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A review by readingmissfroggy
The Rebels of Gold by Elise Kova
3.0
I have pushed off writing this review for a couple of days, I really don't want to do this. In fact, I don't really like thinking back on this book and my reading experience. But since my goal is to review every book that I read this year on Goodreads I have to do this... So here we go.
Had you asked me a year ago if I would ever give an Elise Kova book less than 5 stars I would have said a very firm no. Then I read [b:The Dragons of Nova|31686500|The Dragons of Nova (Loom Saga, #2)|Elise Kova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493902204s/31686500.jpg|52360051] and I gave that book 4 stars because of some issues that I had with it (check my review if you want to know more). I felt sad back then but 4 stars was still pretty good and at that point I really still thought that I would never give an Elise Kova book lower than 4 stars. And then The Rebels of Gold happened...
Overall, I like the book. I gave it 3 stars after all which means that I did like it. But I didn't love it, not even close to it. If I have to give some things that I do love: the places where the story is taking place, the culture, the history. See that I'm only mentioning things that are a setting or create a mood or background information? Well, that is because the characters and part of the plot were just... meah.
So what was my issue with the characters? The author lets other characters mention a ton of times how changed they are... I mean it, a ton of times. And besides my annoyance with this endless repetition I also have to say that it is true, the characters have changed. And I don't think that they have changed for the better. I loved Ari and Flor and really liked Cvareh but they felt like totally different characters in this one. Flor, curious sweet Flor, was some cold hearted thing. Ari turned into this harsh woman who is secretly very in love and sappy and you get to see this and it made her harsh side feel very fake. Cvareh was annoying, just annoying. I felt such a connection with the characters in the first book but in this second one I have lost that. And not just because the characters have changed but the relationships between them too. I loved the relationship between Flor and Ari in the first book, a bit less in the second book but in this one I dislike it. And don't even get me started on Ari and Cvareh because I dislike that one even more! I feel so disappointed with the characters and the relationships. The one character that I really liked and who was a nice addition to the book was Coletta. I really liked her chapters and always felt excited to see her again.
Now for plot, first of all it moved really slow. If you have read my review for The Dragons of Nova you know that I thought the switching of the POV every chapter really did no favour to the pace of the novel. In this one it is just as bad. Some chapters are really dull, they don't add a thing while the chapter before and after said chapter is packed with action and interesting developments. I never felt excited to pick the book up again because I knew I probably had to push through some uninteresting chapters to get to the good stuff. And talking about the good stuff, I thought that the final battle with Yveun was a bit too easy. I never felt tense, I never felt like the lives of the good guys were really on the line. Elise Kova surprised me with some deaths in the first and second book but not in this one. In a war, how can all the characters on the good side come out unharmed and alive?
In the end this book left me with a lot of frustrated feelings. I wanted to like this... No not just like, love. I wanted to love this series as much as I love the Air Awakens series but it honestly never even came close. I'm happy to see that a lot of Elise Kova's fans enjoyed this series but it left me with a sour taste and a lot of frustrated feelings. I still consider Elise Kova one of my favourite authors but I don't think I will pick up a book by her and think straight away that it has to be a 5 star rating. This series has proven that such expectations aren't always met.
Had you asked me a year ago if I would ever give an Elise Kova book less than 5 stars I would have said a very firm no. Then I read [b:The Dragons of Nova|31686500|The Dragons of Nova (Loom Saga, #2)|Elise Kova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493902204s/31686500.jpg|52360051] and I gave that book 4 stars because of some issues that I had with it (check my review if you want to know more). I felt sad back then but 4 stars was still pretty good and at that point I really still thought that I would never give an Elise Kova book lower than 4 stars. And then The Rebels of Gold happened...
Overall, I like the book. I gave it 3 stars after all which means that I did like it. But I didn't love it, not even close to it. If I have to give some things that I do love: the places where the story is taking place, the culture, the history. See that I'm only mentioning things that are a setting or create a mood or background information? Well, that is because the characters and part of the plot were just... meah.
So what was my issue with the characters? The author lets other characters mention a ton of times how changed they are... I mean it, a ton of times. And besides my annoyance with this endless repetition I also have to say that it is true, the characters have changed. And I don't think that they have changed for the better. I loved Ari and Flor and really liked Cvareh but they felt like totally different characters in this one. Flor, curious sweet Flor, was some cold hearted thing. Ari turned into this harsh woman who is secretly very in love and sappy and you get to see this and it made her harsh side feel very fake. Cvareh was annoying, just annoying. I felt such a connection with the characters in the first book but in this second one I have lost that. And not just because the characters have changed but the relationships between them too. I loved the relationship between Flor and Ari in the first book, a bit less in the second book but in this one I dislike it. And don't even get me started on Ari and Cvareh because I dislike that one even more! I feel so disappointed with the characters and the relationships. The one character that I really liked and who was a nice addition to the book was Coletta. I really liked her chapters and always felt excited to see her again.
Now for plot, first of all it moved really slow. If you have read my review for The Dragons of Nova you know that I thought the switching of the POV every chapter really did no favour to the pace of the novel. In this one it is just as bad. Some chapters are really dull, they don't add a thing while the chapter before and after said chapter is packed with action and interesting developments. I never felt excited to pick the book up again because I knew I probably had to push through some uninteresting chapters to get to the good stuff. And talking about the good stuff, I thought that the final battle with Yveun was a bit too easy. I never felt tense, I never felt like the lives of the good guys were really on the line. Elise Kova surprised me with some deaths in the first and second book but not in this one. In a war, how can all the characters on the good side come out unharmed and alive?
In the end this book left me with a lot of frustrated feelings. I wanted to like this... No not just like, love. I wanted to love this series as much as I love the Air Awakens series but it honestly never even came close. I'm happy to see that a lot of Elise Kova's fans enjoyed this series but it left me with a sour taste and a lot of frustrated feelings. I still consider Elise Kova one of my favourite authors but I don't think I will pick up a book by her and think straight away that it has to be a 5 star rating. This series has proven that such expectations aren't always met.