The emphasis and odd dynamic in the love quadrangle...? is uncomfortably jarring and repetitive, but there are a lot of elements in this tale done right. It's magical and adventurous. I think it could have 'gotten to the point' a little quicker though. ( )

this was agony ( )

Read the full review at Witchmag's Boekenplank

To be honest? I was a bit disappointed with this book. When you read it, you can see between the lines how much potential this book has, but it’s not expressed in the story. Every time there’s an impressive build up, my feelings of angst / excitement, ooze away before the bang, the conclusion. Or the situation is handled in such a way that it left me hanging, unsatisfied. Therefore, I had to put this book away, repeatedly. But I managed to persevere! I read till the end but even that wasn’t really satisfying. It was even more pale in comparison to the rest of the story. Not something that would make me want to read the next book. It’s more of a summary of what happened, something you expect at the beginning of the NEXT book, to get up to date.

Okay, so all the potential this book had, stayed unused. But what about the story? When thinking about it, not much happens. Cheyenne’s parents die, she has to flee, she gets saved, gets attacked, gets saved, gets attacked, and so on… You can imagine this became a bit boring after a while, can’t you? It’s too predictable and dull. Okay, there’s some character growth and she slowly manages to hold her own, more or less, but at the end she’s still a damsel in distress that needs to be rescued, over and over again. Not my favorite kind of heroin. I prefer the spunky, I’ll-kick-your-ass-and-am-not-afraid-to-rescue-the-hero kind. Oh and Cheyenne thinks, a lot. Her first reaction is to describe her feelings and those of her friends around her, before taking action. Uhm… don’t you need to act pronto in a life or death situation?

And I still don’t get what the big deal about Cheyenne is, besides her being special (DUH). The back bone of the story and the stuff with the clans is clear to me, but not what Cheyenne’s role in it is. I want more details! Like what’s the difference between clan people and normal people? What are their tasks? What do they need to protect? And so on, and so on. It’s not explained at all and even Cheyenne doesn’t ask about it, which I found a bit weird, since she just found out about all of it….

The jumps in time this book has didn’t sit well with me. Especially in the beginning. There’s only one sentence that separates a touching part of how Cheyenne copes with the death of her parents the first couple of days (very well written!) and a budding romance. My feelings of sorrow didn’t get the time to fade away, there was no gradual transition. It was boom paf and now we’re talking about romance! I know there’s a sentence that says that 5 weeks have passed. But one sentence is too short for my feelings to go from sorrow to romance time!

Talking about romance time, of course we have the usual love triangle. I have no problem with those, as long as they are executed well. And well executed isn’t the case when the main character is unable to choose, even after sampling both parties. A kiss here and a hug there. And she still can’t make up her mind! I know it can be difficult, but think about the other party too, please. It will only hurt them more if you don’t end it! I was more miffed about the lack of action on the men’s side. Where’s the fighting for her love? They acted more like they didn’t really care with whom she ends up.

So this was what made me put the book away, repeatedly, but what made me continue reading? What gave me the strength to go on? There are some parts that are sooo hilarious. Like “how to get something out of a car without having keys for said car”. It was too stupid for words, I had to hold my stomach from laughing so hard. Little things like that made reading the book worthwhile ^^

Conclusion

2 HEARTS. Between the lines I could see the potential this book has, but unfortunately it doesn’t live up to it. Some time jumps in the story don’t give you enough time to switch between you’re feelings. The love triangle isn’t the best I’ve read about and Cheyenne behaves like a damsel in distress most of the times. Even the ending didn’t make me love the book. What saved it, though, were the hilarious parts in between, which gave me the strength to go on. ( )