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Thanks to Harlequin Australia for sending me this copy for review
I expected more from this book. It was poorly executed in every way.
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.
WARNING. LONG ASS REVIEW AHEAD. (mostly filled with quotes from the book. Quotes are taken from my copy of the book)
DNF.
I justify that this long review is because this is such a pointless 500 page novel.
This is the first novel I’ve read (well, tried to read) from Cayla Kluver, and it was disappointing to say the least. I tried so hard to get into this book, but after reading a mere 71 pages into the book, I had to stop. I didn’t even finish the chapter. Maybe I’ll try one of her other books, but I certainly won’t be picking up the rest of this series.
The first thing that turned me off the book: it was boring. I can’t even express how boring this book was, and I don’t even want to think about the rest of the 429 pages left untouched. I couldn’t get into this book, the writing was detailed in all the wrong places, and not enough where we needed it. I don’t even know what Anya looks like! All we get told is that she has auburn hair and the colours of her wings.
Ok, so from here on out I’m going to be giving away some spoilers (if you would even call it that, seeing how it doesn’t do anything for you)
So, from the blurb we know that Anya goes after her cousin Zabriel, in the hope that he will come back and take the throne. It is supposed to be Illumina that goes to find Zabriel, but Anya wants to go because she thinks it’s too dangerous for anyone else, especially Illumina:
{Anya thinking about Illumina}
She thought she was ready for the outside world, but she was too naive to even make that judgement.
She thought she was ready for the outside world, but she was too naive to even make that judgement.
{Anya talking to her father to try convince him that she should go instead of Illumina}
“She’s not ready for this, Father. I’m afraid she won’t make it back. And this is an especially bad time to send her. The human world feels more unsettled than usual.”
And because of this unsettling feeling, she still takes it upon herself to go after Zabriel, even after Illumina has left! And then this happens:
{Anya just after she leaves Chrior to search for Zabriel}
I had warned Illumina about hunters, a far more realistic danger than the ones I was envisioning. Just as humans mounted the heads of bucks on their walls like trophies, so had the wings of Fae become badges of accomplishment for some of them, and near the Bloody Road was a popular place for such brutes to stalk. I could put up my shroud, but if I were seen crossing the Road, ay hunter who happened to be looking would know I was no human. Humans could not survive the Road.
...
Fed up with the way my footsteps reverberated, I took off my cloak and shoved it in my pack. With my wings uncovered, I flew to a branch, opting to hover tree to tree in silence until I had passed the Road.
...
I scanned the area ahead of me, my Fae sense of sight, like hearing and smells, heightened in comparison to the abilities of humans. Observing no signs of danger, I dropped to the ground, relieved to be past the crossing. Now I could leave the forest and its secrets behind.
The next instant I would relieve for years to come. Had I adopted my shroud and hidden my wings before falling, things might have been different. Had I been quicker, or less eager, I might have been spared.
I had warned Illumina about hunters, a far more realistic danger than the ones I was envisioning. Just as humans mounted the heads of bucks on their walls like trophies, so had the wings of Fae become badges of accomplishment for some of them, and near the Bloody Road was a popular place for such brutes to stalk. I could put up my shroud, but if I were seen crossing the Road, ay hunter who happened to be looking would know I was no human. Humans could not survive the Road.
...
Fed up with the way my footsteps reverberated, I took off my cloak and shoved it in my pack. With my wings uncovered, I flew to a branch, opting to hover tree to tree in silence until I had passed the Road.
...
I scanned the area ahead of me, my Fae sense of sight, like hearing and smells, heightened in comparison to the abilities of humans. Observing no signs of danger, I dropped to the ground, relieved to be past the crossing. Now I could leave the forest and its secrets behind.
The next instant I would relieve for years to come. Had I adopted my shroud and hidden my wings before falling, things might have been different. Had I been quicker, or less eager, I might have been spared.
You can tell immediately after that last sentence, exactly what’s going to happen. How much more contradicting can you get! And believe me, she is just as bad throughout the entire 71 pages that I managed to read. Including these three scenes in the book:
{Anya gets given the Anlace (dagger on front cover) to carve on a sacred tree. Note, first time she holds the Anlace}
In my hand it felt diseased, as though the queasiness spreading through my body was punishment from the knife itself for seizing this power before it was due to me.
In my hand it felt diseased, as though the queasiness spreading through my body was punishment from the knife itself for seizing this power before it was due to me.
{Anya recovering with the humans after her wings were taken.}
I tensed, yearning for the Anlace, for the power I felt when I held it.
I tensed, yearning for the Anlace, for the power I felt when I held it.
{Anya, alone in the humans bed recovering while the humans are having dinner}
I lay down in bed, my fist clenched around the hilt of the Anlace in the readiness to attack or defent. The vile thing – it was the reason I’d left Chrior. It had frightened me away.
I lay down in bed, my fist clenched around the hilt of the Anlace in the readiness to attack or defent. The vile thing – it was the reason I’d left Chrior. It had frightened me away.
This is all in sequential order by the way. Can you get any more contradicting?!? I got sooooo frustrated at this chick. Like SERIOUSLY!! And then (if you could believe she got worse, she did), she starts to act like she is so OH-high-and-mighty! And that was to everyone! It’s like no one will be able to understand her, that she talks about how much she loves this person or whatever, then she goes and starts acting like this:
{Anya talking to Davic}
“I know you don’t understand, Davic, but I have to go.”
“You don’t have to go anywhere – unless you believe there’s nothing worth staying for in Chrior. For Nature’s sake, you’re hurt, and you just got home from your last trip! Why won’t you let us help you? You ought to be here with your family, with me, for more than a few days. Or is that notion so insufferable?”
“I know you don’t understand, Davic, but I have to go.”
“You don’t have to go anywhere – unless you believe there’s nothing worth staying for in Chrior. For Nature’s sake, you’re hurt, and you just got home from your last trip! Why won’t you let us help you? You ought to be here with your family, with me, for more than a few days. Or is that notion so insufferable?”
Remember when I said that Anya was complaining, that it was too dangerous for Illumina to go on the trip? Well, guess what actually happens to this “I’m so strong and fearless! No one can do it if I don’t do it!” (No, this is not a quote, this was me mocking her) character:
{Anya just after she drops down to the Road fully exposed}
I heard the whipping of an arrow and turned toward the sound an instant before the weapon pinned my wings, both of them in one sharp strike, to the tree I had just vacated. Gasping, I tried to tug free, succeeding only in tearing the membrane of my wings.
...
The man holding my chin pushed my head against the tree. He fitted something made of leather around my wrists and snapped it tight so I couldn’t move my hands. My arms felt weak under the immobilizing pressure of the shackles.
...
I knew what they were going to do. Frenzied, I tried to draw on my elemental connection to the water, asking the snow, the ice, the sap in the trees, the water in the earth, to rise up and shield me.... no response was forthcoming.
...
I cowered, waiting for the second man to deliver fortune’s justice. I was helpless, so completely helpless in that moment. All the independence I was so proud to possess, all the dignity and potential others saw in me was gone. I was no one in the eyes of these humans, and I could not stop them from degrading me, defiling me, robbing me of what made me Fae.
I heard the whipping of an arrow and turned toward the sound an instant before the weapon pinned my wings, both of them in one sharp strike, to the tree I had just vacated. Gasping, I tried to tug free, succeeding only in tearing the membrane of my wings.
...
The man holding my chin pushed my head against the tree. He fitted something made of leather around my wrists and snapped it tight so I couldn’t move my hands. My arms felt weak under the immobilizing pressure of the shackles.
...
I knew what they were going to do. Frenzied, I tried to draw on my elemental connection to the water, asking the snow, the ice, the sap in the trees, the water in the earth, to rise up and shield me.... no response was forthcoming.
...
I cowered, waiting for the second man to deliver fortune’s justice. I was helpless, so completely helpless in that moment. All the independence I was so proud to possess, all the dignity and potential others saw in me was gone. I was no one in the eyes of these humans, and I could not stop them from degrading me, defiling me, robbing me of what made me Fae.
WTF. You could have done something! Something other than stand there like some baby and like a coward, letting them chop off your wings!!! It’s your magic, it’s everything that makes you Fae, and you’re just letting them take it after one tiny failed attempt at calling your magic. You could have done something! What is a membrane tear in your wings compared to actually losing them, along with everything that makes you Fae!!!!!! And then she has the gall to do this to the humans helping her after the attack:
{Anya talking to the humans, after they have tended to her clipped wings, bloody and puss on her back}
“What are you going to do with me?”...
“Nothing, unless you have something to suggest?”... “How do you feel?”...
“Like you’re lying.”...
“My father found you when he was hunting,”...
“Is that the story he told you?”
“It’s not just a story. My father hunts deer and rabbits. For food.”
“What are you going to do with me?”...
“Nothing, unless you have something to suggest?”... “How do you feel?”...
“Like you’re lying.”...
“My father found you when he was hunting,”...
“Is that the story he told you?”
“It’s not just a story. My father hunts deer and rabbits. For food.”
See!! If this isn’t her acting all OH-high-and-mighty, especially after they’ve just helped you and practically saved your life, then I don’t know what is. OK, I’m going to end this review here while I can actually stop myself.
I would say that you should try the book, it isn’t that bad and you might enjoy it. But then I’d be lying.
If any of you want to try the book, you are more than welcome to take my copy.
First come, first serve!
I only have one copy (can ship internationally).
Either email me or comment on the original post on my blog
behindamillionandonepages@gmail.com
