My Rating: Wavering between 3 and 3.5 hearts
Thoughts on the Novel: After
enjoying the Mythos Academy series, I was
looking forward to reading Cold Burn of Magic, the first book in Jennifer
Estep's newest series. Cold Burn of Magic, however, was kind of not what I was
expecting.
Firstly, the pacing was very uneven (but that may have been because this is the
first book in the Black Blade series). See, Cold Burn of Magic starts off quite
excitingly with Lila stealing a necklace from a house and getting chased by
guards after she's caught, and ends on a solid, noncliffhanger note; but sort
of stalls in the middle as it introduces the reader to an urban fantasy city
where regular humans, humans with talents (i.e. superpowers), and monsters
coexist. Unfortunately, a lot of this introduction came via telling rather than
showing. For example, although there's a lot of talk about monsters, we don't really see any until the end when one conveniently appears to save Lila and Devon,
the romantic interest.
Secondly, though I liked the characters, Devon pales in comparison to Logan, the romantic interest from the Mythos Academy
series. In fact, I liked Felix, Devon's best friend, better than Devon! As well, Lila reminded me a bit of Gwen because
they both have powers that enable them to peek into other people’s minds. (Speaking
of powers, the talents that people could have in Cold Burn of Magic weren't
very well explained. For example, I still don’t understand how it’s possible
for people to steal each other’s talents.)
Comments About the Cover: It doesn’t really look very memorable.
In exchange for an honest review, this book was received from the publisher (Kensington) for free via NetGalley.
I started this and dropped it at least three times already. It just reads like all her other books, which is repetitive and kind of boring. I've read no more than 50 pages and I already pretty much know where the story will go. I'll read it, sure, but I don't expect to be blown away.
ReplyDeleteI have teens who are big fans of the Mythos Academy and have this one on order for them. I wonder if they'll be more lenient or if they would have the same complaints as you, Z. I only read the prequel and first book to the Mythos Academy and liked them. I should go back and finish the series.
ReplyDeleteAh, I recall people liking the Mythos Academy series back when it was released. It's too bad to hear this new series isn't quite as good. I'm still curious about trying out Jennifer Estep's work sometime - I love all the elements she includes in her books, after all. We'll see how I feel about her writing...
ReplyDeletehm, it sounds pretty meh. I liked the Mythos Academy books, but they definitely had their flaws and by the end I couldn't finish the series. It sounds like this series is a rewrite of Mythos, but not even as good.
ReplyDeleteI loved the plot, I loved the characters, I loved the writing, I loved it all. I have faith that the romance will develop over the series, and I also have faith that it won’t overpower the rest of the series. I’m so excited to see where the rest of this series goes.
ReplyDeleteMica
Customer recommendations for Best Deals for Rockaway Beach Oregon Hotels