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A review by emilynied
Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
This book was just ok in my opinion, starting with the fact that I think it was mismarketed based off of the plot summary. I got this book for "Stuff Your Kindle Day" and the summary of the book plus the anticipated reading experience just didn't live up to what I was expecting. This book fits in to the "fantasy romance" genre much of us are familiar with and love, which I didn't have a problem with, but aside from some elements, this book didn't stick out at all because it felt like nothing happened. We spend a lot of time in Morgan's home learning her environment and background before embarking on the hero's journey about halfway through the book. That's the first problem I have, we got to a singular event in the plot summary halfway through the book. The character building and relationships in the first half were fine and I think that Morgan's relations with her brothers are particularly interesting but I think that those scenes needed to be condensed in order to get to the action quicker.
The introduction of Draven felt very clunky to me and his whole character feels really unimagined and lacking in originality. I think that at a certain point when you read a whole lot of this genre, the mmc love interests begin to blur together because they all tend to have the same characteristics (dark hair, tall, infinitely bigger and burlier than the fmc, a warrior with weirdly quick movements in a world where the fae are "supposed" to be long gone and of course, a dark past (but actually they're just misunderstood)). I don't mean to call out this author in particular for this because I think it's a problem of the genre but it made me not care for the character at all.
I liked the whole hero's journey and traveling through mystical lands left undiscovered but there just was a lack of action and clarity that I was looking for. I felt like the entire trip was confusing because both the protagonist and the reader don't really know exactly what the goal is...I understand the purpose is to create mystery and probably build up to a reveal about the hidden "fae" world (just a prediction not a spoiler) but the plot ended up feeling underdeveloped as a result.
The introduction of Draven felt very clunky to me and his whole character feels really unimagined and lacking in originality. I think that at a certain point when you read a whole lot of this genre, the mmc love interests begin to blur together because they all tend to have the same characteristics (dark hair, tall, infinitely bigger and burlier than the fmc, a warrior with weirdly quick movements in a world where the fae are "supposed" to be long gone and of course, a dark past (but actually they're just misunderstood)). I don't mean to call out this author in particular for this because I think it's a problem of the genre but it made me not care for the character at all.
I liked the whole hero's journey and traveling through mystical lands left undiscovered but there just was a lack of action and clarity that I was looking for. I felt like the entire trip was confusing because both the protagonist and the reader don't really know exactly what the goal is...I understand the purpose is to create mystery and probably build up to a reveal about the hidden "fae" world (just a prediction not a spoiler) but the plot ended up feeling underdeveloped as a result.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment