A review by angelicasreads
The Beholder by Anna Bright
3.0
Ok, but first of all, can we appreciate this book's cover? Take a moment to scroll back up to it, I'll wait here. Did you see it? Were you impressed? Yes? Good, because I was, and still am, hella impressed by that beautiful cover.
Now let's move on to this review.
Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting Anna Bright at a Stephanie Garber book signing in Washington D.C. She seemed nice and was super excited about her upcoming novel and it made me super excited about it as well. So, you can only imagine my excitement when I was granted the opportunity to read an ARC.
Then you can only imagine my disappointment when this book did not live up to the expectations raised by that beautiful cover and that interesting synopsis. This book was advertised as a mix between The Odyssey and Cinderella.
So, before you get too excited, let me just say that this supposedly The Odyssey retelling, ain't got nothing to do with The Odyssey. There's a ship, there's a guy named Homer, and Selah has a dream about Penelope.
This book is also nothing at all like Cinderella. There's an evil stepmother (but isn't there always), a godmother, and Selah loses a shoe at one point.
That's about it.
But false advertising wasn't really my main problems with the book.
My main issue with this book was Selah. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her naive, childish ways. She's 18 years old and the next ruler of Potomac. She is the one that is supposed to lead her people into the future and keep the peace. She is also the least qualified person to do this. Her kingdom would probably thrive more without her so maybe I don't totally blame the stepmother for trying to send her away.
Selah is the kind of person who trusts people based on their looks and falls in love days after meeting a guy. She's the kind of person who storms out of rooms when things don't go her way and who sits by and sort of just lets the plot happen to her. She's supposed to be the next leader of her people but instead of spending her time learning to lead she spends it reading fairytales and gardening.
I'm so tired of YA trying to push the idea that all you need to be a leader is to be a nice person. Or that being noble and humble makes you qualified for anything. Because as nice as she may be, this girl would undoubtedly lead her nation to ruin due to her naivety and general weak will.
Then there was the world building. I was so confused. This book takes place in a world that is geographically like our own. The continents are all there, but they are also all different, arranged in different ways and given different names. There are different histories and myths and all of it is shaped in a different way. And I didn't understand any of it.
There were moments where I thought I knew what was happening, and then moments where I had no idea where we were or what was going on.
Maybe I'm just dumb, I can't rule that out. But maybe this book did a bad job at world building. The world may never know.
In the end, I didn't love this book. I wanted to, but no matter how beautiful this cover might be, I just couldn't fall into it the way I wanted. And yet, I was actually entertained while reading, hence my rating.
I think this book had amazing potential and think that there will be many that like it. That said, go into it at your own risk and after taking all of this into account. I hope you all have better luck with it.
**ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own**
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Now let's move on to this review.
Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting Anna Bright at a Stephanie Garber book signing in Washington D.C. She seemed nice and was super excited about her upcoming novel and it made me super excited about it as well. So, you can only imagine my excitement when I was granted the opportunity to read an ARC.
Then you can only imagine my disappointment when this book did not live up to the expectations raised by that beautiful cover and that interesting synopsis. This book was advertised as a mix between The Odyssey and Cinderella.
So, before you get too excited, let me just say that this supposedly The Odyssey retelling, ain't got nothing to do with The Odyssey. There's a ship, there's a guy named Homer, and Selah has a dream about Penelope.
This book is also nothing at all like Cinderella. There's an evil stepmother (but isn't there always), a godmother, and Selah loses a shoe at one point.
That's about it.
But false advertising wasn't really my main problems with the book.
My main issue with this book was Selah. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her naive, childish ways. She's 18 years old and the next ruler of Potomac. She is the one that is supposed to lead her people into the future and keep the peace. She is also the least qualified person to do this. Her kingdom would probably thrive more without her so maybe I don't totally blame the stepmother for trying to send her away.
Selah is the kind of person who trusts people based on their looks and falls in love days after meeting a guy. She's the kind of person who storms out of rooms when things don't go her way and who sits by and sort of just lets the plot happen to her. She's supposed to be the next leader of her people but instead of spending her time learning to lead she spends it reading fairytales and gardening.
I'm so tired of YA trying to push the idea that all you need to be a leader is to be a nice person. Or that being noble and humble makes you qualified for anything. Because as nice as she may be, this girl would undoubtedly lead her nation to ruin due to her naivety and general weak will.
Then there was the world building. I was so confused. This book takes place in a world that is geographically like our own. The continents are all there, but they are also all different, arranged in different ways and given different names. There are different histories and myths and all of it is shaped in a different way. And I didn't understand any of it.
There were moments where I thought I knew what was happening, and then moments where I had no idea where we were or what was going on.
Maybe I'm just dumb, I can't rule that out. But maybe this book did a bad job at world building. The world may never know.
In the end, I didn't love this book. I wanted to, but no matter how beautiful this cover might be, I just couldn't fall into it the way I wanted. And yet, I was actually entertained while reading, hence my rating.
I think this book had amazing potential and think that there will be many that like it. That said, go into it at your own risk and after taking all of this into account. I hope you all have better luck with it.
**ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own**
Follow Me Here Too: My Blog || Twitter || Bloglovin' || Instagram || Tumblr