Amber & Dusk (Amber & Dusk, #1)

by Lyra Selene

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

This book has such a pretty cover. The OwlCrate edition is a beautiful purple and orange gradient and the cover aesthetics are everything I love. It has perfect purple end pages. It’s so, so pretty.

I wish I liked the book as much as I like the cover.

The first word that comes to mind in describing Amber & Dusk is “clunky”. There are the bare bones here for a decent story. It reminded me of a cross of Mirage and Red Queen. There’s an interesting magic system and characters that could be interesting if there was a little more care taken. There are also a lot of cliches. I don’t mind cliches, generally speaking, if they’re compensated with wonderful characters, beautiful writing, or original twists. I don’t think Amber & Dusk accomplished this. There was a lot of telling in the writing – in the setting, in the world building, and in the characters. The reader is often told to accept the details rather than discovering them. As a reader, I felt much less invested in the story because of this.

One of my biggest complaints is Sylvie/Mirage. She enters the story as a refugee on a caravan, and she single-handedly saves the caravan – huzzah! Her character continues on with the same snobbish self-importance. The reader is never given the opportunity to love Sylvie, because we are told stories about her past and told what she is feeling but we don’t discover her story and we aren’t affected by her emotions. The “telling” aspect really affected every aspect of this book, spoiling one bit after the next.

Sylvie wasn’t my only concern about a character (note: all characters have two names, as if there weren’t a bunch to keep track of already). Lullaby had character potential, but she was pushed a bit into the shadows. There is one particular good scene with Reaper, but I never felt like I had enough time about him to be as wretched about the plot as Lyra Selene was hoping. That’s how I felt about most the characters. I’ve met them, but I don’t really feel anything toward them. No attachment.

There was also a love triangle… I think? I believe there was an attempted love triangle here between Sylvie, Sunder, and Luca… but… I’m not… sure? I think it was supposed to be a love triangle, but it was clumsy. Again, not enough emotion for anything to feel potent.

I know I’m being redundant. The fact is, the way Amber & Dusk was written – flat and dramatic – so deeply affected the way the book came out. Brusque and unattached. I didn’t care for Sylvie’s cockiness or the ease with which Sunder, Luca, and the other snuck around the supposedly dangerous court. The book was predictable and the ending unexciting. At one point, Bane “snarled” and “wept” within two sentences. “Luca’s eyes narrowed to skits of fire” is another prime example of the literary flourishes she tried to include. I just don’t think it was successful.

All in all, I was absolutely disappointed in Amber & Dusk. I thought there were some interesting elements, but I didn’t enjoy Lyra Selene’s writing style and there wasn’t enough originality in the story to hold my attention. At the end of the day, I’m grateful it was a quick read. It was not for me.