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elementarymydear 's review for:
A Sea of Pearls & Leaves
by Rosalyn Briar
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book had me gripped from the very first page! It was completely engrossing, and I couldn’t put it down.
The story is based on one of the lesser known Grimm’s fairytales, and it manages to keep that whimsical feel the whole way through. It can be hard to weave the weirder aspects of a fairytale into a modern novel, but Briar did a fantastic job. It was weird and wonderful and a bit over the top, but it all worked brilliantly together.
📚Find this and more reviews on my blog!📚
The characters were all fantastic. First we have Ingrid, a young princess who is cunning, headstrong, and always manages to get her way. Then there is her girlfriend, former priestess Lilura, who has secrets of her own but is quietly determined to protect those dearest to her. Our final protagonist is Soren, a prince who finds himself fighting for Ingrid’s hand in marriage but has his own anxiety to battle with. They made a great trio of main characters, and the relationships between them evolved very naturally over the course of the book.
The plot takes all sorts of twists and turns, and is always the perfect balance of predictable and surprising. There were some reveals I had started to suspect, but wasn’t 100% sure about, and there were a couple that took me completely by surprise. Exactly as I like it! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, but I never felt like I was lost in the story.
Some of the writing took a little while to get used to – it was a bit jarring to have what we think of as modern romantic terminology in a high fantasy book – but it suits the tone of the story and before long you stop noticing it. The perspective switches between the three main characters, but it was always clearly marked and even if it hadn’t been they have three very distinct voices which I really appreciated.
I had a brilliant time reading this book, and I can’t wait to read more from the author!
I received a free copy of this book to read for the WriteHive Indie Ink awards. This review is written separately to my feedback as a judge, which is based on different criteria.
The story is based on one of the lesser known Grimm’s fairytales, and it manages to keep that whimsical feel the whole way through. It can be hard to weave the weirder aspects of a fairytale into a modern novel, but Briar did a fantastic job. It was weird and wonderful and a bit over the top, but it all worked brilliantly together.
📚Find this and more reviews on my blog!📚
The characters were all fantastic. First we have Ingrid, a young princess who is cunning, headstrong, and always manages to get her way. Then there is her girlfriend, former priestess Lilura, who has secrets of her own but is quietly determined to protect those dearest to her. Our final protagonist is Soren, a prince who finds himself fighting for Ingrid’s hand in marriage but has his own anxiety to battle with. They made a great trio of main characters, and the relationships between them evolved very naturally over the course of the book.
The plot takes all sorts of twists and turns, and is always the perfect balance of predictable and surprising. There were some reveals I had started to suspect, but wasn’t 100% sure about, and there were a couple that took me completely by surprise. Exactly as I like it! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, but I never felt like I was lost in the story.
Some of the writing took a little while to get used to – it was a bit jarring to have what we think of as modern romantic terminology in a high fantasy book – but it suits the tone of the story and before long you stop noticing it. The perspective switches between the three main characters, but it was always clearly marked and even if it hadn’t been they have three very distinct voices which I really appreciated.
I had a brilliant time reading this book, and I can’t wait to read more from the author!
I received a free copy of this book to read for the WriteHive Indie Ink awards. This review is written separately to my feedback as a judge, which is based on different criteria.