Thursday, July 9, 2015

Review: Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George


Title: Silver in the Blood
Author: Jessica Day George
Publication Date: July 7th, 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Source: eARC via NetGalley
Where to find: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository
Summary: A New York Times bestselling author brings dark secrets to life in a lush new YA perfect for fans of Libba Bray or Cassandra Clare.

Society girls from New York City circa 1890, Dacia and Lou never desired to know more about their lineage, instead preferring to gossip about the mysterious Romanian family that they barely knew. But upon turning seventeen, the girls must return to their homeland to meet their relatives, find proper husbands, and—most terrifyingly—learn the deep family secrets of The Claw, The Wing, and The Smoke. The Florescus, after all, are shape-shifters, and it is time for Dacia and Lou to fulfill the prophecy that demands their acceptance of this fate . . . or fight against this cruel inheritance with all their might.

With a gorgeous Romanian setting, stunning Parisian gowns, and dark brooding young men, readers will be swept up by this epic adventure of two girls in a battle for their lives.
After finishing this book, I’ve decided that this book just wasn’t for me. I was really intrigued by the premise and the idea of this historic Romania. There was a lot of secrecy and suspense in this book, however, I feel like it went too far. It got to the point where I was more annoyed with the slow pace and the lack of answers than anything else. I normally do not mind slow world building, but in this case it did not work for me.

The writing style of this book was also really interesting. We follow Dacia and Lou as they travel from New York to Romania where their moms grew up. The story centers on them finding out their family secrets and what it means to be a woman in their family. I loved the alternating perspectives, plus the diary entries from both characters. It really gave further insight into their characters and it helped to break up the story. I really enjoyed the relationship between Lou and Dacia. It was almost sister-like and I really appreciate that in books. However other than those two, I did not care for any of the other characters and what they added to the story.

As I said, the plot and the story were just not for me in this book. It took a really long time for this to even become a fantasy novel. I swore I was reading a historical fiction novel for the majority of this book. And I will admit, I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction. I think the major problem I had with this book was that I was expecting fantasy and that is not really what I got. While there is a definite fantasy element to this book, it took awhile for the story to actually get there.


*I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

No comments:

Post a Comment