Reviews

Solace and Grief by Foz Meadows

kalliste's review against another edition

4.0

I'm finding this book quite hard going at the moment. It is interesting but I can't seem to care about Solace. I think I'll enjoy her friends more.
If I hadn't read other peoples reviews about this book I'd probably put it down right now...

... now that I've finished I still think I like Solace the least. But that is ok, I rarely ever like a main character but prefer the supporting characters because they are usually more likeable and less whiny. Probably because you don't have to read all of their thoughts.

I wish that the other characters had been explored more, especially Harper and Laine. What are their backgrounds? I hope this is revealed in the other books in the series.

Overall, beautifully written and suspenseful (just not the beginning, try and work past the beginning) and I can't wait for the next one.

simone84's review

DNF: Lost interest somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 way and never went back. Really loved the authors fantasy duology but this one just didn't grab me. Best for actual YA peeps probs.

anna_hepworth's review

3.0

Lots to like about this, plot that had a decent amount of complexity, and the world building is fabulous. Unfortunately, it reads like it really needed another edit - sections were sufficiently confusing that I had to read them through more than once to try and work out what was going on. I'm not convinced about the characters, but then I wasn't particularly keen on teenagers when I was one, a story full of slightly odd individuals didn't improve my perceptions of them.

But to put this in context - I feel about this book the way I do about the first of Rowling's Harry Potter books - lots of promise, needs a bit more practice. And I loved several of that series, so I'm intending to look out for others in this one.

kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review

3.0

I think I would've enjoyed this more if I was younger, for it is very much a young adult novel. For an adult the actions of the characters don't always make sense, and the character development in terms of some characters is weak. It is hard to feel anything for any of the characters.

Now that is the bad part - the good part is the world building in terms of powers is well done - even if Solace seems to have too many. It is awesome beyond worlds that the chosen one is a girl. The interactions between the friends read and sounded like interactions between friends.

speculativebecky's review

4.0

I picked this book up years ago out of interest in reading Meadows’ writing and without knowing much about it, so I didn’t realize that it’s the first in a YA duology about a seventeen year old vampire named Solace. Despite not aligning much with my usual interests within the fantasy umbrella, I was pretty charmed by this book. The writing style is whimsical, and I enjoyed Solace’s journey from reluctance to accept her suspicion that she’s a vampire to totally owning it after falling in with a group of other “Rare” young people. Her group of drifter buddies, each with their own supernatural talents, are one of the most enjoyable aspects of the novel, evoking that precious feeling of finding your people for the first time as an adolescent, further sweetened by first tastes of freedom and independence. Things are complicated for Solace and her friends when mysteries of her birth are revealed, and a clandestine supernatural war comes knocking. This is a fast and fun read, I would recommend it to fans of YA fantasy or urban fantasy, especially folks who love those stories to center friendships and found family and supernatural cats.