I had a great time reading this! Can't wait to read this again and again

Wings Unseen drew me in with an interesting blurb and attractive cover (I'm all about the cover love). Warring nations, magic and the promise of some badass characters is a sure fire win for me. But unfortunately I don't think the story quite matched up to the blurb. The first few chapters were really confusing, and I couldn't keep track of all the characters and their names. I think this was down in part because of the chopping between so many characters for each chapter. If we'd stayed with one character for more than one chapter I probably wouldn't have felt so disorientated at the beginning.

I enjoyed the magic, but felt the world building was a bit lacking and again confusing. There was little description describing the politics of the lands and about the different cultures/races. I wanted to know more about the people populating these lands.

Vesperi was my favourite character, but even she came across as a little bit more sullen and bad tempered than badass.

All together, a good concept that falls flat a little in execution.

Wings Unseen by Rebecca Gomez Farrell sounded quite intriguing. Fantasy is a genre I tend to orbit around and I was keen to be immersed in a new fantasy world. I did enjoy some parts of the book and I though the magic was pretty cool, but overall I was rather disappointed. 

First off, the aspects of magic and religion were interesting.

I enjoyed Farrell's ideas of a female god and the forces of magic working together in this society she's created. However, there was a lack of context or explanation when necessary. I understand that in fantasy we're usually left to fill in the gaps ourselves, but these gaps were too wide and it was hard for me to comprehend what was happening in some moments. I did enjoy the use of magic towards the end of the book more so.

The characters have specific voices, which was great in guiding the story across three perspectives.

Wings Unseen features three voices: Janto, the heir to the throne; Serra, the prince's betrothed; and Vesperi, the daughter of a Meduan lord. I had a lot of hope for these characters considering the trials they were about to face, but there were inconsistencies with their development and I found the short and quick shifts between them to be jarring. Their development was better towards the end though, and I particularly liked reading Serra's perspective. Also, a couple of the plot directions and changing relationships added an element of surprise I enjoyed.


The lack of world-building and descriptions was frustrating.

It could be because there was no map, but I found this world to be completely messy and confusing. There wasn't much in regards to orienting the reader with the land, or longer descriptions about the Meduans, the Lanserim and the other races. The politics between these countries was also left to the imagination.

Basically, this book is in need of further polishing as quite a few sections were convoluted. I had to reread many sections to fully understand what was occurring simply because sentences were too long or descriptions were confusing. An example of a description I questioned is: "Uzziel waved the club so lustily that he drooled."

Furthermore, the opening chapter simply does not work. It will either turn readers away or leave them confused. Upon reading, it felt like walking into the middle of Game of Thrones season 2 and being expected to know the politics, relationships and issues within the world. Also, it is marketed to young adults, yet some sections feel like they were closer to New Adult, whereas other parts catered to more Middle Grade. It was all over the place and I found it difficult to pinpoint the audience.

Overall, Wings Unseen has an interesting story that would benefit from more descriptions about the world itself and polishing of the text so it's more comprehensive for the reader. Farrell has created some really cool characters and I would love to see them fleshed out more and given longer sections for us as readers to settle in. The use of magic and religion was also fascinating and it would be great to see this with more explanation or context.  

Rating

1.5/ 5.


Disclaimer: Netgalley gave me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to Rebecca Gomez Farrell, Meerkat Press, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.


Well, I've debated my review for about a week. To say I was underwhelmed may be a bit strident, but I'm still left with a flat feeling. While I'm certainly glad I read Wings, I was never excited about any plot twist. The opening of the book threw me for a loop because it reads like a third chapter. I had no idea about whom I was reading. There was just no preparation. I had to start over three times before I firmly had my bearings. Vesperi was meant to be a despicable creature but came across as grumpy and misunderstood most of the time.

Once I finally got into the groove of the pattern of the chapters there was suddenly a spanner thrown in the works when a fourth cretin of a religious order was introduced and completely threw off my flow. Why did it take half of the book for this evil doer to come along? Shouldn't he have maybe either had a few earlier chapters or at least been integral in the previous storyline? As it is it seems like the author decided just then where the book needed to go and wrote him in. It wasn't a smooth transition.
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The book has some good points: the buzzing flesheaters, the squabbling kingdoms of goodness and vice, the "three heads". It was interesting. I just wasn't blown away.

I decided to get a copy of this book by seeing its book cover and reading the description. I found it to be very intriguing and once I was able to remember the characters I really enjoyed the book. I enjoyed how the characters in this book grew. There is a lot that happens to these characters throughout the book but it was certainly a page turner! I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.