Beneath Book description: "Jess has heard the rumors, old folk tales of creatures that live beneath the water—dangerous shapeshifters with a taste for human children. She's dismissed them as crazy stories...until her best friend is stolen and Jess discovers all the legends are true."
This is a YA fairy tale with a romantic angle that doesn't work out as you might expect. The problems with formatting in the ebook ARC were a little distracting, but I managed to stay in the story well enough, and the problems will be eliminated before publication-- although I couldn't find a link to a place to purchase.
I think a "tween" might enjoy this one, and there were some interesting elements, but overall, it didn't meet my expectations.
NetGalley/Floris Books
Ya/Fairy Tale/Supernatural. July 1, 2014.
Sorrow is the third book in the Witch Ember series, but I've not read the previous novels. Nor am I so inclined after finishing this one. The prologue nearly lost me entirely in its boring detail. The next problem was deciding who the heck was the protagonist. I wasn't especially taken with the first character introduced, Phindol, but as it turned out, he wasn't really the protagonist, anyway. Neither was Lord Ash. OK - the book description did reveal that the protagonist was Faina, but it took long enough to get her in the story. I also found the made-up words annoying, they didn't flow naturally, and I found them distracting, rather than contributing to any sense of time or place.
Faina was pitiful, unaware of how she was being used as an assassin-- and much too young at 14-15 for the connections with Lord Ash and Phindol and other sexual implications. I really couldn't develop any genuine concern for the characters, not even Faina.
Again, I couldn't find a link for purchasing.
NetGalley/Dragonwell Books
Science Fiction/Fantasy. 2009; Sept. 30, 2014.
That's too bad about Sorrow. How aggravating.
ReplyDeleteBeneath sounds interesting though.
These books have lovely cover art. It's a shame the novels didn't live up to your expectations.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pity that the books didn't meet your expectations. I thought they'd be good at first glance of the covers, but alas. . .
ReplyDeleteIt's always a bit frustrating when books are mediocre at best. I always think I could have been reading a really good book instead!
ReplyDelete:) After a really good run for about a month, I'm having one of those cycles of "not so good."
ReplyDelete