The pacing in this book was… interesting. “All the answers you seek are there, but only if you are willing to hear them.” Plot It didn’t require so much heavy exposition. There were a couple of times where the dialogue was so exposition-heavy that I was taken out of the book. The setting itself was a fairly run-of-the-mill European fantasy world, with nothing too special. Also, if having those info dumps wasn’t enough, the characters would do it themselves. Now, those can be done well if used in moderation and the text itself is interesting, but that wasn’t the case here. Melissa de la Cruz relied heavily on exposition dumps masquerading as several-page-long historical texts that were dropped randomly throughout the book. Instead, it felt like a DM’s first Dungeons and Dragons campaign, where they use all the tropes and don’t care to actually flesh out a world. What could have brought that unique fantasy feeling was the setting- but even that didn’t feel like a fantasy novel. It was a little jarring at first (although eventually I did get used to it). In Shadow’s chapters, it’s first person, but in Caledon, it’s third. One thing I wasn’t a fan of, however, is the changes in points of view. It isn’t much different from her other books, but it definitely lacks that fantasy feel. When I heard she was writing a high fantasy romance, I was so excited! And I think my excitement is what set me up for failure here. I love Melissa de la Cruz’s contemporary romances.
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