The Evil Rant And Review Book

Honor Bound

Author: starfabulouskold

Genre: Fantasy (again...)

No. chapters read: 1.7

First impression: Yay, even more fantasy! WTH people? There are other genres out there.

Cover: Your cover is not bad, but it looks like a war drama. From the cover alone, I'd say WWII historical fiction. And since I love WWII historical fiction, I'm severely disappointed. The girl is wearing a blazer, for crying out loud. And since this isn't exactly a steampunk novel... yeah, a blazer is weird.

Also, your tag line? Where's the question mark? It's supposed to be a question, right? – see what I just did here?

Cover rating: disappointing

Blurb: I like it, and I don't like it. I like it because I think it gives the right info, mostly. I don't like it because it's very clinical and I feel in no way invested in the story. I know it's a blurb, but you actually have to sink some feeling into that too if you want me to get interested. Right now, I'm only slightly interested and that because you have a heroine whose name I can actually pronounce and a hint at a love-hate relationship.

Blurb rating: Clinical

Let's get it on!

Second impression: What the hell is going on? And why is Esmeralda the only person with a normal name?

Actual review *drum roll please*:

Language/Writing:

Grammar and punctuation are mostly fine. But the writing itself is kinda scratching its left year with its right toe. I'm not a fan of wordiness and I've had too much of that lately. Plus, every author should consider what mystery to keep and what to just reveal. This is just all over the place and characters seem to be teleporting out of thin air and I have no idea who's speaking half the time... *sigh* I'm too tired for this shit. I want something that engages me and flows properly.

Language rating: confusing

Plot: Esmeralda's cousin was killed by... I don't know exactly what, but apparently everyone else knows and they're not telling me. Anyway. There's a lot of wayword interaction that kills the tension, and by the time she actually tries to heal him, the tension is gone and I'm yawning and damn it, I need to get some sleep.

But apparently, trying to save her cousin was a bad thing, so her parents yell at her and don't let her. So Adnan dies. And I'm still not really sure who is who and what the hell is going on.

Chapter two brings us to Esmeralda getting ready for the funeral. We are treated to the twin much younger siblings who create drama by upsetting her hair. No. Just no.

Plot rating: not interesting enough to grab me

Characters:

Esmeralda: Seems okay, I guess. She does have pretty passionate reactions, but is a little weird. She acts as if Adnan was her secret lover or something. Which would be really creepy since they were cousins.

Dalur: Wow, what kind of name is Dalur? Anyway, doesn't seem very affected by his brother's sudden death.

Adnan: Is dea-ddea-d-dead. Word.

Eurvia: Why is she so shy a quiet and why is it drilled into my head so much?

Twin children: annoying. But young boys usually are.

King and queen: Make no sense whatsoever. I wish there was more about the politics of the world in these two chapters.

Character rating: meh.

Why I stopped reading: Honestly, all the fluff in chapter two bored me to tears. You were probably going for character development and introduction, but damn, those kids are annoying.

Grade: MEH. Not bad enough to get a fail, but it doesn't raise its head out of the slush pile of generic fantasy I've seen around here.

Song: too lazy for this...