I'm a Veronica Mars fan. Lets get that out of the way. I got into the show during the end of the 3rd season, I donated to the kickstarter too. I was team Logan and yes, I saw the craptastic Hulu sequel series.
I'm always looking for a show that gives me VMars vibes. So when I saw this offered at C2E2 and pitched towards fans of Veronica Mars, I knew I had to read it.
After reading it, I feel like the author sat down, watched a ton of Veronica Mars, cherrypicked really good bits and pieces from the seasons, changed them and blended them into a plot that suited her story. Now, am I against fanfiction turned into books? Yes. Is this Veronica Mars fanfiction? No. But it is 100% inspired by Veronica Mars and its way too much of a coincidence.
But I enjoyed it even though it has problems.
For the life of me, I cannot picture or understand the history of this world. We are faced with a dystopia, current day world that apparently once upon a time had kings, queens, ... and gods? which also has magic ... that now has a mixture of both 1700's and futuristic things. Like, what is this place? It is never really truly explained why the world is the way it is. Hell, the government doesn't even make sense? Is there a government? It appears there are 5 ruling families that are in charge of the magic, but what is above them? where are the gods that history speaks of, or the author speaks of? It's like the author was like, I'm setting this here but I'm not explaining to you or letting you understand why, just that it is... but my rational brain can't accept that. I like to think of Brandon Sanderson when it comes to his world building - the detail of the Stormlight Archive books and these completely strange quasi space / fantasy worlds is A+. I would have liked to see that here.
The magic lore also tanks, because the magic is not verbal magic per-se. Magic is in the form of YuGiO cards that people carry on them that can help them do all sorts of things. Apparently there are classes people take to learn how to use these cards. At one point the main character has flashbacks of her in class, but the classroom flashback isn't clear of what exactly they are learning and if or how this magic came to be. Because, again, poor world-building.
Again. The book feels like the author really tried to adapt Veronica Mars, but in fear of knicking too much literally from the screen there was changes but the changes weren't really explained.
But the Adrius / Minnow scenes were the equivalent of Logan / Veronica scenes. Their dislike of one another, their tepid friendship, their fake romance, and then the end of the book. It made me feel like I was watching S1 of Veronica Mars again where you are not quite sure where you stood with their relationship.
I'd also have to say, the title is a bit confusing. Garden of the Cursed. There is a curse, but what garden? Could use a better one, but what is decided is decided.
The plot itself is good. It moves quickly, lingers not too long but just enough for paper. The ending of the book had me stunned and quite determined to get my hands on book two whenever it drops. This is going to be a duology, and I do hope that Book 2 has more fleshed out bits. Magic, setting, and character-wise. I think if the author wanted to continue it she could since the world is interesting and it will give her more time to flesh out what wasn't fleshed out in this first book.
So again, if you like Veronica Mars, I'd encourage you to give it a read. If you aren't familiar with the show then you'd probably give it positive rating on if the plot and its characters did it for you. For me, while it entertained me I felt that it could have been better.
I'm always looking for a show that gives me VMars vibes. So when I saw this offered at C2E2 and pitched towards fans of Veronica Mars, I knew I had to read it.
After reading it, I feel like the author sat down, watched a ton of Veronica Mars, cherrypicked really good bits and pieces from the seasons, changed them and blended them into a plot that suited her story. Now, am I against fanfiction turned into books? Yes. Is this Veronica Mars fanfiction? No. But it is 100% inspired by Veronica Mars and its way too much of a coincidence.
But I enjoyed it even though it has problems.
For the life of me, I cannot picture or understand the history of this world. We are faced with a dystopia, current day world that apparently once upon a time had kings, queens, ... and gods? which also has magic ... that now has a mixture of both 1700's and futuristic things. Like, what is this place? It is never really truly explained why the world is the way it is. Hell, the government doesn't even make sense? Is there a government? It appears there are 5 ruling families that are in charge of the magic, but what is above them? where are the gods that history speaks of, or the author speaks of? It's like the author was like, I'm setting this here but I'm not explaining to you or letting you understand why, just that it is... but my rational brain can't accept that. I like to think of Brandon Sanderson when it comes to his world building - the detail of the Stormlight Archive books and these completely strange quasi space / fantasy worlds is A+. I would have liked to see that here.
The magic lore also tanks, because the magic is not verbal magic per-se. Magic is in the form of YuGiO cards that people carry on them that can help them do all sorts of things. Apparently there are classes people take to learn how to use these cards. At one point the main character has flashbacks of her in class, but the classroom flashback isn't clear of what exactly they are learning and if or how this magic came to be. Because, again, poor world-building.
Again. The book feels like the author really tried to adapt Veronica Mars, but in fear of knicking too much literally from the screen there was changes but the changes weren't really explained.
But the Adrius / Minnow scenes were the equivalent of Logan / Veronica scenes. Their dislike of one another, their tepid friendship, their fake romance, and then the end of the book. It made me feel like I was watching S1 of Veronica Mars again where you are not quite sure where you stood with their relationship.
I'd also have to say, the title is a bit confusing. Garden of the Cursed. There is a curse, but what garden? Could use a better one, but what is decided is decided.
The plot itself is good. It moves quickly, lingers not too long but just enough for paper. The ending of the book had me stunned and quite determined to get my hands on book two whenever it drops. This is going to be a duology, and I do hope that Book 2 has more fleshed out bits. Magic, setting, and character-wise. I think if the author wanted to continue it she could since the world is interesting and it will give her more time to flesh out what wasn't fleshed out in this first book.
So again, if you like Veronica Mars, I'd encourage you to give it a read. If you aren't familiar with the show then you'd probably give it positive rating on if the plot and its characters did it for you. For me, while it entertained me I felt that it could have been better.