Review: Marysvale

Book Details

Title: Marysvale
Author: Jared Southwick
Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 387
Publishing Info: Brigham Distributing, October 5, 2010

My Review
Why I read it: received review copy from the author
The Plot: We start out with our main character, John Casey, escaping from a small town.  He is chased by the Brean, which are big, darkish monstery things (we never find out what they are or where they come from).  He manages to get to a house on the outskirts of Marysvale.  From there he travels with a couple of sisters into Marysvale.  He starts to remember things from his childhood that he had forgotten.  Things he had seen.  And also, Marysvale is not a very good place, and once you're there it's hard to get out.  This story felt a lot like hearing a story someone was telling me, rather than being immersed in a story. 
The Characters: The good people in the story were suitably likable, and the villains seemed awful enough, but I just didn't really connect with anyone in the story. 
The Setting: It's hard to really get a feel for the setting.  Marysvale was an interesting enough place, but we really only got to hear about it from John (because the story is told in first person), and he's just arriving there.  The setting feels pretty bleak, with the monsterish Brean everywhere, so it's not some place I'd want to visit anytime soon.
Who Should Read This? Those who like their fantasy a little more mysterious.
Final Thoughts: While I didn't love this story, there were some very tense and exciting moments.  I'm not sure if I'll read the next book in the series or not.
Grade: C
Cover Thoughts: I think the cover is fairly generic, and I'm not sure exactly how it relates to the story, but it could be worse.  :)

Queen in Exile

Book Details:
Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 373
Publication Date: March 23, 2010
Why I read it: sounded good
Grade: DNF

The plot:
Rumors of war hang over Princess Jeniah's peaceful country of Arden, a land that shuns both magic and warfare. Following a lifelong dream, Jeniah forms a telpathic bond with a revered creature called a chayim, who is prophesied to save her kingdom. But when a Darborian knight comes upon Jeniah with her chayim, he sees only a vicious monster about to devour a maiden, and he slays the beast.

Devastated by the loss of her chayim, and fearing that her own magic is evil, Jeniah doubts her destiny. When an enemy invades Arden City, they slaughter the people, storm the castle, and execute the entire royal family except the princess. Rescued by the knight who slew her chayim, Jeniah is now heir to the throne of Arden and the only hope for freeing her people from tyranny.

On the run and hunted by enemy soldiers, Jeniah must place her life and the fate of her kingdom in the hands of this trained killer. Torn between embracing her destiny as queen of Arden, and her love for a mere knight, she must ultimately rely on her magic to save herself and her people from death and tyranny.

My review:
I think unless I pick up a romance novel, I really don't want very much romance in my book. If it is very, very secondary I don't mind, but if it's the main point of the story, I'm not interested. I think I've grown less tolerant in this area than I've been in the past. It seems like the romance here was a little too sickeningly sweet, and I don't want that in my fantasy novels.

The characters just didn't do it for me here. I might have been able to get past the romance if I had really liked the characters, but I didn't connect with them. Jeniah seemed like a typical YA heroine who chaffed at the roles she was given. There didn't seem to be anything particularly original about her. The chayim thing was different, but I didn't get into the book enough for me to care.

There was one point in the story, a couple of sentences, where I knew that I couldn't read any more. It was just too much:

As she gazed at him, she realized that her feelings for him had surpassed friendly affection. At that instant, she freely and willingly gave him her heart, even sensing that he still shielded his against her.

I think someone who enjoys fantasy romance might really like this one, but it just wasn't my style at all. I'm not sure that I'd read any more by this author, especially with my TBR pile being what it is. I gave this one over 100 pages, but at that point I still wasn't interested, and could easily put it down without caring what happened, so I took it back to the library.