2.5*
Okay, first of all, I didn't hate the book or anything, so put down the pitchforks. I just was...underwhelmed, I guess? Maybe I was expecting something different? I have no idea. But this was a mixed bag for me. Definitely there were good parts that I enjoyed, so that's a plus! Let's discuss those, hmm?
The Good:
- The. Setting. Look, you say prehistoric, and I am there. Every time a mammoth was mentioned, I was legitimately giddy. And it was very clear that humans weren't exactly thriving at this point, which was probably terrifying.
- The atmosphere of the book was very well written and suited the time period. I felt the solitude of the characters, the desolation of the landscape. There were animals attacking and vast unsettled wilderness, all the fun stuff. And sadly, not a ton of reproductive options in these clans, which is obviously bad news.
- I liked Kol, and I liked his family. While he wasn't as fleshed out as I'd have liked, what I did know about him I enjoyed. He just seemed like a decent person and I liked that the "softer" side of prehistoric people was shown rather than a barbaric one.
The Neither Good nor Bad But Worth Noting:
- This book is written in second person. Basically, it's Kol talking to Mya, referring to her as "you" during the book. This didn't really bother me, but I think it should be mentioned? Great. Consider it mentioned.
- The synopsis says this is a "prehistoric fantasy", and I don't really know what the fantasy element is? Maybe it's in the next books? Or, maybe it is because we don't know these things to be historically true, so the author had to create some of the history? No idea. But if you're expecting some kind of, well, fantasy (which I wasn't, so I was fine with it), it isn't here.
The Not As Good:
- I didn't really buy Kol's feelings for Mya. I mean, okay, he's basically never seen girls his age, and I didn't really get much chemistry other than like, what I assume biology would dictate, especially when she's one of like, three eligible females within a bagillion miles or something. I just sort of felt like Kol didn't really care about Mya as much as he cared about female in reproductive age range. Which is not a bad thing, considering... it just doesn't exactly make me swoon.
- I feel like this could have been set anytime, anywhere, and still remained mostly the same. I mean, clans fighting, romantic turmoil, rushing to save each other... with mammoths thrown in. I just felt like Kol and Mya could have been plopped into pretty much any other setting and fit, which was kind of disappointing- I just wanted more of the world.
- The story kind of lags, especially in the beginning. I was really worried when I was at about 40% and I was rooting for the characters to be trampled by mammoths. Too harsh? Look, I needed some excitement, and a mammoth trampling would have provided that. I just wasn't getting much of a plot- it was mostly just clan living and "Why is Mya acting like a jerk?" and stuff.
- When the plot did come into play (and it did!) it just didn't blow me away. Maybe that's on me, and I know how hugely subjective that is, so take it for what it's worth. I don't know if it was predictable necessarily, it just wasn't as high stakes as I'd hoped.
- There are a lot of characters, and I don't feel like I got to know any of them- even Mya and Kol. Sure, I had a better grasp of them than other characters, but I kept getting confused about all the different clanspeople, because their names were all basically two or three letter names that aren't in our language. While I don't expect them to be named Mary and Joe, I did hope to know enough about them to remember their names because of their character development.
Bottom Line: I wanted to love this one so badly, and there were definitely parts I liked. I will probably give the second one a shot, because it did pick up more at the end, and I would like to see where the author takes the series.
**Copy provided by publisher for review