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⭐5 stars⭐When one is silent, those around speak even more.
So much love for this book! <3
New year and a new round of Story Sprites from Great Imaginations
This looks like a pretty easy board to cover - though the Scandinavian born character one will require some digging. My plans so far:-
One Word Title - Fairest - Marissa Meyer
Book with a Rebellion - Winter by Marissa Meyer
Book with a Map - Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch
Prince or Princess - A Wicked Thing - Rhiannon Thomas
YA Sci-Fi - Spinning Starlight - RC Lewis
Character Code Names - Touch of Twlight by Vikci Pettersson
Start a Series - Finnikin of the Rock - Melinda Marchetta
Dragons - Seraphina by Rachel Hartmen
Winter Falls by Nicole Maggi - either Enchanted Forrest or Supernatural Feud
Clairvoyance - Don't Even Think about it - by Sarah Mlynowski
Strong Female Friendship - Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (my pre order was shipped the other day)
Purple Themed Cover - Persuasion by Martina Boone
Stand Alone Fantasy - Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White
I did like this book. I have to give it to her, Melina Marchetta is great at writing wonderful, in depth characters. There is a lot of info dumb in the beginning of the book, and Evanjalin did annoy me with her meddling ways. But I enjoyed the concept of the Lumatere people in exile, there are a lot of comparisons to draw with exiles these days.
First things first. One thing i know after reading this book is the desperate need to have more ginger heroes.
I mean look at them bumps. LOOK AT THEM!!!
The story was unique, with a hard theme of war and suffering, intertwined with the severity of duty and obligation viewed trough two young minds. The story had enough realism to separate it from being a basic young adult fantasy, yet kept the elements of young romance.
The fantasy was layered with magic and mysticism in a way that didn't overpower the story. I liked it.
Finnikin is a wonderful male hero, strong, kind and caring. And wonderfully ginger. It was refreshing to take a step back from the tall dark and handsome, or the icy blondes we are accustomed to.
I liked the worldbuilding a lot, the descriptions of people of Lumatere, with their characteristics was a good touch.
This is the first of Melina Marchetta's books I've read, although I have seen 'Looking for Alibrandi' and I quite enjoyed it.
Finnikin of the Rock was not special. It was cookie-cutter fantasy, with nothing new. 
It left me feeling flat, bored and rather underwhelmed.
I enjoyed the world building, but I felt that the oppression was a little too strong, the idea of hope was completely trodden on by the doom and gloom. Realism in the Young Adult genre is important, but this amount of oppression in a childs book, while not really explored in graphic detail was constantly thrown up (rape, murder, atrocities of war, beatings etc) it was always in your face, always loitering just round the corner. It was too much for a YA book!
I also didn't like how the relationship between Finnikin and Evanjalin progressed. I mean how immature do you want to get?
And that twist about 70% in...when we find out someting about Evanjalin...(I don't want to add spoilers!)
And, while we're on WTF moments, I didn't like what happened with Trevanion and Beatriss. I felt ripped off and it felt weird. What was with that relationship?
Ultimately, this book was a giant let down after all the hype I'd heard. It was boring, too long and quite dark (not that I mind dark) but it doesn't have this sort of place in a Young Adult book.
I will not be continuing on with the series.
