This book took me forever to read, and that's not a good thing.
I think where this book really struggled was the pacing. I feel like the en[2.75 stars]
This book took me forever to read, and that's not a good thing.
I think where this book really struggled was the pacing. I feel like the entire novel could be condensed into maybe half of what it was and been much more successful. All of the plot points were dragged out, like the trek across the desert that took up 1/3 of the story where none of those characters that the main characters meet show up again. There was no point to the length of it.
Going off of that, my other main problem with this was how many characters there were. While I do think that most of them were unique and had distinct personalities, there were way too many to keep track of. I think that cutting down some of them would have been really helpful in conveying the story more clearly and more effectively.
That being said, the story itself was interesting. The best way I can describe it is a "wild west" set in a middle-eastern inspired fantasy world. You can tell the author put a lot of effort into the world building and really came up with such an interesting premise that I've never seen before. Side note: a map would have been really helpful.
The writing was also beautiful and lyrical, though I must admit that I think the words "blue-eyed-bandit" might have shown up one too many times. The plot twist was one I didn't see coming, which is rare, because I usually see twist endings within the first few pages. I think it added a lot to the story at the (very very very) end. Again, the author could've cut out a lot of the middle and made the rest of the novel much better.
Overall, I think it was a good story, and I would recommend it to someone who isn't looking for a super fast-paced action novel....more
This goes on my somewhat short list of "books I thought were going to be my absolute favorite but they were so disappointing thWow, I hated this book.
This goes on my somewhat short list of "books I thought were going to be my absolute favorite but they were so disappointing that I want to throw them across the room."
Honestly, I don't even understand the concept to begin with. More than half of the characters aren't even real, yet they're treated with more respect and almost given more rights than the real people in the story. I guess you could make an argument about what defines a "person" and yada yada yada but it didn't work for me. The whole time I was thinking, "what's the point?" It was kind of sad that the only people the main character loves and spends time with are people that aren't even real, people that she herself created. It's like if I took all the characters from a book I've written and had them be my only friends. Like sure, it would be awesome, but would I prioritize them over the lives of real people? Probably not.
This book was also incredibly slow. This should have been a fast-paced murder mystery, but it wasn't, and listening to it on audiobook made it ten times worse. The girl reading it was so overdramatic, and it made me cringe so hard. I was bored for about 90% of the novel.
The characters were just tolerable. Sorina, the main character, whines like crazy throughout the whole book, and when she's not whining, she's crying. All the other characters were fine enough, each had a pretty distinct personality which was cool, and there was also a lot of diversity between the cast, which I appreciate.
The whole romance thing, especially with all the reveals at the end, just really rubbed me the wrong way, and I guessed the "plot twist" by the 10% mark. Overall, this was fantastically disappointing, and I kind of want to throw a party now that it's finally over....more
Retribution Rails was a fun, action-packed, adventure with some humor and some romance. Overall, it proved to be an entertaining read. Howe[3.5 stars]
Retribution Rails was a fun, action-packed, adventure with some humor and some romance. Overall, it proved to be an entertaining read. However, the magic of the first book in this series was lost a little for me in this second book. The settings didn’t have as much ambience, the characters weren’t as fleshed out, and the plot was predictable.
What I Liked:
(1) The writing was fun and simple. This isn’t a hard read, and with the size 14 font, you’d be able to get through the book in a day or two. While I usually love flowery and lyrical writing, the straightforward prose worked.
(2) It was definitely action-packed. I knew what was going to happen to the characters and that it would probably all work out in the end, but I still found my heart racing a bit. I got excited to see how things would play out.
(3) Luther Rose and Reece Murphy. (Very minor spoilers included here). I absolutely loved these two characters. You first see Rose as a hard, unfeeling villain, but he transforms throughout the story. You realize that he’s just lonely without his brother, and he does what he needs to survive. This absolutely doesn’t excuse the horrendous things he does to people, and he is by no means a good person or really redeemable, but it’s so nice to see a villain with a motivation other than being bad. As for Reese Murphy, I wish the entire book was written in his perspective. He’s morally grey, super interesting, and goes through extreme character growth throughout the story. I only wished we received a little bit more of showing rather than telling with his backstory. I think it would have made the character a bit more real.
That brings us onto what I didn’t like:
(1) Charlotte Vaughn. I really didn’t like her character. She was spoiled and selfish and gets herself into trouble when it can easily be avoided. She makes the same mistakes over and over again. Honestly, she was just annoying in my opinion. Her only (somewhat) redeemable quality is that by the end of the book, she learns that no people are all good or all bad. How revolutionary. (sarcasm)
(2) The convenient endings. For me, the resolution of the story came too quickly and the wrapping up of each plot line was too easy. Nothing happens that you’re not expecting to happen. I was a little bit bored and found myself not wanting to pick it up after putting it down, because what’s the point of finding out what happens if you know it’s going to be predictable and just what you thought it was going to be?
All in all, I would recommend this for someone looking for a fun YA western. It wasn’t as impactful as the first book, but it was successful in being entertaining....more
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