Review: Odyssey

Odyssey by M.L. Fergus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

She'd gone from a freedom-hungry nobody playing dress-up to save an orphan she'd never met to a princess who now held the life of her kind, sweet, long-lost brother in her hands. 

Second in the Fractured Kingdom series, you'd definitely want to read Prophecy before jumping into this one as it picks up right where that one left off. Our main protagonists, Persephone and Azriel had been cornered by the evil Regent Mordesius in the castle. This was all after learning that Persephone was actually the long lost twin sister princess to the King Finnius. Trying to save their lives, Azriel comes up with a lie about knowing where the healing Pool of Genezig is and if Mordesius lets them go, he'll bring back some healing waters to prove it. Mordesius takes the bait, as he's obsessed with “curing” his deformed body and gives them one hundred days to find the Pool and come back, or he'll kill the king. Thus, sets off our Odyssey as Persephone, Azriel, and a revolving door of tag-along secondary characters travel the fantasy land of Glyndoria. 

“Marry the girl...find the pool...save the king...fulfill the prophecy. It all fits,” breathed Cairn, her eyes aglow with excitement. 

If you read my review of the first, you'll know I enjoyed the character dynamics and developing fantasy and politics worldbuilding, the four hundred pages here, ran too long for me. There was a healthy focus on delivering Mordesius' pov chapters and his reveling in his evilness became a lot to keep reading; numerous times torturing and calling a prisoner of his “cow”. I feel like so much of his story could have been cut, we know he's evil, we know what his goal is. The politics side was him trying to outplay a higher up Lord and maneuvering him and his daughter, that included the king, in a way that would ultimately lead him into power. He juggled some things in a believable way and others it was like, yeah, no surprise that turned out the way it did. 

She tried to believe that she would never again lay her cheek against his warm chest, would never again feel his strong arms around her, would never again feel him lying so close to her in the darkness. 

The romance between Persephone and Azriel did have some momentum, Azriel did some maneuvering of his own and we get a bit of forced proximity. Persephone kept true to character with, overly, fighting feelings and circumstances but as each new little adventure on their odyssey brought them closer together you could see their connect strengthening. This was still kept more in the YA category than adult with a firmly shut-door scene. I enjoyed the secondary characters, Rachel and the mysterious “dressed in homespun” man but others veered into over-the-top goofy annoying like the troll-ish leader. The ending gave us Persephone having to face one of her biggest fears, learning about her mother, a surprise move by a character, some sadness, and a kidnapping that will lead into more trials for our group in the third book. This read somewhat slower and dragged out for me but if you're more into longer adventure fantasy with YA vibe, you might enjoy more.

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Review: Prophecy

Prophecy by M.L. Fergus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.7 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“Never attack in anger,” he whispered, his lips so close to her ear that she could feel his breath on her skin. “And never start a fight you can't win.” 

Prophecy is an updated and revised fantasy story (The Gypsy King) that follows a girl trying to fight destiny and the way it pulls and pushes her into dire consequence situations. We first meet Persephone as a shackled enslaved late teens girl who is trying to protect chickens from a boy a little older than her that is trying to steal them. When Azriel gets a look at her face in the moonlight, he seems to know her and wants her to come with him, which Persephone refuses. Only to have Azriel show up the next night impersonating a lord and buys her. This sets her off on a journey where she constantly tries to find ways to break away for her freedom but is shackled not in chains this time, but to the seemingly workings of an old prophecy. 

Once, she'd believed the prophecy of the Methusian king to be nothing more than the wishful thinking of a hunted people. Now she knew it was a death sentence for all those it touched. 

In almost the opposite of an info dump, this first book in The Fractured Kingdoms series, takes it's time, and doesn't get there for some aspects, in introducing readers to this fantasy land. After a prologue that introduces readers to a Methusian seer who gives us a prophecy of a Methusian king that will reunite the clans of Glyndoria right before she's attacked and killed, the next chapter jumps us fifteen years later. As we follow Persephone and Azriel on their road trip, the worldbuilding gets placed in here and there with the gist of it being that there are four clans who make up this world, a boy king of the Erok clan is currently crowned but as he's not quite eighteen yet, his regent Mordesius runs things. Mordesius has a deformed body from a fire and is mad for the legend of a Methusian magical pool that could heal his body, he also hunts Methusians not only to torture them for their knowledge but to kill the children for their blood, thinking that has healing powers too. The advertisement of this saying it's like the Princess Bride and Game of Thrones kind of fits, you'll get light and goofy with Persephone and her animals that follow her but some gruesome killing and torture with a wanna be Little Finger in Mordesius. 

“I do not believe that the Fates will allow you to refuse. I believe that a path stretches out before us, Persephone, and though I cannot say exactly where it will lead, I would stake my life on the certainty that we are meant to walk it together, come what may.” 

Most of this first book in the series is more of a meet and greet to learn the players and set them in their roles. Persephone will annoy at times with her bratty determination that doesn't always make sense, she wants to escape Azriel and the Methusian prophecy they think she has a part in, but escape to what? Persephone never really has a plan just a “I want to be free” that feels forced to keep her apart from Azriel. Their budding romance had moments, they have some sweet and heated teasing between each other, but it definitely felt in the lighter young adult realm that this is categorized in. In the second half where the prophecy has them headed to the capitol to rescue a Methusian boy, along with an added girl Rachel who looks a lot like Persephone and no one is sure who the prophecy is about, the story started to feel a little dragged out. We get point-of-views from the other side, Mordesius, to further the overarching plot, but there was still not enough moved along for me. 

I enjoyed this because of the cute chemistry between Azriel and Persephone but Persephone's insistence in wanting to “escape” when it didn't quite make sense, had me frustrated with her a lot of the time. This first installment delivered on some answers but a lot still isn't clear and with a sudden cliffhanger, I find myself wanting to start the second in the series right away. This was at turns cute, goofy, gruesome, and had fun back and forth chemistry, I just wanted Persephone to accept she could be a heroine in a fantasy story more readily.

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Reading Update: 26%

Neither of them said anything until he walked up to the edge of the pool, dropped his pack, unbuckled his sword and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"How's the water?" he asked.

I am absolutely feral for scenes like this. 

Quickly, Persephone is traveling, not by complete choice with Azriel, a guy she barely knows but the inklings are there for trust and attraction, and took the chance in the morning to escape him. He's spent the whole day searching for her and dealing with her goofy animal friends, dog, horse, and hawk, and covered in mud. Thinking she escaped him, Persephone relaxes in a hot pool, with her shift on the bank. Only to have her separation anxiety horse crash through the trees and find her, leading Azriel to her. 

This tense moment of him saying "How's the water?" and undressing like he's going to join her, gah! LIVE for this type of tension. The scene continues on and gah! But also, we're only 26% in, so don't get too excited, lol.