*light spoilers*
I couldn't stand Lindon. I was completely shipping Celestia with Omaira, so I'm pleased with this ending. The beginning of the book is kind of slow, but it eventually gets going, and becomes really good. I liked the plot of this book a lot. It was incredibly interesting.

(I will be posting to goodreads, and my monthly book round up on tiktok)

I give up.

I made it to 62% this time, and I seriously considered forcing my way through to the end – but the thought of it is just exhausting. I don’t ever want to turn reading into a task rather than a pleasure, which is why I’m calling it on The Beholden.

I enjoyed several of Clarke’s YA books, and in combination with that stunning cover, I didn’t hesitate a second in requesting this book. But ultimately, this was a drag. It’s a quest plot, which has the characters travelling back and forth in pursuit of their goal…and pretty much nothing but travelling happens. I thought Clarke might use all the travelling to show off the worldbuilding – I was so interested in the gorgeous jungle setting! But you could have picked up this whole story, dropped it into a fake-Medieval Europe setting, and it wouldn’t have changed a thing. The jungle’s not important, and the bits of worldbuilding we get are either tiny, lectured at us, or nonsensical (do not get me started on the magical hidden city). The impression of beauty comes from the cover, not the writing, which had an odd rhythm and not nearly enough description. And frankly, I couldn’t stand any of the characters. Ico was the most sympathetic – a pretty normal guy who’s been dragged into magical shenanigans that he shouldn’t be on the hook for, and now he just wants to get it all done and go home. But I didn’t enjoy reading the passages that were from his PoV, and I couldn’t care less about the sisters.

I thought the worldbuilding re the sort-of-gods had a ton of potential, but again, we barely saw any of it, and what we saw made no sense. One of them sends the three characters on a quest…despite none of them being in any way suited for the task??? Maybe that’s explained in the last 40% of the book, but it was just infuriatingly stupid to send an ex-pirate, a pregnant noblewoman, and a mage who hasn’t finished her training after the most powerful wizard ever. Come on!

The whole thing was about moving from Point A to Point B to Point C, with everything being too convenient – they happen upon this secret, or that clue, or this house, or exactly the right person. Clarke made an attempt to explain this – by saying that magic creates coincidences – but…it didn’t work for me. It was a chore to read. Even the Big Reveal about the wizard they’re looking for? Didn’t make me blink. Not because I saw it coming – I didn’t – but because I didn’t care. I just wanted the book to be over already – which made me realise there was nothing stopping me from putting it down and walking away.

TL:DR: it doesn’t live up to the cover.

In The Beholden we follow Izara and Celestia on their journey to find the Lady of the Seraphine and the consquences that follow.

Firstly, the cover is what drew me to this book, its absolutely stunning. The plot was very similar to other books I have read but enjoyable nonetheless. Lastly, the characters are what grasped me in this book.

If you enjoy character driven stories you will enjoy this read. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the arc.

in this story we follow Izara and Celestia in their hunt for the Lady of the Seraphine who is a goddess. they are two sisters who are desperate to have better lives. they ask the goddess for a husband for "the prettier" sister. we then jump 5 years where there is now rumours of war and disease. Celestia's husband has been called away by the emperor..

first off this cover is stunning! the story is great and the characters were great too! it did take me longer than usual to read this book but i think that was mostly a busy home life.

i hope everyone gives this book a go!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the Arc in exchange for my honest review.

I LOVE this cover. It is gorgeous and it's what originally compelled me to request the book. I loved the magic, the setting and the premise of the story. The shifting POV's were a little confusing and I didn't love the characters. Overall, it was an enjoyable read and I will definitely read other books by this author.

3 1/2 stars.

First of all I want to thank NetGalley for gifting me this free copy!!!

Well I gave this book 3.5 stars.

The plot:

The plot was alright. It could have been better. It is basically a standard quest story. Although it was original enough. I do think some parts weren’t necessary and some side plot lines weren’t delved in to enough. I also didn’t really like the steampunk setting of it and that was not because of the time period but more because how the characters acted. They were just very old fashioned and I hated it.

The characters:

They were a mwah. I didn’t really like any of them. Out of all of them I liked Izara the most because she was a little bit bad ass and she was kind of funny. The characters were very boring and flat for me. I do want to say I really liked the lgbtq smooch at the end. Although it was really out of nowhere. You did see it coming. But it was really weird. I don’t know how to explain it. Also I didn’t like how they acted. It was a lot of a lady should act like this and a man should act like this. This really annoyed. They would say stuff like a aristocratic lady shouldn’t behave like that. And lastly some medical stuff didn’t make any sense. Maybe that is part of the time period it was in. I don’t know but some stuff was just wrong. Also the husband was messed up. He was just puke puke puke🤢 from the beginning. Hope you feel the same about him as me.

The world:

This was definitely a plus punt. The world was very interesting and big. Everything was so well worked out. You could clearly understand were the main characters were. The different cultures in this world were also very interesting. I just love everything about it.

The magic:

This was the most interesting part of the whole story. It’s al about alchemical powers and using magic from some sort of spirit gods. And wow this was amazing. You had a whole other realm which people with this magic could go to mentally. They saw the formulas than of the different kind of spells. Sadly this stuff isn’t used as much as I would like to. Somethings are just badly explained and magic is a prominent part in this story but it isn’t used much.


After all this wasn’t a bad read and I would still recommend it. If you love a historical fantasy. As you can see in my review I’m not a historical fiction fan😂.

Well thanks for reading and have a nice day everyone.

THE BEHOLDEN sucked me in on page one with its dreamy setting on the Seraphine River. I loved the whole vibe of the book, it was like being guided through a dream with beautiful imagery and prose.

Written in 3rd person multi-POV, we follow Celestia, Izara, and Ico on their quest to fulfill their debt to the Lady of the Seraphine. The plot is solid, the stakes are clear. The vivid worldbuilding transports readers from the banks of the Seraphine, to mountain peaks to a frigid desert. The are a few magic systems at play between the Airiana, the Laniana, the Aetheric Realm and alchemy. I never fully grasped the magic system’s rules, powers or limitations. I was wondering if this was intentional since Izara left the academy before she could master the magical arts. Since she was the magic wielder, the reader was left with her understanding…maybe?

If you love slower paced books (inevitable with three POV’s), epic quests, deals with gods, and multiple magic systems, then you will love THE BEHOLDEN!

I received a free e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5 rounded up to 5

Dear Readers, Aliens and Creatures, what a delicious tropical rainforest fantasy - The Beholden - is. I have never read anything quite like it! A tale of mortals, gods, demi-gods and unholy creatures. 😍

Official title: The Beholden
My title: Spoiled Gods
Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke
Publisher: Erewhon
Fav characters: Omaira, Taja snd Decay
Type: Book
4.9/5

There is an overall eeriness to this story that follows four people, one being and three gods on a journey to solve a problem which started 500 years ago. Spoiled Gods! Luds! 👼🏾

Izara and Celestia are titled ladies, with no skills of land management, whose estate is about to crumble. They have little left besides Celestia’s intriguing looks and Izara’s magic… so, NATURALLY, Celestia must find a husband capable of tending to the land… 🤦 and it all goes to hell. Over a man. 💁🤦🥲

The girls summon the Lady of the Seraphine, a goddess amused enough by them to grant them the husband they seek, but they AND the poor random ex-pirate trying to go straight Ico, are Beholden. Whenever the goddess comes calling, they must answer.

Five years later, with no sense of timing, or understanding that a husband really doesn’t seem to be worth all the stress 🙈, Taja summons them. Izara is at the Academy, a school of magic that if she leaves she can never return to; Celestia is happy and FINALLY pregnant for the husband she was given; Ico has shacked up with the Lady of the Snow, goddess, and is living his best life… but Taja doesn’t care… she has a simple task for them:

Find and bring a dangerous god who everyone fears and who wishes to stay hidden, to her…
Easy Peasy… 😬

I loved this book. I recommend it to those who love eerie stories, long adventures, who have sisters and who believe pregnant women can’t get things done! 🤣

Arc received from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

In The Beholden we follow two sisters and a reformed Pirate as they fulfill the tenets of a bargain they made with a River Goddess 5 years prior. They are tasked with finding the source of a sickness that is spreading through their land. A sickness that means people, animals, and plants are not dying. The world is out of balance and it is their task to restore it.

There were some interesting things in this novel. I thought that the world the author created was cool, there was an intriguing magic system and we were given a pantheon of gods that I had never truly seen before.

Honestly, though, this book ended up missing the mark for me. It had quite a bit of potential but there were quite a few missed opportunities as overall the story lacked tension and character growth for me. The magic system was never truly explained despite us being presented with a counter system and the lush jungle that was presented was underutilized.

We were given three potentially awesome characters between a powerful mage, a former pirate, and a noble woman who was traveling on this quest despite being pregnant. These three and how they approached the conflict, each other, and the obstacles thrown in their way could've been wonderful! Despite this and the events that they faced (when they happened) we barely saw any character growth through the novel except at the very end when it was necessary to the plot progression. It also was a little aggrevating to see the fact that one of the characters was pregnant and not experiencing pregnancy as she should've referenced every other paragraph. Its understandable on some level and I am not a parent but, women have been pregnant and giving birth in far worse circumstances for centuries. Outside of traveling and one attack, this character had it pretty good.

I can often forgive two dimensional characters if you give me an active plot with tension. This book mostly revolved around the three characters traveling somewhere, speaking with some folks and then moving onto the next desination. But, even when they traveled they were mostly just talking to each other or bemoaning their situation. When we did get an action scene it didn't feel important. Because, there didn't really seem to be any threat. Even one of the characters referencing people that would've been hunting them was never delivered upon. There was a missed opportunity in the sickness as well because it never truly affected their journey nor did it cause an obstacle. Really, there were hardly any obstacles that prevented the characters from doing anything. Most of them were easily overcome as well.

I think this had a lot of potential and I'd be interested to see what the author creates next but, this book was just not there for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Heed the following trigger warnings for this book: (TW:) blood and gore, death, birth, pregnancy
"The Beholden" takes places in a land of jungles and deserts, pirates and aristocracy, magic and gods. In this place, in the Seraphine, a warm, humid region of river and jungle, two sisters and an unwitting ex-pirate make a deal with the Lady of the Seraphine. Life takes a turn for the better, they are right where they want to be. Celestia is pregnant, Izara in the middle of her studies at the Academy and Ico is living his best life far in the north with a god of his own. But a favor owed to an Ariana, a god, is a tricky thing, and they are asked to pay their due soon enough. The Lady sends them on a trip to find a mysterious and dangerous Lord. Along the way, friends become enemies, enemies become friends and strangers become closer than they ever imagined.
This book stole my heart. The writing was almost lyrical, every word like a brushstroke in a beautiful painting. I could see the wonderful world Clarke created every step of the way. The characters were diverse and interesting, and their relationships well developed and described. Especially the wlw relationship was subtly and softly developed in an amazing way. I had actually forgotten that this book had been described as LGBTQIA+ fiction and wasn't expecting it at all at that point in the story and the developement still felt extremely natural. The villain is understandable and relateable in a very unique way. The descriptory language and comparitively simple set of relevant characters make the story seem very folksy, almost like a transcribed fairy tale, in the best way.
I do think the pacing is a bit uneven, slightly too slow in the beginning and a bit fast towards the end. I can also understand why some people have found the switching perspective during the chapters without warning a bit confusing, but the story is written in third person and I did not find this bothersome at all. I actually preferred this to the 'switching every chapter' type that is more common in fantasy, as the way it was done in this book allowed for more flexibility and better insight.
Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure, fairy tales and fantasy.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book!

Before talking about my opinion on the story I just want to give some love to Kristina Caroll, the artist who made the cover of this book. It is absolutely stunning and the reason I spotted this book in the first place.

I thought this story was quite average and I don't have a very positive or negative opinion on the book. Many aspects of the book were not bad, but they weren't great either. There are several things that stood out to me though, either in a positive or a negative way.

The first thing being the relationships in the book: they were great. I loved the sister relationship Celestia and Izara had with each other. We could often see them arguing with each other, but in the end they would always end up caring about each other. This is probably one of the best executions of a sibling relationship that I've seen in books.
I also liked the relationships that were developed throughout the book. Ico, a former pirate who gets dragged into Celestia's and Izara's adventure against his will, starts off being very cynical and is always seen (mopperen) at the women. I liked how we saw his behaviour change over time.
I also liked how the romance was slowly developed during the book. I can't discuss it too much because I'll then go into spoilers, but I want to note that I like the slow build-up and I liked how the romance ended.

In the beginning of the book we got a look into some dark magic of this world. Unfortunately this wasn't explored further and that's a bit disappointing to me, because I love reading about all kinds of magic.

The world building was alright. There were loads of descriptions of awesome places our characters travelled through, such as magical forests and ice cold snow plains. However, I personally felt like the world wasn't really tied together. The characters seemed to jump from one place to another and it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I really wished the book came with a map, because I think that would improve this a lot.

The plot of the book also wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't bad at all. Our characters were constantly thrown into new challenging situations, so that I never got bored reading this book. The pace of the book was also fast enough so I didn't become sick of this book. On the other hand, the plot was quite straightforward, with very little interesting twists. So no bonus points for the plot.

Over all a solid 3/5 stars and a book that I'd recommend if the synopsis sounds quite interesting to you.

Lets take a few seconds and look at the amazing cover of this book!
I really like this book. The characters were so good and real. Like it kind of felt that I knew them from real life. And I could easily relate to them.

Elements in the book that I enjoyed: the magic, the bargain, the mission to save the world. These are the qualities that I look for in a book. However the writing style was a bit meh for me. But that's just me.

Short outline of the book:
This book starts with four people travelling on the river (two ladies and two men).
The two ladies (Celestia and Izara) are travelling to meet a goddess named the lady of the Seraphine. Their travel guide Ico unwillingly joined them to meet the goddess. The reason was to make a bargain, Celestia wants to marry a rich man to build up their land and to pay for Izara study fees at the mages academy. But with the bargain came a cost and that was that they are beholden to the lady, even the poor guide Ico got trapped into it. The goddess fulfilled their wishes!
A few years later, it was time for the other party to fulfil their part of the bargain. The lady of Seraphine called the three of them to go on a dangerous mission to save the land.

Trust me the last part of the book is the best!!!! This book has a solid beginning and solid ending.

Thank you so much Netgalley for this amazing opportunity.

Thank you to both NetGalley and the Publishers for an ARC in exchange for a review.

The Beholden by Cassandra Rose Clarke can be described as a story where two sisters make a bargain with a Goddess, to then 5 years later, where an unlikely trio sets on a life-threatening journey to stop a spreading disease from continuing to spread across the land. The trio has to find a way to repay their debt owed, as well as trying to complete their journey in time.

I really enjoyed the world building in this book. I think that the description was simply excellent, and it was just beautifully described. This adds on to the beautiful cover, which is one of the things that initially got me intrigued to read this book.

The magic system was very detailed and interesting, and I definitely think that was also a positive to the book.

Like most books though, one of qualities I look for the most while reading is being able to really “see” characters, and see that they have depth to them. However, I don’t know if I really felt that depth with Celestial and Izara.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book, I just think there was a few things that could have made it slightly better. I definitely don’t think I got that “wow” factor that I normally get from 5 star reads.

4/5 Stars.

What initially drew me to this book was the stunning cover, it is a gorgeous piece of artwork. Then I read the blurb and I thought ‘this is right up my street!’

I saw some reviews before I started and that was a bad idea because I went into this with a ‘hmm not sure if I will like this actually’ thought process. They said the changing POVs were sudden and confusing but I was able to follow the story fine so this may be personal preference.

The story follows three people on their quest to fulfil a promise made to a god in order to receive a favour. I I is an ex-pirate and a dab hand at adventuring, Izara is a mage in training and Celestia is a noble woman who is the classic fish out of water.

I liked the dynamics between the three MC and thought they played well off each other, with their own strengths/weaknesses.

The writing style, whilst being very descriptive, is a little flowery and I think there were some parts that could have been taken out. There were big chunks of story where nothing happened (and the characters said as much).

Once I got stuck into the story I did find myself enjoying it but not sure if I would reread this or come back for a sequel.

Solid 3.8/5. This story has wonderful world building entirely throughout. You cannot predict what will happen next so it’s really a good adventure that you are brought it. You become invested in the characters even when you meet them just for a few minutes. Enjoyed this. This story is full of narration a little slow as a result. I love how we are shown why life must come with death in such a positive way. That is my biggest takeaway from the story.

This is my first time reading anything by Cassandra Rose Clarke. The plot didn't grab me as much as I wanted to. I was hopeful but it won't stop me from being curious about Clarke's future works!

(ARC received in exchange for honest review at www.netgalley.com)

The Beholden - Cassandra Rose Clarke
🤝 A bargain with a goddess
👣 A trio of unlikely adventurers
🗺 A dangerous journey
🔮 Magic galore
🌏 The fate of the world in the balance

In desperation two sisters make a bargain with the a godess - the Lady of the Seraphine. A rich, kind husband for Celestia to revive their land, replenish their wealth and pay for Izara to study at the Mages Academy in exchange for an unnamed favor. Both sisters are Beholden to the Lady, and so is their unlucky guide Ico, an ex pirate attempting to make an honest living.

Five years later Celestia is happily married and finally pregnant, Izara is studying magic at the Academy and Ico has outrun his past and found peace in the arms of the Lady of Cold. All is well but not for long - with rumours of war and disease emerging the Lady of the Seraphine is calling in her favor and sending the unlikely trio on a dangerous mission to stop the unnatural plague of undeath sweeping across the land. Will the trio be able to repay their debt when their journey pits them against time, the Emperor and death itself?

Overall, I enjoyed the Beholden but there was just something missing for me. The atmoshpere, world building and jungle setting were interesting and intriguing. The setting was very detailed and beautifully described. The cover of this book is gorgeous! Love it.

I was really interested in the magic system and how it all ties together and works but that wasn't really explained - there were several types of magic mentioned but how they relate to each other is a bit unclear.

I enjoyed the characters but they felt a little straight forward and lacked a certain emotional depth or nuance. I even found the gods and godesses a bit easy to predict.

I love how the sister's relationship was portrayed - Celestia and Izara disagreed, deferred to each other's expertise, made decisions together and you could see their love for each other even in their disagreements. Ico seemed to be a bit of a 3rd wheel at times to add extra drama and comic relief to the plot with his ex-pirate shenanigans, drinking too much and possibly being chased by murderous bad guys.

I struggled at times with the structure of the writing - the chapters were very long especially early on. Each one had several sub-sections with multiple changing POVs which made it a bit confusing to keep track of all the threads of the story.

The story was extremely plot driven and had a big focus on worldbuilding. I thought the story, pacing and the development of the characters - particularly Omaria and Celestia (I LOVE THEM) - really picked up in the last 20% of the book and I was much more engaged in the race to the ending.

The ending was solid but I would have loved just a bit more closure. Everything was so richly described throughout the book that ending felt very quickly tied up compared to the length of the journey it took to arrive.

The cover of the book is gorgeous, it caught my attention before I had the chance to read the plot, which was also intriguing.
Eventually, I felt that the book was lacking of some things, maybe the plot needed to be more structured.
All in all, still a nice read.

(ARC received in exchange for honest review at www.netgalley.com)

I have not ready anything by Cassandra Rose Clarke and honestly the only reason why I requested this novel is because of the cover. It is absolutely gorgeous!

Once I got into the book I was a little disappointed with the plot, or lack of it. I think the concept of what she was trying to get at was great but it just didn't execute well!

I loved the jungle setting and the relationship between the two sisters. I wish I could give half stars because this was a 3.5/5 for me.

Thank you Netgalley for the free copy of this book that I got in exchange for an honest review!

Honestly, I only even looked at this book because the cover is STUNNING. The makings of a great, really atmospheric book. But then I read the synopsis and the plot seemed pretty basic and totally done before.

Not to say I'm an oracle or anything, but I was bang on the mark.

The plot just really wasn't it for me. And for me, the plot is everything. I want the action, the suspense, but that just isn't what I got enough of for a fantasy. And the magic system was totally lacking.

But here is a (short) list of good qualities this book has, that I'm sure made this book for some people, but just weren't enough to bring it back for me.
1)The jungle made for such an amazing setting. And with that sprinkle of disease and war and all that good stuff, it really was the thing that kept going. Anyone else get major Pandora vibes?
2) The sister relationship. It wasn't all hugs and kisses, but it was real AF. And had that underlying comitment to each other-even when screaming.I always appreciate sibling/platonic relationships in books more than romantic ones, so this one totally delivered on that front.

Wow, that really was a short list.