Book Review : Cursebreaker Series by Brigid Kemmerer
Title : A Curse So Dark and Lonely and A Heart So Fierce and Broken
Author : Brigid Kemmerer
Genre : YA Fantasy
One of the books that had caught my attention last year was the Beauty and the Beast Retelling by Brigid Kemmerer 'A Curse So Dark and Lonely'. With fairy tale retellings that has stormed the market for last 2-3 years, this one promised a huge potential and apparently was well received throughout. With the second book coming out this year, I decided to pick both of them back to back and here is my take on yet to complete trilogy.
Review on 'A Curse So Dark and Lonely':
The book mainly moves forward with the help of our two central protagonists and we get their narration throughout. Harper who we see trying to save a girl from getting kidnapped is brought into another world, into the land of Emberfell where she meets the crown prince Rhen. Rhen is cursed for almost 300 seasons and has been surviving along with his commander Grey shut in his castle, trying to find the right girl who will break the curse. As the story progresses, we see chemistry brewing between the central characters and how they join hands with each other to save the kingdom as well as to break the curse.
I was pretty much interested to see how a modern day adaptation of this fairy tale would be translated into pages. To be honest, I picked it up with quite high expectations which started falling down as we moved ahead the plot. The plot felt too convenient in narration where we are not much detailed on the struggles the lead characters face but rather on the love triangle between three characters. By the end of the book, except for the Epilogue the book became quite predictive and I was looking forward to see something new rather than the usual plot.
If there is one character that I absolutely loved in the first book was Grey but with the second book, I felt the author needed an excuse to drag the story to three books. Predictably slow with readers being thrown into a whole new set of POVs this book could have worked really well if it had been the first of the series without the previous book. The convenience at which the plot moves does not help with the story either.
If you had to ask me where the author could have done better, I would say not to be safe and take risks. Almost all the twists that are thrown at us are expected 50 pages ahead and does not surprise one bit. The shift in the POVs also was quite irritating since a world building should take along the characters from previous book here which was pretty much missing and one would almost miss the journey of Rhen and Harper who were the central protagonists from the previous book.
Author : Brigid Kemmerer
Genre : YA Fantasy
One of the books that had caught my attention last year was the Beauty and the Beast Retelling by Brigid Kemmerer 'A Curse So Dark and Lonely'. With fairy tale retellings that has stormed the market for last 2-3 years, this one promised a huge potential and apparently was well received throughout. With the second book coming out this year, I decided to pick both of them back to back and here is my take on yet to complete trilogy.
Review on 'A Curse So Dark and Lonely':
The book mainly moves forward with the help of our two central protagonists and we get their narration throughout. Harper who we see trying to save a girl from getting kidnapped is brought into another world, into the land of Emberfell where she meets the crown prince Rhen. Rhen is cursed for almost 300 seasons and has been surviving along with his commander Grey shut in his castle, trying to find the right girl who will break the curse. As the story progresses, we see chemistry brewing between the central characters and how they join hands with each other to save the kingdom as well as to break the curse.
I was pretty much interested to see how a modern day adaptation of this fairy tale would be translated into pages. To be honest, I picked it up with quite high expectations which started falling down as we moved ahead the plot. The plot felt too convenient in narration where we are not much detailed on the struggles the lead characters face but rather on the love triangle between three characters. By the end of the book, except for the Epilogue the book became quite predictive and I was looking forward to see something new rather than the usual plot.
My Ratings - 🌟🌟🌟 (3 out of 5 stars)
Review on 'A Heart So Fierce and Broken':
With the cliffhanger at the end of the first book, the second one takes us back to Emberfall and yet our story takes a complete 180 degree turn and we see Grey who was a supporting character in the first book is now at the centre stage along with a whole new female lead. We find out that Grey is Rhen's half brother who apparently has magical blood. The princess of Shyl Shallow, Lia Mara joins us in his adventure and how Grey gets to make new friends from the previous book in a rather predictable journey throughout.
Review on 'A Heart So Fierce and Broken':
With the cliffhanger at the end of the first book, the second one takes us back to Emberfall and yet our story takes a complete 180 degree turn and we see Grey who was a supporting character in the first book is now at the centre stage along with a whole new female lead. We find out that Grey is Rhen's half brother who apparently has magical blood. The princess of Shyl Shallow, Lia Mara joins us in his adventure and how Grey gets to make new friends from the previous book in a rather predictable journey throughout.
If you had to ask me where the author could have done better, I would say not to be safe and take risks. Almost all the twists that are thrown at us are expected 50 pages ahead and does not surprise one bit. The shift in the POVs also was quite irritating since a world building should take along the characters from previous book here which was pretty much missing and one would almost miss the journey of Rhen and Harper who were the central protagonists from the previous book.
My Rating - 🌟🌟🌟 (3 out of 5)
Series in Few Words : Love it or Hate it. This story is here to stay.
Series in Few Words : Love it or Hate it. This story is here to stay.
Comments
Post a Comment