Norinian Uprising is a tricky one to review because I don’t know how I feel.

Some parts of the plot dragged: in others, the pacing picked up and it was engaging.

Some characters were likeable: others, you want to like them, but their blinkered and naive approach made them annoying. Then there were, of course, the couple you wanted to slap.

It’s a solid read. For the most part, it’s a slow pace. As you switch between multiple characters, the sense of the world comes into focus. However, this takes a while due to how the characters are isolated for the majority from one another and neither their plots nor their worlds seem to overlap.

The characters themselves are okay. I wouldn’t rave about them but they’re approachable.

Meela’s story felt lacking: I don’t know much about her and given she is the one character with actual magic, it felt she had a lot more potential.

Nora was steadfast and true, but her blind devotion became irritating when she refused to accept the man of her affection could love another.

Brynna, too, felt she could be more. You see her potential in the early half of the book, but then the treatment she puts up with undermines her. There’s a strong, independent character there, and we don’t get to see her shine through. There’s a glimpse of who she could truly be right at the end but would’ve been nice if her development continued in a forward trajectory throughout the entire book.

Cadoc was my favourite. A pirate and a smuggler, he seems to be the only character who truly cares for the people and his actions aren’t a political play like everyone else.

Given the title of the book, I expected more of, well, an uprising. I didn’t get my head around the politics of it all. For sure, there was an invading force that committed atrocities, that much was clear. But who was the uprising against? Who were the rebels and what were they supposedly rebelling against? I’m not sure if I missed something, but I didn’t think any of that was clear. There was friction between characters, but nothing I’d class as an uprising.

The writing itself was fine. There were a few occasions where the metaphors ran away with themselves a bit, leaving you struggling to work out how that still equated to what they were describing. Other than that, I found the writing enjoyable to read even if the content itself confused me.

It’s tricky to get thoughts down for this one because I feel so nondescript about it. It isn’t a bad read, it also isn’t one I’d shout about and recommend. It just is. I’d be interested to see what else the writer has done and if this story continues given the lack of conclusion. It has the feel it could become a much stronger read as it develops and this first instalment is focusing a little too much on the world-building.

This book was such an incredible, complex story with well written characters. Enjoyed this from start to finish!

I tried the first time to enjoy this but found it to be convoluted and confusing with so many story lines and underdeveloped characters. I held off on writing a review thinking I'd come back to it and try again. It took me a year to get back around to this book because every time I pulled it from my Kindle shelf I couldn't bring myself to start it again, but I finally prevailed only to DNF it at the 50% mark the second time through. It just was hard to get into, confusing and just too much for me.

DNF at 19%. I just couldn't keep on with this. I'm fine with multiple storylines from different characters, but none of the characters were that well developed. No one really stood out - I found them all interchangeable. The world was interesting, but again, not very well developed. You're very much thrown into things and expected to figure out the political/social/religious setting from what the characters do and say. I don't mind that when it's done well but I feel like there a bit of background at times would have been helpful.