Author: arzoelyn

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

What I liked about this book:

The prose in this book is for the most part very well-crafted. The author has built a breathtakingly beautiful and very detailed world in which I could explore. I loved the murmurwoods, and could feel the trees talking around me and see their giant trunks. I could feel the movements of the giant lizard as it ran. Everything about is very visceral and descriptive.

That's this author's strength. It's incredibly difficult to craft an epic fantasy setting with locations that make sense and a magic system that isn't stupid, but there she mostly succeeded.

What I did NOT like about this book:

The beginning of this book was confusing. It took me until chapter three to figure out what was going on, and if I had not been reading this for a review, I would have stopped, even though things got more compelling later on. The text also head-hops a lot, which annoys me.

There are so many plot holes that if this were a road, I'd have four flat tires. Things just seemed to happen for convenience's sake. How did Aurora learn such powerful magic when Owen had been studying for years? How did she not notice that the Red Fox was her friend she'd been spending so much time with? How the HELL does he do the Red Fox thing when living in a city several hours away?

It left me with a very ????? feeling

Apart from that I disliked a lot of the characters. Aurora has the personality of wet cardboard, is immediately good at anything she tries, and on top of it, all the male characters in her immediate vicinity seem to fall instantly in love with her. She has no one in this book who dislikes her despite the fact that she is basically just a black hole into which plot events sometimes fall.

Tezaro is an asshole. He gave her a proposal gift without telling her what it is, and reacts violently to any other men coming anywhere near her. Hey, guess what douchecanoe? She's not yours! This is one of the tropes I hate most. His behavior is abusive, controlling, and unacceptable. I do not give a shit how torn he is that she is the key or that he had a prophecy about her. And then, to rub in this wound, she falls so in love with him she seems to forget fairly immediately about what happened to her parents.

Lucas is far nicer to her and seems to respect her autonomy as a human being at least, but his name changes too many times and his plot arc has too many plot holes.

Honestly the most compelling character in here is Landros, with Lily as a close second. I'd keep reading this just for them.

Overall:

It would be fun if you removed the Black Hole Sue and her annoying, controlling dickbag love interest. I actually rather liked parts of this, just not the whole thing, and I REALLY hated Tezaro and kind of want to punch him in the face.

Rating: 

4/10. I'd give it a 6/10 if Tezaro wasn't such an ass and Aurora had an interesting personality.