As of today, Isoldesse by Kimberly Grymes is officially out in the world! So here comes my review:

Isoldesse was definitely an interesting and unique book to read. I found Isoldesse not to the book I expected but something much more enjoyable. Although the book definitely don’t lack of any action, I felt so at peace while reading it.
The entire book radiates a sort of dreaminess, kind of harmonical, lyrical and a bit mysterious feel - so at odds of how SciFi and Fantasy books usually are these days which I found myself liking a lot. Sort of like how the atmosphere is in Stardust (the movie, not the book) even though the plots are nothing alike. While reading Isoldesse, I felt like there was a lot of “telling instead of showing” in the book but contrary to my usual standings, that didn’t bother me much at all. Somehow, the telling worked in this book and actually sort of enhanced the reading experience.

Regarding the characters, there is quite a few povs which alternates throughout the book. In the beginning, I had a bit problem with separating all the different characters (but that’s how it usually is for me when there are more than 3 povs ;) ). However, the characters have so unique traits and personalities that as soon as I got to know them a bit, there was no trouble telling them apart.

All in all, I absolutely enjoyed reading Isoldesse and I absolutely recommend it! I cannot really compare it to any other books I’ve read, like I usually do, because it’s so unique anything I’ve come across. So… I guess what I really wanted to say is: read the book!

Isoldesse is a new adult fantasy/science fiction adventure following a group of human (or so they seem) girls being groomed for alien abduction. However, the researchers planning this little voyage have saboteurs in their midst, so our group of friends are in for a bumpy ride indeed.

At the heart of the story is friendship, primarily between girl-next-door and over-achiever Kenna and the sarcastic, emotionally-closed-off Meegan. Kenna's just received a strange necklace that's having all kinds of effects on her. Meegan just might have an idea about what's going on, buried with three hundred years of secrets she's never told a soul. The story involves multiple POVs that the author juggles well, not only showing the two friends' thoughts but also those of the different alien factions contributing to their abduction.

I liked the story's blend of genres and the way the author managed multiple plots and strands of world-building. Vivid characterization and description were also strengths. It was an action-packed plot, and the momentum kept me aloft throughout. I will warn the masses that there are the beginnings of a love triangle at work here. Also, the book had the feel of a prologue because with all the many moving parts, overall progress in the plot was slim. I recommend this book for people seeking out stories of girl friendships with a side helping of magic and space travel.

I actually did not finish this book. It couldn't keep my attention and at about 45% I decided to move on.

✨Isoldesse ✨

Thank you to netgalley, the author and the publisher for my copy.

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review:
Firstly, I HAVE to mention how stunning the cover is. It catches the eye and is really what drew me to the book initially.

The premise of this book is both unique and promising, a mixture of Earth and Space settings keeps you interested.

I really enjoyed the mix of fantasy and sci-fi. I enjoyed learning about the magic, the variety of different alien races as well as all the mystery that came with it!

Personally, I found the characters and dialogue to be quite juvenile and at some points overly aggressive for 20+ year olds. I also think that the story would be easier to follow and more engaging with less povs and it would’ve also progressed quicker in my opinion.

Overall, a fun and interesting introduction to the Aevo Compendium series! A must read for Alien lovers and fans of YA Sci-fi. I look forward to book two!

Isoldesse is a YA sci-fi fantasy-type book. I thought I would enjoy it more from the description, but it was heavy on the sci-fi and that just did not work for me. I am sure people that are more into science fiction will enjoy this much more than fantasy lovers.

I feel like this book had a lot of promise, but would have been better written as a fantasy than sci-fi. I found the sci-fi elements really hard to follow & the story was a little info dumpy at the start, and I found it hard to relate to the characters. I ended up DNF'ing this at around 20%.

This book captured my attention because of the stunning cover and unique plot. Sadly, I had to DNF the book at 10% as I was lost and confused. The book mentioned a glossary at the end of the book but as I was reading a digital version it was too complicated to skip to the end when I did not know a word.
Isoldesse sci-fi setting was detailed and well fleshed out, but the reader is thrust into the alien world with a lot of unique terminology. I found that as soon as I managed to ground myself in one point of view I was thrown into another. I usually love multiple POV books as you are able to learn about the world in a lot more detail. However, for the first four chapter there are four different point of views from characters that are mentioned at a glance.
I would still recommend this book as I understand why someone else would love it as it goes right into the plot, weaving in exposition into smaller chunks. I think this book is a perfect starting point for fantasy readers who want to try sci-fi.

ISOLDESSE
This book was received from the Author, and Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.
This is a non spoiler review, because you as reader need to read this book. Also, I feel sometimes I have in the past gave away to much of the plot line.
This has diminished the pleasure for would be readers.

Isoldesse by Kimberly Grymes, is an urban sci-FYI with fantasy elements..
.
The storyline follows a group of college friends, with end of college drawing to a close. Secrets are plentiful, and certain events catapult the group into a dynamic adventure. An engaging storytold in alternating perspectives from a vast cast of characters. I felt drawn to Kenna and Meegan, enjoying their narration as the storyline unfolded. As they are thrown into a battle of alien races along with their friends.
Innovative world building and magic system makes this compulsively readable.

I really enjoyed this book! The multiple POV jumps threw me off initially, however, each perspective was used to continue to tell the story and done wisely. I loved our 4 best friends who are at the hear to of the story- Kenna, Meegan, Darci, and Ally and found myself relating to all of them I liked watching their friendships evolve as the stakes got higher. It kept me interested because I wanted to know how all the different POVs would end up meeting and I wanted to find out more about Sendara and their world. I definitely will be reading the 2nd book because I need to know what’s going to happen!!

Isoldesse, has a very interesting plot, which is what got me excited about the book, that and the beautiful cover. The world building is amazing in this story but it was not perfect. There are a lot of POVs in this story which normally does not bother me at all, however there were a lot of details at the beginning that made it all kind of confusing and had me backtracking. Once I got the backstory down though, it was not a bad read, although I’m sad it ended in a cliffhanger, I hate cliffhangers. 😅 liked all the characters. There was a hint of romance, I can definitely see a love triangle in the future. Although it was confusing at first I will read the sequel when it comes out.

"Isoldesse" has a great concept and the blurb is enough to draw the reader in, However, Kimberly Grymes veers dramatically away from the plotline promised into a trio of intertwining plots: the humans, the good aliens, and the bad aliens. It gets confusing to the point that you honestly cannot tell who you should be rooting for, and all the while, Grymes' prose talks down to you in a condescending manner. This most likely will be a DNF - I just wish it had held up the promise given in the blurb.

Wow! This book was so good!

I'll be honest though, the prologue was a bit confusing with a lot of terms I didn't understand. When I got to the end I noticed there was a glossary, which will be easier to access while reading the physical book for sure! You also recieve lots of information in the first few chapters, but as soon as you understand all of it the book became impossible to put down!

Also I'm not a huge fan of multiple POV's. I typically like to keep it to one or two in a book. This book I think would benefit from just having the 3 main girls, Gemma, Kenna, and Breyah, be the only POVs.

Can we just talk about the cover on this book?! The blue and gold tones are just BEAUTIFUL!! It instantly caught my eye. I know they say don't judge a book by its cover... but I'm guilty of doing just that! Worked out for me this time though. This book is gorgeous and a fun read!

I don't want to spoil the book but don't sleep on this one! Check it out! Book is available March 2nd 2021!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this arc.

Although this book was a little confusing to begin with I did really enjoy it.
I didn't expect that when I started reading it.
I will say that I can't believe it ended like that! What a cliffhanger!
I cannot wait to see what happens with Bennach, Kenna and Liam. I am sensing a love triangle.
Will Nick survive? Who knows...
Will the aevo compendium be successful?
More importantly, I want to see Breya's reaction when she realises Gemma is an enemy now.
And just for the record... I figured out who Honnah was before it was revealed. Roll on book number 2!
Overall, a very well written and thought out story. Very much enjoyed it.

Sadly I was unable to access the copy of the book I’d been granted which is very sad.

My rating is based off the synopsis. It sounds right up my alley and the front cover certainly intrigued me.

Wishing the author luck for its release!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an e-ARC. I’m very sorry it didn’t seem to work for me.

The cover of this book is what initially grabbed my attention because it really is beautiful, and combined with the synopsis it felt like a really interesting fantasy read. It turned out to be science fiction rather than fantasy, and while that's not a genre I would normally read, it did work with this story. It's told from multiple POVs and while this does seem to be needed to make the story work, I do think it would have worked better with less perspectives being given.

This book was interesting and different. Let me just start off by saying that this cover is absolutely STUNNING and definitely drew me to reading this. The concept of this book is amazing and it has a super in-depth world that I really would like to see more of. The story is told in several POVs that show us different aspects of the plot that weave together, but it is only sometimes effective. I love the use of that narrative style here, but there were too many POVs for me and it made it a bit confusing to follow, especially because the world is so vast and layered with new information for the reader. There were several moments as it was piecing together that were very exciting and cool, but I think some editing could have been done in narrowing the storytellers down, while telling the same story, and creating a stronger narrative. I also had trouble connecting to the characters. I understood the idea of them, but never felt like they were dimensional, real people. They also seemed too young in the way they spoke and acted for me to believe these were almost college graduates. I really loved the concept and thought the plot was clever and unique-there were a few twists in there that worked incredibly well- but in general, this book just did not grab me enough.

This book has so much to unpack, I have so many questions.

This was a fantasy with multiple POVs that left me very confused in the begging with all the new information and the heavy info dump that I somehow manage to like very much. There are around 6 POVs and they are all interesting and distinguished from one another so there is no confusion on whom you are reading.

The book's synopsis primarily talks about Kenna, but while Kenna seems to be the main character, the book is not solely focused on her, and part of me wished it was because her story and her involvement with another character were not as developed as I had hoped. The romance in this book is pretty much inexistent and I really want book 2 to give us more on that department, so keep that in mind if you are looking for a romantic fantasy.

All the side stories and characters were very well-placed, especially Gemma and Meegan. Both have a big part to play in the book and, while they had a big part, it was not enough to understand them, especially Gemma. The overall plot that named the book is intriging, and I am looking forward to seeing how the author will play Isoldesse.

*I was given an arc of Isoldesse in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Tractor Beam Publishing and Kimberly Grymes.*

Synopsis:

Isoldesse is a contemporary sci-fi which takes place between Earth and Priomh. Told from multiple perspectives every character seems to have one thing in common, Isoldesse.

On Priomh, a moon of Sendara, Isoldesse is a goddess of which they worship. Carrying out their goddesses work through the Aevo Compendium the Sendarians takes subjects from each world to keep track of how advanced their technology has become.

Kenna, one of the main characters, is sent a strange necklace which allows her to see the spirit of a mysterious old woman. Not long after she and her friends are taken to Priomh for the Aevo Compendium, however, Kenna wakes up long before she is supposed to. There is something different about Kenna, she’s just not sure what.

Review:

This has been one of my favourite reads of 2021 so far. I loved that it was sci-fi but with a contemporary twist. When reading the first few chapters I genuinely forgot that this was a sci-fi and then when those elements did become part of the story I loved it. I don’t really read sci-fi that often and think the mix of the two genres worked really well for me.

Firstly let’s talk about the areas that I was not huge on. There were just too many perspectives which at times made the story a little disjointed. I’ve never been a big fan of multiple perspectives anyway, with the odd exception, this not being one of them.

This would have benefitted from just three perspectives; Kenna, Breyah and Gemma. They are the most important when it comes to the main plotline and seeing the perspectives from others such as Darci and Cahleen were not as necessary.

The prologue was extremely confusing as there was a lot of terms being used that I did not know. This would have been ok if I looked at the glossary at the end of the book however as this was an e-arc that wasn’t very accessible.

There was a lot of information thrown at you within the first few chapters which at times could seem quite overwhelming. However, as soon as this got going I was hooked.

I was desperate to know more about the elusive Aevo Compendium and what it was actually for. The reason for this, at least to me, was not very obvious and I was constantly wondering why they were taking people.

This didn’t ruin the book for me though. If anything I was desperate to keep reading because I needed to know more.

I cannot review this book without mentioning its gorgeous cover. This was what drew me into Isoldesse in the first place. Gold and navy is one of my favourite colour combinations and it is stunning on this simple yet interesting cover design.

Romance was a very small part of this book, and I was glad that the main focus was on the actual storyline. I feel like there may be a love triangle appearing in the next book, but I have huge confidence that it won’t take over the story.

The story, although the pacing was a little off at times, was interesting throughout the entirety of the book. I genuinely have no idea where the plot will go next, but I do know that I am excited. I absolutely cannot wait for the next book and I’m sad that I’m going to have to wait so long to find out what happens after Isoldesse’s action-packed ending.

Lovely writing style, with a plot that is interesting and engaging. I think fans of contemporary and fans of fantasy will enjoy this one, as it has elements of both.

"The bond between sisters is forever."

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Isoldesse was something I looked forward to reading because of its gorgeous cover, and I was surprised it was more of a contemporary young adult novel with a science fiction twist than a fantasy book that I expected it to be.

This novel had a lot of potential, but I do have to say that there are some parts that could still be improved. The story began with a lot of bombarded information about the characters and world, and it left me disoriented for the first ten or so chapters before I finally got the hang of it. It helped that there was a glossary at the end of the book, but the amount of information overload during the first few chapters can be overwhelming to a science fiction beginner - despite it having a contemporary setting. I actually had to commend the author for coming up with a very intricate world, but it could often get lost if not done neatly. Plot-wise, it started off really slowly since everything was still new and being introduced, and I had a slight issue with its pacing. The story itself could have been fleshed out even more to further expand the story and world, but I guess that would be hopefully done in the sequel.

The characters were the main driving force of the story, and what kept me continuing on. Like the world-building aspect, there was a lot of characters to take note of, but once you get past that hurdle, it's actually a bit easier to understand. The multiple POVs between the four main characters was a great help in understanding the story more because they all gave very different perspectives of the story. And it was also fun to see their friendship dynamics work.

Isoldesse is a pretty okay novel for me, and I would still recommend it to anyone who finds its story more appealing to their tastes. It may not be mine, but I'm sure there are other readers who will enjoy it more.