Nice writing, but too much boring and unnecessary detail. I won't post a negative review online.

Meh. I couldn't finish it.

I liked a lot of things about this book. The magic is really interesting, and I think the descriptions are gorgeous. But I definitely think that it was a bit slow plot-wise and could have done with more urgency there. I wanted to love this book because it was being compared to Tamora Pierce, but in the end I liked it but not nearly as much as I love Tamora. Maybe that's poor marketing though, becacuse Tamora Pierce is hard to live up to at the best of times. I think if you're looking for a solid fantasy read, The Waking Land is a fun choice - it's definitely a unique world that's easy to enjoy visiting. But if you want something more action-packed this might not be the best one for you.

“The Waking Land” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Callie Bates (http://calliebates.com). This is Ms. Bates first publication, but a sequel is planned for the spring of 2018. 

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Situations. The story is set in another land. The primary character is twenty year old Elanna Voltari. She had been taken hostage at 5 and raised almost like a daughter to the King. 

Now thought the King is dead, and she is the primary suspect in his murder. She flees and is soon embroiled in a rebellion that her father wants to reignite. At first she doesn’t want anything to do with him, but as she learns more, she realizes that rebellion may be the only way. 

She had hidden her magic abilities her whole like, but now she finds that she needs to use them. She also finds herself drawn to a young man who is also hiding his magic abilities. While she likes him, she is not sure if she can trust him. 

Elanna wants the rebellion to win, but she wants to unite the lands she was born in and grew up in, not divide them in civil war. Will she be  able to assist the rebellion, yet maintain the country she loves. 

I enjoyed the 12+ hours I spent reading this 402 page Young Adult Fantasy. I liked the characters that were developed as well as the plot. The cover art is OK as her magic is related to the earth and growing things, but I do think it could have been better. I give this novel a 4 out to 5. 

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

I was a bit disappointed by this book.
The premise was interesting and I think the whole natural/environmental focus Bates used for the magic system was cool and mostly successful.
However, the characters fell a bit flat to me and the politics of the whole grand scheme of the different fantasy kingdoms was not very compelling, so I was often left confused and skimming over parts.
I thought there was too much of an emphasis on the romance and we didn't get to really develop the protagonist's relationships with her friends/love interests.

Overall, the writing and ideas were good, they just didn't tie together well for me, unfortunately :/

***I received an e-ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

While I enjoyed part of this book, it reminded me a lot of other tropes in other books, such as Throne of Glass. Except Elena is not a skilled assassin, but instead a pampered would be princess. All her life she accepted the stories her captors told her about her past. This leads to her blindly hating her heritage and her country for what they tried to do to her king. 

One of my biggest complaints was that the world building bit off more than it could chew. The world building starts of huge in the first half of the book. Dozens of new places, people, nicknames and ranks are mentioned in almost every chapter and it is almost necessary to draw a family tree while reading. Even though sequels will most likely draw on these connections, for a first book it feels overwhelming and difficult to keep track of. The magic system was not clear to me either. And the pacing felt short and sudden in many places.

When I received this book from Netgalley, I was already interested based on the synopsis.  I love a good earth magic book and that is what I was expecting.  What I got was so much more.  First let me mention that cover! OMG how gorgeous is that!  It is what initially drew me into the blurb and captured my heart.  Great art work.  Now into the book:


 There is so much going on in this book with different kingdoms and different characters (each with their own personalities).  I understand that might deter some people but there seemed to be too many, some of which we don't meet in this novel, maybe we will in future novels, but I don't know. Elanna was interesting at first, but the more she struggles back and forth between her emotions made it difficult to follow along with the real plot of the story. It was really hard to relate to her on a level beyond struggling within yourself.  I liked the idea of being one with nature and feeling connected to nature, but to wed the land..what does that mean? How does one actually marry the land?  And don't get me started on the sex scenes, I know this is a YA novel, but the scenes included made this 35 year old woman gasp and blush!  I couldn't believe they were included in a novel meant for young adults.  


 The writing was beautifully lyrical, almost like reading poetry but it was also hard to follow and get an easy grasp on what was exactly happening, maybe because there was SO much going on.  In all honesty I don't think I could recommend this novel to others as it was difficult for myself to read it.  If Callie writes more I would consider reading it, but I hope she tones down the amount of characters/plots and make the romantic scenes not so explicit.

I requested this book because it was suggested for those who loved "Uprooted", which I adored.  This book, not so much.  I've read that the author intended for the story to be an environmental fantasy, but the magic of the world she created and the whole 'married to the land thing just felt weird and a little disturbing.

Battling for the empire with kidnappings, rival kingdoms, armed soldiers, and sorcerers in The Waking Land by Callie Bates is unfortunately not quite the exciting, adventure-filled story I expect it to be. The most interesting aspect of this book is the world the author creates. Royal palace intrigues usually make for an entertaining story, and this book is no different. It just falls short of the being the grand adventure it could have been.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017/11/the-waking-land.html

Reviewed for NetGalley

I could see fans of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard enjoying this series. There is a bit of the royal intrigue and mystical powers found in both, as well as a questioning female protagonist. 

To be honest, I didn't finish this, but I also did not get further than the first book in Aveyard's series, either. Not being said as a slight to either, but just that I am not the right reader, but I can see where others would enjoy this book very much. For those looking for a fantasy set in a castle-based world with magic - well, this will definitely be right up their alley.

You know when you read a book knowing that the synopsis sounds GREAT, and maybe you're expectations are a bit high because you want it to be so so good (which of course is all books, because you wouldn't often go into a book hoping it will be bad...), and then it is a bit of a let down? Alas, this book was that for me. Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike it by any means. I liked it, it was fine, and I finished it. But by the end of it, I was still left mildly confused by a few things. Mainly, there were so many characters from so many kingdoms that after a while I basically gave up trying to remember who was who. And that kind of made this book fall into the slightly forgettable pile. Also, maybe it's just me, but I didn't love the style of writing either, it fell a bit flat and never let me feel totally engrossed. Having said all this though, I won't discount reading the sequel... what saddened me most was probably my super high expectations.

DNF.  I love fantasy, and this seemed like a really interesting book, but it was not for me.  I was super confused half the time, and it seemed like the MC was too.  She switched her emotions so fast that it was hard for me to keep up with her and what she was thinking.  Also, I was not aware going into this that it would be a period book...I guess it isn't really since it's fantasy but the language and the clothing felt very 1800s.  Overall, although the writing seemed fine from what I read, this is not the book for me.

Upon being approved for this this book, I was extremely excited to hop into a new world of words and I sad to report that I was very let down. I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. The characters, plot, and world all just fell flat for me. I couldn't bring myself to finish this story due to my lack of interest. I stopped about 70% of the way through. I am so upset to have no liked this book.

Unfortunately this one just didn't work for me. The first couple of chapters were really good, but then it quickly went downhill. There were so many characters and kingdoms/empires that it was difficult to remember everything. It seemed like a lot of unnecessary information about unnecessary characters. The heroine is too wishy washy with too much inner dialogue. It just got to be a bit much. Not a book I would ever want to read again.

I really loved this debut novel by Bates. The fantasy is wonderful and hear ideas genuinelly interesting. I love her writing style and characters and I can't wait to read the second part of the series! Sometimes, it was quite confusing but that may be part of the charm of the teen main character!

<b>WrensReads Review:</b>

<I>ARC in exchange for an honest review</i>

I was skeptical about this book when I read the synopsis.  There’s a girl who has it all and then all of a sudden she doesn’t and then she has to lead the rebellion.  To me, it kind of seems done, but I also kind of love a broken person rising above it all and becoming the reason the world changes.  So I requested, I got, and... I didn’t love it. 

Don’t get me wrong, it was unique in some of its concepts and it was written with beautiful lyrical words.  But some of it was... I’m not sure; I just wasn’t on board for it.  And some I never quite grasped the concept on what in the world was going on. 

Half the time I was retracting because there were just a lot of things to remember. There were a ton of kingdoms and characters and I didn’t fall in love with any of them.  There’s a line between giving a ton of information to grow the world you want the reader to explore and just information explosion.

And, as I said, I just didn’t fall in love with any of the characters.  Actually, the main character kind of annoyed me with her bipolar feelings (and I read that a lot of other people felt the same way so I know I am not just crazy).  And her, like “super power” was never really explained and it was kind of weird. 

The author has a way with words, but I feel this world could have been explained better.  I will read other books by this author as she grows as a writer because I can feel the potential in her words.

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Not as good as I was expecting from the description.  The world building was a little confusing and I got lost on some of the big events of the book.  The love story was a total waste of time and not intriguing.  I was expecting something more original, but it was decent if you aren't expecting a lot.

Abandoned after 60 pages, since the only two questions I had were whether I could like the protagonist any less and how could she possibly simultaneously believe her parents gave up a revolution and power to keep her safe and yet they don't care about her at all. Watching someone in a fictional universe resolve such cognitive dissonance is not my idea of a worthwhile activity.

I do not recommend.

That was a pretty solid fantasy, albeit with some minor fits and starts. The beginning pulled me in quickly, which is a good sign especially when setting up a whole new world, but it was pretty exciting for the most part. I liked that Elanna became somewhat indoctrinated during her captivity in Laon, though her change in the opposite direction did seem to come a little too fast to be believable at times. She did receive information that pretty solidly disillusioned her in regards to her beliefs about King Antoine, but still she kinda came over to the Caeris side a little too quickly and easily. I just needed a smidge more struggle with that angle. 
I liked Jahan; he was a fun and interesting character, with some unusual angles to his past (I kinda wanted to know more about his time in Ida and his friendship with Leontius cuz it definitely seemed like there was some more good gossip there but alas). I appreciated that their romance didn't progress too quickly and that when other characters started questioning Jahan's loyalty, Elanna didn't just blindly insist he was A-Okay; she actually listened to what they were saying and tried to examine his past behaviour to see if maybe they could be right, even though she didn't want them to be. 
There were some fits and starts, as I said, towards the middle. Just some bits that seemed to drag or seemed like they should be on the cutting room floor, but overall this was a pretty solid book. The magic was unique, especially in the descriptions of how it all felt as Elanna was experiencing things, the characters for the most part were interesting and engaging, and I definitely wouldn't mind learning more about Caeris and Eren.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.