Customer Reviews

Betwixt

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Have you ever had a young kid try to explain something complicated? They jump to places without to giving you important information and you have to coax them back into telling you the necessary details. That's how I felt after finishing this book, except unfortunately, I can't ask a book questions...and it wasn't exciting. A lot of people have said this was confusing and I'm glad to see it wasn't just me. The first 3/4 of the book could have been condensed to 1/4 and the end should have been greatly expanded to account for what the author was trying to convey. The supernatural ideas themselves had decent potential, but the reader is left with far too many gaps to fill for it to be satisfying.

There is a lot of swearing, drugs and references to sex in this book. This just struck me as unecessary, at least to this extent. I'm not a stranger to any of these things (well, maybe hard drugs), but I don't expect a young adult novel to be crammed with these themes. The characters were so inconsistent and poorly developed that swearing certainly wasn't going to add to their authenticy. It creates a catch-22 where the language is too old for young readers, but the story lacks the sophistication for older readers.

I have other series where an awful first book is redeemed by the sequels. There is still that potential here, but this book isn't worth reading unless the future sequels are greatly improved over this first effort.

"It's why give us wings in their pictures. it's why they make us prettier then them. Power is very heavy."

I love books with elaborate plots a slowly developing story lines, and loads of detail. While that is what you get with Betwixt. The problem is, instead of adding to the reading experience, all these aspects come together to make somthing of a mess. The narrative shifts between the three main characters, but the change often comes without warning. This was confusing and limited my ability to connect emotionally to the characters. There is a lot of information to absorb here, some of which is over explained to the point of extreem redundancy. while other points that to me seemed important where left by the wayside, leaving me with a strong sense of HUH?

Betwixt is the first book in a series, so I understand the need for expansiveness, but I wish Betwixt had passed through the editors hands a few more times before hitting shelves. So is it worth the read. Answer YES. Reason, because I found that in the last, um... 142 pages the story tightens up and it's an easy and enjoyable ride to the end. At the end I was left with a feeling of cautious optimism for the forthcoming sequel.

I love the plot and storyline of this book. As Ondine, Nix, and Morgan come to terms with their unique place in the universe, so too does the reader come to explore the implications of their fates, as well as his or her own. The internal struggles alone in this one book could be expanded into a library of critical thoughts and essays. As unformulaic as Betwixt is, there are points at which the reader may become confused. There were a few places where I had to go back and reread a passage several times over. Sometimes I would remedy the confusion, but there were one or two places where I had to accept defeat and move on. It takes some time for the plot to take off. Much of the first chapters are spent in dialogue. I would have liked to have seen a more detailed exploration of the time Nix and Ondine spent together before the solstice. Tara Bray Smith explains how they shared so much during this time without the usual human means of communication, and I wish she had offered more insight into their connection. Perhaps in the sequel...

Overall, I highly recommend this book, but only if you have the patience to wait for the sequel, because it will be impossible to read only this one.

I really had high hopes for this book. But 347 pages into the book I realized this was a flop. Once i've invested that much time in a book, I have to go all the way, but it was a rough journey. The story starts off interesting, you see three seperate characters that each have these UNIQUE abilities, yet that first glimpse is the only glimpse you'll see of their powers. Nix can see the ring of light and that is the only ability that is clear other than that the reader is left confused and disappointed. Throughout the book there are references to how they must learn about their background, yet the reader NEVER learns about the background. It took the writer til page 369 to finally come out and say that they were "flying effen fairies" I'm sorry, but i need answers a bit sooner than that. And when the book did try and hash out the details it drug on and on and on and never completed one single thought. I was left with many confused qustions, and i really didn't care to have them answered. The back of the book promises an electric flirtation with the character Moth, but that is the only time there is any passion between ANY of the characters. Not that i was looking for a romance, but i did hope for some connection and to find myself rooting them on. They are supposed to be not human as in lacking the normal abilities to feel pain, cry and so on...well i must say WELL DONE. These characters are passionless and left me passionless for them. Honestly, i could care less what happens to any of them. An all around long and confusing book, and i would never recommend this book to anyone. I just hope the sequels to come don't follow in this horrendous pattern. Sorry for such a harsh review, but this novel needed some serious work, and maybe more group discussions before ever hitting the shelves. If you're set on buying it, at least buy a used copy. Don't waste the $17.99 like i did.

so i started reading this months ago... and only made it about 50 pages before i got bored, went and bought other books to read... then finally i came back to it.. re-read the first 50 pages and finished the whole book.

needless to say its the book that doesn't go anywhere.. the middle just goes on and on and you keep waiting for something happen. some sort of mind alterting thing that the except to happen to the main characters and even say is going to happen. but it really doesn't. it falls to pieces... it feels like they skip a lot of the good parts and pick up with the character you are least interesting in reading about at specific parts.

needless to say i would not recomment this book. there's too much else out there to read!

"So far, most of the characters have promise. With the notable exception of Morgan... we'll have to see what happens once we get to the solstice."

Well, that was what I thought before getting to the end. I must say that it seemed to have so much promise. But that promise was dashed. Hard. I am hardest on endings of all books - but this one was so bad that I don't really even know what happened. It is totally set up for a sequel - but I won't read it. I kept reading because I was waiting for this grand revelation (which sort of happened) and an ending that would at least make sense (as opposed to much of the rest of the book!)... but it never happened. I was also waiting for some great new twist on a "fairy" story... but that great new twist was a total let down too.

There wasn't enough character development for me - don't get me wrong, we get background info on all three of the "lings" (shot for changelings - and the "shorts" version, well, I could live without; it came across as an attempt to create new lingo in this genre and that isn't necessary, moreover, it felt forced and new lingo needs to just happen, it can't be forced). But the only one we really get to know is Ondine. And while Ondine is so important, why are we told over and over that Nix is the key? But we really get very little of Nix and we don't get enough to really get invested in him. Morgan on the other hand - she would have made a great villain and it seems that she is headed that way, but then I am really not sure what happens to her. And honestly, the way she is introduced made me wonder what happened in the really short time frame of the first few chapters to take such a character - who I was sort of indifferent to and turn her into such a bit__. All of a sudden it was like the reader is meant to hate her - and I did so I had no sympathy for her nor did I care what happened to her.

I like plots where I care about what happens to the characters (even if I want the villain to get what he/she deserves, at least I care about the villian in some way - here, not so much). The story seems to have promise, but the execution of the "exidis" falls way short. And don't even get me started on the conflict that happens towards the end - the danger they are in - my reaction was "what? huh?" at the conclusion of that fiasco and I am a pretty careful reader. I won't waste my time on the sequel if there is one.

I was torn between giving this book 3 or 5 stars, so it gets a 4 instead. If you're into a modern tale of the Fae with a cast of characters that were rejected from an after school special, then relax and enjoy the book from page one. If you want to skip the after school special and get to the real meat without, sadly, missing a thing in character, plot, or story development, then skip 150 pages to the second section of the book.

I love what this book could have been, but as it is it just falls flat.

This book was a fantastic read. Maybe you need to be a little older to enjoy it? I am in my twenties and couldn't resist the cover of the book even though its a young adult book. I devored it from front to back and cannot wait until the sequel.

I have read other books by Tara Bray Smith and enjoyed them....but this book is awful.
It takes forever to even get interested in the characters....the character profiles are not thorough enough....the plot is hazy....

The only reason I finished the book was because I was stuck in the house during an ice storm. I was hoping that the ending would answer my questions and make up for the beginnning and middle of the book. NOPE!

Maybe I needed to be on dust like the book's characters in order to enjoy the book. I read the book sober - silly me.

Betwixt is a debut novel by Smith and is also the first in what promises to be a new series. I have to say what struck me first was the incredible cover. The graphic and colors are gorgeous! The storyline is quite unique:
Three teenagers, Morgan, Ondine, and Nix, all from different backgrounds are drawn together by a mysterious man named Moth who invites them to atten "The Ring Of Fire" on the summer solstice. Unbeknownst to the teens this is to be no ordinary rave. Instead they will each discover something about themselves that they had only suspected. I don't want to drop any spoilers so I won't say anything more about the plot. I think young adults would thoroughly enjoy this book. The characters talk in typical teen slang and the plot moves along pretty quickly, although for me it didn't quite get going until after the first 100 pages. I look forward to the next book in the series.