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thecandlelightlibrary 's review for:
Pricked
by Scott Mooney
Thank you to NetGalley and Bleeding Ink Publishing for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
I was so excited to read this book after reading the premise. It sounded like it was going to be an imaginative and satirical take on popular fairytale tropes, and I loved the idea of integrating Briar’s fairytale world with New York City. However, my enjoyment quickly waned as I began reading and realized Pricked had an incredibly promising concept, but lacked with the follow through and had many issues it needed to fix. But, before we get into that, here are the things I really did enjoy:
- The whole concept of the fairytale/magical world integrating with New York City. And calling it the Poisoned Apple? Hilarious!
- Briar’s special talent is unique, interesting, & super awesome (Hello, enchanting roses with emotions & having them change color?!? How cool is that?).
- The author is clearly talented with adding in humor - some of the sentences in Pricked are downright hilarious. One of my favorites was: “…in an ostentatious gown with more blue ribbon in it than Michael Phelps’s bedroom.”
- The ending had good setup for the next book in the series.
Now for the hard part: some of the issues that need fixing (Disclaimer: I’ve sent my full comments on to the publisher through NetGalley, so I’m only bringing up some of the issues I found).
- Pricked starts out like you’ve picked up book 2 of the series, which could be solved with better wording & less info-dumping.
- It includes an array of troublesome tropes, including “I’m not like other girls” and “beauty-blind protagonist”. There’s also “insta-love” but since that’s primarily one-sided & had other issues I sent those comments through NetGalley. Basically, for troublesome tropes it comes down to this: it’s 2019 & we should not have to keep reading the same problematic tropes over and over. If you’re going to use them (although some would argue you still should not), at least make them unique. For “beauty-blind” Briar is described by the fairy godmother as ‘pretty, but not beautiful’ and the thing that really irks me is how the reader is supposed to accept this and yet Briar is desired by an array of male characters.
- Briar appears to automatically hate almost every other female character she comes across. She shouldn’t have to like them, but she always says or thinks something to demean the other woman & in multiple instances assumes the other woman automatically hates her for no reason. Briar also mentions teaching men ‘not to be sexist’ but then continues to use sexist comments throughout the story. Is it too much to ask for more consistent characters with healthy relationships?
- As cool as it was, I don’t think the world’s magic system was fully developed. For instance, why wouldn’t the nobles have wards against enchanting their guards? To me, that one seems like a no-brainer.
- In terms of pacing, everything takes place over the span of a couple days, which I don’t think was long enough for some of the character developments & left most characters remaining static.
- There’s a lot of info-dumping, telling about past events (instead of showing, especially when these ‘past’ events happened within the space of a couple of pages), and repetition of basic information. Also, several characters spread WAY more information to others for the benefit of the reader than those characters would ever need to know (our first time meeting Anya is a great example of this, since she readily shares information that Briar and Antoine wouldn’t have the status/need to know). In one particular scene (no spoilers) Briar & a couple other characters are using public transportation. We have a scene of them going to the public transportation, then using the public transportation, then moving on. A page later (when the group has left the public transportation) the reader learns about an interaction Briar supposedly had with someone in-between arriving & then using the public transportation - of which the reader was a part of. This happens more than once, & these scenes should be shown, not told (& it would be so easy to incorporate!).
- There are a lot of inconsistencies throughout that cause reader confusion (like the fight scene in the woods - why wouldn’t she assume her rescuer was Antoine since that’s the only person she’s aware of being around?). Also, Briar seems to rarely identify the emotions when she smells them, leading the reader to confusion until Briar finally places the mystery sense.
- Some characters (but usually Briar) play dumb in order for information to be brought up for the reader. This is frustrating to read & there are so many better ways to educate your reader within the story.
- For most of the story the Royals come off as completely elitist, so I have a hard time believing they would cozy up to Briar so quickly (especially since neither side is particularly cozy to begin with). The sudden war plot also seemed extreme for the Royals, who as a reader I didn’t take seriously & seemed to be more figureheads than powerful people. Also, how (& why) did Briar & Jacqui become friends? Why would they (a commoner and a royal) move in together? Also, why would Cade ever want to live with them?
Ultimately, Pricked has potential but I don’t think it’s ready for publication in its current form. I sincerely hope the author and publisher can make sufficient changes to improve Pricked to the standard it promises it could achieve before its August 13th release date. Nevertheless, thank you again to NetGalley and Bleeding Ink Publishing for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.
I was so excited to read this book after reading the premise. It sounded like it was going to be an imaginative and satirical take on popular fairytale tropes, and I loved the idea of integrating Briar’s fairytale world with New York City. However, my enjoyment quickly waned as I began reading and realized Pricked had an incredibly promising concept, but lacked with the follow through and had many issues it needed to fix. But, before we get into that, here are the things I really did enjoy:
- The whole concept of the fairytale/magical world integrating with New York City. And calling it the Poisoned Apple? Hilarious!
- Briar’s special talent is unique, interesting, & super awesome (Hello, enchanting roses with emotions & having them change color?!? How cool is that?).
- The author is clearly talented with adding in humor - some of the sentences in Pricked are downright hilarious. One of my favorites was: “…in an ostentatious gown with more blue ribbon in it than Michael Phelps’s bedroom.”
- The ending had good setup for the next book in the series.
Now for the hard part: some of the issues that need fixing (Disclaimer: I’ve sent my full comments on to the publisher through NetGalley, so I’m only bringing up some of the issues I found).
- Pricked starts out like you’ve picked up book 2 of the series, which could be solved with better wording & less info-dumping.
- It includes an array of troublesome tropes, including “I’m not like other girls” and “beauty-blind protagonist”. There’s also “insta-love” but since that’s primarily one-sided & had other issues I sent those comments through NetGalley. Basically, for troublesome tropes it comes down to this: it’s 2019 & we should not have to keep reading the same problematic tropes over and over. If you’re going to use them (although some would argue you still should not), at least make them unique. For “beauty-blind” Briar is described by the fairy godmother as ‘pretty, but not beautiful’ and the thing that really irks me is how the reader is supposed to accept this and yet Briar is desired by an array of male characters.
- Briar appears to automatically hate almost every other female character she comes across. She shouldn’t have to like them, but she always says or thinks something to demean the other woman & in multiple instances assumes the other woman automatically hates her for no reason. Briar also mentions teaching men ‘not to be sexist’ but then continues to use sexist comments throughout the story. Is it too much to ask for more consistent characters with healthy relationships?
- As cool as it was, I don’t think the world’s magic system was fully developed. For instance, why wouldn’t the nobles have wards against enchanting their guards? To me, that one seems like a no-brainer.
- In terms of pacing, everything takes place over the span of a couple days, which I don’t think was long enough for some of the character developments & left most characters remaining static.
- There’s a lot of info-dumping, telling about past events (instead of showing, especially when these ‘past’ events happened within the space of a couple of pages), and repetition of basic information. Also, several characters spread WAY more information to others for the benefit of the reader than those characters would ever need to know (our first time meeting Anya is a great example of this, since she readily shares information that Briar and Antoine wouldn’t have the status/need to know). In one particular scene (no spoilers) Briar & a couple other characters are using public transportation. We have a scene of them going to the public transportation, then using the public transportation, then moving on. A page later (when the group has left the public transportation) the reader learns about an interaction Briar supposedly had with someone in-between arriving & then using the public transportation - of which the reader was a part of. This happens more than once, & these scenes should be shown, not told (& it would be so easy to incorporate!).
- There are a lot of inconsistencies throughout that cause reader confusion (like the fight scene in the woods - why wouldn’t she assume her rescuer was Antoine since that’s the only person she’s aware of being around?). Also, Briar seems to rarely identify the emotions when she smells them, leading the reader to confusion until Briar finally places the mystery sense.
- Some characters (but usually Briar) play dumb in order for information to be brought up for the reader. This is frustrating to read & there are so many better ways to educate your reader within the story.
- For most of the story the Royals come off as completely elitist, so I have a hard time believing they would cozy up to Briar so quickly (especially since neither side is particularly cozy to begin with). The sudden war plot also seemed extreme for the Royals, who as a reader I didn’t take seriously & seemed to be more figureheads than powerful people. Also, how (& why) did Briar & Jacqui become friends? Why would they (a commoner and a royal) move in together? Also, why would Cade ever want to live with them?
Ultimately, Pricked has potential but I don’t think it’s ready for publication in its current form. I sincerely hope the author and publisher can make sufficient changes to improve Pricked to the standard it promises it could achieve before its August 13th release date. Nevertheless, thank you again to NetGalley and Bleeding Ink Publishing for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.