I think I was 44% into THE WAKING LAND before I finally called it quits, but it was the best decision for everyone involved. I bloody detested the heroine and ongoing impersonation of an ostrich.

I love it when you see a gorgeous book cover and find out the inside is just as beautiful! I read The Walking Land in two days. Callie Bates knows how to grab her reader and grab them early. You know how it goes... you download or crack open a new book before getting ready for the day. Just the first chapter you say! Then you realize it is 2 in the afternoon and you haven't even showered. Luckily it was a Saturday!

The strength for me is in the characters. That is key. The world building and landscape can be on point but if I don't care about what happens to anyone then I close down pretty quick.

In the prologue of The Walking Land we meet young Elanna who experiences and witnesses quite a trauma. First chapter is many years later when she is a young women and living with the King. She is extremely loyal to this man who has treated her as an adoptive daughter during a time of civil unrest. Then her world is once again rocked and she sets about on a journey that is parallel to what I believe we all go through at some point. While she may be filled with magic (pretty cool magic I might add) but she still stumbles upon life lessons like we all do. The hard way.

I highly recommend this book. Sure there are parts that may have been a little slow to me but I was invested and thoroughly entertained. I also went out and purchased the book despite receiving an advanced electronic copy in exchange for this review. THAT COVER! I had to have it.

I will say that I loved the cover very eye catching and lovely! I liked the plot line of the description however I was hoping that this particular book would turn out to not be like many other books that I have read with the similar plot line I had hoped by half way through the book it would turn in to a much more spectacular book that keep me intrigued however this was not the case I felt like there wasn't anything specific that would catch my attention and keep it I felt left down.

After being kidnapped from her family during dinner, Lady Elanna Valtai grows up in awe of the King who dragged her away from the dining table when she was 10. She has never wanted for anything in her new residence. She was treated well enough, was educated and fed and given the illusion that she had a future that she could decide on.

But the reality is she was a prisoner in a castle being taught a certain percentage of the truth of the world and who she was and who she should be loyal to. So when the king is suddenly killed, all the blame is put on her and she quickly realizes the world is much bigger than she was led to believe. And that she is more capable then she ever expected.

As she starts to realize her power, and her place in the world, she no longer knows who to trust. She doesn't know what side she should be, or where the future will take her. Or more importantly she isn't even sure she will survive the turmoil of the warring lands and have a future at all.

It pains me to admit it, because some authors I love have praised this book, but I just didn’t like it very much.

For me, the story had two main flaws. The first involves the plot, which revolves around one country rising up against the nation that had conquered them, a rebellion that has been in the works for years, if not decades. You would think that would give them time to come up with good plans for how to make it successful. All too often, though, the rebels seem to have no clue what they are doing. For example, the main architect of the rebellion lives in a home that has no natural defenses and is apparently not that far from the border, but he doesn’t bother to make plans for what to do if the enemy shows up there. Why? Because it doesn’t serve the story the author wants to tell of a young woman whose magic makes her the ultimate savior of her nation. But if to get to that point the author often has to have her characters make dumb or irrational decisions, that’s a sign of a flawed plot to me.

The other, deeper, problem is the dithering of the main character, which goes on far too long. Elanna can’t decide if she wants to support the rebellion or not, if she wants to embrace her magic or not, if she can trust the guy she likes or not, etc., etc. She seesaws back and forth in a way that quickly became tiresome to me. The constant focus on her ever-shifting thoughts also slows the pace of the story, to the point that I had trouble finishing the book. The sad thing is that once Elanna commits to a course of action, the book becomes very exciting, and the last few chapters sped by. But it was a long slow slog to get there.

Based on the strength of those last few chapters, I’d be willing to give the author another try in the future. But this book was a miss for me.

A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not going to lie, I requested this book because the cover reminded me of Tifiti from Moana. This novel was very much not Moana, but I still enjoyed it anyway. It was interesting and engaging and i would recommend it to a friend.

The idea behind the story is really interesting and I felt there was a lot that could make this develop into a decent series. The most lyrical sections were those that described our heroine's magical connection to the Earth. Of all the elemental magics that exist in mythology and fiction, Earth magic has always been the one that fascinated me. What an incredible gift to make flowers bloom and trees grow tall. When Elanna's connection deepens and she senses the water's flow and the animal's furtive movements, there is a real sense of understanding and beauty to the language.

HOWEVER, I had several issues with the way the story progressed and the character development was sketchy. It read in such a way that the story seemed to drift from plotpoint to plotpoint without enough explanation or development. If this book develops into a series (and the ending appears to set up this possiblity) I would like to see a fuller development of the characters and relationships and a greater respect for the poltical upheaval that is being played out. Bates is clearly capable of writing beautifully (see my previous comments) so I should like to feel that she respects her narrative enough to work on every aspect of it as much as she worked on the magical passages.

This book has a great premise, but doesn't quite hit the mark in terms of story. A rather weak/indecisive main character slows the plot down with all her waffling back and forth, and while the magic starts out with a lot of promise, it also ultimately doesn't deliver.

It was a great start but quickly lost stamina for me. There were a lot of characters that I could not keep track of as well as inconsistencies with the personality of the main character, Lady Elanna Valtai. She was confused yet she was certain. She was loyal to the King that raised her like a daughter yet barely fought for her best friend. She was defiant and stubborn with everyone except the (conveniently handsome) sorcerer Jahan. I understand that she was supposed to be immature as she is a young teenager who is just now discovering that her whole life was a lie. However, her character was too erratic for me to be able to enjoy. I gave it two weeks to try to finish and I still cannot bring myself to, so I am moving on and marking it as a DNF at 31%.

The Waking Land was a mixed bag for me. I wanted to like the main character Elanna, but there were too many times that I just wanted to slap her silly. I get that she was probably going through Stockholm Syndrome and confusion because she genuinely thought the king cared about her as a daughter, but she also came across as willfully stupid at times. She also had the annoying habit of contradicting herself over and over. She's not going to do this, but she does it. She doesn't ever do that, but then she does. She changed her mind about things way too easily at times, and then at other times was stubborn to the point of stupidity.

I liked the love interest quite a lot, but would have liked if the romance and the relationship between the two of them had been explored more. It came off a little too much like insta-love for me. Also, the whole "wedding the land" thing was just weird and there wasn't enough explanation as to what exactly happened and how it worked. And the love scene makes this book too mature for younger readers in my opinion.

There were some things about this book that I did really like. I liked the way the magic worked with Elanna drawing on the land and nature for assistance. I also thought the way the land would fold and then they would be in another location was really cool. I liked that it showed how conflicted Elanna was about who she was, her origins, and where her loyalties were; even though I don't feel like it was executed all that well. This looks to be a stand-alone, which is ok with me. I'm not sure I would want to continue on with it if it was a series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Random House for giving me a copy of this book for review. Review also posted at Writings of a Reader

This was a YA/Fantasy book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the adventure, the twists in the plot. The author uses such imagination and creativity to make the characters and locations come alive.
The use of a female heroine combined with lore, earth magic, and even a touch of sorcery leaves readers enthralled. This book reminded me why I love this genre.

I'll admit, the first couple of chapters were complicated. The names of the many characters and locations were difficult. Once I got through the “learning curve”, I was hooked. I had to force myself to put the book down at 6:30 A.M. , having read all through the night.

Before: (things it took several chapters to learn... the “learning curve”)

The gods created the lands, weaving magic into the earth. The Children of Anu followed the gods.
Wildegarde lived in the time before Eren and Caeris were divided into two Nations over 4 centuries ago.

In the lore:

In the mountains, Bal an-Dacrans – The Dragon's Mouth. It was said that the dragons took in an orphan child whom they called Wildegarde. She came down to Caeris and woke the land.

Caeris still worships the old gods of earth and wood and mountains. [tripartite].

The country of Caeris (CaerYs) was known for it's powerful earth magic. Full of legends, lore and people with the ancient wisdom of the earth magic. Caeris was ruled by a tripartite of the Monarch of Caeris, the Cavedear [Steward of the land], and the Warren of the mountains, to ensure equal power by all areas of the country.
There has been no “true” Cavedear for several centuries. The last “true” Cavedear was Wildegarde.

“Wildergarde came, bearing a flame in her heart and her hair crowned with the pale
light of the stars. Where she placed her foot, the earth trembled; where she raised
her hand, mountains moved.”

A true Cavedear has an extreme awareness of all the land. They are one with the land, able to see through the eyes of the creatures of the land, to hear the songs of the trees, to create rivers where none exist, and even to move mountains.

When the Emperors of Palidis and the Imperial army invaded Caeris 200 years ago, they proclaimed magic forbidden. The following Inquisitions brought witch hunters who sought and murdered anyone thought to be using magic.

Our story begins here.

Even as a child, Elanna has had power over anything that is of the earth, able to grow plants in her hand. She has had to hide her magic all her life. In Caeris though, her parents knew what she was.

Folklore:

“They said, 'What art thou?' ”
“She said, 'I am the wildness.' ”
“They said, 'Why hast thou come?' ”

“ 'For thee.' ”

The Walking Land is a tale that follows Lady Elanna Valtair who was taken hostage at age 5 by King Antoine Eyrle of Eren. This was to ensure that her father would not attempt to overthrow the throne again. Elanna was raised by King Antoine as his adopted daughter and he favored her over his own daughter. Elanna developed a loyalty to the King and the country where she was raised. When she was 19, the King was murdered and Elanna was accused of his murder. She is forced to flee for her life. With the assistance of several unique characters, she returns to her homeland which remains full of legends of a magic she has always known she has – but has had to hide. Magic is forbidden! Once there she learns the truth of her homeland Caeris (CaerYs). She has been taught lies!

No more spoilers!!

I loved reading as Elanna grew into her character. I loved the legends of earth magic and the folklore of The Walking Land. The story ends in an epic magical showdown.

If you enjoy Fantasy and Magic, this book is excellent.


Than you Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
My review will be posted on amazon, goodreads, netgalley and moonshineartspot.blogspot.com

First of all, can we look at this cover? How cool is this cover! And it’s entirely appropriate for this book. Like, I can’t think of any cooler cover for this book. It perfectly sums up the story and the character Elanna.

So, as far as I can tell this is a stand alone fantasy novel. It’s billed as YA, but it’s really more upper YA into NA due to one steamy scene. I hope this becomes a series though, because I was blown away. I’m just not sure what is left of the story to tell… but I’d still read it!

This world and magic system is so cool. Basically, El lives in a country where magic is outlawed. If someone is suspected of magic, the Witch Hunters are called, and it’s a death sentence. So El doesn’t tell anyone that plants come alive around her – one touch of her finger and she can make them grow. She has big plans of going off for further training to be a botanist. Of course, the king might have other plans, like an arranged marriage.

No worries about that whole arranged marriage by the king thing though, because the king is murdered. Oh, and El is one of the prime suspects. And aside from taking her away from her parents and homeland at five years old to become a political prisoner—due to her father leading a rebellion, she actually kind of liked the guy. So begins her tale. She goes through a lot of changes of heart in this book, starting with not wanting anything to do with her parents. Not wanting to accept her magic. Wanting things to stay the same for her in King Antoine’s court.

El’s journey is a long one. Like, this book could have been broken into like, at least a trilogy, but it wasn’t, and I’m glad the author chose to keep it as one book. It meant no wait time to finish this journey!

The magic in this book is so cool. The land is literally alive and that power lives inside Elanna. There’s a lot of talk of the ancestors and ancient magics and so on. I loved it.

The romance? I don’t know if I was just in the mood for this kind of romance or what, but I immediately fell under Jahan’s charms. His personality was just so… charming! And he’s got secrets of his own. He was very easy going and had a nice sense of humor.

This review does this book no justice. Seriously, none. I can’t even describe all the feels. I can say this though, I did not want to put this book down. Most times I have my specific reading times and I stick to them. With this book? That went out the window. I read and read, and then I read some more. Until I’d devoured this entire thing in 3 days time—which is pretty quick for me for a book this long.

So, long story short: fans of YA fantasy tales with really cool and unique magic systems and a swoon worthy love interest will enjoy this story.

The Waking Land is a beautifully written, atmospheric fantasy with a complex history, politics, betrayal, and drama. There is everything from action-filled scenes to romance that will have your heart swooning. The magical system is intriguing. You'll find it hard not to root for the characters. Young adults and adults will both find this book entertaining as there is strong crossover appeal. Fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale will want to check The Waking Land out.

The book begins with Lady Elanna being taken hostage by the King of Erin. She is taken from her homeland of Caeris to Erin, a rival land. She grows up learning the culture and customs of Erin and considers the people of Caeris (including her mother and father) as traitors. She is raised as a daughter to the King and in turn is hated by the King’s actual daughter. When the King dies under mysterious circumstances, his real daughter, the Princess wants to have her tried for murder. Lady Elanna has no choice, but to try to return to original homeland, Caeris.

As she wrestles with her emotions about returning to Caeris, she begins to learn more about her homeland. How her strong relationship with the earth and her ability to manipulate plants might be part of her destiny.

As the battles begin for control of the land, Lady Elanna has to come to terms with her destiny and her position.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a fantasy book and I found this one enjoyable. It was not a super fast paced book, it was more of a leisurely read. I occasionally got a little lost in the details, but could still follow what was going on.

I received an ARC of this book.

2.5 or 3 stars
I am a lying liar from Liar Town who totally forgot she hadn’t posted a review. Sorry! (I do this every time I read something way before my approved time to post reviews…)

Despite being initially kidnapped by him at gun point to be used as political leverage, Elanna has come to view the king as a surrogate father, and is understandably upset when he is assassinated. Things continue to get worse for her when she is framed for his murder, and she must flee the county. She winds up in her homeland, where she must come to terms with her feelings for it, her birth father, and the powers she has tried to keep hidden from her captors for more than a decade.

I’m really glad I wrote the bulk of my review back in April, because I can barely remember anything about this book. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast sometimes, so I guess this isn’t surprising, but definitely proof that it didn’t make much of an impact all the same. Anyway, here’s what I wrote right after finishing the book in April (surprisingly coherent for being written at like 5 AM, and complete with bullet points, because I love bullet points):

I’m having a hard time articulating my feelings about this book, largely because they are very lukewarm. It’s not a BAD book by any means, but it’s not great either. It’s okay. I don’t regret reading it, but I don’t think that I would have picked it up had I been able to look at more readers’ reviews.

Let’s start with what I didn’t like, I guess:
• “In the lush and magical tradition of Naomi Novik s award-winning Uprooted…” what does that even MEAN? This book is nothing like Uprooted, which, full disclosure, is one of my absolute favorite books, and the comparison to which finalized my decision to click the “Request” button. I mean…they both have trees?? And cram a lot of story into one book? And..magic?? I don’t know, that’s all I got. They are completely different books, and the juxtaposition with what is – at least, in my opinion- a much better-written book does this one no favors. (Edit from the Future: Huh, that’s no longer part of the Goodreads blurb? It’s still on the book’s Amazon and Barnes & Noble pages, though, so I’m sticking to my grumbling here.)
• Ok, so you know that old writing adage “show, don’t tell?” There is a LOT of telling. Constantly. We get what is largely a play-by-play of Elanna’s thoughts and feelings, and it drove me up the wall. Also, we are TOLD that she is very much into botany and wants to make a career out of it, but not until maybe… the last third, I guess, do we actually get to see her nerd out about plants. I want to SEE her get excited about plants like I (a library person) get excited about books. I know I’m working with a rougher draft than most of you will be reading, but still.
• Building off of the last gripe, there is a lot of repetition in the telling. We are frequently reminded that:
o Her loyalties are very divided and she is conflicted
o Her birth culture is BARBAROUS…until she suddenly does a 180 on this, idk (would like to have seen this change of view develop more naturally, but okay)
o X is new and conflicts with information she was previously taught?? Which piece of information is true????
o Loyce is the Worst (in all fairness, she is)
o Elanna is PISSED
o The ever-expanding litany of people who have sacrificed themselves for the greater good and/or Elanna
o Love interest #1 has a Specific Love Interest Smell. Love interest #1 is LOOKING at her! Love Interest #1 is touching her omg.
I feel like I could probably go on, but those are what stuck stuck out in the most in my mind. I just remember frequently thinking “Yes, I KNOW. You told me this already. Get on with it.” There was actual sighing and eye-rolling , you guys.
• SPEAKING OF LOVE INTERESTS: the romance did not work for me. It happened too quickly, and felt like it was there just because it NEEDED to be. I was frankly surprised when the MC’s feelings were reciprocated; I was getting nothing from SPOILER Love Interest #1 END SPOILER. The same more or less goes for the other participant in the half-hearted love triangle (which I was glad to see quickly resolved, honestly; love triangles make me want to punch myself in the face). THESE ARE NOT REQUIREMENTS. You do not have to shoehorn romantic angst into your story for it to sell.
• Do you know how done I am with first person present tense narration? It happens so much in YA genre fiction, and this one is no exception. Thanks, Hunger Games. (Or Twilight. I don’t actually know whose fault it is.)
• As with her story, I had lukewarm feelings at best for Elanna. She seems to be a lot younger than her age (19), and repeatedly made some really bad decisions that hurt other people early on in the story, which I found to be frustrating. She also just sort of felt…flat to me? She didn’t inspire any feelings in me beyond annoyance, and I actually found myself forgetting her name on a few different occasions (Edit from the Future: I couldn’t remember her name until I looked at my review just now…actually, I couldn’t remember anyone’s name, WHOOPS). She’s not terrible, as MCs go, but I didn’t love her.
• I am still super confused about what “wedding the land” means?? Do you just have to have sex? Do you have to do the do in the woods?? Does it even require the do to be did??? No matter what it means, the implications of sex as a rite of passage for a young woman made me really uncomfortable.
• SPOILER: We are told that a particular character is Destined to Die and…he does?? Don’t do that???END SPOILER (Edit from the Future: I MEAN, ok usually when this we are told A is going to happen, it doesn’t, or B happens instead, so MAYBE this is a good thing but…probably not.)


I did like some things, though:
• One character whom other authors probably would have given a redemption-by-death arc (I SEE YOU, ROWLING), did not get that. That is such a lazy thing to do, and we did not get that here. Bates twisted it up, and I appreciate that immensely.
• There are no bad Scottish accents from the Scottish-equivalent characters, and I appreciate that, too.
• Rhia is my grumpy, buff child and I love her.
• Victoire was great too, and would have liked to have seen more of her. (As a side note, I kind of ship her with Rhia? Idk.)
• I don’t remember any girlhate, which is always a good thing.
• How gorgeous is that cover??
• The last 1/3 or so was much more readable, so maybe that’s where most of the editing energy had been focused? It gave me hope that the final draft will be better, but I doubt enough will have changed to make me genuinely like this book. In any case, I’m not curious enough to check when the book comes out. Edit from the Future: Still not interested in a reread, but I will probably look at other readers’ reviews, now that mine is being published.

The long and short of it: the concept was GOOD, but the execution lacking. It and the protagonist managed to be both annoying and forgettable at times (somehow??), but were generally just…okay. The romance was predictable and kind of forced. The writing drove me up a wall some of the time, but SOME of that MIGHT be rectified in the final draft.
I don’t recommend this book, but I also don’t NOT recommend it. Give it a shot if the concept sounds good to you. It’s not a bad way to spend your time, and you may like it more than I did.
Edit from the Future: Looks like there’s going to be a sequel. I doubt I’ll read it, but I thought you might like to know.

A big “thank you” to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read it early in exchange for an honest review!

(Originally published on Goodreads)

With a 19 year old protagonist, I can see this book being shelved in the young adult section and that worries me.

I was anticipating this book with much enthusiasm and the promise to myself that I would get the review out ahead of time. I want to help authors be successful in their work, and I enjoy being able to spread the word when they have a strong piece of literature being published. Instead I ended up with a story that I've had to brew over the review for awhile so it was balanced.

My very high hopes were destroyed with just one scene in this story. The story and the magic are easily a possible future or very distant past somewhere on the British isles. There are standing stones and princes from across the sea. There are clans that wear body paint and run into battle with cheers.

I love stories that make an homage to the lore of Britain, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. They are great stories that are very familiar to me and have a lot of room for imagination. The botany flavor to the fantasy was even a very nice touch that made this book stand apart.

Then we get to the story itself, the writing and the principles. We will ignore the fact the protagonist is a little weakly written and could use some development help. We will ignore the fact that the Elanna and Jahan fall in love at first sight giving young girls the impression that that is ever real or that simple.

We will not, however, ignore the fact that this story was ruined in one atrocious scene where Elanna weds the land. This was a completely unnecessary undertaking for a novel that could quite potentially be housed on the young adult shelves. It added nothing to the story and wasn't even written well. Shame on the editors for allowing it past the cutting room floor.

My four stars for the novel went to a 2 and never recommend this story to anyone in one swoop of the pen.

: I truly enjoyed this book right up until the end. It doesn’t have a bad ending but it was so rushed that I feel like a lot was missing. This book really would have been much better as a duology so that readers really could get more into the magic and the war. The only other thing that bothered me in the book was the main characters constant waffling about who really was and what she needed to do. She was taken from her parents as a child and raised by the king himself and given everything she wanted. Despite that she was tormented by other children in the castle and wasn’t allowed to have any contact with her parents. I understand that some brainwashing probably took place but at the same time I don’t think she would have lost her curiosity about her home and parents. She seemed to have sold out on her origins and then had an internal struggle when she was forced back home and into a leadership role for her people. I think the book could have spent a little less time on that struggle and more time on her magic, or even on her realizing the truth of how things really are in the kingdom. The story itself was well written, the premise and type of magic were intriguing and overall this was an enjoyable read I would recommend.

A perfectly good YA fantasy. A very interesting concept that I think will be perfect for fans of ToG, Grisha Trilogy and Queen of the Tearling.

I'm not usually a fan of fantasy, however, The Waking Land intrigued me. It is a well written tale of adventure and self discovery. Fans of Uprooted by Naomi Novik may find a new favorite in Callie Bates' lovely new novel.

The Waking Land is basically a girl flees back to a magical realm after being accused of murder.  This book was very hard for me to get into. The writing style wasn't my favorite. There was too many details and it could have been better if it was scaled down just a bit It was unique but not my cup of tea. 2 out of 5 stars.