Tried so hard to get through this one, but just couldn’t make it all the way to the end. If you’re looking for a classic and formulaic fantasy, this may be for you.

ARC from NetGalley

2.5 stars

Holy hell this book is long. I don't even think it's really that long, but it FELT long. So much should have been culled to make this a more engaging read. It was interesting. There were no specific flaws, but it wasn't engaging. It's a shame, because the premise is the kind of thing I adore.

I don't usually like giving summaries in my reviews. I'm writing a review, not a summary. Thus, I shall not summarize. I will, however, give some bits and bobs for people who might be perusing the reviews to see if this is the kind of thing they would like to read.

It's a traditional fantasy with carriages and cobbles, lords, ladies, queens, etc. The setting is done well. The characters are okay. They kind of melded together really. Few of them had really solid voices of their own. There is magic, and it is a very interesting magic system. The portrayal of the Fae is pretty traditional. There is romance, I mean the whole book really revolves around the romance, but it wasn't a very interesting or passionate one because it took so, so long to resolve. There is no sex, so if you were looking for that, look elsewhere. If you are a pearl clutcher, you can relax. Nothing here will make you gasp "well I never!" This book didn't end on a cliff hanger, but there is a very clear segue into another book which I have no interest in reading, unfortunately. Cindy Lynn Speer is a good writer. She has lovely ideas, but she needs to really trim it up and work on the pacing if she wants to draw in more long-term readers.

It’s been a number of years (decades, really) since I read much classic fantasy, although I am an enthusiastic consumer of urban fantasy. But the premise of this one seemed interesting enough for me to give it a try. But the POV of the novel seemed so modern that it wrong-footed me from the beginning. Consequently, this wasn’t a book I enjoyed, despite the clever plot and decent writing. Other’s mileage may vary.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc of this book!

The description of this book sounds amazing and so I was very excited to read it. At the start of the book we meet Avriel, a half fae, half human woman working as a double agent for both the human and fae royal courts. If this isn't a great premise for a book I don't know what is!

The story gets even better when it turns out not everything in the world Avriel knows is real. For 3 hours a night, she remembers what life was like before a terrible spell was cast. She remembers the man she loved and was married to.

From that moment the story truly gets going and we learn a lot about the fae and the humans. We learn so much in fact, that it becomes a little confusing. We get glimpses of other worlds and things that might be important in later books, but all of these things combined make it a bit hard to follow the things that are truly important to the plot of this particular book.

I was looking forward to reading about a grand scheme between the royal courts. I think the author weaved a lot of great, original ideas into the story. However, the characters felt a bit flat to me. The story did not grab me as much as I'd hoped.

Still this book is certainly worth a read if you like books about fae, magic and airships, too!

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for awarding me with my first ARC ever! I will now give my own honest opinion.

I'm going to give this book three stars and here is why:
The first 30% of this book is incredibly slow. The author is very descriptive and gives you a complete info dump at the start of this book. That made not only the plot hard to follow but also makes it hard to get to know characters and actively learn something about the world the author has created. I think that if we had a bit more of a 'show and don't tell' concept, the beginning of the book would be much more pleasant.

The story picks up after the 30% and we ease more into a gradual flow. Things start to make more sense and it becomes more action packed as the story progresses. After about 60% of the book the plot really takes off and I felt myself really drawn into the story and it made me want to continue reading to find out who was behind the grand scheme. This story has a lot of potential but the ending lacked a bit. I think the author is planning on writing a sequel which would make sense seeing how the story ended. I really think this book could become very popular because a lot of fantasy fans are into the world of Faes now.

However, I do think the beginning of the book could put off readers because as a reader you become so overwhelmed with information which makes it confusing to keep up with at first. This book definitely deserves a chance but I do think that if the author were to tweak the start of the book a little and leave out what isn't necessary, it would gain a huge following when published.