FEATHERMORE Review by Jen at DREAM READS
**I wanted to thank Jennifer for such an amazing and thorough review. It certainly made my day and gave me that needed push to get Fallenmore started again. THANK YOU!! I loooove it**
* * * *
REVIEW
As ironic as it might sound, it is often
rare to find a YA Paranormal romance with a lot of mystery to it nowadays. It
often happens that the paranormal elements in the story take a back seat to the
romance in a lot of the current Young Adult novels that are out right now. But,
guess what, my fellow readers? That does not happen here. And it was refreshing.
Lucy Swing manages to create quite a heart-wrenching story in Feathermore that
is packed with suspense, intrigue, and mystery from start to finish. This book
is just shrouded in mystery and there is more to every single character than
meets the eye, not just the protagonist, which was really
interesting.
Which leads
me to the characterization of this novel. I just loved it. Jade, our female lead
in this novel, has a great voice. She is a regular high school student - well,
so she thinks - who likes to hang out with her friends and family. She may not
be the most popular person in her town or school but she has quite a lovely
personality because she is nice but not a pushover and she is incredibly funny
and sarcastic. And as the story develops her reactions to things were
refreshing. She has quite the sense of humor and instead of accepting the
changes that are happening to her immediately, she freaks out and is resistant.
Her feelings about things just felt authentic because how can a person take it
lightly that their real background is supernatural and that they are not really
human as they thought, right? That is enough to make any person even lose their
mind. I also liked that Claire and Nate who are Jade's best friends, are also an
integral part of the story, with their own hidden history and character
struggles. It was great that the family and friends of Jade were really
important to her life, it gave the story a realistic touch and it helped add
dimensionality to Jade's life story.
Another aspect of Feathermore that I really liked
was the world-building. It was intricate and complex and dark. Definitely dark
and mysterious. And what I liked about it is that the author didn't quite reveal
from the start what the true identities of the characters were and what was
going on. The reader gets to learn along with Jade what she truly is, what is
after her, who her friends really were and it was interesting. The title does
give a hint but the lore behind it was surprising from what I've read in other
angel centered books. It was unique. Speaking of complex angel lore, I loved
that the villain in this book was not your typical stoic/machiavellic power
thirsty villain with a little too much time on his hands. No. In Feathermore we
have a lady villain and boy is she ruthless and vengeful and her identity was
quite surprising. She is a prominent figure in angel lore/myth and I liked the
twist the author gave to her story.
When it comes to the romance in Feathermore. I
would have to say that it was sweet. As you're reading, it feels as if this book
is gonna have your typical case of instantaneous love at first sight. And all
you can think is, "well, okay, the guy is cute and nice and has charm but why
does the protagonist like him so much if they've just met" BUT as the story
develops, the reader soon learns that that is not the case. There is actually
quite an immense reason for Jade's attraction to Avan which is the male lead in
this story. And that reason was quite layered and unique. There also was another
character in this book named Blake that I felt had an interesting connection to
Jade, though, for those who hate love triangles, no worries. It never quite
reaches that status in this book. The main love story is Jade and Avan.
Although, maybe in book two there is potential for a love triangle with Blake in
the mix? It's hard to tell since Blake's true identity was left as a mystery
even until the end of the book, which, in my opinion, was quite cruel because
his scenes in this book were the most fascinating. Who is Blake? - I was dying
to know but I'm hoping book two will clear that up.
My advice: Read this book. It had an
amazing cliffhanger. Did I say amazing? I shall repeat myself. It was good. The
writing in this novel is very fluid. Lucy Swing definitely has a way with words.
It was easy to get lost in her writing. Feathermore was dark but fun - due to
Jade's amazing sense of humor as a character and it really felt like a
paranormal book. It was full of mystery. It almost felt like an episode of the
show Supernatural where everything starts off happy and blissful and then it all
descends into madness, basically. I really liked this book.
Favorite quote in this book: "Once
again, the vampire idea came to me. But it couldn't be. We definitely didn't
drink blood, and we were perfectly fine in the bright sunshine - we didn't
sparkle or go up in flames" - pg. 140 &141
* * * *
REVIEW
As ironic as it might sound, it is often
rare to find a YA Paranormal romance with a lot of mystery to it nowadays. It
often happens that the paranormal elements in the story take a back seat to the
romance in a lot of the current Young Adult novels that are out right now. But,
guess what, my fellow readers? That does not happen here. And it was refreshing.
Lucy Swing manages to create quite a heart-wrenching story in Feathermore that
is packed with suspense, intrigue, and mystery from start to finish. This book
is just shrouded in mystery and there is more to every single character than
meets the eye, not just the protagonist, which was really
interesting.
Which leads
me to the characterization of this novel. I just loved it. Jade, our female lead
in this novel, has a great voice. She is a regular high school student - well,
so she thinks - who likes to hang out with her friends and family. She may not
be the most popular person in her town or school but she has quite a lovely
personality because she is nice but not a pushover and she is incredibly funny
and sarcastic. And as the story develops her reactions to things were
refreshing. She has quite the sense of humor and instead of accepting the
changes that are happening to her immediately, she freaks out and is resistant.
Her feelings about things just felt authentic because how can a person take it
lightly that their real background is supernatural and that they are not really
human as they thought, right? That is enough to make any person even lose their
mind. I also liked that Claire and Nate who are Jade's best friends, are also an
integral part of the story, with their own hidden history and character
struggles. It was great that the family and friends of Jade were really
important to her life, it gave the story a realistic touch and it helped add
dimensionality to Jade's life story.
Another aspect of Feathermore that I really liked
was the world-building. It was intricate and complex and dark. Definitely dark
and mysterious. And what I liked about it is that the author didn't quite reveal
from the start what the true identities of the characters were and what was
going on. The reader gets to learn along with Jade what she truly is, what is
after her, who her friends really were and it was interesting. The title does
give a hint but the lore behind it was surprising from what I've read in other
angel centered books. It was unique. Speaking of complex angel lore, I loved
that the villain in this book was not your typical stoic/machiavellic power
thirsty villain with a little too much time on his hands. No. In Feathermore we
have a lady villain and boy is she ruthless and vengeful and her identity was
quite surprising. She is a prominent figure in angel lore/myth and I liked the
twist the author gave to her story.
When it comes to the romance in Feathermore. I
would have to say that it was sweet. As you're reading, it feels as if this book
is gonna have your typical case of instantaneous love at first sight. And all
you can think is, "well, okay, the guy is cute and nice and has charm but why
does the protagonist like him so much if they've just met" BUT as the story
develops, the reader soon learns that that is not the case. There is actually
quite an immense reason for Jade's attraction to Avan which is the male lead in
this story. And that reason was quite layered and unique. There also was another
character in this book named Blake that I felt had an interesting connection to
Jade, though, for those who hate love triangles, no worries. It never quite
reaches that status in this book. The main love story is Jade and Avan.
Although, maybe in book two there is potential for a love triangle with Blake in
the mix? It's hard to tell since Blake's true identity was left as a mystery
even until the end of the book, which, in my opinion, was quite cruel because
his scenes in this book were the most fascinating. Who is Blake? - I was dying
to know but I'm hoping book two will clear that up.
My advice: Read this book. It had an
amazing cliffhanger. Did I say amazing? I shall repeat myself. It was good. The
writing in this novel is very fluid. Lucy Swing definitely has a way with words.
It was easy to get lost in her writing. Feathermore was dark but fun - due to
Jade's amazing sense of humor as a character and it really felt like a
paranormal book. It was full of mystery. It almost felt like an episode of the
show Supernatural where everything starts off happy and blissful and then it all
descends into madness, basically. I really liked this book.
Favorite quote in this book: "Once
again, the vampire idea came to me. But it couldn't be. We definitely didn't
drink blood, and we were perfectly fine in the bright sunshine - we didn't
sparkle or go up in flames" - pg. 140 &141
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