michellemm85's review against another edition
5.0
Solid 5.5/6!!
Really really liked this book!!! Also, I’m SO in for the gimmick of all 4 books coming out each month!! I personally feel like fantasy stories lose my interest if there’s too much time in between publications; the waiting makes me forget the story. The story has many main characters, and while there was one or two characters I didn’t care for, their sections were important and I didn’t find myself skimming as I might in another story. While I didn’t like the character, I still WANTED to know what happened to them in their sections. I did wish there was more time with the princella, as (SPOILER) TWELVE years(!!) passed before the book was over. I don’t think there will be such accelerated timelines in the following books, as the story/major plot points have been set in motion. But only 1 more week till the next one!!! I purposely read slowly to try to reach the next one, but I totallly would’ve devoured this in 2-3 days if I had allowed it!!
Second read:
Still stand by that this is a really good fantasy book! Because I knew the story, this time I only really read the Cressa, Wren, and Nana parts, skimming the others as I don’t care for those characters lol
What are the odds that I’d read two books with a character named Wren? (The other being Holly Black’s ‘The Stolen Heir’) lol. This time I went through and marked all the parts so that I can just read those next time lol
Really really liked this book!!! Also, I’m SO in for the gimmick of all 4 books coming out each month!! I personally feel like fantasy stories lose my interest if there’s too much time in between publications; the waiting makes me forget the story. The story has many main characters, and while there was one or two characters I didn’t care for, their sections were important and I didn’t find myself skimming as I might in another story. While I didn’t like the character, I still WANTED to know what happened to them in their sections. I did wish there was more time with the princella, as (SPOILER) TWELVE years(!!) passed before the book was over. I don’t think there will be such accelerated timelines in the following books, as the story/major plot points have been set in motion. But only 1 more week till the next one!!! I purposely read slowly to try to reach the next one, but I totallly would’ve devoured this in 2-3 days if I had allowed it!!
Second read:
Still stand by that this is a really good fantasy book! Because I knew the story, this time I only really read the Cressa, Wren, and Nana parts, skimming the others as I don’t care for those characters lol
What are the odds that I’d read two books with a character named Wren? (The other being Holly Black’s ‘The Stolen Heir’) lol. This time I went through and marked all the parts so that I can just read those next time lol
andipants's review against another edition
DNF at page 48. I picked this up going solely by the cover copy, which promised an exciting, female-led fantasy story, and compared it to Naomi Novik's [b:Uprooted|22544764|Uprooted|Naomi Novik|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1550135418l/22544764._SX50_.jpg|41876730]. Well, it does have female main characters, but I can't speak to anything else because the writing is terrible. Descriptions are erratic and often useless, dialogue is awkward and stilted, and characters randomly slide in and out of old-timey thee-and-thou-speak for no apparent reason. The narrative tone, too, is wildly inconsistent, ranging from from unobtrusive and competent to anachronistically modern to pseudo-medieval thesaurus vomit. I can deal with a fair amount of mediocre writing if the story's worth it, but this is beyond mediocre, and at five chapters in absolutely nothing of interest has happened, so I do not have the patience for this slog. Pass.
klsbenzel's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
deservingporcupine's review against another edition
3.0
Game of Thrones Lite. Overall it is a fine fantasy story, with a plot that intrigues me. It has some of the same weaknesses as GOT: too many characters’ POV that I just wasn’t interested in, plot threads that don’t seem to go anywhere, slow spots. I’ll probably read the rest of the series just to see what happens.
stephthebookish's review against another edition
4.0
The world building in this is absolutely amazing. I am beyond excited to read the next one and see what is in store for all these characters.
lassarina's review against another edition
3.0
A solid first book in a series. The worldbuilding is competent and well conveyed, the characters are interesting, and there's a lot going on - initially it looks like there's plot threads just going in all directions but by the end of the book the setup has narrowed and we have some idea of where we're going. I do think the blurb is a little misleading - this entire book is setup for the blurb, not the actual action in the blurb. That doesn't mean it's not good--I enjoyed it, and I want to read more in the series/world--but it was a little disconcerting when the book moved slower than I thought it was going to given the summary.
There is a fair amount of violence and a few references to sexual assault (which does not happen on page), but they were treated with gravity and without digging deep into the viscera, which I appreciated.
There is a fair amount of violence and a few references to sexual assault (which does not happen on page), but they were treated with gravity and without digging deep into the viscera, which I appreciated.
david_hasz's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75