by Cayla Kluver
Source: Netgalley
Format: E-book
Pages: 512
Release Date: Available Now
Goodreads Summary:
Magic was seeping out of me, black and agonizing. I could see it drifting away. The magic that would let me pass the Road to reach home again.
When sixteen-year-old Anya learns that her aunt, Queen of the Faerie Kingdom of Chrior, will soon die, her grief is equalled only by her despair for the future of the kingdom. Her young cousin, Illumina, is unfit to rule, and Anya is determined not to take up the queen's mantle herself.
Convinced that the only solution is to find Prince Zabriel, who long ago disappeared into the human realm of Warckum, and persuade him to take up his rightful crown, Anya journeys into the Warckum Territory to bring him home. But her journey is doomed to be more harrowing than she ever could have imagined.
Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I tried. It wasn't awful, but it certainly wasn't good. I got 25% of the way through but I just don't care. It's so boring and tedious and I'm just so not interested. I kept going back because I wanted to be interested. Sure, I had some major issues with her previous books (Aleria), but she also wrote some major strong points (LONDON!). This book? All kinds of bleh.
The Writing:
- Holy Guacamole....this book is long. Normally, length doesn't deter me. It can sometimes be a bit tedious if it's introducing a new world, but it is usually still interesting, even if a bit slow. This book however literally made time slow down. While reading I felt like the times you're in school and you keep looking at the clock thinking that surely at least half and hour had passed and instead it had been about 30 seconds. Yeah, books shouldn't make that happen. Books should make it feel as if time is flying and you don't have nearly as much time as you want to read it. This unendurable length leads me to my next complaint..
- TOO MANY FREAKING UNNECESSARY DETAILS! Seriously, in the 25% that I read, at least a quarter, if not half, could've been taken out. It was unnecessary and only succeeded in bogging down the book. Don't get me wrong, details can be amazing. But when they are the main part of the book? Nope. Just all kinds of nope.
- Also, I was reading this on my Kindle and I started to notice a trend - lack of dialogue. I mean page after page after page was just paragraphs and paragraphs of details and unnecessary actions she did. It all just started blending together. I eventually found myself skimming. Not a good sign.
- I don't know what it was but it seemed to be lack of flow and transition. Paragraphs didn't seem to flow into each other and it was all kinds of jumpy. It wasn't smooth, but jarring.
Anya:
- She was confusing. At first she seemed like she thought through things and wasn't going to act too rash and seemed to care about her cousin. But her actions are completely different! She supposedly goes on this mission to find her missing cousin (also the heir) to "help" her other cousin because of course her other cousin doesn't know what she's doing. Only Anya knows. But it's completely selfish. She just doesn't want responsibility for the throne. And I want to punch her in the face. Also, when she meets Shea and they are about to go off on adventures together, she's worried about her making stupid decisions because she's brash and angry at having been cooped up. Anya isn't exactly the wise leader or anything so it totally irks me that she pretends to be thus. I'd probably listen to Shea over Anya.
- Secondly, I feel like her losing her wings was too easy and was just to add drama. Which it actually didn't. It's happens in the first 10% of the novel. She's traveled this road multiple times and is supposed to have heightened senses yet couldn't sense the hunters? You can't go talking about your awesome spidey senses and that you could sense anyone before you saw them one second and the next get your wings chopped off. Also, I just didn't really feel connected to her yet so when she was getting her wings chopped off it was like "eh. sucks to suck". Call me heartless. Anyways, I feel like when that happened I should've been gasping and it should've been heart wrenching! Instead, it all happened in, like, 5 sentences. One sentence she had her wings, the next "POOF". Oh, that's unfortunate. I'm sure you'll get over it.
- Also, this leads me to the magic ordeal. Are the wings the link to magic? I feel like that's weird. I don't quite understand. She seems to be human now. Um...a little explanation? Maybe we will get that later and that's supposed to be part of the mystery. Too bad I don't care enough to read it and find out.
- Oh yeah. So apparently Anya doesn't believe in myths....WHAT DOES SHE THINK SHE IS THEN?!?! Sure, humans and fae know about each other's existence and all now but don't you think if there was one race of mythical creatures, oh, I don't know, perhaps there could be others? Seriously? She brushes them off like "I'm the only myth cool enough to exist". *Snorts*
Random annoyances:
- I'm sorry. I'm not sure I heard you correctly. Did you just say the queen's name was Umbiqua? UMBIQUA?!? I really hope that no one reading this has that name cause I'll feel really bad but seriously? How can you have names like Anya and Davic and Zabriel and then have UMBIQUA? Like, that doesn't even go! It's so random!
- The Bloody Road. It sounds so ominous and scary and scary awesome! THE BLOODY ROAD!!! There's got to be tons of gore and maybe it's painted red with the blood of their enemies. MWAHAHAHA.....but it's not. It's just called the Bloody Road. All I know is that apparently a battle or war happened here and humans can't cross it. Um...okay? No more details? Supposedly its the split between worlds, but where does the split happen? Every time it's described it seems that there really isn't a point necessarily where one world ends and one world begins. Maybe I missed something in my skimming? I don't know. It's all just very vague. The one thing I want explained more is hardly explained at all!
I don't know guys. I tried. I really did. A for effort right? But, the more I write this review, the more I feel ranty. Looking back, I'm not even sure I accurately got my feelings across. Oh, well. I will say this - if you really loved her first series, I actually think you might enjoy it! Many people I found on GR who like her first books loved this one. So, if your team Kluver, I say go for it! Everyone else? Read at your own risk. Perhaps if you get farther than I did, you'll find redeeming qualities. It's just that at this point, I'd rather spend time reading a book I at least enjoy somewhat, not one I want to throw out the window.
