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Lilyan's Reviews > Crown Duel
Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1-2)
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First review of 2014. I am not impressed.
This did not work for me. It did not work for me for one simple reason: The first half of the book was weak.
This is a Fantasy Y.A. with political intrigue elements to it and a light teenager-y romance. Mel, our heroine, is a countess of a district called Tlanth, which falls in Remalna city. Mel and her brother have never been to the capital and after their mother's death, their dad filled them with hatred and fear towards the noble and the courtiers. When their dad passes away, these country bumpkins decide to take on the bad king and seize the throne. A solid premise, yet the first half of the book did not do it justice. The events were mainly Mel running away, getting caught and hiding from the enemy. The characters and their interactions came off as shallow, especially Bran, Oria, Julen and the rest of Tlanth's residents. The only characters with some depth to them were Mel and Vidanric. A book should have a full cast of round characters and not only have 2 strong leads.
Anyway, I didn't feel the first part and thus did not understand Mel's hatred towards Vidanric. I mean, I saw the reason, but the emotion did not translate to me, the reader. The second half was much more enjoyable; yet again, the rest of the characters fell flat.
I especially disliked the ending, which showed us Mel a couple of years later, yet acting exactly the same as a teenager. No character growth what so ever.
The ending also contained certain scene, retold from Vidanrics point of view. I would have enjoyed these had I cared about the book. Unfortunately, I was bored by the end and just saw them as a chore. I personally might have enjoyed it more had the book initially contained split POV's, and for those that think it would have eliminated the element of surprise, I challenge you to find anyone that didn't figure out the "twist" within the first part of the book.
I didn't really care for this book. I wouldn't recommend it. I've given it 3 stars because the writing was okay, I enjoyed some of the second part and I'm a sucker for unrealized love hidden as resentment and bitterness.
This did not work for me. It did not work for me for one simple reason: The first half of the book was weak.
This is a Fantasy Y.A. with political intrigue elements to it and a light teenager-y romance. Mel, our heroine, is a countess of a district called Tlanth, which falls in Remalna city. Mel and her brother have never been to the capital and after their mother's death, their dad filled them with hatred and fear towards the noble and the courtiers. When their dad passes away, these country bumpkins decide to take on the bad king and seize the throne. A solid premise, yet the first half of the book did not do it justice. The events were mainly Mel running away, getting caught and hiding from the enemy. The characters and their interactions came off as shallow, especially Bran, Oria, Julen and the rest of Tlanth's residents. The only characters with some depth to them were Mel and Vidanric. A book should have a full cast of round characters and not only have 2 strong leads.
Anyway, I didn't feel the first part and thus did not understand Mel's hatred towards Vidanric. I mean, I saw the reason, but the emotion did not translate to me, the reader. The second half was much more enjoyable; yet again, the rest of the characters fell flat.
I especially disliked the ending, which showed us Mel a couple of years later, yet acting exactly the same as a teenager. No character growth what so ever.
The ending also contained certain scene, retold from Vidanrics point of view. I would have enjoyed these had I cared about the book. Unfortunately, I was bored by the end and just saw them as a chore. I personally might have enjoyed it more had the book initially contained split POV's, and for those that think it would have eliminated the element of surprise, I challenge you to find anyone that didn't figure out the "twist" within the first part of the book.
I didn't really care for this book. I wouldn't recommend it. I've given it 3 stars because the writing was okay, I enjoyed some of the second part and I'm a sucker for unrealized love hidden as resentment and bitterness.
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Reading Progress
December 15, 2013
– Shelved
December 19, 2013
–
Started Reading
January 7, 2014
–
Finished Reading
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message 1:
by
Allison
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rated it 4 stars
Jan 07, 2014 09:23AM
I actually totally agree with you, even though I was somehow able to ignore a lot of what you bring up while I was reading. I feel like I should split my rating for the two halves as well.
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Oh good! I saw that you gave this a 4 and since our tastes are almost exactly similar I was just dumbfounded throughoutn the book, thinking: "but Allison rated it a 4! There must be something in here that deserves it!" I think Y.A. Is a very tricky genre for me.
Lilyan wrote: "I think Y.A. Is a very tricky genre for me. "I'd like to take on the challenge of choosing a couple of YA books for you this year. Are you up for it? :-)
hahaha. yes please. shoot.
Lilyan wrote: "Oh good! I saw that you gave this a 4 and since our tastes are almost exactly similar I was just dumbfounded throughoutn the book, thinking: "but Allison rated it a 4! There must be something in he..."Sorry I led you wrong on this one! I might have to rewrite my review.
I will have to admit that i did not bother with Vidanric's POV in the end. Read some of it, but it just didn't bring anything new to the story. I'm also a sucker for this love disguised as resentment theme, when done in a tasteful way :)
