I received an e-arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much The Parliament House!

Marrow Charm, though it was interesting and great at some parts, can be confusing and a bit of a letdown. There’s an interesting world-building and a fast-paced story line, but the plot, for me, failed to bring me as a reader to new heights. I give this one 2.5 stars

Atmospheric writing
The writing was one of the things I really liked about this book. It was dark, it was atmospheric, and at times, it could be creepy, as well. The author has an excellent way of describing the current setting of the scene, and that will really get the readers hooked. Indeed, the visualization in this book was truly awesome.

Okay characters
The characters of Marrow Charm were okay and I loved reading about their journey, and the dangerous things they went through. However, I was not that invested in them.

Azzy was interesting and I loved her love for her brother and her family, but I just wasn’t quite hooked with her character. She was interesting, but there were a lot of vague things about her that weren’t explained. Kai was okay as well, but I wanted more backstory for him. Same with Brixby and Armin.

Letdown plot
Let me begin by saying that the synopsis is a bit misleading. In the synopsis, they talked about the Gate and Armin’s powers, but I didn’t see that in the book. If there was, it was very little and it wasn’t the main focus. Which is a bit disappointing for me, because there was a fast-paced story line and dangerous conflicts and adventures here and there, but all of those things didn’t add up to one big showdown or some sort of revelation. With all of those in the book, I definitely expected Azzy’s journey to reach a climax, or a plot twist, or some pivotal situation that will heighten the story. Sadly, I did not see anything like that, and the ending, for me, was just confusing and lacking. I believe this is the first book of a series, but that ending didn’t really give me something big.

Interesting world-building
As I said before, the author has a very atmospheric writing—she was able to describe the setting of the story, both Below and Above. The author also described the creatures and the animals so wonderfully and it just helped the world to come alive even more.

As much as I loved that part though, it still felt lacking to me. Again, in the synopsis there was stuff about the Gate and everything, and I feel like that is such an important part of the history and the world-building, but there was no information about that. I’m always craving for a great world-building, but Marrow Charm fell a little bit.

Overall, this book was okay. I expected to love it, but unfortunately, there were more lows than highs for me.

(This book review was first published on my blog.)