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| Cover taken from Goodreads page |
My Goodreads review can be found here.
My Amazon review can be found here.
As per usual, anything not directly on topic will be found in this color.
This book was on my radar due to seeing some Booktubers discussing ARCs/early copies of the book. Then right before Christmas, one of my aunts text (texted? I don't know anymore) me about it, saying that Ms. Ross was a friend of theirs. My aunt knew I read a lot and thought I might be interested in case I hadn't heard about it.
She was right; I read the description and since it was close to Christmas, I preordered the book.
Yes, it arrived mid-February 2018 and I didn't read it until
January 2019; I'm late to the party. But better late than never, right?
One of the things that I really liked about the book was that the history and worldbuilding was almost like the snowflake writing method. It started out with what we needed to know for this section of the book, and gave just a little bit more of the history of the outside land, since this starts out in a school. Then, once we got outside of the school, it built on that little bit of history we learned earlier and then gave us more. This pattern continued until the end of the book.
This made the learning a lot easier and a lot more
enjoyable as it felt more natural and didn’t take away from the story. We were
learning as Brienna was learning/reviewing her knowledge and it felt more
organic.
The writing was surprisingly fluid and easy despite the fact that
this is a fantasy book, where everything is new and takes more explanation to
really get the feel of the world. Even though it wasn't a form of higher
fantasy where the language pattern would tend to slow the reader down with too
much focus on how the words sounded coming off of the page, it still kept the
fantasy "feeling" while staying on task.
It also had one of my favorite bonding tropes, the
self-declared/self-made family. This is something that I really like but don't
see done very well often. This was one that did it well, as it was almost
organic and you could actively see it growing. It wasn't as detailed as I would
have liked, but it was definitely done better than most.
Finally, I would like to thank Ms. Ross for having a family tree
and cast of characters list at the beginning of the book. As someone who has a
memory problem, I can't remember who different characters are if I do not have
some form of an emotional response to them (like if I find someone funny, I'll
connect them to the joke or if hate something they say I'll connect it to the
annoyed feeling I had). The family tree made it easier for me to know who the
characters were talking about and made my reading experience much more
enjoyable.
This book is a solid debut book, but I do have a few problems with
it. The first problem is that the ending wrapped up everything too well. The
ending solved all of the problems in the book and nothing seemed to carry over
to tie the first book to the next; this is a problem because there isn't
anything to indicate a second book on the cover (like a number on the spine) or
a '[sequel name] coming in 2019' page. If the reader isn't paying attention,
they probably wouldn't know that this was the first book in a trilogy. This
tactic is not only bad marketing, but it is also bad for the author as that is
one less person reading their next book, which in turn makes them less
desirable to publishers/agents. By not adding something that connects books one
and two together, it lessens the trilogy and, by extension, the author's reach.
Another thing that was a problem for me was the weirdly-placed references to the queen's throne/reign by always pointing out that it was a queen's throne and should still be so. Saying that it's the queen's throne in itself isn't a problem, the phrasing is the problem. Whenever they discuss the need for the true queen to be on the throne or a discuss the throne, it's always stated that it's the queen's throne (or a variant of this) and should remain so. Again, having a queen on the throne isn't the problem. The problem comes with the book's seeming lack of internal consistence when it comes to who rules society.
Though it's not explicitly stated, the outside societal ruling
seems to come from a patriarchy, not a matriarchy. If it was a matriarchy, then
it would not be jarring because it would fit; however, since it's a hinted
patriarchy, it's extremely jarring because there's no reason for the emphasis
on queen's throne. Even calling the true queen 'the Queen's Heir' or saying '
she's the heir of the queen' would be less jarring because it's a reference to
the line of succession, not some thinly-veiled jab at a male ruler.
Slight spoiler for the romance. This had one of my least favorite romantic tropes: the
teacher/student romance. Now, it's not as bad as it could be, as both parties
are over eighteen and Brienna graduates about five days after she realizes she
likes him, but it still started while she was his student and they both reach
out in their own ways during. Therefore, it's inappropriate. As someone going
into social work, I tend to see the world differently than most people. I'm
especially sensitive to teacher/student relationships of this kind because I've
seen how they end and it's not pretty. Even having them reach out at the
graduation party (which happens very early in the story) would keep the feeling
there while still being as appropriate and aboveboard as possible. End slight spoiler.
While I liked the characters, I found that they weren't as developed as they should be at this point. Because each character had a goal, it was easier for the characters to be functional, but I'm not sure how well they would stand alone if the scene wasn't moving towards their goal.
This is more of an observation than a complaint, but the argument could be made that Brienna has Mary-Sue qualities. I wouldn't necessary fight the argument, but I would point out that Brienna has had a different learning experience than most and that it actually fits pretty well. I spent my time wondering if Brienna would cross into Mary-Sue territory, so it did take away from my enjoyment while reading.
Because of all the issues, I'm not sure if I'm going to continue
with the series. However, I am glad I read the book and I look forward to seeing
what Ms. Ross writes next.
******
I'm going to be skipping next month to prepare for Indie April,
which will open with the novella Heaven Shining Through.
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