Author: Cameo Renae
Series: Heir of Blood and Fire
Genre: Paranormal/Romance/Magic
Publisher: Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op
Publication Date: August 24th, 2021
Edition: Kindle
Source: NetGalley
Purchase/Pre-Order: Amazon US
Synopsis:
Prince Roehl holds Calla’s fragile heart in his cruel hands. In a wicked twist of fate, Roehl captures the two men Calla loves most. By his command, she will come to him in Aquaris... or both will be put to death. It may be a fatal mistake, but that’s the risk Calla is willing to make when she leaves her friends behind and races through the Argent Sea. Roehl has proven his vile heart will stop at nothing to get Calla in his clutches and use her power for his own twisted agenda... even if it means killing all who dare cross him. Calla’s only chance to defeat him, is by partnering with newly formed allies who are eager as she to see the malicious prince’s reign of terror end.
*****
Quick read, I like the characters, the magic system, and the story. But there are some things that feel tonally inconsistent. Calla's mood swings are extreme. She's wracked with agony one moment, and giggling the next. She wails in despair over things that she shouldn't feel that emotional about. Not to say it shouldn't upset her, but I'm not sure that reaction is accurate for the situation. I guess it could be argued that her emotions are strained, considering what she went through at the start of the book, and in the previous books. But, she shows deep emotional attachment to people she barely knows and has only met once. Empathy is good, but I think at times this goes a touch too far.
Some of the dialog also feels oddly "current" for being a medieval-inspired fantasy world. Like, late-90's/early 2000's current. The female characters saying things like "Girl, that man loves you."... I don't know, I don't think people in this book's target audience talk like that anymore. There's also just a lot of odd dialog with the male characters. Most of them are adults, 18ish, some are immortals but still look like older teens, and many of them mostly talk like 14-year-olds. It just seems weird.
There were also some new characters introduced, that I thought were going to be connected to something bigger but as of the end of this book, they didn't lead to what I was assuming. There's still the fourth book, so maybe something will come of it there.
This book was frustrating at times as well, but not for a bad reason. There's a character who has a memory loss curse on them, and it made things feel frustrating because I wanted the curse to be broken. It took 'til the end of the book, and I do think that was a good thing. Had it been broken any sooner it might have felt too soon and too convenient. There were cracks in the curse already throughout the whole book, which is partially why it was so frustrating reading these two characters interact.
This has been a mostly critical review, but that's not to say there weren't good things in this book. As I stated at the top of the review, I really like the magic system and the characters (aside from some clunky dialog) It's easy to care about the protagonist and her companions, and easier to hate the antagonist. The motivations of both are clear and consistent. The magic system is by far the most interesting thing about this book. I am very interested in how this story ends. I look forward to reading that book when it comes out.
No comments:
Post a Comment