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A review by the_ya_assassin
The Bright and the Pale by Jessica Rubinkowski
3.0
This book wasn't bad, not at all. There were a few things I enjoyed, but others . . . not so much.
For starters, this book was compared to [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg]'s [b:Shadow and Bone|10194157|Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1339533695l/10194157._SX50_.jpg|15093325] trilogy. This was NOTHING like that, besides MAYBE the setting, and even that's pushing it. There was a LOT of useless world-building that didn't actually build the world. The world-building felt like a lot more backstory, which made the world touchable but not all-encompassing.
Secondly, I did NOT like the main character. Or really, any of the characters. They all fell flat for me. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of them and Val was just a witch the whole time. She was way too angry and the mood swings she had . . . in addition, whenever she targeted one of the other characters, they just brushed it off. ALL of the characters' reactions were just unrealistic. I know, the book is fictional, but the characters still need to act like real people and make informed decisions. I didn't care for any of them, besides Alik, and he was only a little care of mine.
Also, nothing really happened? Literally, the core cast was just walking for like half the book. There were few obstacles they had to overcome on their journey until they were in the mountain. AND when the story started out with a thief stealing stuff and then took a whole other direction . . . it bothered me.
And the ONE twist that actually happened was sooooooooooooo obvious from the start.
I DID enjoy the Slavic mythology portion (even though it's not really a retelling of anything as some readers/ reviewers have said) and I'm pretty sure the Pale God was my favorite character (even though he was in literally, like, 3 chapters). The ending is what made me give this book 3 stars instead of two because it was the BEST part of the book. It had the action that was missing from the rest of the book.
Overall, not really an enjoyable experience, but okay.
For starters, this book was compared to [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg]'s [b:Shadow and Bone|10194157|Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1339533695l/10194157._SX50_.jpg|15093325] trilogy. This was NOTHING like that, besides MAYBE the setting, and even that's pushing it. There was a LOT of useless world-building that didn't actually build the world. The world-building felt like a lot more backstory, which made the world touchable but not all-encompassing.
Secondly, I did NOT like the main character. Or really, any of the characters. They all fell flat for me. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of them and Val was just a witch the whole time. She was way too angry and the mood swings she had . . . in addition, whenever she targeted one of the other characters, they just brushed it off. ALL of the characters' reactions were just unrealistic. I know, the book is fictional, but the characters still need to act like real people and make informed decisions. I didn't care for any of them, besides Alik, and he was only a little care of mine.
Also, nothing really happened? Literally, the core cast was just walking for like half the book. There were few obstacles they had to overcome on their journey until they were in the mountain. AND when the story started out with a thief stealing stuff and then took a whole other direction . . . it bothered me.
And the ONE twist that actually happened was sooooooooooooo obvious from the start.
I DID enjoy the Slavic mythology portion (even though it's not really a retelling of anything as some readers/ reviewers have said) and I'm pretty sure the Pale God was my favorite character (even though he was in literally, like, 3 chapters). The ending is what made me give this book 3 stars instead of two because it was the BEST part of the book. It had the action that was missing from the rest of the book.
Overall, not really an enjoyable experience, but okay.