Author: Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Young adult, fantasy
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: September 1, 2015
Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.
Shout out to the wonderful Emma at Miss Print for sending me this ARC.
Man, I wanted to like this one so much more than I did. I tried. I really did. But after putting it down a couple of times and not really caring if I picked it back up, I finally DNF-ed it. This is why:
- The writing style is really strange. The MC keeps addressing the reader but you’re never really sure why/who she’s even talking to. Is she telling her story to someone? Breaking the fourth wall only works occasionally and it didn’t here. Plus, wtf is up with the weird combinations of words like “certain-sure”. Just, why?
- Info dumping out the bum. I didn’t get very far into this one; I’ll admit that, but it’s because there was SO much info dumping without any real explanations for WHY things were the way they were or WHAT she was actually talking about that I got SUPER frustrated. In the end, I found I didn’t really care about the characters, the world, or anything that was happening.
- Some of the descriptions felt lazy. Instead of coming up with her own words to describe a creature or a marking on a character, Lackey would say “You know that Jabberwocky thing from Lewis Carroll? Yeah, it looks like that but longer.” I’m not kidding. That’s not a direct quote, but it’s close.
The bottom line: I loved the idea behind this one and I was excited to read a story about dragons, but the writing style was weird, there was a lot of dull info dumping right off the bat, and in the end, I just didn’t care about it. I may try again later, but I doubt it.
Caught Read Handed 
This sounds very disappointing…I had it on my TBR list but I don’t really think I would enjoy it that much, either.
I was so sad about it because I wanted it to be great. 😦
What a bummer! I know you were really excited about this one so I’m sorry to hear that it was a dud. The writing style just sounds plain weird 😮
It was SO weird. I was pretty disappointed. Maybe I hyped myself up too much.
The more I keep hearing about this book, the more weird I feel about it! It definitely doesn’t seem like a book I would enjoy. That’s a shame that you couldn’t get into it!
Great post 😊
Yeah, it was just a weird one. I’m sure some people will like it, but it just wasn’t for me.
Ugh, I agree with you so much. I DNF’d it too! I hated to do it, but I was 10 or 15% of the way through it and I realize I still had no clue what was going on, despite all the massive info dumping. The world building was just not good. I prefer showing vs telling. Instead of showing us what the world was like, the narrator just spent countless chapters telling us how things were without giving us any real explanations. Annoying.
EXACTLY! Even though there was so much info dumping, there really wasn’t a clear idea of what was happening. I agree completely.
oh man, I think I have read more DNF reviews of this one than actual finished reviews. and the finished reviews I’ve read haven’t been very good. I think I am going to pass on this one. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it!
It’s just such a weird book. I’m sure some people enjoyed/will enjoy it, but it wasn’t for me, unfortunately.
I completely agree with everything! I DNFed as well.
Man, a lot of people DNFed this one. 😦
I know! So disappointing.
This was pretty much exactly what I felt about this book and why I DNFed it. Kind of a bummer because I was excited to read it.
Same here. I was super excited. I wonder if we hyped ourselves up too much?