thelittlebookowl

Tides of Mana / Matt Larkin

Heirs of Mana series – book 1

Publisher: Incandescent Phoenix Books

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Length: 462 pages

This is the first book in a fantasy series that is set in a fictionalized Hawaii. While I loved the setting of this book, I wasn’t a fan of the two main characters. The two sisters are so full of pride and arrogance, which I found incredibly frustrating. Consequently, I couldn’t become invested in the characters or the plot. I really wanted to like this one and it started out quite promising, but in the end I just couldn’t get behind the two main characters. The plot and world building had potential, but overall I wasn’t invested enough to finish reading this one. I seem to be in the minority with this one though – there are a fair few good reviews of this book in Goodreads.

Dragon in Chains / Daniel Fox

Moshui series – book 1

Publisher: Del Rey Books

Genre: Fantasy

Length: 399 pages

This is a multiple perspective fantasy story that is influenced by Chinese culture and mythology. I had quite a few issues with this one. Firstly, I just wasn’t a massive fan of the writing – something about it didn’t really work for me. Secondly this book is almost gratuitous in the level of violence it contains – it holds nothing back when it comes to horror, blood, rape etc. I understand that it is supposed to show the bleakness of the world but it felt too heavy handed. Thirdly, none of the characters were likable and they weren’t interesting enough to keep me reading. What I read of this book was quite rambly and the plot was stretched pretty thin. Overall this one really didn’t work for me and I stopped reading around 15% in.