It's LotR lite. All the way down to things like ring wraiths and Minas Tirith but Frodo is a girl and also the ring and I think Gandalf is the love interest. Saruman is here too. On the lookout for Gollum next.

Anyway, I'm not too impressed, which is sad because I was looking forward to this one. There's something to be said for taking inspiration from the Father of Fantasy but...well, The Naming takes too much. I shouldn't read a book and think, "Hey, it's the Dead Marshes" or "Oh look, it's literally Minas Tirith" or "Wow, this is exactly like Frodo's escape from the Shire." If something reminds me of LotR, fine, but this straight up takes the setting and sometimes story, shakes it a little, and then puts it back.

The MC doesn't really have an objective. I don't really know what she wants after the first few chapters (because she gets what she wants) or what she's willing to do to get what she wants. MC is just dragged along with the mentor figure, who feels more like the MC sometimes.

The writing was fine. I liked the characters well enough. But I wish so much coincidence and tied-up-with-a-bow explanations didn't occur in just one book.

I'll give the next one a go, I guess. Let's see if the story and settings evolve into themselves rather than imitating.