I wanted this to be AMAZING. Because its Sarah Beth Durst. And theres a stunning Asian model on the cover. But VESSEL didnt blow me out of the water, though it was still a fine and unique fantasy geared more towards younger fantasy fans rather than jaded, crotchety SFF readers with high demands for world-building, plot, AND characterization (a.k.a. me).
Right out of the gate, VESSEL stands a head above others of its ilk because of its protagonist, Liyana. With her slightly snarky sense of humor, especially when shes with family, Liyana drew me to her immediatelywhich helped through the rougher periods of the book, when the features that often drag down a quest-based plotnew characters introduced much too quickly to fully capture readers support, a whiplash-inducing quick pace that makes it more difficult for readers like me to remain invested in the storyreared their heads.
As with one of her previous books, Enchanted Ivy, in VESSEL, I sometimes found that I had difficulty keeping the thread of what was going on. Didnt they just arrive in Place B, and why do they have to move on to Place C so quickly? Werent he and she fighting only a few pages ago? The constant barrage of questions going on in my head as I struggled to figure out which of the many minor characters introduced were truly significant, what romance to focus on, which interactions were actually important to the overall plot, really took me out of the story, so that at the end of this swashbuckling desert magic tale I closed the book with a little, Huh. It was a decent enough read for me, but several months on from when I read the book, Im not sure how much of it stayed with me at all.
Right out of the gate, VESSEL stands a head above others of its ilk because of its protagonist, Liyana. With her slightly snarky sense of humor, especially when shes with family, Liyana drew me to her immediatelywhich helped through the rougher periods of the book, when the features that often drag down a quest-based plotnew characters introduced much too quickly to fully capture readers support, a whiplash-inducing quick pace that makes it more difficult for readers like me to remain invested in the storyreared their heads.
As with one of her previous books, Enchanted Ivy, in VESSEL, I sometimes found that I had difficulty keeping the thread of what was going on. Didnt they just arrive in Place B, and why do they have to move on to Place C so quickly? Werent he and she fighting only a few pages ago? The constant barrage of questions going on in my head as I struggled to figure out which of the many minor characters introduced were truly significant, what romance to focus on, which interactions were actually important to the overall plot, really took me out of the story, so that at the end of this swashbuckling desert magic tale I closed the book with a little, Huh. It was a decent enough read for me, but several months on from when I read the book, Im not sure how much of it stayed with me at all.
