Review
An e-copy of the book has been provided by the publisher, Emergent Realms, in exchange for an honest review.
“Those are all the things that I am to you. Who am I to me?”
It has been quite some time when Emergent Realms contacted me to review one of their books and I declined. Honestly, aside from having too much on my plate at the time, I’m not particularly a huge fantasy/scifi reader—more so, if it is a series. But, this year, I’ve decided I’m going to give them a chance.
Vile & Blessed wasn’t at all what I expected. Although, to be fair, I am unaware if I even had any expectations in the first place. And I believe that that is a good starting point for reading a book—so as not to fall into the hole of disappointments.
“Nobody is forcing you to be miserable. If you’re unhappy, do something about it. You can’t walk around blaming the spirits…”
The book began really strong, for me. It was mesmerizing to read as the flow of the words felt as though the author is in front of a campfire telling the story herself. It has such a smooth rhythm that I didn’t even feel the pages slip by.
I was strongly intrigued by the characters. Each of them has their own purpose within the story, and that gave a powerful mark as you read through the book. I also enjoyed the author’s decision to provide another point-of-view to allow the readers to have a more broad introspection of the story.
For its pacing, the book was relatively fast-paced—an in-between, if you may. It wasn’t slow to bore you, but it also wasn’t at all swift to permit the feeling of being left behind.
“What if it devours me? Who will I become, when I don’t know who I am in the first place?”
What was weak, in my opinion, though, was the lack of better introduction to the book’s world, magic, and cultural backgrounds. It was a story laced with a beautiful scent of diversity yet it can be perceived that the author provided such a miniscule amount of effort into giving a better approach in immersing the readers within her world.
It felt as though she could have done something in threading particular instances within parts of the story to allow a more fluid stream of descriptive subtleties that will provide readers with greater immersion towards her created universe.
Moreover, I was pretty disappointed with the choice of trajectory for the characters. In addition to their lack of strong background, the way the characters projected themselves along the story was underwhelming.
There are two characters that dug themselves into my mind, though: (1) Aaro; and, (2) Savyra. Without diving into spoiler-y details, I love these characters for such specific reasons: Aaro for his interestingly refined antagonistic characterization—he was effective as his character wasn’t at all evil, but with the way he was written, it may seem like so: and, Savyra for her refreshing personality that complimented the grimness of the story very well.
“We can never know which choices are right or wrong if we don’t make them.”
Vile & Blessed is a potent novel emblazoned with so much possibilities. Despite my partial disappointment, I can see the strength of the book and how it can be a more effective read for others. It would be interesting to see her prowess in interlacing character stories by creating a wider range of perspective to allow fluidity with what I found lacking within her story. I do, still, look forward to what the author has to offer in the subsequent parts of the book.
