Empress of Sass
Written on Jan 24, 2018
I wanted to like this book. Normally this is right up my alley- mythology, YA, a love triangle, finding out you have supernatural powers but for some reason it just never clicked with me. I was actually shocked to see how highly it is rated versus how little I enjoyed it. Maybe it wasn’t the book. Maybe it was just me.
I struggled to keep reading. I found the plot slow, the adults written as very unrealistic, and the thing I had the biggest trouble with was the character names and the constant references to pop culture. I don’t mind an occasional reference, but it felt like a constant name dropping type thing.
The names of some of the characters were a little over the top and ridiculous. The bad boy love interest is Blaze, and two of the supporting friend characters are Shaggy and Scooby. I just couldn’t take the book seriously after that.
Blaze is winning the game of YA love interest bingo. New in town? check. Edgy cool kid name? check. Accent? check. Tattoos? check. Rides a motorcycle? check. Mysterious Tragic Backstory? check. MMA fighter? Okay that one was new to me. He even had a room full of kittens. Oh, and he and Nisha spend most of their time arguing over who is worse and more dangerous for the other. That part made me laugh and realize they were made for each other.
There were certain scenes that felt extremely unnecessary, like Nisha walking in on her aunt and uncle, described in detail down to their cartoon character underwear. I’m not sure how that moved the story forward or added anything. I was too busy adverting my eyes and suffering secondhand embarrassment.
I found most of the plot twists to be very predictable, and I think a lot of the events were over written and more dramatic than they deserved to be.
I’ll say in concept, I like this story. I’m just not sold on the execution here. Some more attentive editing, both of story and the actual text was needed- I found a few wrong words and typos, one in particular was hilarious as the students were described as sacred when the author clearly meant scared. Some trimming and story edits would go along way for this book, along with renaming Shaggy and Scooby. Please. I beg you. I want to like the book, I really do.
I felt like the story never really got going, until the very end. I can’t forgive the author for the last chapter, and the army of cats saving the day. That part ate up the last of my goodwill for this book. A sequel is clearly in the works, and I may read it, because I’m a masochistic that needs to know how every story ends, even the ones that frustrate me.