A review by zoeemerald
The Game of Love and Death, by Martha Brockenbrough
4.0
I LOVED this story
After about a month of being let down by hyped up books (Ava lavender, night circus, children of blood and bone...) I thought I'd pick something from my tbr that isn't as well known and, of course, it should be SO MUCH MORE WELL KNOWN.
Or maybe not, because maybe then I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.
I loved the premise, the setting (1930s america with race relations and Hoovervilles? GCSE history me was alive), Ethan and James, Love and Death as imperfect, human characters, Ethan and James, the magical realism and imagery that lent itself to a really romantic atmosphere, Ethan and James, and the gorgeous writing. And Ethan and James.
It gave me most of what night circus never did, in the sense of two greater forces orchestrating a game between two young people who were therefore star-crossed lovers - the game was definitely a lot clearer, and the story of Love and Death themselves was a treat (I enjoyed their characters, especially Love's, sometimes more than the main duo). It didn't let down from its premise, basically.
But there were a couple of things that derailed the story at times, and let it down in other parts: first off, the romance between Flora and Henry was not as heart-exploding as it should have been, given the storyline and its promise. It was so tame and vanilla that I actually forgot they'd even kissed earlier on as we got closer to the ending. the love just kind of petered out, to such a point that the only evidence of it was other characters or the narration pointing out that they were meant to be, blisteringly in love...etc. I think this was mainly due to those two characters not being completely fleshed out, I often didn't get Flora. I didn't believe in her love for Henry, or her general feelings about anything other than flying.
Also, don't think there were enough obstacles. Death could have DEFINITELY been more vindictive and harmful. And the end with the Love/Death resolution could have been a lot more convincing.
These cons could have destroyed the book for me, but it was generally a really absorbing story. I was close to weeping for Ethan, he deserves his own damn story. It was really just a great historical YA romance with magical realism and an awesome Love-Death relationship subplot.
(Ok i got my progress update pages wrong ignore them)
After about a month of being let down by hyped up books (Ava lavender, night circus, children of blood and bone...) I thought I'd pick something from my tbr that isn't as well known and, of course, it should be SO MUCH MORE WELL KNOWN.
Or maybe not, because maybe then I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.
I loved the premise, the setting (1930s america with race relations and Hoovervilles? GCSE history me was alive), Ethan and James, Love and Death as imperfect, human characters, Ethan and James, the magical realism and imagery that lent itself to a really romantic atmosphere, Ethan and James, and the gorgeous writing. And Ethan and James.
It gave me most of what night circus never did, in the sense of two greater forces orchestrating a game between two young people who were therefore star-crossed lovers - the game was definitely a lot clearer, and the story of Love and Death themselves was a treat (I enjoyed their characters, especially Love's, sometimes more than the main duo). It didn't let down from its premise, basically.
But there were a couple of things that derailed the story at times, and let it down in other parts: first off, the romance between Flora and Henry was not as heart-exploding as it should have been, given the storyline and its promise. It was so tame and vanilla that I actually forgot they'd even kissed earlier on as we got closer to the ending. the love just kind of petered out, to such a point that the only evidence of it was other characters or the narration pointing out that they were meant to be, blisteringly in love...etc. I think this was mainly due to those two characters not being completely fleshed out, I often didn't get Flora. I didn't believe in her love for Henry, or her general feelings about anything other than flying.
Also, don't think there were enough obstacles. Death could have DEFINITELY been more vindictive and harmful. And the end with the Love/Death resolution could have been a lot more convincing.
These cons could have destroyed the book for me, but it was generally a really absorbing story. I was close to weeping for Ethan, he deserves his own damn story. It was really just a great historical YA romance with magical realism and an awesome Love-Death relationship subplot.
(Ok i got my progress update pages wrong ignore them)