Chelsea
Written on May 18, 2016
What I Loved:
I think the best part of this book was easily the world building and creation. This world is intense and full of terrifying creatures and crazy places. I even loved how the author created her own sport and incorporated that in the book because it made the world feel just a little more realistic. I loved the idea of several worlds but not all of them being accessible since it only made the idea of it that much more interesting.
I also really enjoyed our four main characters. I loved that they each had such different personalities but they still worked well together. I'm really excited because they only really started using magic in this book and I want to know how that's going to turn out for them. I want to see more of how it's used!
One thing that I'm really impressed with is that the parents were actually a part of the story! Imagine that! These kids have actually parents who don't disappear during the book. Well, besides the parent they're looking for. The parents play an active role in this whole book even though our main focus is on the kids. I loved that! It made the world feel so much more realistic than most YA stories where the parents mysterious vanish. I was really impressed with how that was working and I'm looking forward to seeing more of this.
What I Didn't Like:
I think I only had 2 issues with this book. 1. The beginning was a little slow but the author was trying to give you as much detail as she could about the world and what was going on. It seemed like a good thing to explain to us but I was a little bored in the beginning and found it hard to push myself to really get into this book.
The other thing that bothered me was that there were so many characters! I seriously could not keep track of them all! I did ok with our group of four main characters, but their parents were really important as well so they were all mentioned. I honestly still have no idea after finishing the book who's children belonged to who. Some of the parents were dead, others missing (since that's what the main plot of this book was) and others were there but had to go of on missions. So we didn't really see the parents except for the beginning and ending of this story (though they do play a role during the whole book, they just aren't seen as much). I do want to give props to the author though for not leaving out the parents. That happens way too often in YA.
Who I'd Recommend To:
I'd recommend this to any serious fantasy lover. This isn't an easy book to get into or read because there's lots of characters and detail, which is typical for any high fantasy book. You should be dedicated to get into this book but don't stress because you'll be rewarded with a fun adventure story that promises a great series to come!
See the full review on my blog!