Marley G. reviewed on + 40 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Alissa, the plucky young heroine who discovers her own unknown magic on a quest to find her father's magical heritage, and Strell, the young bard who comes along for the adventure and then comes to care for Alissa, are cute. But they can be naive and just the slightest bit annoying at times. Possibly because there's a bit of a Regency romance feel to the teenage relationship here that doesn't always mesh with the sorcerous fantasy plotline. (Think of an ingenue who blushes and stamps her feet when she gets mad but then still has the mental control to discover and direct her magic.)
And the big secret about the what the dread Raku really are is handled kind of awkwardly. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but suffice it to say there's way too much foreshadowing, so the final twist is really no surprise. You already pretty much know what's coming, and then the great revelation comes as part of tidying up loose ends quickly at the end of the story.
But, all that said, I still have high hopes for this series and I'm going to stick with it!
Dawn Cook's later "Princess" series is just SO well done that I'm willing to cut the author some slack here and go on faith that each book in this earlier series will be better than the last. Authors have to have license to grow, I guess.
PS what's with the 30-something blonde on the cover of this book? the Alissa character is clearly way younger; the illustration just seemed weirdly unrelated to the story
And the big secret about the what the dread Raku really are is handled kind of awkwardly. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but suffice it to say there's way too much foreshadowing, so the final twist is really no surprise. You already pretty much know what's coming, and then the great revelation comes as part of tidying up loose ends quickly at the end of the story.
But, all that said, I still have high hopes for this series and I'm going to stick with it!
Dawn Cook's later "Princess" series is just SO well done that I'm willing to cut the author some slack here and go on faith that each book in this earlier series will be better than the last. Authors have to have license to grow, I guess.
PS what's with the 30-something blonde on the cover of this book? the Alissa character is clearly way younger; the illustration just seemed weirdly unrelated to the story
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