Sarah Rees Brennan

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in The Time of Iron series. I got a copy of this on ebook through NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: Previous to reading this, I read "Team Human" which I liked, and "The Demon's Lexicon" which was so-so. I have mixed feelings about this book. This started out really rough and is by no means a "well-written" book. However, it was a lot of fun to read and had fascinating and engaging characters. I ended up enthralled by the story and characters by the end and found myself struggling to put it down in the second half.

The story follows Rae, a young woman fighting late stage cancer who gets a bargain from a strange woman. The woman tells her she can go into the world of her favorite fantasy series, and if she can find a bloom from rare flower she'll be able to save herself in her home world. Rae agrees, but unfortunately finds herself thrust into the body of a villainess who is supposed to be executed the next day. Rae has to do some fast thinking and some solid evil to try to get herself out of the execution and into a position to find the rare bloom.

The beginning of this book was awful; it is unnecessary, awkward, and hard to follow. Showing us Rae in the "real world" could have been done in so many better ways. I almost stopped reading this after the first chapter because it was sooooo bad. Things do improve once we get into the fantasy world.

Once we get into the fantasy world, the writing itself still feels pretty awkward. However, the zany campiness of the story starts to take over and make things very entertaining. That coupled with the intriguing characters started to suck me in.

It is really the characters that end up making this an intriguing read. They are all "evil" but more complex than that. Added to that is the humor of Rae and another Earth transplant trying to keep the plot true to the book series while it keeps veering all over the place. The story ends up sucking you in and absolutely grabs you. You keep wondering if Rae will succeed in her quest, what will happen to the original story, and who is the Emperor?

This is a pretty typical portal fantasy. I've read books before where dying characters are transported to a fantasy realm where "if they can only complete a quest", they can save themselves in the real world. What sets this book apart from those is the sheer craziness of the situation and the zaniness of the characters. Let me repeat, this is not well written, and the beginning is a slog to get through. However, it does end up being entertaining, and by the end I desperately wanted to know what would happen next. So, despite my initial feelings, I ended up enjoying this.

My Summary (4/5): Overall this is a mixed bag. The beginning is awful, and the writing isn't the best, it is awkward and doesn't flow the best. This is a somewhat typical portal fantasy. However, it does have a lot of humor and zaniness to it as it continues. It ends up begin campy and crazy enough that it entertained me. By the end, the characters had really pulled me in to the story and I ended up completely engaged and struggling to put this down. Against my better judgment I do plan on continuing the series because I just need to know what happens after the crazy ending in this first book.… (plus d'informations)

3.5
NetGalley ARC

Reminds me of Descendants - over the top drama with teens living out a real fantasy ren faire as villains.

The last 10% really brought up the rating for me.

I really struggled with the very modern, colloquial language used - not just by Rae, but by everyone, at times it was cringe. There was also an almost “silly” OTT vibe to the book. Because Rae wasn’t taking anything seriously, I couldn’t either.
I felt the multiple POVs unnecessary- Rae and maybe Eric would have been enough.
I liked the overall idea and plot, especially the twist at the end, but the tone/writing style wasn’t for me.… (plus d'informations)

{My thoughts} – I have read the graphic novel that this series is originally based on. It is much more dark and morbid then this book was. I have seen the entire released series on Netflix as well. It also doesn’t compare to this particular book, but it has similar storylines.

I’m going to start by saying that I am not a fan of the way the book is written. You have some chapters on white pages with black print and some on black pages with white print. I found it to be really hard to read the ones on black pages with white print in a low light setting. I usually read by using my beside lamp or an a lowly lit room in the house. We don’t really have super bright lights. Otherwise I have no complaints on the books creation.

Sabrina is not your average 15 year-old. She is a half mortal and half witch. You can recall her and her aunts Hilda and Zelda and her boyfriend Harvey from the 90’s comedy. However, that’s as much of the similarity you will get from that comedy within the pages of this book. The names are the same, the appearances and descriptions are not!

Sabrina has two other friends besides Harvey; Roz and Suzie. They are both interesting characters in their own way. And in a way like Harvey they too have secrets they keep from Sabrina. Sabrina likes to think she is keeping this huge secret from her friends and that it is more or less ruining their friendships on some level, but they have secrets too that they are afraid to share.

Given this is a prequel it is mostly and introduction to all the characters in the series. You learn bits and pieces about them in the white pages. On the black pages one character is highlighted and you get to learn even more of their back story. I do like how it was put together, I just don’t like the color of the pages, but I do understand why they were done as black and white. White means good and black means evil. It’s a rather obvious conclusion, just gave me a headache reading this way.

This book is mostly centered on Sabrina’s goodness. Her love and kindness for her family and her friends. It shows that she is good at heart and that she isn’t sure of the choice she will need to make at her Dark Baptism.

I look forward to seeing where the author is going with this series in the next book that is set to be released Dec 26, 2019.… (plus d'informations)