Scan barcode
A review by readundancies
The Half King by Melissa Landers
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
As someone that has read their fair share of YA fantasy, I've gotta say, this reads like so many mediocre YA fantasy that I've read before. I'm not sure what it was aiming for, but it's not adult, and can barely be construed as NA if you take the two smut segments out.
Nothing was truly engaging, I felt vastly bored throughout my reading experience, and the characters just weren't that interesting. The pacing felt abominably slow, the romance was lacklustre at best, any 2SLGBTQIA+ representation felt like it was present just to say that is was included (Delora was a side character that was not only underutilized but just acted as a plot device, especially at the end of the novel), and the only somewhat agreeable relationship dynamic was that of the friendship between Kian and Daerick.
I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed, and I most definitely will not be continuing with this series.
There's just too much of me that wanted to DNF this @ 55% of the way through.
Nothing was truly engaging, I felt vastly bored throughout my reading experience, and the characters just weren't that interesting. The pacing felt abominably slow, the romance was lacklustre at best, any 2SLGBTQIA+ representation felt like it was present just to say that is was included (Delora was a side character that was not only underutilized but just acted as a plot device, especially at the end of the novel), and the only somewhat agreeable relationship dynamic was that of the friendship between Kian and Daerick.
I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed, and I most definitely will not be continuing with this series.
There's just too much of me that wanted to DNF this @ 55% of the way through.