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A review by _isabel_
Swordcrossed by Freya Marske
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Oh well, this was disappointing.
I'm so angry with myself for not liking this as much as I hoped! I was so damn sure "Swordcrossed" was going to be a winner. I love Freya Markse's writing, and I absolutely adored her "The Last Binding" series (I'm still missing book three, but I'm certain that one too will be a winner). Unfortunately, this book did not work for me.
There were some things that I absolutely adored, but all in all, they were not enough to win me over, and especially, they definitely were not enough to stop me from skimming nearly half of the book. I should have DNF it, but I was still curious to see what would happen to Matti and Luca and to see the plot unfold.
Anyway, the good: I adored Matti as a protagonist. If there's one thing I love, it's chronically responsible, anxious messes getting their shot at happiness and setting boundaries. He was the literal best: serious and competent but also so damn earnest and honest and vulnerable and insecure and uGHH, my son, I loved him to bits. I wanted to jump into the book to wrap him in blankets. I also ADORED all the side characters: Maya and Sofia were fantastic, and I wanted to be adopted by the entire Jay household.
I also really liked the plot: I'm a plot girlie through and through, and Freya's already shown us how good she is at crafting well-thought-out stories that manage to keep you on the edge of your seat. I didn't think I'd manage to find myself invested in the intricacies of wool industry, but here we are. The plot was the main reason I wanted to finish this book, alongside Matti's well-earned HEA and the feeling I had about the whole Sofia situation. I was so happy to be right. <3
Apart from these things, the rest of the book did not work for me.
I'm a plot girlie, but also a world-building one too, so I can't believe I have to write this but: the world-building was too damn complicated and convoluted. I'm usually good at keeping up, but damn, I could not, for the life of me, understand what was going on there.
I could have gotten over that if only the other protagonist, Luca, and Luca and Matti's romance, had stolen my heart... and yeah, that didn't happen. I disliked Luca so much. I'm usually all over messy, lying liars with secret damaged hearts, but god, he was despicable. Or not even that, just plain annoying, and his reasons for being annoying and a lying liar were thin at best. I didn't like how he treated Matti, and I didn't buy his sudden interest in Matti's well-being.
I also didn't buy their dynamic. Something felt off about them together, I'm still not sure what. Maybe I would have loved them more if I liked Luca, or maybe they just weren't my cup of tea together. Oh well. I still wanted to know what would happen between them, but I was more invested in the secondary romances.
Like I said, I really like the plot, and I really liked Matti and the cast of side characters. The ending was pretty satisfying too, and I was happy to see how everything wrapped up. I'm sticking with this rating for these reasons alone.
I think this could be a case of "it's me, not you" because the whole world loved this. Maybe I wasn't in the right mindset, or maybe they can't all be winners, and that's okay.
If you love low-stakes romances in a low-stakes fantasy world, with a complex world-building and (at least one) complex, lovable protagonist, give this book a go. Hopefully it will work better for you than it did for me!
Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.
I'm so angry with myself for not liking this as much as I hoped! I was so damn sure "Swordcrossed" was going to be a winner. I love Freya Markse's writing, and I absolutely adored her "The Last Binding" series (I'm still missing book three, but I'm certain that one too will be a winner). Unfortunately, this book did not work for me.
There were some things that I absolutely adored, but all in all, they were not enough to win me over, and especially, they definitely were not enough to stop me from skimming nearly half of the book. I should have DNF it, but I was still curious to see what would happen to Matti and Luca and to see the plot unfold.
Anyway, the good: I adored Matti as a protagonist. If there's one thing I love, it's chronically responsible, anxious messes getting their shot at happiness and setting boundaries. He was the literal best: serious and competent but also so damn earnest and honest and vulnerable and insecure and uGHH, my son, I loved him to bits. I wanted to jump into the book to wrap him in blankets. I also ADORED all the side characters: Maya and Sofia were fantastic, and I wanted to be adopted by the entire Jay household.
I also really liked the plot: I'm a plot girlie through and through, and Freya's already shown us how good she is at crafting well-thought-out stories that manage to keep you on the edge of your seat. I didn't think I'd manage to find myself invested in the intricacies of wool industry, but here we are. The plot was the main reason I wanted to finish this book, alongside Matti's well-earned HEA and the feeling I had about the whole Sofia situation. I was so happy to be right. <3
Apart from these things, the rest of the book did not work for me.
I'm a plot girlie, but also a world-building one too, so I can't believe I have to write this but: the world-building was too damn complicated and convoluted. I'm usually good at keeping up, but damn, I could not, for the life of me, understand what was going on there.
I could have gotten over that if only the other protagonist, Luca, and Luca and Matti's romance, had stolen my heart... and yeah, that didn't happen. I disliked Luca so much. I'm usually all over messy, lying liars with secret damaged hearts, but god, he was despicable. Or not even that, just plain annoying, and his reasons for being annoying and a lying liar were thin at best. I didn't like how he treated Matti, and I didn't buy his sudden interest in Matti's well-being.
I also didn't buy their dynamic. Something felt off about them together, I'm still not sure what. Maybe I would have loved them more if I liked Luca, or maybe they just weren't my cup of tea together. Oh well. I still wanted to know what would happen between them, but I was more invested in the secondary romances.
Like I said, I really like the plot, and I really liked Matti and the cast of side characters. The ending was pretty satisfying too, and I was happy to see how everything wrapped up. I'm sticking with this rating for these reasons alone.
I think this could be a case of "it's me, not you" because the whole world loved this. Maybe I wasn't in the right mindset, or maybe they can't all be winners, and that's okay.
If you love low-stakes romances in a low-stakes fantasy world, with a complex world-building and (at least one) complex, lovable protagonist, give this book a go. Hopefully it will work better for you than it did for me!
Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.