A review by kimreadsthings
Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman
2.0
2.5
Well, it looks like I missed the hype bus for this one. Legacy of Kings failed to engage me at the start and, unfortunately, the slow pace and predictable plot kept me from engaging throughout. This is a sort of “retelling” of the story of a young Alexander the Great, but with some minor fantastical element, namely magic. It’s like “history, but magic is real!” Awesome, right? Except when the characters are dryly drawn, the plot is ridiculously convenient, and there is nary a fresh twist or turn to be seen.
Clocking in at past 450 pages, this book could easily have done with a good bit of editing. There are seven POV characters, so if multi-POV makes you dizzy this is not going to be your thing. I normally love multi POV, but not here. The voices stretched so thin, and are so very repetitive. I feel like this book could have easily been 100 less pages if the characters hadn’t constantly and repetitively been internally monologuing. Each POV character would repeat their plot goal in every single chapter. It was to the point where I wanted to say each time, “Yes I understood your goal the first time you said it. You don’t have to repeatedly intone it in every single chapter.” I don’t know if it was thinking that switching between the POVs that readers would forget which character’s goals were which but you just need to have greater faith in YA readers’ ability than this. It made for a super tiring experience.
Find the rest of my review at The Midnight Garden
Well, it looks like I missed the hype bus for this one. Legacy of Kings failed to engage me at the start and, unfortunately, the slow pace and predictable plot kept me from engaging throughout. This is a sort of “retelling” of the story of a young Alexander the Great, but with some minor fantastical element, namely magic. It’s like “history, but magic is real!” Awesome, right? Except when the characters are dryly drawn, the plot is ridiculously convenient, and there is nary a fresh twist or turn to be seen.
Clocking in at past 450 pages, this book could easily have done with a good bit of editing. There are seven POV characters, so if multi-POV makes you dizzy this is not going to be your thing. I normally love multi POV, but not here. The voices stretched so thin, and are so very repetitive. I feel like this book could have easily been 100 less pages if the characters hadn’t constantly and repetitively been internally monologuing. Each POV character would repeat their plot goal in every single chapter. It was to the point where I wanted to say each time, “Yes I understood your goal the first time you said it. You don’t have to repeatedly intone it in every single chapter.” I don’t know if it was thinking that switching between the POVs that readers would forget which character’s goals were which but you just need to have greater faith in YA readers’ ability than this. It made for a super tiring experience.
Find the rest of my review at The Midnight Garden