I enjoy some fantasy (though I prefer sci/fi). I'm not against romance/erotica, but most of this made me eyeroll. A lot.
The plot and storyline were okay, but the world was not well fleshed out. Not very believable. Yarros would often describe a rule or tradition that could not be questioned and immediately break it. There seemed to be a huge amount of needless death for a country at war, one who ostensibly needs soldiers to fight enemies. I understand it being very competitive, but maybe instead of killing off everyone who can't make the cut as a rider, just reassign them? It was hard to suspend the disbelief.
I also feel there was a lot of ideas and world building borrowed from other authors. Some was a bit too blatant. Mostly this was sexy Dragonriders of Pern.
I didn't mind the use of first person or present-day language and slang that some reviewers had a problem with.
I did appreciate the disability representation. How hard it was for Violet to do the very physical things requited of her. I appreciated the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters. I also liked the author's characterization of a young person who is smart, but also neive (though that occasionally warranted an eyeroll as well.)
Final thoughts: very long. A bit cringey. Not my favorite, and I won't be reading more of the series. However, if you like fantasy/romance (which is a legit genre), this might be worth the read.
No comments:
Post a Comment