To begin, I want to say my pre-teen self would have loved this book, however as a full grown adult, I can say firmly that I am not the intended audience for this story. There were things about this book that I liked but ultimately there were quite a few things that I felt didn't quite work.
I thought that the author, Lora Beth Johnson, did a great job at creating atmosphere and developing a setting for her story. There were a lot of great ideas in this book that moved the story along.
To explain some of the things I believe the book could have developed or expanded on. First, the pacing. There was an odd mix of really quick, action packed exciting sections followed by slow, drawn out passages. It took me a long time to get into the story, about 150 pages until I was really getting it. Second, the characters needed more development, I wish I could say I felt more about them- I really wanted to care about Andra and Zhade. Third, the writing- there were a lot of plot holes, for example, the language that was spoken during the entire book was only learned by the characters so that they could speak to the high-goddess and yet all of the characters spoke this learned language to one another all the time. It didn't make sense. Additionally, the language itself, and this is purely my preference, I wasn't a fan of how the language was written. I found it a bit over the top and not always consistent. The world-building was done primarily through a tell not show method which is also a personal preference- I typically prefer to learn about a world by being shown how things happen rather than being told... when the author did do scenes with the show not tell, she nailed it and they were some of my favorite parts of the book.
This is a solid debut novel, I think it is a great sci-fi book to get younger (or older!) audiences to engage with new worlds and ideas. The ending was great and enough to inspire a lot of people to continue on. I don't think I will continue on with the series but I'll be rooting for Andra!
I thought that the author, Lora Beth Johnson, did a great job at creating atmosphere and developing a setting for her story. There were a lot of great ideas in this book that moved the story along.
To explain some of the things I believe the book could have developed or expanded on. First, the pacing. There was an odd mix of really quick, action packed exciting sections followed by slow, drawn out passages. It took me a long time to get into the story, about 150 pages until I was really getting it. Second, the characters needed more development, I wish I could say I felt more about them- I really wanted to care about Andra and Zhade. Third, the writing- there were a lot of plot holes, for example, the language that was spoken during the entire book was only learned by the characters so that they could speak to the high-goddess and yet all of the characters spoke this learned language to one another all the time. It didn't make sense. Additionally, the language itself, and this is purely my preference, I wasn't a fan of how the language was written. I found it a bit over the top and not always consistent. The world-building was done primarily through a tell not show method which is also a personal preference- I typically prefer to learn about a world by being shown how things happen rather than being told... when the author did do scenes with the show not tell, she nailed it and they were some of my favorite parts of the book.
This is a solid debut novel, I think it is a great sci-fi book to get younger (or older!) audiences to engage with new worlds and ideas. The ending was great and enough to inspire a lot of people to continue on. I don't think I will continue on with the series but I'll be rooting for Andra!