I loved The Waking Land, but it took me a while to accept the pace of the book.  I wanted to read it fast, but it is not a fast book, I was hooked once I finally took my time to savor the character development, the writing, the world, and the characters.

Elanna's character development is at the forefront of this novel, she is incredibly conflicted about her beliefs after growing up as a well-treated hostage, she rejects the way her captives view her people and at the same time absorbs and assimilates that worldview.  Elanna's obstinate personality causes her to war with herself for most of the book, often having completely contradictory feelings from one situation to the next.  Elanna's acceptance of herself, her homeland and people, and duty was a slow and believable process.  Elanna's conflicting behavior is a great example of how individuals can embody negative ideas whether they realize it or not.  

The writing shined when describing action and especially during conversations.  Much of the book is filled with lovely details that sharpen the world, "I was feeding her pretend bites of the caramel pudding the servants had brought up earlier, baked in a dish until the sugar on top was crackling hot."  The writing is least enjoyable when Elanna would sinks into obsessive thoughts and ruminates for pages, much of her development is realized through these thought processes, but it felt more natural when she came to realizations about herself in conversations.  The bulk of the book is written in present tense (not my favorite) and makes complete sense for the unfolding of Elanna's story.  I am currently studying for the GRE so I was particularly aware of the use of fancy vocabulary in The Waking Land, I loved that I had to stop and look up words, I appreciate books that challenge young people rather than dumbing things down for them.

The world is complex and engaging.  Much of the world-building is introduced through natural conversations.  The world is very different from anything I have read before (lately I think a lot of writers drop us off in Westeros-land and leave most of the world building and relationships to the assumption of the reader, George has already done the building for them).  Caeris and Eren have complicated relations with the greater, fickle Paladisan Empire.  The magic is very interesting, it can differ depending on where the character is from and how it is bound to the land, like Elanna's magic.  I also enjoyed how science is incorporated as an important aspect of magic, that magic could be studied and understood in scientific ways.

The Waking Land focuses solely on Elanna and didn't add any other POV characters, but all the secondary characters have complex lives, emotions, and motivations.  There is a lot going on for everyone and it adds a great deal to the depth of the story.  One of my favorite parts was the development of friendship and trust between Elanna and the other characters.

While The Waking Land is not the typical sugar-coated, compulsively readable young adult novel, it has an enduring, complex story that will keep readers coming for years to come when all the sugary books have been discarded.  I'm excited to see what Callie Bates does next.

After seeing the cover and synopsis on NetGalley, I couldn’t request a review copy fast enough. Sadly, despite the interesting premise, this one fell completely flat for me. I am a huge fantasy fan and seldom find myself bored, but the magical and world building elements are completely overshadowed by the political ones. About half way into the story, I was no longer interested in the numerous factions and endless politics. 

I didn’t dislike Elanna but never felt invested in her plight either. She is somewhat immature and cold to those who only wanted to help her and her people. The romantic element felt bizarre at times and completely rushed. Had this not been a review copy, I likely would have given up on finishing it.

I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading this one, but wouldn’t recommend it either. I don’t see myself continuing on with the next installment. The author seems to have potential, but the story was too long and not focused on elements I enjoy. 

*Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey Books for my copy.*

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley, but it honestly took me days longer than I expected to finish reading. Partly due to getting flu (I don’t recommend this for other women who are also 35 weeks pregnant) and partly because it’s so epic. This is a perfect vacation read! The kind where you take three books but end up reading this one twice and forgetting you brought the other two.

There’s a lot going on, although the beginning balances things fairly well. Elanna has a good life, living at the Ereni court with the courtesy title of “lady” while getting to study botany. But she is unable to escape the harsher facts: she is a political hostage of fourteen years, her parents have made no effort to free her, she has earth magic which the emperor of Paladis has outlawed, and while the king of Eren loves her, his daughter is nothing but malicious.

When people from her home country of Caeris finally come for her, Elanna is understandably sceptical and not terribly inclined to be grateful. Their timing comes when she’s at her lowest--an accused traitor mourning the loss of everything--and she knows that she’s only wanted because of her magic. She is one of the three pillars meant to rule a united country: the steward of the land.

There are a lot of characters to juggle. In my opinion, there are too many named characters who aspire to significance. It seems like this happened due to two things: trying to give everyone a romantic interest/match, and stuffing too much into what is apparently the first book in a trilogy. As much as I liked Alistar, when he shows up, he looks a lot like another love interest, there was already a bit of a love triangle, and so then there has to be another character either introduced to be his love interest, or smoothed to fit the role as well as whatever she was already doing.

It’s not a major issue, though. The important things get covered, Elanna gets a character arc, and the story gets to touch on and give a satisfying end point to a few different themes. It made me super happy to see her meeting with her mother for the first time in fourteen years. I expected one thing when she met either/both of her parents and I was overjoyed to be wrong.

There is only kind of a love triangle, thanks to the fact that Elanna is comparatively self-aware when it comes to what she wants for herself romantically. She has a long-standing betrothal to a prince, but actual (mutual) attraction to someone else. It resolves in this book, and it’s done nicely.

I have to admit, I didn’t always like Elanna. She did some irrational things, particularly in the beginning--and although the narrative made it look like there would be consequences and she was also aware of that, one of the consequences was their timetable being forced dramatically forward and I didn’t feel like that actually happened. I thought her culture shock and loyalty to the “Bad Guys” were both sympathetic and realistically portrayed. However, she had a tendency to waffle, whether it was over big emotions, decisions, or something as simple as a sentence about her own ability to shoot.

<blockquote>I grip the pistol in the sleeve of my greatcoat, though it’s almost too bulky to fit alongside my arm. It occurs to me that I’m as likely to shoot off my hand as shoot an assailant, though I’m a decent markswoman under ordinary circumstances--which would be hunting pheasants at the king’s country estate.</blockquote>

Still! She learns to embrace what’s important and really gets into the role she initially feared. It’s awesome to see her standing tall as a major figure of government.

In all, this is a good start to a series, with an impressive world, a huge cast, interesting magic and truly gorgeous descriptions of both that magic and the land. I’d recommend it to any Fantasy reader for the steward of the land stuff alone.

Note to those who screen sexual content: there is a sex scene later in the book. There’s no explicit language, just sensuality and a lot of allusion. I’d call it a step closer to explicit from detailed make-out scenes.

Loss, love, legend, magic, muskets, and a decades old wound born of ego, fear and greed reopened, a people and a land divided.  The tale is, at once, both epic and personal as told by Elanna, a young woman who is torn from her home as a child, raised by her captors as though a daughter, and faced with the possibility that the world may not, after all, be as she has been taught to believe.  

The tale as told stands alone, but there is more to tell.   I look forward to revisiting this land and its people.

Review based on ARC provided by NetGalley.

I was super excited to read this when I read the synopsis. But the story have to many characters that it is hard to keep up. Sad to say I loss interest when I got to the middle of the story.

I really enjoyed the book going in and found the book ok. The writing style was great and the story very in-depth up to a point, lots of good side characters however I found Elanna a bit wishy washy in what she wanted as a main character and found her cold at times towards people I wanted to connect more to her as a character. From page 270 onwards I felt the book became disjointed and I found this hard to stay on track to the end. Also I felt the character Finn his death was overlooked too quickly. I felt this book was more Adult then YA. A first book in a trilogy that may change somewhat in the next two books.
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Bates, Callie The Waking Land, 400 pages. Del Rey, 2017.  Language: PG-13 (29 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: R (on page sex); Violence: PG-13 (fighting, death).

Elanna has been a hostage for 14 years as ransom for her father’s good behavior.  When she accused of murdering her protector, King Antoine, by his greedy heir, the new Queen Loyce, She must run for her life, and perhaps towards her destiny.  Along the wasy she will learn about friendship, about love, and about the three-part power of her land.

Bates writes a tour-de-force of high fantasy.  I can’t wait to read more in the series.  Rich in detail, in magic, and connections.  Were it not for the scene where Elanna “weds the land” it would be appropriate for a much wider audience.

HS – OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher

There are some really nice ideas at play in this novel, but the execution just didn't quite hang together, in my opinion. It tells the story of El, a young girl who finds herself involved in a rebellion while trying to come to terms with her own magic. The narrative has some nice nods to medieval legend and there is a sense of court romance and chivalry at play in terms of place name and language (all very French sounding). The magic system is quite original with its emphasis on 'waking' the land and it had a druidical feel about it. However, the pacing is really awkward. The narrative jumps forward abruptly in places, sometimes in the course of a single paragraph, which I found really jarring. I found our protagonist pretty irritating, with her wilful ability to make outstandingly horrible decisions and did not empathise with her at all. Some of the peripheral characters were more interesting for me. Finally, I thought the decision to write the novel in the first person present tense a little strange. It seems weird for someone to be narrating events as they are happening to her. All in all, it was interesting in places but left me a little disappointed.

The Waking Land is a Hot Mess of heart-thumping pacing, serviceable world building, eye roll–worthy instalove, a hotheaded and unreliable narrator (other POVs would have been most welcome!), an intriguing magic system, unbelievable 180s, and promising but underdeveloped secondary characters. Callie Bates is not without talent as a writer and storyteller, but I hope she continues to hone her craft.

After being dramatically kidnapped at age five, Elanna lives at the court of her homeland's oppressor. Fourteen years later, she is framed for regicide and must flee. She is not eager to reunite with her parents or take their part in the ongoing conflict; having been thoroughly brainwashed, she is mistrustful and suspicious of them and their allies. I'll offer a piece of advice to a would-be reader: focus on the myriad ways in which the adults in Elanna's life all fail her. They use her as a pawn, they don't communicate with or explain things to her, they assume that she will fall into line when she has been given no incentive to do so, they try to make her choices for her, etc. If you keep these things at the front of your mind, you may find Elanna less annoying and more sympathetic. 

On cue, Elanna's Super Special Powers awaken and it is soon taken as a given that she is the Only One Who Can Save the World. From unwanted stepchild to everyone eating out of her hands—stop me if you've heard this one before! That said, I liked the Druidic flavor to the magic system and its connection to the land, and the pacing had me inhaling pages in a positively unladylike manner. The story works fine as a standalone, though I hear it will be a trilogy.

I was immediately drawn to this book by it's cover art - it's stunning! Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for letting me read the ARC.

The Waking Land's protagonist, Elanna Valtai, has been held prisoner by the king of Eren, which invaded and controls her homeland, Caeris. Elanna grows up to like the king --he treats her well, but in the end she is still a prisoner. When the king dies after a mysterious poisoning, Elanna is set up and escapes (with some help) back to her homeland, Caeris. During all these years in captivity, Elanna has become an Eren lady, so there is some culture shock at being thrown back into a land and society that she barely remembers, and grew up to believe was barbaric. Not only that, but Elanna discovers she is Steward of the Land, a magical and very important person in Caeris that can control the power of nature. After initial hesitation, Elanna is persuaded to take up her homeland's fight for freedom, and the story progresses from there. I admit this book took me about 2 months to slog through, and while I enjoyed it mostly, you can tell it's a debut. 

What was done well: In regards to the story--there was a lot of potential, but it wasn't fully exploited. I really enjoyed the magic system. I like Bates' overall tone and her writing structure was good too. I liked the imagery that was created, especially for the singing pines.

What wasn't done well: While I enjoyed the magic system, it really wasn't explained very well. I LOVE romance in my fantasy novels (<3 u Maas) but the romance in this book was juvenile and not believable--No good build up. The plot moved unevenly and was very jerky at some points. Bates should work on writing transitions a bit better. In addition, nearly everything wrapped together a bit too neatly--too formulaic of traditional fantasy (but not in a good way).

In all, I thought it was a really good effort for a debut novel, but it suffered from some major issues. I hope Bates learns from these as she goes forward because I think she has a lot of potential!

Unfortunately this one really didn't hit it for me. I was so excited going in, and to be honest, I really liked the first few chapters. The synopsis sold me right off the bat. I WANTED TO LIKE IT SO BAD.

Then things got frustrating. VERY frustrating.

First of all, there are SO many characters and different kingdoms/empires to keep track of. I think by about the 30% point, I figured out the general idea, but my gosh, it was a headache until then. There's this crown prince, that crown prince, this delegate, that delegate. I don't even know. Hey, I'm all about a book that focuses on politics between kingdoms/etc (heck, I'm writing one myself) but this was just too much which such little pay off. I don't mind diving deep into a world if you end up getting to explore all of it, but there was SO MUCH unnecessary information about places we don't even see and people we don't meet. 

Secondly, gah I liked the heroine at first. I really did. But as the book progressed, we are constantly forced into her every thought and she goes back and forth on how she feels EVERY OTHER PAGE. Aalskdfj;dfj. One minute, she's scared to go home. The next, she's like 'oh, this is fine.' The next, 'oh my gosh i don't want to meet my dad' and the next 'oh hi dad, we're chill'. I am so confused by her. This happens throughout the entire book. If her inner monologue was removed, this would have been a much better book. We, as readers, really don't need to know THAT much. Plus, her actions and thoughts did not line up at all.

Okay, okay... whatever. I was holding out hope because the magic seemed cool. Land magic where you compel the earth to do crap? Sure. Why not. Especially in a world that feels like the late 1700-early 1800s where there are guns/etc as weapons, I thought it was creative to have the magic be 'getting back to the roots' blah blah.

BUT. 

The heroine 'weds the land'??? SHE WEDS THE LAND. What even does that mean? I read the book and I still don't know. I can tell you this... I am THOROUGHLY creeped out. What even. Like she legit lays in the dirt with a guy and that is called 'wedding the land.' 

I sincerely hope I just misunderstood but ew. 

Anyway, back to the plot - Elena is basically kidnapped as a child and brought to this kingdom and brainwashed about her previous family. Blah blah happens, she's framed for the death of the king who kidnapped her, and her family whatever people finds her and brings her back 'home' except she doesn't want to go. Okay, not bad. But after she gets home, it's 90% politics and traveling and whatnot. The pacing isn't bad, exactly, but I just got so lost in the sea of characters and inner monologue that I stopped caring.

Alright, I feel like this has been nothing but a ranty review. I will say this - the writing was pretty and the author certainly has a big imagination. Her world felt grounded, even if I couldn't keep up with it, and there's definitely not another book out there (that I've read) like this one. Unfortunately it was just a headache for me.

My Review:  Upon reading the synopsis this book sounded vaguely familiar but different enough that I wanted to give it a try. I have to say even with the interesting synopsis and beautifully detailed cover, the story itself fell rather short. I almost DNFed this book multiple times. The pacing is very slow, and not because it is building up to something either. We spend nearly 3/4 of the book following Elanna around as she waffles about who she wants to support, who she wants to be, what she believes or wants to do, all without knowing what exactly is going on. So basically she is in the dark, and so are we as the readers. We are always reading along the sidelines of the game changing events, always late to battles, hearing half whispered conversations, etc. until the very last battle so you aren't really invested in the outcome. The story also got lost with the romance, which should have stayed completely out of the picture because it came on sudden and then took over but with no real purpose in the long run. All in all this was really a long, slow read with no actual investment or excitement for the reader.

My Rating: This was really an unfortunate book, I so wanted to like it but it fell flat for me.  Everything about it felt undeveloped and incomplete, the world building, the characters and the overall point of book. I can only give this one a rating of One Paw and a Stump Wag.

Lady Elanna was raised by the king as a political hostage since the age of 5 when her father was accused of treason. Fourteen years later, the king was poisoned and Elanna was blamed for it even though she considered the king her father figure. Escaping the city and the threat of death, her father's men brought her back to her homeland and her gift of magic was awakened. Her loyalties divided, she had to find her place in the rebellion and the kingdom, and protect the ones she loved.

This is a fantasy novel that feels very grounded in reality, in part because of the vivid descriptions. We see the land almost as its own character, changing with each part of the kingdom that Elanna has to flee to.

The magic in this world can be anywhere from subtle to outrageously obvious: making a wooden scaffold sprout into a tree, raising a river out of its banks, making trees walk. The world building is fantastic, with the sense of history weighing down the characters and the locations, and characters who we learn more about over time.

Elanna is such a sheltered young woman in the beginning of the novel, but she saves others as much as she needs saving, and the troubles of others help shape her into the warden of the land. She is rather merciful at the end, far more than I would be in that situation; no matter what cruelties she had seen and heard of, there is still a part of her able to care and love and remain kind.

This is a well-crafted novel, and one that I'm already recommending to friends.

Revolution is a messy, dangerous business and THE WAKING LAND doesn’t pull punches to depict it. After her father’s failed uprising, Elanna Valtai was taken from her home and placed as a ward within King Erylais’ household. Over 11 years, she learned to hate her homeland and its culture. When another revolution rises Elanna must become a figurehead and unite Caeris, a country that she doesn't fully love or understand.

Elanna spends much of the novel working through the trauma of being kidnapped at a young age, the anger at her family for never rescuing her, and the confusion that King Erylais may not have been the man she thought he was. Elanna can be naive but she never lacks for agency. She’s constantly planning, plotting, ready to throw herself into action. Unfortunately, she does seem to have a poor memory -- thoughts tend to repeat before she understands their meaning. Near the end of the novel, she’s surprised by a reveal about Finn that we learned in the first chapter. There are a lot of side characters in THE WAKING LAND, but the core focus is Elanna, Jahan (a sorcerer from Ida), and Finn (a potential king for Caeris). Yes, there is a love triangle, but it never weighs down the novel or distract from Elanna’s story. It’s clear who she prefers. While she likes and respects both men, she never dallies between them.

THE WAKING LAND is a big book. Not just the page count but also the amount of characters and the history between the countries. The plot moves quickly and readers are expected to keep up. With each chapter, new characters are replaced by newer characters. At times, you want to plot to slow down so you can spend more time learning about a particular setting or character. The book is also written in first-person present, which can be a turnoff for some readers. It’s surprising that the book is considered YA since main characters are 19 or older and there’s a sex scene. It reads more like a New Adult title. Regardless, if you’ve ever had a fascination with revolutions (especially the story of Marie Thérèse, the daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette), THE WAKING LAND is the book for you.

A big thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC!
Elanna Valtai was taken from her family as a young girl and held hostage by the king against her family’s good behavior. Growing up in the castle with the king, Elanna developed relationships with the people there and now as the country is thrown in turmoil must choose whether to support her homeland or the world that she grew up in.

Obviously I don’t want to go into spoilers but the plot point of which side Elanna will choose was over way too fast and with way too little fanfare. Starting this book, that was honestly what hooked me about Elanna, her struggle over where she belongs and her anger at her family for doing the things that led to her being taken away from them.

Unfortunately, it seemed like this internal conflict needed to be solved to make way for another internal conflict that also resolved really easily and that didn’t need to exist: which guy should she marry/be with?

Ugh.

The only thing that this really did was raise the question of how much Elanna was willing to sacrifice for the war effort. Being with one man would have political benefits, the other is the one that she loves. I kind of liked that aspect but the whole love triangle was really rather pointless. I think this story would have been better served without any emphasis on romance and instead a focus on the politics themselves.

Back to Elanna’s first struggle though regarding which country to side with, there are some justifications for why Elanna ends up choosing sides the way that she does, but after Elanna having such strong feelings about her birth country at the start of the story there was so little emotion behind her decision that I never felt it.

This is probably in large part because Elanna’s characterization was kind of weak. She is kind of forced into some of her decisions and rather than standing up for herself and what she believes, more often than not she seems to just go with what is decided for her and alters her opinions to justify it. She is very wishy washy; strong feelings about one thing on one page then 5 pages later she is all for the opposite!

A paraphrased example:

“No, I can’t go into the mountains with you, Rhia! I have to stay here with my people! How dare you suggest such a thing!”

…5 pages later…

“I’m so worried about the people that I care about but I can’t leave the mountains now! This is too important!”

The other characters are okay. I liked several of them but just wasn’t able to form a connection with them. I think that a lot of people will really like this book because under these flaws there is a decent story. There was a section in the middle that I did enjoy and then towards the last 10-15% I got into it again, though this was largely because the romance aspect was pretty much settled by then so there was more focus on the plot.

Recommended for fans of YA but I think the YA tropes in this book will turn off some that don’t generally read YA fantasy.

The Waking Land tells the story of Elanna, a young woman who is taken from her family at a young age and held hostage in an enemy country. There are so many great things about this book: an interesting magic, plenty of strong and developed characters, a rich history…the list goes on and on. And for the most part, I really enjoyed all of it. But there were a few parts that didn’t quite mesh with me, so I felt like I couldn’t give it a full 4 or 5 star rating. As much as I liked parts of it, I just didn’t love it.

That beginning was fantastic. Right from the prologue I was completely drawn in. I couldn’t wait to learn more. Then the story got going and I started to lose a bit of interest. Things just began to seem a little too cliché and stereotypical of young adult fantasy. I love many of the young adult tropes, but sometimes they just don’t work well. Towards the end I warmed back up though and began to really enjoy myself. In the end, even though I felt like the last few chapters were kind of rushed, I was left feeling pretty good about what I’d read. I definitely needed more closure and explanation at the end though.

As you all know, characters are the biggest thing for me. No matter how interesting a world is, if there aren’t equally interesting characters, it’s really hard to stay engaged. And I think that for the most part, the characters in this book were pretty solid. I would have liked a little more back story for a few of them, but overall I was satisfied. Elanna was especially good in my opinion. So despite some of my misgivings about the plot, I feel like the characters often saved the book for me.

So basically, this was a good book. Not great, but good. There were a fair amount of common tropes, which kind of worked, although sometimes got on my nerves. And sometimes I feel like the plot didn’t quite work. But, overall, I’m glad I read this book. There were some truly good parts that made me smile and tugged on my heartstrings. So would I recommend it? Probably, if you know you like young adult fantasy and are okay with a relatively stereotypical plot. It’s worth checking out for yourself.

I thought the premise was good, but the main character was flip-flopping back and forth so much Icouldnt stick with it.

Well. I started and finished a book for the first time in almost 2 months. I am so happy, and I am happy to report that I enjoyed this book. 

There are some mild cliche moments in this book, but one thing that I really liked was that the MC, doesn't automatically trust "her people" when they finally extract her from the kingdom that held her captive for most her life. It takes her time to trust them again, and even longer to get on board with their rebellion. It would have been far too cliche and unrealistic for her to just trust the people she didn't grow up with, just because they were once her people. It makes sense that she believes and trusts the people that raised her a little more.

The magic in this book, while very interesting, needed to be explained a little better in my opinion. There were times when I just didn't understand how any of the magic systems worked, and what caused someone to have magic over others. It was all a little vague to me, I might have missed something.

The rebellion was the more interesting part of this book, and I really wish there wasn't a romance. It fell out of place, and I just didn't buy when these two characters were talking about caring as deeply for each other when they did. They only had a small handful of interactions before one of them is halfway across the country, yet they are still talking about each other like they had known each other for years and were already in love before the book started.

I don’t really know what to say about The Waking Land. It was good but not memorable for me. It’s well written and fun to read and perfect for young people who want a good romance with some fantasy. The first portion reminded me of an inspirational romance – sexual tension, gorgeous love interest, little bit of conflict… The chemistry between Elanna and Jahanne is quite well done if occasionally too much (of course she’s aware he’s sitting on the horse behind her). By the end, though, Elanna’s relationships with the charming Jahanne and with the land reminded me of Marian’s in The Forest Wife by Theresa Tomlinson (one of my favouritest books ever as a kid). They are both wed to the land, but in love with a man. 

Elanna is frustrating. She has no choice. I hate when characters do something horrid then say, “I had no choice” to justify it but she actually has no choice! Elanna was kidnapped as a child, raised (kindly) by her captor, then basically rekidnapped by her people after being framed for murder. Every time she tries to run away something happens to alert her hero-captors or limit her options even further. “Well, now I can’t beg refuge in this other country because everyone knows I’m a witch. Damn it.” When all her options run out, then she settles into her newly forced role. She accepts it but how much of it is some level of “at least I can control this” versus “I actually want to be here.” When she does accept her new life, she gets choices again. That is when I start to like her.
 
She starts off as a total victim but never ever identifies as one, which is a positive. She has compassion for both sides of the conflict her father has started. Also a plus so far as wanting to maybe possibly reunite the lands peacefully. She does grow as a character. The weakling with no choices becomes strong and independent. She also has wicked abilities to communicate with and control the land. Lovingly, of course. Their relationship is very much one of adoration. When it weeps, Elanna comforts it. She feels its horror over past incidents and it shares its memories with her. It also rises to her bidding when she has need. That part I loved; the gentleness, beauty and love of the land. 

That and Jehanne’s vulnerability in the face of Elanna’s love by the end.