*This e-ARC was provided through NetGalley for review purposes!*
What it's about:
Sylvie lives on the edges of a society in which mages are the ruling force, and anything fae-touches is scorned or used for its magical properties. Once a student of alchemy, she now provides for a rag tag group of half-fae children by selling her alchemical creations. Once a year, the human and fae worlds come together--and so do Sophie and the Fae King Taylan, in hopes of maintaining the fragile balance between their two worlds. When disasters strikes in the form of an alchemical attack, Sophie and Taylan must travel through the Fae kingdom in order to save it and the human world from the clutches of an evil Star Fae long thought dead.
What I thought:
So, to be honest, I didn't *super* love this book. I enjoyed the fae/human relationship story, and the fact that one world cannot quite be well without the other, but I don't think it hit the right buttons for me.
Firstly, I felt as though there was a whole chunk of backstory/character development that went on before the story started that we didn't get to see at all. It was like the reader was supposed to automatically be invested in these characters when we weren't really given a whole lot of information about them. I just felt like something was missing in the beginning that we should have been told in order to aid in our understanding of the world and characters.
Secondly, I felt as though the first half of the book dragged a bit. I knew there was some big reveal coming, but I just felt like I was waiting....and waiting...and waiting to finally get the big reveal about the whole Dragonfly thing. Plus, it was kind of predictable, what with the "half-human, half-fae alchemist Chosen One" thing going on. Once we heard about the mysterious, elusive, and rarer-than-rare "Dragonfly", it was pretty clear that the story was heading toward a "SOPHIE IS THE DRAGONFLY" billboard.
Other than that, I did like the dynamic between the different races of Fae. I loved the Banshee general and the mysterious and dangerous qualities of Taylan, and even, yes, the abilities and idea of the Dragonfly. Once the story got moving and something of consequence actually happened, I enjoyed the rest of the read!
This is one that I'm not sure I'll continue on with. The book really dragged for me--it took me almost a month to get through because I wasn't feeling any real motivation to finish it. I liked some concepts, so I may read the inevitable sequel, but I'm not quite decided on it yet.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
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