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thenerdybookwitch 's review for:
The Viking's Chosen
by Quinn Loftis
The Viking's Chosen, a historical fantasy romance. Before I get into the review, I do want to say that I'm not a fan of romance. But I don't mind it if it's mixed in with other genres or if it's cleverly written with a really good plot. The Viking's Chosen is the type of romance that focuses more on love than the story which is not my cup of tea. I know that most romance novels end up doing that, so I thought I was the problem and not the book for awhile. But then the third half of the book came along. I am eager to tell all that I can without spoilers, let's jump right into the review:
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I'm going to start with the negatives and end with the positives. A lot of established information was forgotten and replaced with different ones, making a lot of contradictions with the plot and characters' behaviours. There were some modernisms in the way characters spoke that took away from it being historical fiction. Its set in Medieval Britain, so listening to lines like "he gave me the_______look" isn't something that keeps you in that era. My biggest problem was that there was a lot of illusionary development for the main characters that are obvious Mary/Gary Sues. Illusionary development is throwing one or many scenarios (even chances to enhance the plot) at main characters that appear as if they are developing throughout the story, but are actually not. Which is very common when a book has a Mary Sue, and The Viking's Chosen has two of them which are the male and female lead. They don't change at all, they stay the exact same no matter what happy or terrifying moment comes along. They weren't interesting, and the fact that the book is written in both of their first person perspectives made me listen to the audiobook slower cause I didn't care about these characters.
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Now the good, the side characters were great. They were the only ones that had some development even if it was a minuscule amount. Some of the writing was good, there were some powerful things characters said. Even the main characters did have some good lines that made me happy (until they contradicted themselves later on). I also really liked the premise, it had some very cool ideas and had they been used I probably would've liked the book more.
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The Viking's Chosen is not the worst book I've read, it still had some things I enjoyed. It wasn't completely to my liking, but I can still see people enjoying it if they care more about the focus being on the lovers. If this book had been more of a perfect mix of plot, romance, historical fiction, and fantasy I absolutely would've liked it more. It has two sequels but due to how the third half of the book went, I'm sadly not interested enough to continue the series. If you read it, let me know what you think!
2.5/5⭐️
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I'm going to start with the negatives and end with the positives. A lot of established information was forgotten and replaced with different ones, making a lot of contradictions with the plot and characters' behaviours. There were some modernisms in the way characters spoke that took away from it being historical fiction. Its set in Medieval Britain, so listening to lines like "he gave me the_______look" isn't something that keeps you in that era. My biggest problem was that there was a lot of illusionary development for the main characters that are obvious Mary/Gary Sues. Illusionary development is throwing one or many scenarios (even chances to enhance the plot) at main characters that appear as if they are developing throughout the story, but are actually not. Which is very common when a book has a Mary Sue, and The Viking's Chosen has two of them which are the male and female lead. They don't change at all, they stay the exact same no matter what happy or terrifying moment comes along. They weren't interesting, and the fact that the book is written in both of their first person perspectives made me listen to the audiobook slower cause I didn't care about these characters.
.
.
Now the good, the side characters were great. They were the only ones that had some development even if it was a minuscule amount. Some of the writing was good, there were some powerful things characters said. Even the main characters did have some good lines that made me happy (until they contradicted themselves later on). I also really liked the premise, it had some very cool ideas and had they been used I probably would've liked the book more.
.
.
The Viking's Chosen is not the worst book I've read, it still had some things I enjoyed. It wasn't completely to my liking, but I can still see people enjoying it if they care more about the focus being on the lovers. If this book had been more of a perfect mix of plot, romance, historical fiction, and fantasy I absolutely would've liked it more. It has two sequels but due to how the third half of the book went, I'm sadly not interested enough to continue the series. If you read it, let me know what you think!
2.5/5⭐️