Ahoy there me mateys! I won a copy of this young adult fantasy eArc from Goodreads Giveaways! Arrrr! Here be me honest musings . . .

I have read five of this author's novels so far, although three were pre-blog. I had been meaning to read the Renthia trilogy forever. When I saw a giveaway for a standalone novel set in the Renthia universe, I thought that would be an excellent way to be introduced to the world without having to start a new series. Unlike the recent read of race the sands, this one didn't end up working so well for me.

Where the race the sands book had excellent plot and characters and was lighter on the world building, I felt this was the opposite. I loved the world set up but did not love the plot. And I did not love the main character, Mayara. Mayara was said to be tough and intelligent and a risk taker. I could see some intelligence but most of the time she was whiney about wanting to go home. I get that some people could find that realistic. Mayara just annoyed me. All she wanted to do is hide. There was no real risk taking. I did enjoy that she had basically no magic training and how that impacted the story.

Surprisingly I loved the romance in this book. I loved Mayara's partner Kelo and how their relationship worked. It was lovely to see an established relationship with no angst about each other. I actually would have rather have had Kelo's story to be honest. He was naïve but sweet. I liked that their personalities complimented each other and both had strengths and weaknesses.

The major problem was the plot. Why the trials exist and how they are run made no sense. The plot twists were predictable and boring. Kelo's plan to get to the Queen was not thought out and then he gets involved in a political scheme that was so poorly planned it shouldn't have worked. There were a ton of lucky coincidences and some people not being dead and characters that serve no real point except as an excuse to move Kelo away from Mayara. As I read the book became less and less engaging. I only finished it because of winning it in the giveaway and wanting to give the author the benefit of the doubt because of her other books.

Sad to say that I really didn't like this one. I am still very interested however in her books the bone maker and catalyst. Arrrr!