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tobyyy's review
2.0
Fifth book in the anthology...
...and this one fell flat for me. Sadly.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but then when I got to the end, it was like, "Wait a second... what just happened?!"
Edun created a really unique world in this book/start of a series. There are werepeacocks, drunk unicorns, depressed trolls, dark faeries, and a kobold named Gestap. There's also a lot of political "stuff" between the queen witches of the original 13 colonies.
So perhaps with all of that, you can see why I was interested in reading this book and seeing where it was going. However, there were some problems with the book as a whole.
1) It ends on a cliffhanger. Okay, not even a cliffhanger -- it's like... the book just suddenly stops. Thankfully the anthology mentions whether a book ends on a cliffhanger or not, so I was prepared (at least, kind of)... but authors who end books on cliffhangers piss me off on the best of days, since that's basically telling the reader "yeah and now you have to buy my next book to find out what happens, hahaha, joke's on you!!"
2) The plot was... wait, WHAT PLOT? So Katherine is the Queen's younger daughter... her older sister, Rose, dies unexpectedly... Katherine seems to be trying to find out what killed Rose since what happened shouldn't have happened... but then she's trying to learn the ropes as new heir to the queendom... but then she's trying to help her ex-boyfriend find her cousin Cecily... and then...... *scratches head*
3) Katherine isn't really likable. I mean, I didn't dislike her as much as some of the other reviewers did, but... the reader doesn't really get to know her. There was one point in the book where Katherine was thinking that no one knows who she really is, and I was sitting there thinking to myself, "Well, and the reader doesn't know who you really are either!! So far you're a queen's younger daughter turned heir, with weird powers -- but why those powers are weird isn't really ever explained."
4) No character development. None. Zip. Zero. Zilch.
5) Weird wording, misspellings, missed words -- it was like Accession was rushed to print without being edited at all prior to being published. This wasn't as common as it is in the absolute worst books I've seen, but there were mistakes that were glaringly obvious to me, such as "should of" instead of "should have."
I would be very pleased, though, if Ms. Edun would consider rewriting this (if authors even do that...), because the world she created is a unique one, and if the writing weren't so poor, I'd consider reading the next one in the series. I love it when authors have unique ideas about urban fantasy, since so often ideas are reused with slightly different formatting. But when the ideas are so poorly carried out (including poor grammar/spelling/sentence structure), I'm sorry, I'm not going to go and buy the next in the series. I have too many other books on my TBR list that all have much better potential.
...and this one fell flat for me. Sadly.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but then when I got to the end, it was like, "Wait a second... what just happened?!"
Edun created a really unique world in this book/start of a series. There are werepeacocks, drunk unicorns, depressed trolls, dark faeries, and a kobold named Gestap. There's also a lot of political "stuff" between the queen witches of the original 13 colonies.
So perhaps with all of that, you can see why I was interested in reading this book and seeing where it was going. However, there were some problems with the book as a whole.
1) It ends on a cliffhanger. Okay, not even a cliffhanger -- it's like... the book just suddenly stops. Thankfully the anthology mentions whether a book ends on a cliffhanger or not, so I was prepared (at least, kind of)... but authors who end books on cliffhangers piss me off on the best of days, since that's basically telling the reader "yeah and now you have to buy my next book to find out what happens, hahaha, joke's on you!!"
2) The plot was... wait, WHAT PLOT? So Katherine is the Queen's younger daughter... her older sister, Rose, dies unexpectedly... Katherine seems to be trying to find out what killed Rose since what happened shouldn't have happened... but then she's trying to learn the ropes as new heir to the queendom... but then she's trying to help her ex-boyfriend find her cousin Cecily... and then...... *scratches head*
3) Katherine isn't really likable. I mean, I didn't dislike her as much as some of the other reviewers did, but... the reader doesn't really get to know her. There was one point in the book where Katherine was thinking that no one knows who she really is, and I was sitting there thinking to myself, "Well, and the reader doesn't know who you really are either!! So far you're a queen's younger daughter turned heir, with weird powers -- but why those powers are weird isn't really ever explained."
4) No character development. None. Zip. Zero. Zilch.
5) Weird wording, misspellings, missed words -- it was like Accession was rushed to print without being edited at all prior to being published. This wasn't as common as it is in the absolute worst books I've seen, but there were mistakes that were glaringly obvious to me, such as "should of" instead of "should have."
I would be very pleased, though, if Ms. Edun would consider rewriting this (if authors even do that...), because the world she created is a unique one, and if the writing weren't so poor, I'd consider reading the next one in the series. I love it when authors have unique ideas about urban fantasy, since so often ideas are reused with slightly different formatting. But when the ideas are so poorly carried out (including poor grammar/spelling/sentence structure), I'm sorry, I'm not going to go and buy the next in the series. I have too many other books on my TBR list that all have much better potential.
lulustjames's review
3.0
*An ARC was received for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review*
A small town, a sixteen year old witch surrounded by death, and a court under attack, mix in fantastical creatures and young romance and you've got the premise of Accession. Obviously, as someone who enjoys all of the above, I jumped at the chance to read and review this book, and I'm so happy I did! Terah Edun's novel was a delightful read that was breezy, fast-paced (after the first three chapters), and left me wanting more. She creates an interesting alternate world where powerful born-witches rule 'alongside' mortals and other fantastical creatures, such as faeries. At the center of this world is Katherine, younger sister to the heir of Sandersville, a small southern city in Georgia. As the spare heir, Katherine's life consists of mundane tasks, going to school, and generally being a normal teenage girl, except with scary powers her mother, the Queen of Sandersville, demands she suppress.
Though she found life boring, Katherine begins to realise just how great a blessing it was to be the spare when she is suddenly thrust into royal duty at the death of her sister. A death that is most mysterious, yet kept hushed by the Queen and the rest of Court. Obviously, as a teenager convinced all of the adults in her world are hiding something from her, Katherine refuses to believe it was merely an accident. She vows to uncover all of the details surrounding her sister's death, and make the culprit pay. This sounds exciting and great, but sadly, we don't see this part just yet, as Edun saves the investigation for a future book in the series. An incredibly clever move on her part as I now cannot wait for the second book in the series to come out.
Instead of focusing on the death of her sister, the book follows new heir Katherine as she struggles to fulfill her new witchy duties. The action never stopped or stalled. While others may find the writing a bit tedious or overly descriptive, I understood it as necessary for putting out as much information as possible to set up the foundation for not only the rest of the novel, but the rest of the series. Katherine's personality is refreshing; it's great to see a heroine who isn't mousy and pliant, but who will speak her mind even when it will get her in trouble.
It was a fun YA read, and if you go into it expecting a fun, breezy read, you should be pleased.
review first published on ByLuluWithLove
A small town, a sixteen year old witch surrounded by death, and a court under attack, mix in fantastical creatures and young romance and you've got the premise of Accession. Obviously, as someone who enjoys all of the above, I jumped at the chance to read and review this book, and I'm so happy I did! Terah Edun's novel was a delightful read that was breezy, fast-paced (after the first three chapters), and left me wanting more. She creates an interesting alternate world where powerful born-witches rule 'alongside' mortals and other fantastical creatures, such as faeries. At the center of this world is Katherine, younger sister to the heir of Sandersville, a small southern city in Georgia. As the spare heir, Katherine's life consists of mundane tasks, going to school, and generally being a normal teenage girl, except with scary powers her mother, the Queen of Sandersville, demands she suppress.
Though she found life boring, Katherine begins to realise just how great a blessing it was to be the spare when she is suddenly thrust into royal duty at the death of her sister. A death that is most mysterious, yet kept hushed by the Queen and the rest of Court. Obviously, as a teenager convinced all of the adults in her world are hiding something from her, Katherine refuses to believe it was merely an accident. She vows to uncover all of the details surrounding her sister's death, and make the culprit pay. This sounds exciting and great, but sadly, we don't see this part just yet, as Edun saves the investigation for a future book in the series. An incredibly clever move on her part as I now cannot wait for the second book in the series to come out.
Instead of focusing on the death of her sister, the book follows new heir Katherine as she struggles to fulfill her new witchy duties. The action never stopped or stalled. While others may find the writing a bit tedious or overly descriptive, I understood it as necessary for putting out as much information as possible to set up the foundation for not only the rest of the novel, but the rest of the series. Katherine's personality is refreshing; it's great to see a heroine who isn't mousy and pliant, but who will speak her mind even when it will get her in trouble.
It was a fun YA read, and if you go into it expecting a fun, breezy read, you should be pleased.
review first published on ByLuluWithLove
lucy_rain_and_cupcakes's review
2.0
This is an eARC review, source from the publisher via NetGalley.
~this book was kind of a hot mess.
Note to self, book covers can deceive you, book blurbs can also deceive you.
This was 1.5 stars but only because I managed to finished it. Well I managed to read up to 70% then it was all skimming and skipping for the rest.
My main issues including how this book was constructed. I thought the pace of the book was quite off, for example in one particular scene the Queen was punishing someone in court, which suppose to be pretty serious and intense, then Katherine's point of view interrupted the scene and proceed to give us bunch of information and a stroll down memory lane. (What the...). In fact Katerine's point of view would continue and frequently interfere with scenes throughout the book. (I don't get it)
I also have problem with how this book was written, so it was written in third-person view and of Katherine's point of view. In one particular chapter the Queen's character (Katherine's mother) was referenced in three different ways. First it referenced her as Queen, then it was Leanna Thompson, and then it was something else that I can't bother to remember. I was quite confused by the narrative's voice.
I am not so sure if there was an actual plot, because basically the scenes would just jumped from one to another. It was not smooth, and the gaps in between scenes made it quite difficult to stay connected to the story. I remember reading about Katherine explaining in great detail of how much she hated her sister, Rose, then the next thing you know, Rose is dead. You would think that's a big deal for the plot, however the book didn't spend too much time on the issue. Because something else urgent has happened, that apparently was too important so no one would bother to investigate the accident behind the future Queen's dead.
Katherine's character was very hard to like, she was immature and whiny. Supposedly Katherine was powerful, and she would often talked about it. This would went on and on, she would explained the reason she lets her sister and classmates in school to bullied her. Because she can never show her power, her magic was too powerful and she can't control it. So for a while I thought no one really know what Katherine was capable of, after all if she were indeed as fearsome as she claimed, wouldn't her sister avoid to angry Katherine at all cause? But then at some point in the book the Queen warned Katherine not to use or show her power, which leads me to believe the Queen knew it well. And if the Queen knew the extend of Katherine's power, wouldn't her sister, Rose, aware of it as well?
I think I would've like to learned more about Katherine's power, and how she could utilize them. Her power was actually quite interesting, she can senses death, she can called upon death or something like that. Since the book never really bother to explore and explain of her power, I wouldn't know.
Instead, we were constantly told about how much Katherine hated everything and everyone. Her relationship with her mother was a strange one as well. I can't tell if Katherine's cousin Cecily was suppose be someone important to the plot, she was there then forgotten, then mentioned again when she went missing. And what about Ethan, Katherine's ex-boyfriend, who appear in midway or later in the book. Before that the book never even indicated Katherine had a boyfriend. And guess what, Ethan and Cecily were actually siblings though not blood related. (Do you see the problem here??)
Overall, I didn't like this book. I thought the writing was messy, the plot was unclear. Characters were not only unlikable, it was difficult to tell who was important by how they were each introduced in the book.
~this book was kind of a hot mess.
Note to self, book covers can deceive you, book blurbs can also deceive you.
This was 1.5 stars but only because I managed to finished it. Well I managed to read up to 70% then it was all skimming and skipping for the rest.
My main issues including how this book was constructed. I thought the pace of the book was quite off, for example in one particular scene the Queen was punishing someone in court, which suppose to be pretty serious and intense, then Katherine's point of view interrupted the scene and proceed to give us bunch of information and a stroll down memory lane. (What the...). In fact Katerine's point of view would continue and frequently interfere with scenes throughout the book. (I don't get it)
I also have problem with how this book was written, so it was written in third-person view and of Katherine's point of view. In one particular chapter the Queen's character (Katherine's mother) was referenced in three different ways. First it referenced her as Queen, then it was Leanna Thompson, and then it was something else that I can't bother to remember. I was quite confused by the narrative's voice.
I am not so sure if there was an actual plot, because basically the scenes would just jumped from one to another. It was not smooth, and the gaps in between scenes made it quite difficult to stay connected to the story. I remember reading about Katherine explaining in great detail of how much she hated her sister, Rose, then the next thing you know, Rose is dead. You would think that's a big deal for the plot, however the book didn't spend too much time on the issue. Because something else urgent has happened, that apparently was too important so no one would bother to investigate the accident behind the future Queen's dead.
Katherine's character was very hard to like, she was immature and whiny. Supposedly Katherine was powerful, and she would often talked about it. This would went on and on, she would explained the reason she lets her sister and classmates in school to bullied her. Because she can never show her power, her magic was too powerful and she can't control it. So for a while I thought no one really know what Katherine was capable of, after all if she were indeed as fearsome as she claimed, wouldn't her sister avoid to angry Katherine at all cause? But then at some point in the book the Queen warned Katherine not to use or show her power, which leads me to believe the Queen knew it well. And if the Queen knew the extend of Katherine's power, wouldn't her sister, Rose, aware of it as well?
I think I would've like to learned more about Katherine's power, and how she could utilize them. Her power was actually quite interesting, she can senses death, she can called upon death or something like that. Since the book never really bother to explore and explain of her power, I wouldn't know.
Instead, we were constantly told about how much Katherine hated everything and everyone. Her relationship with her mother was a strange one as well. I can't tell if Katherine's cousin Cecily was suppose be someone important to the plot, she was there then forgotten, then mentioned again when she went missing. And what about Ethan, Katherine's ex-boyfriend, who appear in midway or later in the book. Before that the book never even indicated Katherine had a boyfriend. And guess what, Ethan and Cecily were actually siblings though not blood related. (Do you see the problem here??)
Overall, I didn't like this book. I thought the writing was messy, the plot was unclear. Characters were not only unlikable, it was difficult to tell who was important by how they were each introduced in the book.
elephant's review
2.0
I received this book free to review from Netgalley, and I thought that perhaps since it was an advance copy that was why it was so poorly edited, but I read reviews on Amazon from people who purchased the book and they mention the lack of editing as well, so I am going to assume that the advance copy was not the problem. I actually read the whole book. It was interesting enough to hold my attention, but horribly poorly edited so much so that there were parts that did not make any sense. That being said, the book shows promise if the author would use an editor and proofreader. At this point though, I can't recommend that anyone actually pay for something so poorly done.
itiselizabeth's review
1.0
This book was awful and I had to stop at only 25% when at one point, within one page of having to start a car with hairpins and magic, she then puts the KEYS in her pocket?!
It's so badly edited; characters are inconsistently named and I couldn't care for the characters despite the setting/theme being somewhat appealing.
I don't usually give up on books but I'm going to start doing so when it's not worth my time or energy to try to care to get through them!
It's so badly edited; characters are inconsistently named and I couldn't care for the characters despite the setting/theme being somewhat appealing.
I don't usually give up on books but I'm going to start doing so when it's not worth my time or energy to try to care to get through them!
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