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A review by brandiraefong
The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
This was a little hit or miss for me.
It started off rough, with writing that was so over the top, adjective ridden, descriptive. It reminded me heavily of Roshani Chokski's writing style. Which, while many do enjoy, it often is descriptive to the expense of character development and plot. In this case, I also think it was a purposeful, creative choice, used to (excessively) hit home the importance of created beauty vs the original gray of the people of Orleans.
I think my other issues were the world building and the explanations of how the Belle's aracana actually worked. In some of the scenes where they worked on people, it just wasn't clear what they were actually doing. And they world they lived in seemed almost steampunk, but also, that wasn't really clear (it took a while for me to figure out the message balloons and lanterns were mechanical).
However, that being said, the second half of this book is far stronger than the first. In the second part, readers finally get to dive in to what the author did well--political intrigue of royals, secrets, a mentally unstable villain, an uptick in plot pacing--it was compelling, and I'm curious to know what happens in book two. I think readers that were interested in the fashionista aspect of Hunger Games, or the readers that are still checking out the Selection will really like this book.
It started off rough, with writing that was so over the top, adjective ridden, descriptive. It reminded me heavily of Roshani Chokski's writing style. Which, while many do enjoy, it often is descriptive to the expense of character development and plot. In this case, I also think it was a purposeful, creative choice, used to (excessively) hit home the importance of created beauty vs the original gray of the people of Orleans.
I think my other issues were the world building and the explanations of how the Belle's aracana actually worked. In some of the scenes where they worked on people, it just wasn't clear what they were actually doing. And they world they lived in seemed almost steampunk, but also, that wasn't really clear (it took a while for me to figure out the message balloons and lanterns were mechanical).
However, that being said, the second half of this book is far stronger than the first. In the second part, readers finally get to dive in to what the author did well--political intrigue of royals, secrets, a mentally unstable villain, an uptick in plot pacing--it was compelling, and I'm curious to know what happens in book two. I think readers that were interested in the fashionista aspect of Hunger Games, or the readers that are still checking out the Selection will really like this book.