E.J. Mellow
Autor(a) de Song of the Forever Rains
About the Author
Séries
Obras de E.J. Mellow
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Sexo
- female
- Nacionalidade
- USA
- Locais de residência
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
Membros
Resenhas
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Estatísticas
- Obras
- 8
- Membros
- 625
- Popularidade
- #40,302
- Avaliação
- 3.4
- Resenhas
- 23
- ISBNs
- 11
Worldbuilding: 4/5
Very well done visually -- being able to see the various realms and creatures of Aadilor in my mind's eye really helped the world come alive for me. Esrom in particular was one of the most eloquently described and mysterious places in the book. (Hidden underwater kingdom with shifting islands, otherworldly glowing caves and mythological creatures, yes please!) However, as with most fantasy worlds (very few, actually) that manage to captivate me, I found myself wanting to know more. I wanted more history on how Aadilor came to be, what the world was like when the lost gods walked it, why they disappeared, how these lost gifts/magic were inherited, how the Thief King established his kingdom, etc. Heck, I even wanted to know where Kaipo came from, because he was such a beautiful and interesting shapeshifter of a bird, and it seems like there's only one of him. (Plus, he has violet eyes like Achak, which leads me to believe they have similar origins...) I'm hoping more background will be given in the next installments, in any case.
Characters: 4/5
Absolutely loved the sisterly banter between the Mousai - it gave them such vitality to balance out the danger of their powers. Larkyra is an intriguing character in her own right, not just because of her magic and the heavy restraint it requires, but because of her liveliness, intelligence, and ability to adapt. She did have some lapses in parts of the book, particularly when Darius came into the picture more, but I was willing to forgive those for the most part when the pace picked up. I also really liked Darius (outside of the romance arc, but more on that later) because of how big-hearted he is when it comes to his people, putting aside his own pain and suffering to help ease their own. I do wish some of the side characters were covered a little, maybe given their own POV's, particularly Achak, Dolion, Johanna and Zimri. (Achak is mildly OP, with two ancient entities inhabiting a single body that shifts to whichever one is dominant - how could I not want to know more?)
Romance: 3.5/5
Slow-burn moments were great, where I could see Larkyra and Darius starting to learn more about and understand each other. A couple kisses here and there, not bad. But near the end, the romance felt a bit too rushed, since it seemed Darius was still too vulnerable emotionally to make any major jumps in the love life department. I felt like they could've used more time to hash things out, and even if they never officialized their relationship at the end, it would have been more realistic.
The marriage proposal at the very end seemed sudden as well. They had both started to come to terms with who they were as people, had not had a chance to live with their new identities yet, so I figured a little more time would be needed before they could make a lifelong commitment to each other. Ah, well. If I had read this book a few years earlier, without understanding the nuances of human relationships, I'm sure my teenage girl's heart would have loved it nonetheless.
Pacing / Plot: 3.5/5
The first 75% of the book had me hooked and unable to put it down, but I wish there had been revelations of a different kind in the last 25%. When it came to the mystery behind the duke's drug use and what landed Darius in his sad fate, I was so sure that the clues given pointed in a certain direction... but the book went the opposite way with a rather underwhelming conclusion.
Another plot twist I wasn't impressed by was the truth behind Larkyra's birth / her mother's death. We spend the majority of the book believing, as Larkyra does, that her scream at birth was what killed her mother, but that guilt eventually leads her to develop control over her powers and understand her responsibility for them. Then, it's almost as if we're expected to forget all that, when her mother (as a ghost) tells her that wasn't what killed her. And then Larkyra suddenly becomes a happier, more carefree girl in the remaining part of the book. While it was great to see Larkyra freed of her misguided guilt, I felt that she also ended up losing some emotional depth that she had in the beginning, and which was the main reason I loved her as a character. Perhaps there was a better way this could have been done, to the same end that she didn't kill her mother, but as it read to me, with how sudden the revelation was and how completely Larkyra changed, it felt like a bit of a cop-out.
Overall Verdict: 4/5
Though it doesn't break the mold and has a few lapses in plot/pacing, this book still has a lot to offer. It's been a while since I read about a world this vibrant and varied, and I hope it will be expanded further in the next installments, with more emotionally complex characters.… (mais)