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A review by sarag19
Splinters of Scarlet by Emily Bain Murphy
2.0
2.5 out of 5 stars
All magic comes with a cost and in this alternate version of Denmark filled with magic it can be deadly to the magic users. Its a shame that the book itself doesn’t really deliver on that level of danger to magic users.
The book is centered on Marit, an orphan that has aged out of the orphanage and works as a seamstress. We also have a few chapters with Phillip, the head of the Vestergaard family and owner of the mines. After the loss of her family she is dedicated to Eve, another orphan that she has taken on as her only family. Her gift at sewing, that was my take away that her gift is just sewing, allows her to follow Eve when she is adopted into a new family. Which conveniently happens to be the family that is responsible for mines that killed Marit’s father.
Thats really what this book boils down to, convenient coincidences that allows the plot to unfurl in a way that felt forced. Everyone that worked in the house had some use to the story and all had reasons to get on board with Marit’s quest long before they actually had a good reason. Most of the staff was one dimensional for a good part of the book and the romance felt forced. We just don’t spend enough time with the two characters developing their relationship outside of what was needed for the story.
We get a few chapters with Phillip that I wish we had more of, he has a more complex background and his views added to Marit’s side of the story and the final outcome. But they are written vaguely the first few chapters that almost come into conflict with his later chapters with magic.
The main antagonist is just kind of there. I never got the feeling from the book that Marit was ever in any real danger, even during the final confrontation. I wish that the build up and final confrontation had been more. There is a lead up right at the very end that indicated that these men are supposed to be dangerous, their magic unpredictable making for a possibly very tense scene which just never materialized.
Now, the biggest problem that I had was with the Firn. It felt inconsistent in whether it was something that was really dangerous meaning magic should be used sparingly or just something that might happen. The synopsis the more the magic is used the more it builds up but we see it used all the time by Marit and the rest of the household staff without any fear of the Firn. When it does actual show up its more when the magic is used outside of its natural boundaries and even they its inconsistent in how actually deadly it is to a person.
The writing is pretty descent even if it fell a little flat when it came to describing the beautiful outfits that Marit created. The way the construction was written I thought they would be whimsical but when described on the body of the wearer they sounded clunky and heavy. There is a lot of really interesting concepts going on, particularly with the use of the mine but they never get fully fleshed out or developed.
All magic comes with a cost and in this alternate version of Denmark filled with magic it can be deadly to the magic users. Its a shame that the book itself doesn’t really deliver on that level of danger to magic users.
The book is centered on Marit, an orphan that has aged out of the orphanage and works as a seamstress. We also have a few chapters with Phillip, the head of the Vestergaard family and owner of the mines. After the loss of her family she is dedicated to Eve, another orphan that she has taken on as her only family. Her gift at sewing, that was my take away that her gift is just sewing, allows her to follow Eve when she is adopted into a new family. Which conveniently happens to be the family that is responsible for mines that killed Marit’s father.
Thats really what this book boils down to, convenient coincidences that allows the plot to unfurl in a way that felt forced. Everyone that worked in the house had some use to the story and all had reasons to get on board with Marit’s quest long before they actually had a good reason. Most of the staff was one dimensional for a good part of the book and the romance felt forced. We just don’t spend enough time with the two characters developing their relationship outside of what was needed for the story.
We get a few chapters with Phillip that I wish we had more of, he has a more complex background and his views added to Marit’s side of the story and the final outcome. But they are written vaguely the first few chapters that almost come into conflict with his later chapters with magic.
The main antagonist is just kind of there. I never got the feeling from the book that Marit was ever in any real danger, even during the final confrontation. I wish that the build up and final confrontation had been more. There is a lead up right at the very end that indicated that these men are supposed to be dangerous, their magic unpredictable making for a possibly very tense scene which just never materialized.
Now, the biggest problem that I had was with the Firn. It felt inconsistent in whether it was something that was really dangerous meaning magic should be used sparingly or just something that might happen. The synopsis the more the magic is used the more it builds up but we see it used all the time by Marit and the rest of the household staff without any fear of the Firn. When it does actual show up its more when the magic is used outside of its natural boundaries and even they its inconsistent in how actually deadly it is to a person.
The writing is pretty descent even if it fell a little flat when it came to describing the beautiful outfits that Marit created. The way the construction was written I thought they would be whimsical but when described on the body of the wearer they sounded clunky and heavy. There is a lot of really interesting concepts going on, particularly with the use of the mine but they never get fully fleshed out or developed.