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A review by loveisnotatriangle
Ally by Anna Banks
2.0
I'm sad to say this was really disappointing. I liked a lot about NEMESIS, especially the banter and tension between Sepora and Tarik. I also really loved the way the first book ended. It's such a great cliffhanger and set everything up so well for book two. I had a lot of questions about world building that I wanted to see fleshed out in the future, but for the relationships, I enjoyed it. And I was very excited for the second part of the series.
While there were some aspects of ALLY that I liked - namely many of the parts I wanted to see more of, such as a broader and richer look at this world of five kingdoms, and greater scheming between the different nations - many more things bothered me. The first issue I had, which was a problem for me in both books, is the switching between first and third person narratives. This is a huge pet peeve of mine and always slows down the book while making the flow of the story feel choppy. Sepora narrates in first person while Tarik is in third, and I always had to readjust in each chapter, and it never got better for me. Though I could have handled it more if the story had won me over more.
The romance aspect, which is what drew me to this series, fell apart for me here. It takes until nearly the last chapter for these two to finally communicate and get on the same page, and as the book went on, Sepora and Tarik's charming banter and arguments turned into something that was just frustrating. It was too much drama and not enough communicating, especially from Tarik who never seemed to grasp why Sepora was angry with him at the start of this book. The way the end plays out did not work for me at all either. I found it to be too late coming and completely unsatisfying. . This isn't the first of this author's series that hasn't held up over time and it's definitely made me wary of attempting one again.
While there were some aspects of ALLY that I liked - namely many of the parts I wanted to see more of, such as a broader and richer look at this world of five kingdoms, and greater scheming between the different nations - many more things bothered me. The first issue I had, which was a problem for me in both books, is the switching between first and third person narratives. This is a huge pet peeve of mine and always slows down the book while making the flow of the story feel choppy. Sepora narrates in first person while Tarik is in third, and I always had to readjust in each chapter, and it never got better for me. Though I could have handled it more if the story had won me over more.
The romance aspect, which is what drew me to this series, fell apart for me here. It takes until nearly the last chapter for these two to finally communicate and get on the same page, and as the book went on, Sepora and Tarik's charming banter and arguments turned into something that was just frustrating. It was too much drama and not enough communicating, especially from Tarik who never seemed to grasp why Sepora was angry with him at the start of this book