Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Miles from home, with only her delicate butterfly swords for a defense, she enlists the reluctant protection of a blue-eyed warrior…
Battle-scarred, embittered Ryam has always held his own life at cheap value. Ai Li’s innocent trust in him and honorable, stubborn nature make him desperate to protect her – which means not seducing the first woman he has ever truly wanted…
The Good:
It is set in a different setting/country. The premise is very interesting--girl going against her station to try to save her family.
The Bad
The problem with travel/quest stories is that they sometimes become tedious and repetitive, just like this one did. I found myself growing tired of the heroine repeating the same ideas over and over and over. Really, I got it the first time.
My other issue is why use a foreigner as the hero if you are not going to develop him fully? Why create a lackluster paper doll of a barbarian hero? This book is set during one of the greatest "movements of peoples" (barbarian tribes and hordes on the move and all that stuff) and yet we are presented with a dull and inchoate barbarian hero?
Needless to say, I did not find the setting to be terribly rich, nor did I find the characters to be very well developed. For me they lacked colour, focus, and spark. They were just not interesting. I am sorry to say that this book helped me, at least four times, to fall asleep, and no, I am not being hyperbolic.
If you like...
Different historical romance settings.
Overall:
I have struggled with this review because it is not a bad book, it is just a book that did not work for me.
Where I got it: Netgalley
4 comments:
I was really (and I mean REALLY) annoyed that Ryam's origins seemed so mysterious. It's mentioned over and over how different he looks. Why the coyness about where he's from?
@buried
Yeah, that bugged me too. I felt like there was no follow through (if that makes sense)--an interesting dynamic is set but not saying where Ryam is from...yeaah.
Appreciate your review. This is one of those overhyped, canonized books which made me a hesitant to try it. Think I'll pass. Been burned by too many kickass heroines who don't have much else going for them, and your take on the hero seals it.
Diana
@Diana
I wondered if the hype had raised my expectations. The other problem of course is me being nitpicky about this time period. I am usually okay with stuff this early (chronologically) but I dunno.
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