REVIEW: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Read: May 11-30, 2017

Format: NetGalley E-ARC

My Book Rating: 2.5 Stars

Publisher: Clarion Books

Release Date: April 5, 2016

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Pages: 360

Reading Challenge(s): Beat The Backlist 2017, Flights of Fantasy 2017, Retellings 2017

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

In a city divided between opulent luxury in the Light and fierce privations in the Dark, a determined young woman survives by guarding her secrets.

Lucie Manette was born in the Dark half of the city, but careful manipulations won her a home in the Light, celebrity status, and a rich, loving boyfriend. Now she just wants to keep her head down, but her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own—one involving an apparent stranger who is destitute and despised.

Lucie alone knows of the deadly connection the young men share, and even as the knowledge leads her to make a grave mistake, she can trust no one with the truth.

Blood and secrets alike spill out when revolution erupts. With both halves of the city burning, and mercy nowhere to be found, can Lucie save either boy—or herself?

Celebrated author Sarah Rees Brennan tells a magical tale of romance and revolution, love and loss.


REVIEW

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This poor book sat on my virtual TBR shelf for ages. It sounded interesting, so I requested and was approved for it on NetGalley… but then I never quite felt in the mood for an urban fantasy. Unfortunately, when I finally made myself read it, I still wasn’t quite in the mood for an urban fantasy.

To start off with, this book is based on A Tale of Two Cities. I’ve never read that one, but I honestly don’t really like classics. I know. Blasphemous. But it’s true. Sorry, not sorry.

The atmosphere is really dark. Which makes sense, but it was darker than I was in the mood for. There’s another strike.

The characters just never pulled me in. I really didn’t care about any of them. The only character that actually interested me at all was the doppleganger, but we honestly didn’t get to know enough about him to really even care about what happens to him.

The plot moved at a snails pace. There were at least two instances where I thought about quitting, only for things to pick up again shortly after. I did make it til the end, and the ending was interesting, but like I said before, I wasn’t invested in the characters or the plot enough to actually care about the big “twist” that occurred.

In all, this was a rather lackluster read for me. Fans of both Dickens and urban fantasy may enjoy this one, but unfortunately it just didn’t do it for me.



Get the Book here:

Amazon | Nook | iBooks

~ Add to Goodreads ~

 


QUOTES

* From an advanced release copy. May differ from final text.

 

No normal Light magician would be trained to fight their own guards.
But I was.

 

The only thing standing between Ethan and death was me.

 

“Are you asking me out on a date?” asked Carwyn. “Because your boyfriend’s right here. Awkward.”

 

When his eyes opened they were covered with darkness, as if under a film of oil.

 

“The whole Dark city killed my other?” Ethan asked. “How did they all fit in the apartment?”

 

I wondered what my father really thought about me, about my lies, about my consorting with the Light Council, whose guards had killed mother.

 

People will come up with a hundred thousand reasons why other people do not count as human, but that does not mean anyone has to listen.

 

 

4 thoughts on “REVIEW: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *