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A review by lizbethandthelifeinbetween
The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Much like The Falconer, this is a very good introductory to fanatasy book. It has many common tropes that are not poorly executed, but I wouldn't say they do anything to break the mold or be interesting.
The plot was predictable; I knew the twist about Brie's father from the prologue and the book did nothing to subvert this expectation, nor did it do anything to dramaticise and lead up to the reveal. Brie felt very inactive in the plot. She was being lead around by a large cast of characters with little motivation of her own, doing as they ask as she had no reason not to go along with them. This book manages to hit all the beats of a good fantasy novel plot wise, but the execution is a bit lacking.
Many of the characters serve similar roles in the story, making it hard to differentiate between them. And many characters have upwards of four different names that they are referred to throughout the novel, making it even harder to keep track of same-y individuals. Some characters are built up never to be heard of again like the MC's peer at the Passion school while others could have used a lot more development to make their significance to Brie more impactful to the reader.
After reading Ross's author blurb, the book makes sense. She studied English, that shows in the plot and the tropes picked etc, but she needs to write more and develop world-building and characterization skills as well.
In all I can't call this book bad, but there are many books out there that have done everything this book tries to do better. It is something I am going to recommend to beginner fanatsy readers to help ease them into the genre as it proves a thorough overview of things to expect from a fanatsy work without being too overwhelming with large-scale worldbuilding, complex politics, and multiple POVs.
The plot was predictable; I knew the twist about Brie's father from the prologue and the book did nothing to subvert this expectation, nor did it do anything to dramaticise and lead up to the reveal. Brie felt very inactive in the plot. She was being lead around by a large cast of characters with little motivation of her own, doing as they ask as she had no reason not to go along with them. This book manages to hit all the beats of a good fantasy novel plot wise, but the execution is a bit lacking.
Many of the characters serve similar roles in the story, making it hard to differentiate between them. And many characters have upwards of four different names that they are referred to throughout the novel, making it even harder to keep track of same-y individuals. Some characters are built up never to be heard of again like the MC's peer at the Passion school while others could have used a lot more development to make their significance to Brie more impactful to the reader.
After reading Ross's author blurb, the book makes sense. She studied English, that shows in the plot and the tropes picked etc, but she needs to write more and develop world-building and characterization skills as well.
In all I can't call this book bad, but there are many books out there that have done everything this book tries to do better. It is something I am going to recommend to beginner fanatsy readers to help ease them into the genre as it proves a thorough overview of things to expect from a fanatsy work without being too overwhelming with large-scale worldbuilding, complex politics, and multiple POVs.