Zachary’s Reviews > Balam, Spring > Status Update

Lavender Tides feels more like a ripoff of Pokemon and is overall not as well written in the first fourth or so of the book as Balam, Spring is. I'm enjoying a world in this book that is simultaneously unique and familiar to me. I found Riddle's books out of a desire to capture some of the magic I felt playing my favorite video game as a kid (FFX) and wanting that in book form. Lavender Tides is the book I found but it wasn't what I expected.

Riddle's writing seems to be unpolished at times. But his ideas are captivating which is what keeps me reading. I found Lavender Tides to be mediocre in craft but entertaining enough to continue reading. This book is so far shaping up to be more well crafted. But he still has a tendency to introduce a lot of unexplained terminology with the understanding that the reader will pick it up.

You do. But it is initially pretty frustrating. That said, I find his stories compelling enough to keep going. And they do bring me back to that familiar place in childhood engaging with some of my favorite fantasy worlds. This one just happens to be doing so more successfully in my opinion than Lavender Tides did. But I may be eating my words later.