I started reading this book last summer. I really liked it but I got so busy with work and life I sort of stopped reading…and unfortunately, forgot pretty much for about the book. Recently, I read a few reviews of this book that was talking about how cool March and May are…and I had a huge deja vu feeling. After looking at my Ereader, I discovered that I was actually reading it and was on chapter 10. So crazy that I even forgot, but after resuming it, I finished in 1 day.
I really loved the scenery in this book. Calling a place “Autumnlands” already lends to a lot of visualization, but this author sweeten it even more with beautiful descriptions and language overall. I really feel like I could see and feel all these places. It fiercely made me miss Autumn…since it is my favorite season. I hope in the next books we can explore more of the Winterlands and Summerlands, I feel like I sorta missed those two after experiencing so much Springland in this book.
The characters in this book are superb. I really like Isobel. She was so witty and sarcastic. Rook was written well also. He did seem pretty square a lot of the time but I think that would be a good portrayal of a Fae…you know, if they existed. Gladfly, I mean Gadfly, just seemed like a super jovial guy and pretty trustworthy (for a Fae). You do get to know more about him as the books goes though. I like Emma, May and March too. I though it was interesting how different May and March are. March seemed so reserved and May was so outspoken. So interesting.
The plot is what I usually call a saga/journey story. The first few chapters set up the world then the other 90% of the books is a journey type story. Isobel and Rook are traveling to a specific place and their story unfolds as they get further from home. I did like the story overall but I think it may could have been a bit more going on. I feel like some of the plot was a bit slow going. I do think speeding it up would compromise its beautiful writing though, so maybe it was the perfect balance. The ending was great and I cant wait to read the next book.