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A review by the_ya_assassin
Given by Nandi Taylor
3.0
Okay, so this book was both good and bad. I liked the story and the characters were cool. I mean, what's better than dragons? Yenni's character was kick-butt and I love the feminism of her. It was interesting how Yenni's character progressed throughout the story - still stubborn as ever, but happier towards Weysh. Weysh was a little comical, which was a welcome relief from Yenni's strictness. I loved how you could see different sides of her with Weysh, depending on if he was in his human or dragon form.
There were a couple of problems I had. For starters, the idea of the magical runes in this story seemed very similar to those in the Shadowhunters series by [a:Cassandra Clare|150038|Cassandra Clare|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1270502031p2/150038.jpg] Of course, it's not that Clare was the first to use them and not the last (obviously), I still think [a:Nandi Taylor|19162905|Nandi Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1571178700p2/19162905.jpg] could've done something more creative with the rune idea. Like, they can only be used a certain period of times instead of everyday. Maybe even gone into the history of why they use runes.
Next, there are two sets of gods used in [b:Given|53138162|Given|Nandi Taylor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1592055554l/53138162._SY75_.jpg|70531392] as well. I think it would've been interesting if Taylor had gone more into them and how the began (kind of how [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg] did in her Grishaverse Shadow & Bone trilogy), versus just mentioning them throughout the text. There were also so many, I could hardly keep them straight.
Then, at the beginning of the story, we start in the village. I would've loved if we could've stayed there in the exposition longer, to truly understand and get into the island culture. And maybe Yenni's incentive could've been better. Instead of some gods-given trip, I think it would've been more interesting if her parents forced her to go to Cresh. I think that would've given more plot and character development.
Throughout the story, sometimes Taylor would switch the POV so quickly, I couldn't tell who was talking (who we were getting the story from). I was kind of confused at some times. In addition, the twist about Professor Devon was so blatantly obvious to me, I already knew he was going to do something bad.
I enjoyed the little romance we got at the end, the characters (for the most part), and the individual scenes. The end . . . I'm a little confused about. The story went completely unresolved, yet there seems to be no plans for a sequel? Overall, not a bad debut, just . . . not the best.
There were a couple of problems I had. For starters, the idea of the magical runes in this story seemed very similar to those in the Shadowhunters series by [a:Cassandra Clare|150038|Cassandra Clare|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1270502031p2/150038.jpg] Of course, it's not that Clare was the first to use them and not the last (obviously), I still think [a:Nandi Taylor|19162905|Nandi Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1571178700p2/19162905.jpg] could've done something more creative with the rune idea. Like, they can only be used a certain period of times instead of everyday. Maybe even gone into the history of why they use runes.
Next, there are two sets of gods used in [b:Given|53138162|Given|Nandi Taylor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1592055554l/53138162._SY75_.jpg|70531392] as well. I think it would've been interesting if Taylor had gone more into them and how the began (kind of how [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg] did in her Grishaverse Shadow & Bone trilogy), versus just mentioning them throughout the text. There were also so many, I could hardly keep them straight.
Then, at the beginning of the story, we start in the village. I would've loved if we could've stayed there in the exposition longer, to truly understand and get into the island culture. And maybe Yenni's incentive could've been better. Instead of some gods-given trip, I think it would've been more interesting if her parents forced her to go to Cresh. I think that would've given more plot and character development.
Throughout the story, sometimes Taylor would switch the POV so quickly, I couldn't tell who was talking (who we were getting the story from). I was kind of confused at some times. In addition, the twist about Professor Devon was so blatantly obvious to me, I already knew he was going to do something bad.
I enjoyed the little romance we got at the end, the characters (for the most part), and the individual scenes. The end . . . I'm a little confused about. The story went completely unresolved, yet there seems to be no plans for a sequel? Overall, not a bad debut, just . . . not the best.