Hello everyone!! Happy Monday! Today I'm returning from my long weekend, but by the time this post goes up I will still be at the cottage playing with the puppies before lunch and then getting back on the road.
Today's book for Mark This Book Monday is July's pick from my Alyssa Recommends list! I have been very much in a fantasy mood, and thought it was the perfect moment to read this one!
Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Chantress is one of those books I had wanted to read for a while, but never seemed in the right mood for it. That changed when Alyssa from The Eater of Books gave me her list of Alyssa Recommends books and I was in a fantasy-reading kick!
It took me a while to get into the book, not as much as to think of giving up on it, but enough to hope that it'll change a bit and make me love it more and round the 60% mark, it did! And then I couldn't continue reading fast enough!
Lucy's first mistake and rebellion that started all the action was to be expected, I guess. When all you do is hide secrets and not give information at all to a young person that demands answers, you can find yourself with rash choices made. I'm not a fan of the "hiding things from you to keep you safe" cause ignorance usually does more harm than good.
The beginning of the book was more full of questions than answers, given that Lucy starts discovering all the secrets that had been kept from her, but given how Chantresses had been hunted there's barely any information out there to be had. We also have the set up of the political situation and the need for change and rebellion and the dangers of it.
I found the disbelief and mistrust between Lucy and her newfound allies understandable but to a point, Nat's attitude at first was very irksome, as much as I tried to empathise with him. Sometimes there was too much trust and sometimes the mistrust was thrown in some ridiculous occasion.
Then the pace and the plot and all the information picks up and I was flying through the final 40% of the book, even if it wasn't 100% action, even in the scenes that could be a bit boring there were hints and things that kept me intrigued and wanting to turn the page.
I really liked Lucy by the final part of the book, she showed more strenght of character than recklessness and showed that she could be trusted in the choices she made.
There isn't much romance in this book, and what is in there is the slow build up kind of romance. I was hoping it wouldn't add unnecessary drama, and it didn't! It might not have been a slow burn that made me want to go at them "kiss now!" but I appreciated that it didn't get in the way of the story!
Despite this being the first book in the trilogy, there is not massive cliffhanger at the end of the book and I'm so very grateful for that! There is enough resolution to leave us satisfied but there are also enough hints to be looking forward to what might come next in the sequel!
Despite the not so gripping beginning, the final part of the book made me really enjoy it overall, so I give it 3.5 stars!
View all my reviews
Today's book for Mark This Book Monday is July's pick from my Alyssa Recommends list! I have been very much in a fantasy mood, and thought it was the perfect moment to read this one!
Chantress by Amy Butler GreenfieldMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Chantress is one of those books I had wanted to read for a while, but never seemed in the right mood for it. That changed when Alyssa from The Eater of Books gave me her list of Alyssa Recommends books and I was in a fantasy-reading kick!
It took me a while to get into the book, not as much as to think of giving up on it, but enough to hope that it'll change a bit and make me love it more and round the 60% mark, it did! And then I couldn't continue reading fast enough!
Lucy's first mistake and rebellion that started all the action was to be expected, I guess. When all you do is hide secrets and not give information at all to a young person that demands answers, you can find yourself with rash choices made. I'm not a fan of the "hiding things from you to keep you safe" cause ignorance usually does more harm than good.
The beginning of the book was more full of questions than answers, given that Lucy starts discovering all the secrets that had been kept from her, but given how Chantresses had been hunted there's barely any information out there to be had. We also have the set up of the political situation and the need for change and rebellion and the dangers of it.
I found the disbelief and mistrust between Lucy and her newfound allies understandable but to a point, Nat's attitude at first was very irksome, as much as I tried to empathise with him. Sometimes there was too much trust and sometimes the mistrust was thrown in some ridiculous occasion.
Then the pace and the plot and all the information picks up and I was flying through the final 40% of the book, even if it wasn't 100% action, even in the scenes that could be a bit boring there were hints and things that kept me intrigued and wanting to turn the page.
I really liked Lucy by the final part of the book, she showed more strenght of character than recklessness and showed that she could be trusted in the choices she made.
There isn't much romance in this book, and what is in there is the slow build up kind of romance. I was hoping it wouldn't add unnecessary drama, and it didn't! It might not have been a slow burn that made me want to go at them "kiss now!" but I appreciated that it didn't get in the way of the story!
Despite this being the first book in the trilogy, there is not massive cliffhanger at the end of the book and I'm so very grateful for that! There is enough resolution to leave us satisfied but there are also enough hints to be looking forward to what might come next in the sequel!
Despite the not so gripping beginning, the final part of the book made me really enjoy it overall, so I give it 3.5 stars!
View all my reviews
The first half of this one does sound a little rocky Pili, but I'm glad the second half makes up for it and we start to see some real growth from Lucy! And as much as I love romance, I'm glad the romance in this one is subtle and doesn't become the sole focus of the story. I like when there's a nice balance and the romance feels like a vital thread, but one that's seamlessly woven with everything else. Beautiful review my friend!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jenny! The beginning was interesting enough but felt a bit disjoined, but the more the book progressed the more I liked it! Now I'm really excited for the sequel!
DeleteI'm glad it ended up improving by the end! Except, I always wish books start out strong because if I'm not in the mood, I'll probably give up on it by the 60% mark. I've wanted to read Chantress because of the cover, and I'll keep in mind that it starts slow. Thanks for the review and enjoy your time at the cottage, Pili!
ReplyDelete-P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex
It's always good that books start slow when reading them!
DeleteThanks P.E., the weekend there was exactly what I needed!
I wish that I was at a cottage playing with puppies instead of suffering from a case of the Mondays. No fair! I'm relieved to learn that there's no cliffe in this book (gosh how I hate those!), and Lucy seems like an interesting character. Fab review, Pili!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carmel!
DeleteI'm back from the cottage and I'm missing the puppies so much!!
Hmmm... this is one of those books that has kinda caught my attention, it being about witchcraft/magic, which I love! But at the same time I am very iffy about it... And your review hasn't made me want to read it any time soon, either ;) lol. I might pick it up one day, though, to satisfy my curiosity. But I'm not a big fan of slow books...
ReplyDeleteGreat review Pili! :)
Thanks Lili! I'm hoping it'll be just a slow first book and the series will pick up, cause the ending was quite fantastic!
DeleteGlad you ended up enjoying it Pili, even though it kind of started on a rough foot. I'm glad the romance was a slow build as well! I've seen this book around but haven't been willing to pick it up, so it's great to hear your opinion. Lovely review as always!
ReplyDeleteGlad to be of help, Jeann! Thank you!
DeleteI don't remember that much about this book, but I clearly remember liking it a lot. I think I struggled with it at first too, but the brilliant ending more than made up for it. I'll be reading the second one these days, can't wait to compare notes.
ReplyDeleteYep, the ending made sure any doubts I had about the book be irrilevant!
DeleteI'm hoping to read the sequel some time soon myself!
Thanks, Maja!
Three out of five, not bad! I'm so glad that you liked Lucy - sometimes, it's hard to write a character in historic times, since women's rights weren't really a thing (people get really up in arms when author stick to this HISTORICAL fact in fiction). Anyway. Excellent review, Pili! :)
ReplyDeleteAlyssa @ The Eater of Books!
It's a 3.5 and I was tempted to give it a 4 just for the final part of the book!! =D
DeleteI'm pretty sure I already told you that I have this book, so it's good to know about the slow start. I'm so bogged down with books these days, if I don't know in advance that it gets better, I might just DNF it, and it sounds like, in this case, that would be a shame. Great review, Pili! Thanks for sharing ;)
ReplyDeleteI can totally understand, I knew to keep going with this one cause it was a blogging friend recommendation!
DeleteThank you, Jessica!!
Great review Pili. <3 I'm glad you ended up liking this book :D Despite a bad beginning ;p I don't think I would like it at all :p Sounds a bit annoying, lol. Thank you for sharing. <3
ReplyDeleteThank you so much sweetie! The ending does make up for the not so awesome beginning!
Delete