A review by queenhufflegruff
Promised Land by Connie Willis, Cynthia Felice

2.0

Well, I finished this book, so I guess I enjoyed it enough. I thought, while the premise and general structure of the story was good, and you can definitely see Willis' fingerprint on the characterization, there wasn't nearly enough actual conflict or development of the relationship of the characters for me to get invested in their romance. They don't even seem to have a real conversation until the last 50 pages of the book, and then they are suddenly in love? The main character had more interactions with her pet, and while I love Cleo, this definitely led to a sloppy resolution. Also, it felt like the elements that could have been developed to up the stakes (the trial, selling the land, etc.) were mentioned and then jettisoned quickly instead of being tweaked to build any sense of tension. As it was, the stakes were low, the characters were weak (and Delanna was very annoying for over 1/2 the book), and it was not a very satisfying read. I'd look to Willis's other work, and give this one a pass.