S. M. Gaither

OMG, OMG, I flippen loved this book. I had a hell of a time putting it down to get some sleep. The characters, the world, everything, Moth….it was perfect. Right off from the first page you are pulled right in. It is so descriptive that it feels like you are right there. Karys is such a great FMC, she grows so much and she is a feisty one. I just love her. Then you got the hottie of the fire god Dravyn, oh he is just wonderful. Clearly he wants to hate Karys and use her but the little emotions throughout the story makes it very clear how slow burn enemies should be. Then you got the bestest little guys around Moth and Zell, I love how they took to Karys and she took them. The side characters, Valas and Mairu, were a great touch. I would love to have a friend like them. Mai seems very ride or die and Valas will use his charm to light up the room and say something to get the distraction. So if you are a lover of all things romantsy, elves, gods, and just creative storytelling pick up this book like now. You will not regret it!… (plus d'informations)

Woohoo, I finally finished it! :D
I must admit, it took me way longer than I had thought (and hoped) it would.
Of course, these have been busy weeks, but still, in my honest opinion, the first is still my favourite so far :)

Worldbuilding was great, seriously, everything down to the dirt in a river bedding was clear and well written. It made it so easy to imagine yourself walking alongside Emrys or flying on Rue with Alaya! Really well written.

Character development was good with both Alaya and Emrys growing and learning a lot. They conquer their fears only to discover new ones, and while they are very cautious and not fully trusting, you feel them wanting to lay their soul bare for the other. But then there is Sylven, the freaking SNAKE! Well, technically he is Serpent-kind, so it is kinda true... but you know what I mean! I wish I could just... aargghhh!

Ahem, on with the review...

Pacing and flow were decent and I think this was my main issue. Now as I've said, I read this book during some busy weeks (Xmas and New Year), so I might not have been as immersed into the book and story as I'd normally be, but it just felt a tad slow in the middle. I had to man up and work through it. Around 70% all was well again and the pacing was a lot better! Happy me!

The book itself was well written with no (noticeable) errors.

I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book and even though it had a bit of a rough (slow) patch in the middle, it was a very enjoyable read. You will get emotionally attached (if you weren't already), rooting for both Emrys and Alaya to just trust each other and near throw your book (or Kindle) as you read about the damned Serpent-kind... grrrr... Wish Rue would just eat them and be done with it... Aaaaaaasssssss I was saying, can't wait for book 3! :D… (plus d'informations)

I am baffled why this book is tagged as Adult before YA. This is a textbook-cliched YA novel.
I know that the YA category for publishers solely depends on the age of the protagonists but goodreads is just based on the bookshelves people shelve stuff on as I understand it.

Anyway, let me first write about the good and the bad of clichées.
They are not bad by definition. Clichées and tropes can be a great shortcut to communicate complex boilerplate setups in just a few sentences for example. They can communicate what matters in a story, and what to pay attention to. They can be very interesting if subverted in interesting ways but they don't have to be. Clichées can help you immediately connect with a character for example. Or get on the wavelength the author is writing on. I don't hate clichées on their own. But clichées alone are not enough to make a good story. You need something interesting, something surprising, something novel, or something you can get emotionally invested in deeply; beyond the clichées you invoke and that is what is missing in this story. Because everything is built from all the most common YA fantasy clichées everything is predictable from miles away, there are no interesting tensions of any kind. Everything is already spelled out by expectation through the exclusive use of common tropes.
There just is no story to be told here.… (plus d'informations)