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bahareads 's review for:
Witches Steeped in Gold
by Ciannon Smart
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Let me preface this review by saying I was really excited about this book and I came into it hoping to enjoy the experience. My rating is 1.5 stars.
Witches Steeped in Gold had a lot of hype in the book world. I do not know what I was expecting when I dived into the book but I didn't get a lot of good. Smart's writing wasn't bad, in fact it might have been one of the only things that kept me reading, that and the FAITH that it would get better. The world-building was a bit too much for me; as readers we jumped around too too much for my liking and I couldn't grasp a hold of the areas for long enough before we were being moved elsewhere. It was too bogged down with different places. The pacing of Witches Steeped in Gold was bad . This book is 540ish pages long, tell WHY for the first 300-350 pages I wanted to throw in the towel. I was DONE. These feelings wasn't all based on the pacing of the book, some of it was the characters themselves.
Now on to the characters. I came into the book expecting Jazmyne and Iraya to be unique characters, not caricatures of (1) the badass girl who can do sh*t all on her own and (2) the quiet mousey girl who trusts what EVERYONE tells her. I do not mind aspects of those character traits but the way Jazmyne and Iraya were developed was bad, there's really no other way to put it. I'm a big fan of good MCs in books, it's one of my favourite things about books in general, but they were a big reason of why the first 350 pages were bad. The character development that did happen in the last 150 pages of Witches Steeped in Gold did not make sense because the plot didn't set it up. It was like a Jekyl and Hyde situation..... I'm sorry but people don't just change their personality on a whim!!!! I did like Iraya over Jazmyne as far as characters go but both were bad. All the other characters in the books were unmemorable. I legit could not name them to you. There were too many side characters darting in-and-out of the storyline, even the two romantic leads were unmemorable and some of their motivation did not make sense to me. The interaction between Jazmyne and Iraya was eh, I was not enthused. I would have liked some real backstabbing but everyone could see the stabbing was going to happen so it was not surprising.
The ending was one of the only redeeming things about this book. The characters were making moves and sh*t was finally happening. The elements in here of folklore and just fantastical settings were nice. I didn't really like the language, not that the patois wasn't nice to read, but the use of "mon" was hurting my head. I do love to see black fantasies, but I like to see them done well.
Witches Steeped in Gold had a lot of hype in the book world. I do not know what I was expecting when I dived into the book but I didn't get a lot of good. Smart's writing wasn't bad, in fact it might have been one of the only things that kept me reading, that and the FAITH that it would get better. The world-building was a bit too much for me; as readers we jumped around too too much for my liking and I couldn't grasp a hold of the areas for long enough before we were being moved elsewhere. It was too bogged down with different places. The pacing of Witches Steeped in Gold was bad . This book is 540ish pages long, tell WHY for the first 300-350 pages I wanted to throw in the towel. I was DONE. These feelings wasn't all based on the pacing of the book, some of it was the characters themselves.
Now on to the characters. I came into the book expecting Jazmyne and Iraya to be unique characters, not caricatures of (1) the badass girl who can do sh*t all on her own and (2) the quiet mousey girl who trusts what EVERYONE tells her. I do not mind aspects of those character traits but the way Jazmyne and Iraya were developed was bad, there's really no other way to put it. I'm a big fan of good MCs in books, it's one of my favourite things about books in general, but they were a big reason of why the first 350 pages were bad. The character development that did happen in the last 150 pages of Witches Steeped in Gold did not make sense because the plot didn't set it up. It was like a Jekyl and Hyde situation..... I'm sorry but people don't just change their personality on a whim!!!! I did like Iraya over Jazmyne as far as characters go but both were bad. All the other characters in the books were unmemorable. I legit could not name them to you. There were too many side characters darting in-and-out of the storyline, even the two romantic leads were unmemorable and some of their motivation did not make sense to me. The interaction between Jazmyne and Iraya was eh, I was not enthused. I would have liked some real backstabbing but everyone could see the stabbing was going to happen so it was not surprising.
The ending was one of the only redeeming things about this book. The characters were making moves and sh*t was finally happening. The elements in here of folklore and just fantastical settings were nice. I didn't really like the language, not that the patois wasn't nice to read, but the use of "mon" was hurting my head. I do love to see black fantasies, but I like to see them done well.