{"id":817,"date":"2021-07-11T14:13:27","date_gmt":"2021-07-11T12:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/?p=817"},"modified":"2021-07-11T14:19:45","modified_gmt":"2021-07-11T12:19:45","slug":"all-the-stars-and-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/?p=817","title":{"rendered":"All the Stars and Teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Adalyn Grace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this book we follow Amora, a princess set to take over the rule of the kingdom after her father. To do so, however, she needs to perform a deadly ritual and use the magic reserved for her family\u2019s bloodline to prove to her people that she\u2019s strong enough to take on the burden. Her magic fails her though, and she risks execution for it not being able to control it. She flees her land with a mission to prove that she\u2019s a worthy queen, but on her quest for redemption, she learns not only of an ongoing rebellion, but of secrets that changes everything. Now, she must decide which road to take and who\u2019s side she\u2019s really on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like I\u2019ve said this a lot lately, but I\u2019m really conflicted about this book. There are a lot of things that I like about it. It\u2019s a great concept with an interesting and unique world, and the plot is good too. But the execution is lacking a bit for me, well, a lot actually. I had a really hard time believing the characters and their motivations and their actions. The characters are very one-dimensional and flat, and there are no development at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s overly described to the point that I\u2019m like \u201cI know, can we please move on?\u201d The characters jump from one emotion to the other without any explanation, things don\u2019t add up sometimes and rules that have been set previously are either broken later on, or explained in such a way that it sounds like they have been broken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scenery and people\u2019s looks are explained in such detail, and in such long paragraphs that it felt like my eyes were bleeding after a while. At the same time, I wanted to know about the world, but it was just a little too much, especially in a situation like the characters found themselves in. They wouldn\u2019t have had time to stand around for half an hour pondering over the color of the houses and the hair of the fifteen people around them and the sky and the jewelry and the history of the city and the magic they wield and so on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when it comes to the characters, for me they fell completely flat. There was no chemistry between them. I could see the attempt to create it, but to me it felt forced, and I could tell someone else was pulling the strings there. It wasn\u2019t fun to read, and I just kept rolling my eyes, hoping that things would get better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of all, though, I disliked how clich\u00e9 the book was. Just take the love triangle. I mean, they are sort of clich\u00e9 as it, but when the two men literally fight over the girl \u2026 I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s too much. And it wasn\u2019t just that, it was basically like every decision and action from the main character was clich\u00e9 in some way. Or perhaps it was just she who was a clich\u00e9. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I liked the plot a lot, the different islands and the way the magic worked and the different kinds of magic. It was exciting at the right times and the pacing was sort of there (apart from the mind-bogglingly slow heaps of exposition). The writing was easy to read, at times a little too purple prose, but overall, the style of writing fit the genre. It was more what was written that didn\u2019t really work for me. But there was a clear structure in the plot that I thought worked, and it\u2019s obvious the author knows how to create an alluring plot with its rising action and climaxes and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The side characters were way better than the wishy-washy female lead which honesty changed her mind and thoughts and feelings with every other page. But not even the side characters got enough depth to them, they are all very very flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when I say I\u2019m conflicted, that\u2019s not an understatement. On one hand, it felt like I read an early draft of a story that still has leagues of edits to go through before publication. On the other hand, I enjoyed the core of what I was reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a developmental editor, I would have said that this was an amazing story with so much potential, that it just needed a little more to reach the top. As purely a reader, I want to say that it wasn\u2019t finished, that I don\u2019t want to read it again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, when I finished the book, I felt like I wanted to read the sequel because I wanted to know what happened next. I wanted the end to Amora\u2019s story. I did remember the story the day after finishing it, which to be honest doesn\u2019t happen with every book. And I found myself thinking about the book and the characters while doing everyday tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I suppose that my brain liked the good parts more than the bad parts initially. That the editor in me chose to praise it instead of getting stuck on all the things I wish had been different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After reading it, I was ready to give this book 4 out of 5 stars and buy the sequel. Now however, a week later when I return to this review to give my final verdict, I don\u2019t even know what happened in the book. I can\u2019t remember how it ended or why I even wanted to read the sequel. That\u2019s not a good sign at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


Therefore, my final rating for this book will be 3 stars out of five, and I won\u2019t read the sequel. I\u2019m disappointed of the execution of a story I had so much hope for, of a story that had so much potential to be amazing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, this book doesn\u2019t feel finished. It reads like an early draft with too much exposition, too many clich\u00e9s, too much tell, too little character development, and too little focus on the things that actually matter. Maybe the sequel is better, but that I\u2019ll probably never find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you like YA fantasy, mermaids, magic and seafaring pirates, you\u2018ll probably love this, though. So, I highly recommend you reading it and decide for yourself. It\u2019s not a book for me, but plenty of others love it, and you might too. I don\u2019t regret reading it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Adalyn Grace In this book we follow Amora, a princess set to take over the rule of the kingdom after her father. To do so, however, she needs to perform a deadly ritual and use the magic reserved for her family\u2019s bloodline to prove to her people that she\u2019s strong enough to take on the burden. Her magic fails her though, and she risks execution for it not being able to control it. She flees her land with a mission to prove that she\u2019s a worthy queen, but on her quest for redemption, she learns not only of an ongoing rebellion, but of secrets that changes everything. Now, she must decide which road to take and who\u2019s side she\u2019s really on.  I feel like I\u2019ve said this a lot lately, but I\u2019m really conflicted about this book. There are a lot of things that I like about it. It\u2019s a great concept with an interesting and unique world, and the plot is good too. But the execution is lacking a bit for me, well, a lot actually. I had a really hard time believing the characters and their motivations and their actions. The characters are very one-dimensional and flat,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[4],"wppr_data":{"cwp_meta_box_check":"Yes","cwp_rev_product_name":"All the Stars and Teeth","_wppr_review_template":"default","cwp_rev_product_image":"http:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/allthestars.jpg","cwp_image_link":"image","wppr_links":[],"cwp_rev_price":"","wppr_pros":["Wonderful concept","Amazing cover","Interesting plot","Compelling ending"],"wppr_cons":["Flat characters","Bogged down with exposition","Clich\u00e9","Felt unfinished"],"wppr_rating":"50.00","wppr_options":{"1":{"name":"Overall","value":"60"},"2":{"name":"Plot","value":"60"},"3":{"name":"Characters","value":"30"},"4":{"name":"Writing","value":"40"},"5":{"name":"Ending","value":"60"}},"wppr_review_type":"Product","wppr_review_custom_fields":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions\/819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}