Conjured

by Sarah Beth Durst

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

This was one of my most anticipated titles of the year, since I've really enjoyed the other two books I've read by this author. Unfortunately, Conjured didn't work for me. From the very first page it was weird. I like weird, but only if it's also interesting. Conjured was boring for the most part. I could not connect to Eve, I was confused about what was going on for the longest time, and nothing happens until the very end. Eve has been placed in Witness Protection, but she has absolutely no memories. She has no clue who she is, where she is, where she's from, what the case she's a witness for is. Nothing. She does know that she can do magic though, and each time she does, she blacks out, has a vision, and losing her short term memories.

My first problem with Conjured was the writing. It's written in third-person, and combined with Eve's lack of knowledge about anything, it comes across as very juvenile. If it wasn't for the fact that we know about Eve's memory loss, I would have thought she was a small child. She doesn't know how to use a seat belt, what orange juice is, or even what books are. It was very hard for me to get into the story because of this. However, her "visions" are quite interesting. Those are told in first person and they have a much darker and twisted tone than the main story. I really liked these glimpses into her past and her magical world. Then at around the 80% mark, the writing starts to flip-flop between first and third without the visions. It was confusing at first, but I understand what the author was trying to convey. It was still annoying though.

I also found the romance to be disappointing and even unnecessary. There is a love triangle in Conjured and I have no idea how it got there. Eve loses her memories a few times throughout the story, and a big chunk of that was how her relationships with Zach and Aidan developed. One day she goes to work and learns that she's dating Aidan but prefers kissing Zach at the library. She just goes along with it all, and I had to roll my eyes. There is an explanation at the end for the Aidan situation, which makes sense, but was unsatisfying. I did want more from Zach though. What we do see of him, he's adorable, but that's it. The best way to describe how I felt about him was that he was convenient for Eve, which is never good.

What I did love about Conjured was the ending when Eve travels to an alternate world and we finally learn what/who she is. This part is fantastic! I was completely bored with the story up until that point. Nothing was happening, and then we're bombarded with awesomeness. I love this author because her books are so different and imaginative, and the last part of the Conjured definitely fits that. The twist of Eve's identity was utterly unexpected and it really is something I have never read before. It's kind of eerie, but it's very cool. I wish the whole book had been like that, then it may have been another 5 star read!

In the end, Conjured was disappointing. It got off to a rough start and never really picked up. The parts set in the magical world were extremely well done and captivating, but it unfortunately couldn't make up for the rest of the book. I feel like there needed to be more world-building, other than the "this is the only world without magic" simple explanation, and Eve and Zach needed more personality so I could connect with them. Fans of unique and super odd fantasy-hybrid novels will probably love this, since it does have some great elements to it. It just didn't fully grab at me like I had hoped.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.