hair” followed by “Carrigan met it with disdain, bottom teeth protruding with the emotion” which just felt so odd.
There were also a lot of over the top descriptions that just don’t work, “Her pulse instantly slowed upon seeing the male”, “Heart pounding not just in her chest, but the intense rhythm vibrated in her throat. She may just vomit”
It was honestly a little all over the place, with run on sentences, odd syntax, stiff dialogue, a lot of missing commas, speech marks and other minor flaws. However this is an ARC that was sent out really early so I’m assuming it’s not yet been edited and that will all be fixed by publishing.
All very direct and straightforward, which I found boring. Ella was also quite dull, irritating and shallow.
I did like Rhea, she has a few funny lines and was probably my favourite character, but I really struggled.
Thank you for the ARC, but this was not for me