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109 of 130 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great plot, below average writing, August 12, 2008
Cayla Kluver gets away with sub-par writing because adult editors and publishers are so blown away by the fact that she's only a child. Her attention to detail is meticulous in some areas and completely lacking in others. Characters speak poetically, in flowery language reminiscent of olden times, but many think and behave in ways that are completely contrary to the culture in which they purportedly grew up. Her ideas are original and her story moves well, which makes a reader want to keep reading, but her sentence structure and descriptions could use a lot more work. All in all, a good read, but ultimately unsatisfying (NOBODY likes a cliffhanger) and slightly frustrating to have to plow through a detailed description of every single character's outfit. Several times.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Count the Ways, September 21, 2009
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Much is made of Cayla Kluver publishing this debut novel at the tender age of sixteen. I fancied myself a novelist at that age too. Setting my surviving works from that time beside this book, I admit that Miss Kluver is a more mature writer than I was. But that doesn't change the fact that audiences read a book expecting to be surprised and taken on a journey. Miss Kluver says nothing we haven't already heard, and says it at remarkable length.
Princess Alera of Hytanica is being pressed to marry arrogant Steldor, the most promising young warrior of the kingdom. But handsome, enigmatic Narian rides out of the rival kingdom of Cokyri, a land evidently ruled by militant feminist ninja mystics. Experienced youth fantasy readers know what happens next. With war on the horizon and old secrets exposed, duty and romance battle for Alera's limited loyalties.
How does Miss Kluver get it wrong? Let me count the ways. This is a coming of age story from an author who hasn't come of age. It deals with courtship and marriage, though the author has never been married and probably has been only recently courted. And it deals with parental repression although, to judge by her repeated gushing, she has known nothing but support from her family. She's simply memorized these tropes from other books she's read.
I never get past the feeling that the author is clearing her throat. She introduces characters and keeps them in holding patterns for hundreds of pages. When I hit page 150 and we were still in Act One, I was frustrated. At page 300 I was angry. At page 450 I wanted to throw the book across the room. It's bad enough when name brand authors like Anne Rice or Stephen King expect me to read their finger exercises, but a debut author hasn't earned that indulgence.
The book exceeds 460 pages, but nothing happens that I didn't anticipate until a dozen pages from the end. Young readers who haven't read as much as I have might not be bothered by that. But if it's true that the best youth fiction can only be truly enjoyed by grown-ups, then this book falls short. True, the conclusion resists clichéd tendencies, but by the time we're on page 450, does anybody really care anymore?
Miss Kluver, I admit, has promise. She handles the language well, and has more rounded insight into the human heart than I did until I was in my middle twenties. But at sixteen, she just can't know much about the passions and politics which form the backbone of this book. And over 460 pages of Act One is really trying. I look forward to what she's able to accomplish when she's older, but this book just isn't there yet.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Some may like it, but it failed to enchant me..., September 6, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Another reviewer said something about this book that made a lot of sense to me- that if the author hadn't been 16 that she wouldn't have gotten nearly as much attention as she already has. I have to agree with that- the book is "ok" but other than that I sort of don't see what all the fuss is about.
The story follows Princess Alera as she goes about her daily life. She is told that she must choose a husband before she turns 18, but unfortunately the only suitor her father will really allow is the egotistical Steldor. Meanwhile there's still tensions between her kingdom & the nearby Cokryi kingdom, especially since their last act against her people was to steal a bunch of babies & leave their dead bodies at the front gates. Only one baby was unaccounted for. The tensions seem to increase as the mysterious Narian was caught & discovered to be the unaccounted for baby.
Really & truthfully, I just couldn't get into this book. Initially I'd liked the first few chapters but after a while the book's charm just seemed to dissipate. I couldn't really get to really liking Alera- she spends a lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing & then whining about it. I understand that she's hindered by how she was raised & the restrictions of how the kingdom views women, but she just seems really annoying to me. I certainly can't understand why two guys are chasing after her, although I'm assuming that Steldor's affection is more because he wants to be king. There's really no chemistry between her & either guy, to be honest. The book drags on & on so much that after a while I could feel my eyes begin to glaze over.
And then there's the descriptions. Endless descriptions of what people were wearing, what they were eating... I was willing to put up with it because I do like some description, but the descriptions would take a good chunk of the book. I finally lost my patience when I was treated to an overly detailed description of a tiara... that the character had worn earlier in the novel. Rather than just say that she'd worn it earlier, we're given another description of it. A description that took up an entire paragraph. After a while the descriptions just become irritating.
I really wanted to like this book, really I did. As it was, the book seemed to be more of a chore to slog through than anything else. Maybe others may like it, but offhand this book just doesn't appeal to me. The book is "ok" but overall it just didn't seem to stand out to me like Paolini's Eragon series did. Kluver just doesn't have what it takes at this point in time to carry off such a long & weighty novel. In a year or so after she gets more used to writing, but right now? Less would have been far more with this novel.
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