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

This was pitched on review sites as perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, which meant I was definitely wanted to read it. However, upon finishing the book, I don't know that I'd suggest it to someone antsy after the last Throne of Glass book.

Elanna's been held hostage by a neighboring king for 14 years and has internalized everything they've taught her about her homeland. When the king is killed, Elanna is framed for it and must escape certain death. That escape leads her to the leaders of her homeland rebellion, the people desperate to free Caeris. At first, Elanna's skeptical of their cause, but when she can no longer deny her own magic, she becomes dedicated to the cause. And because it's YA fantasy, there's a romance.

The good: I really like the concept of Caeris as a land-- semi-sentient, guarded, the shifts. I liked that Elanna was, of all things, a botanist, which ties in well to her role in Caeris.

The bad: I had a hard time getting into this, and at times, it felt SO LONG and disjointed. I couldn't work up to caring about the love interest or what would happen to Elanna, because of COURSE she'd come out all right in the end, and she wasn't engaging enough for me as a character. This felt very much like a first book, but I'll still read any sequels.

The premise of the book was well thought out, and the book itself was well-written. The problem that I had with it is that I didn't like the main character at all. I thought she was impulsive, not in a good way, and made some of the poorest choices that I have seen a character make. I didn't find that she grew throughout the story but remained rather static. I really hated that, because I felt that the secondary characters were extremely well-drawn and did grow.

The Waking Lands book was a lovely fantasy novel with great story writing. Elanna, our main character, was portrayed wonderfully and her struggle to find where she belongs was carefully written. She had so much to deal with and the way it all was portrayed was well done, I do wish there was a little more in the world building. The author knew the background and the world really well, but would love to know more about things in this world, maybe more will be shared at another time. A nice read and enjoyable!

I really really liked this book. The only reason I won't give it 5 stars is that it gets a wee bit confusing in the middle- some of the explanations for why things happen and how magic works in this world aren't fully developed. In short, I've read better (and more believable) magic systems but I did enjoy reading this book :)

with the amount of hype i was seeing around this book i expected it to be a lot better. parts of the world building were really good but most of the characters, their interactions with one another and their motivations were far from believable. the love story alone was so ridiculous - it felt forced.

the main character's obliviousness to EVERYTHING was distressing. I know Stockholm syndrome is a real thing. and I know being kidnapped and held hostage at a young age would mess someone up but most of that was unaddressed which felt like a cop out. even though I'm tired of series, this could have definitely done with a sequel. the end was rushed, everything was rushed, it just was only okay.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via netgalley.

The Waking Land promises to be the start of a fun and exciting fantasy series. With complex world-building and a gift for growing characters and ideas, Bates introduces to a world of magic, political intrigue, and revolution. This is a page-turner you won't want to put down.

An epic fantasy with all the elements for a perfect read.......an individual and unique heroine, magic, well developed and colorful characters and a brilliant story!

This was a pretty enchanting and unique storyline in the fantasy genre with plenty of action, magic, love as well as an interesting introspective on human behavior.

The story is pretty intense with interesting characters she really tried to flesh out as the novel progressed making it one of those books you would want to reread in the future.

The pace was a little bit up and down so at times it seemed to drag then suddenly pick up at rollercoaster speed and there wasn’t enough detail in her world building as I felt there were still some holes when it came to the religious aspects of her story. The little bit of negative didn’t take away from the fact that ultimately this was a satisfying fantasy adventure with a strong female protagonist.

What I liked: The premise of this book is fascinating, the words are well chosen and beautiful, the characters likable and authentic. The idea of a strong woman protagonist who wakes the land is compelling and her conflicting emotions and thoughts, realistic for a 19 year old. I enjoyed the interplay between her and the other characters in the book, and the way she has a hard time connecting with her parents after a being abducted and kept away from them for 14 years.

What I didn't like: There's lots to be sad about in this book--war, death, violence. And also, a totally gratuituous sex scene. Bleh. I want my YA to be appropriate for all YA audiences...I wouldn't want my kids to read this one.

DNF at 75% due to sexual content. :( It's really too bad--it was a fantastic story, but it was unfortunately ruined by graphic sex and sexual content. I don't recommend this one.

I finished this book in one sitting. I'm so happy Netgalley approved my copy. Look at that cover, is it not beautiful?? I couldn't stop looking at it when I first saw it. And with that summary I couldn't not request for a copy. I'm so happy I did though. After reading this story, I sat on my feelings for a few days. I wanted to review it quickly but really didn't know what to write down. Lol. I still go back and reread it a few times a day. Just those scenes I really love... Like the mirror scenes.
I love this book. The magical and enchanting feel and it's colorful characters. All together, a great start to a new series. Looking forward to more from CB. Thank you.

What a book! Really enjoyed! Highly recommend. Perfect book club pick!

This was a good start to what I'm hoping is a series! There were some pretty cool fantasy elements, but there was a lot of politics/war strategies that bored me. But overall a good read!

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine De Rey. Thank you.

When she was five years old Elanna had been kidnapped for political reasons and by the time this story takes place she is nineteen and has come to look upon her kidnapper as a father figure. That was a pretty important idea for the story which wasn't explored as much as I think it should have been. Now Elanna is involved in a political movement again, also against her will - at least in the beginning. In this fantasy world magic is forbidden and we are reminded multiple times + 10 about the witch hunts to remove magic from the kingdom. Well, guess what....or guess who has magical abilities. Now all she has to do is learn what her powers can do and how to control her use of them.

This fantasy world is superficially drawn with very little real depth to any of its elements and Elanna is not someone I want to spend any more time with. The story is written in first person so you get many gems such as "I wake." "I fold my arms. I don't believe it." That writing style is not ever going to be my favorite because I feel I'm missing so much by being trapped inside the head of one character. However, this coming of age novel will definitely appeal to the mid-teen age group I think it was written for. There is lots of talk of kings and princesses and using magical power for the world's good and romance, romance, romance. All presented in a completely fairy tale atmosphere which will be entirely satisfactory to its target audience.

I actually really liked the story, I just wish everything had been a little more fleshed out. The relationships lacked substance and some of the characters and events seemed like an afterthought. As happy as I was for a standalone, this may have been better as a duology. I just wanted a little more depth to the characters, conflict, and story.

he premise of this book sounded great and I was excited to read it. I enjoy the mythology that the book was based on, so I was really ready to dig in to this book.
I encountered problems right from the beginning, however, and it really affected my ability to enjoy what I was reading and identify with the main character. The books begins with a memory of the main character being forcibly kidnapped from her parents at gun-point (well, it was some type of firearm. The use of guns, pistols, muskets, etc. in the world the author created was a little fuzzy). Then, years later, we meet our heroine again, and she resents her parents for never trying to rescue her, feels that all of their beliefs and customs are silly and backward, and cares for the king who brutally kidnapped her and has held her hostage for all these years. And this is in spite of the fact that everyone at court treats her like she's a peasant and has no business rubbing elbows with them.
When El is forced to leave the palace and travel to her true homeland, she refuses to contemplate that other forces might have been at work, that the man who took her as a child was a bad person, and that her parents have always cared for her.
The way El acts toward the old king and her real family made her very unlikable to me. I also had a hard time reconciling the fact that she knew she had some sort of magical powers, and even "used" them at least once a year, but was continually surprised at her abilities. I really just wanted to yell at her sometimes.
If the prologue had been left out, the beginning of the book would have flowed so much better. El could have had flashes of memories, or nightmares, and then the true events of the night she was taken could have been revealed to her by her trusted maid right before she was forced to flee. That would have made all of El's confusing attitudes, feelings, and motivations seem much more believable and understandable.
I really wanted to press on with the book, even with my dislike of the heroine, because I wanted to know what would happen to her and the other characters in the book. I wanted to learn how their problems would be solved and how their world would unfold. El was just so very hard to understand that is was very difficult to do so, however. She was flopping back and forth every other paragraph, and I just wanted to shake her and say, "Why do you think this way?! That makes absolutely no sense!"
The world-building was hard to follow in the beginning, as well. There were a lot of names to remember, and many of them were similar, with lots of vowels going on. Circumstances, "historical" events, and politics were not really explained well.
This book had good "bones" but it was just not fleshed out well. I really wanted to like it, and I tried very hard. But it just did not work for me.

Meh...I really wanted to love this book. I was fascinated by the concept of the female protagonist being connected to the land but was disappointed in the story overall. The characters were not fleshed out and the story, even though it moved quickly, didn't really capture my interest. 2.5 stars

A goregous fantasy novel that is perfect for spring. You'll lose yourself in the descriptions of this world, and the characters will keep you hooked to the page! It was hard for me to believe that this was a debut novel. Bates has a gift!

Elanna Valtai, stolen from her true family as a child, is raised by the King like a daughter, despite her real father’s status as a traitor to the crown. When the King is murdered, Elanna is accused and forced to run to the home and family that abandoned her as a child. In court, she hid her small magical abilities to make plants grow, but when she steps foot in her homeland, she feels a strange, powerful, and deep connection to the land. With rebellion rising, and Elanna as the symbol, she must find a way to save both her homes.

The Waking Land‘s strength lies in its vivid lush imagery, including flowers blossoming and trees uprooting, stone circles that come alive with dead ancestors when human blood is spilled in them, and traveling by land shifts, in which the path forward is never the same as the path back.

The romance between Elanna and Jahan is cute if lacking depth. I admire that marriage is not a necessary step of their relationship, but they do talk about marriage before they say, I love you. When Elanna and Jahan are finally intimate, the act turns into a plot point as Elanna also “weds the land”. On the one hand, the myth proclaims it is a sacred act that allows Elanna to increase her connection to nature, but the characters around her also treat it lightly, either with disgust or humor, because everyone felt it.

Despite multiple enchanting world-building elements, many elements of the novel fall prey to the tropes of the young adult genre. The heroine’s thoughts and motivations are repetitive. Elanna anguishes over her place in the world internally, but outwardly makes reckless decisions without forethought. Her immediate companions easily sway her thoughts, feelings, and priorities. In fact, the primary motivator of her movement from place to place is being kidnapped, captured, or tricked.

Recommended for fans of YA fantasy who love to read under the canopy of a tree!

An ambitious debut novel that I inhaled over two days, The Waking Land has a lot going for it: a passionate heroine, complicated politics, lots of magic, and some colorful characters.

It was also a rocky read in places, though I wonder how much of the confusing opening is due to the heroine being nineteen years old, which is not an age for emotional logic much less rational logic. In that sense, Bates did a terrifically believable job, though (view spoiler).

It is written in the currently hip first person present tense, which works during the action sequences, but tended to stand out awkwardly during the history lessons, and the many reflective scenes.

Elana Valtai has been a hostage since she was five, and she was taken from her home with a pistol (not a gun, though muskets and pistols are repeatedly called "guns" and there doesn't seem to be any artillery, which was what guns were originally) to her head. She dashes off this way and that, impelled by passions that contradict from moment to moment, even when told facts that she seems to believe, and then to forget.

We do not learn why the two kingdoms tragically divided two centuries ago speak completely different languages (one faux Welsh and one faux French), but the grief handed down through the years, the shadows of violence, and the result of failed revolution all resonate through current politics with grim effect.

Elana finally gets away from the really evil Princess Loyce and her equally slimy lover Denis, after the king is mysteriously murdered and Elana gets the blame. Even though we suspect from the gitgo who really did the deed, it is regarded even by apparently far-sighted characters as a mystery until the end.

Elana has been brainwashed by the ex-king, and bit by bit has to face what she was told and reevaluate, amid action, emotional turmoil, and meeting some cute guys who may or may not be allies.

I especially liked Finn, the prince most revolutionaries favor (though not everyone, a step away from "the peasants all think alike" trope of many fantasies, that I thought a plus); the politics are not so simple. Finn was raised to this revolution, and his conversations with Elana about the not-so-hot aspects of being raised for 'great' purposes I thought were among the best points in the book.

Treachery abounds, Elana meets her parents again, and discovers that they are human beings, and she is called to action, while dealing with the responsibility of growing powers.

It's a fast-paced read, and I think older teens especially will have no problem with the emotion-driven decisions and the vivid action and magical razzle-dazzle. I look forward to seeing what Bates writes next.