By Isobelle Carmody
Genre YA fantasy
Pages 512
Recommended by Me
First sentence It starts with my family, and in a way that's the whole story.
Synopsis
Alyzon comes from a talented family and feels like the only one without a role to play. All that changes when an accident leaves her in a coma. When she wakes up all of her senses, particularly her sense of smell, are heightened. This new ability may be hard to deal with but it also may be the key to saving her family.
What it has going for it
The concept behind this story was fascinating and rang very true for me. The heightened senses and they way they were written about were a unique fun idea. The theory that we could all have scents that reflect the state of our soul was interesting. I also loved the message that goodness and kindness will always win against evil and anger and that by hurting others we only hurt ourselves. The romance was sweet and I enjoyed the relationship Alyzon had with her family.
What's lacking
I'm heartbroken that this one wasn't a hit for me. I love, LOVE Isobelle Carmody's Chronicles of Obernewtyn and so I thought this one would be as amazing. Alas, that was not the case. Like I said the idea was so cool and beautiful but the execution did not need to take over five hundred pages. I don't know why it wasn't edited down but it seriously needed to be. The writing was dripping with telling and no showing and was repetitive to a fault. I was just disappointed with how unimpressed I was with this one after expecting so much from this author. So, yeah, if it had just been edited better it would have been an awesome book I think.
Yea or Nay?
I can't and that makes me sad but it was just too long and littered with needless information. The story was creative and fun, though.
I just finished reviewing a book (not on my blog yet) that was all tell and no show. Drove me crazy and took FOREVER to finish. Ugh. Yours was 500 pages, so that had to be much worse than what I went through with a 300-page book written like this.
ReplyDeleteI feel for ya....
Thanks! I seriously wish it had just been edited better.
DeleteIt's been so long since I read this one that it's hard to remember anything about it. One of my gripes with Carmody is how long it takes her to finish a book! All I can remember is someone smelling like lavender and another person smelling like peppermint? Overall I think I liked the book but it's no Obernewtyn that's for sure. I actually don't mind books with heaps of telling. I'm even a lazy reader :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's definitely not as amazing as Obernewtyn. I don't know if Obernewtyn has lots of telling but if it does, it didn't bother me, not like it did in this one.
DeleteI hate that! When something has this awesome potential and it just does not go how you want it to. Sounds like maybe this needed another edit. Nice review.
ReplyDeleteIt happens a little too often for my taste. Ah well.
DeleteAww too bad you didn't like this one! I've never heard of this author before though...maybe I'll go check out that previous book of hers that you liked!
ReplyDeleteYes, the Chronicles of Obernewtyn series is awesome. This one? Not so much.
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