I’ve noticed a spike in ‘Gangster Fantasy’ coming from Young Adult and Adult authors recently, and whilst the market seems to be saturated it’s hard for a book to stand out from the rest. Having suspected that I’d enjoy this after absolutely devouring To Kill A Kingdom last year, I was dying to get started with this.
To start with, this book had all the cliches that many others in this style have. A young ‘gangster’ trying to make it in the world, with lofty dreams, trying protect his own, making himself seem like the bad guy, when actually he is a cinnamon roll; A female warrior who’ll kick ass and ask questions later; An undercover operative trying to protect what they believe in, only to find out things aren’t quite what they seem; and the Mary-sue who isn’t quite a mary-sue who brings the whole group together.
Now, some of you might be put off with this, but I found that Alexandra does a great job bringing this group together and Into The Crooked Place was more like a breath of fresh air in this sub-genre of Young Adult Fantasy. She has a wonderful writing style, and for this book it flowed almost seamlessly throughout.
I loved the way we were introduced to many of the things in this world, and how I found that I wanted to know more the further in a got. There were a few scenes I found myself wanting to read faster to find out what happens next, a lot of character growth, and easy to follow histories about the world and the characters without being an information dump.
I talked about Tavia being Mary-Sue-like before, but I found her to be a lot more likable, and aware of herself, her limits and her surroundings. She’s one of the most realistic characters I’ve read in a while.
I wanted to hate Wesley, and was ready to hate on his potential relationship with Tavia, but I found I was drawn in, and like a deer in headlights, I was caught up and didn’t see much of the key plot points coming.
I loved the Saxony/Tavia friendship. Considering Saxony’s positioning in the group, I found she really cared about Tavia. Saxony also seemed to see the truth in the matter quicker than the others. I also loved her relationship with Karam, and kept finding myself rooting for them.
Karam was my least favourite of the four characters, but I feel that we haven’t truly seen her yet. Because much of the story takes place from Tavia’s and Wesley’s Point of Views, she comes across mostly as a burly ball of anger. There’s a softness that is shown only when she’s with Saxony, and that was nice to see.
Alexandra uses multiple Point of Views in this book, and whilst with many books it’s easy for them to blur together, each of Into The Crooked Place’s characters have a clear voice. Every character in this book has a clear character Arc too.
The magic of this world is fascinating, and I’d love to know more. The end of this book had me completely hooked, and I’m dying to read the sequel.. Into The Crooked Place is definitely the book to fill the hole that the Six Of Crows Duology left when that ended.
I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars.
To start with, this book had all the cliches that many others in this style have. A young ‘gangster’ trying to make it in the world, with lofty dreams, trying protect his own, making himself seem like the bad guy, when actually he is a cinnamon roll; A female warrior who’ll kick ass and ask questions later; An undercover operative trying to protect what they believe in, only to find out things aren’t quite what they seem; and the Mary-sue who isn’t quite a mary-sue who brings the whole group together.
Now, some of you might be put off with this, but I found that Alexandra does a great job bringing this group together and Into The Crooked Place was more like a breath of fresh air in this sub-genre of Young Adult Fantasy. She has a wonderful writing style, and for this book it flowed almost seamlessly throughout.
I loved the way we were introduced to many of the things in this world, and how I found that I wanted to know more the further in a got. There were a few scenes I found myself wanting to read faster to find out what happens next, a lot of character growth, and easy to follow histories about the world and the characters without being an information dump.
I talked about Tavia being Mary-Sue-like before, but I found her to be a lot more likable, and aware of herself, her limits and her surroundings. She’s one of the most realistic characters I’ve read in a while.
I wanted to hate Wesley, and was ready to hate on his potential relationship with Tavia, but I found I was drawn in, and like a deer in headlights, I was caught up and didn’t see much of the key plot points coming.
I loved the Saxony/Tavia friendship. Considering Saxony’s positioning in the group, I found she really cared about Tavia. Saxony also seemed to see the truth in the matter quicker than the others. I also loved her relationship with Karam, and kept finding myself rooting for them.
Karam was my least favourite of the four characters, but I feel that we haven’t truly seen her yet. Because much of the story takes place from Tavia’s and Wesley’s Point of Views, she comes across mostly as a burly ball of anger. There’s a softness that is shown only when she’s with Saxony, and that was nice to see.
Alexandra uses multiple Point of Views in this book, and whilst with many books it’s easy for them to blur together, each of Into The Crooked Place’s characters have a clear voice. Every character in this book has a clear character Arc too.
The magic of this world is fascinating, and I’d love to know more. The end of this book had me completely hooked, and I’m dying to read the sequel.. Into The Crooked Place is definitely the book to fill the hole that the Six Of Crows Duology left when that ended.
I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars.