[WUV]⋙ [PDF] Anathema Cloud Prophet Trilogy Book One Megg Jensen Books

Anathema Cloud Prophet Trilogy Book One Megg Jensen Books

Download As PDF : Anathema Cloud Prophet Trilogy Book One Megg Jensen Books

Anathema Cloud Prophet Trilogy Book One Megg Jensen Books

Maybe I’m getting old. Perhaps that’s why I often find myself guessing the plots of YA novels and essentially ruining it for myself. It’s very disappointing, but also inescapable. How do you tell your own mind “No spoilers!”?

Anathema has been on my “want to read” list for quite some time. “Quite some time” meaning since January 9th (2015), when I bought it. Why did it take me so long to read it? I can’t give you a solid reason, but from what I read, I wasn’t missing anything.

The synopsis lured me in, but the writing and plot let me down. Let’s talk about why.

Read more...

I had an issue with Reychel. She was a shell of a heroine. I don’t mean a sturdy exoskeleton for a great, admirable, heroine, unfortunately no. Reychel was the equivalent of an eggshell. I understand that her knowledge of the outside world is limited and I suppose the concept of people having ulterior motives was lost on her too, but it was just sad. At one point, she even says she’s tired of accepting what other people tell her as the truth, but after that, I suppose she shrugs and no longer cares because it isn’t mentioned anymore and she continues to accept whatever people tell her.

I honestly can’t tell you much about Reychel, which brings me to my main point. Reychel was severely underdeveloped. The amount of depth she had was that of a side character or, even more specifically, an extra in a movie who appears in the credits as “Person #5 in Crowd.” Who is Person #5? What’s their story? Who knows! That’s how it was with Reychel.

In fact, none of the characters had much depth. The hollow of a newborn baby’s hand had more depth than off all of these characters combined. Each and everyone one of them were created solely for convenience and it was obvious. This character was needed to make sure the two main ones would get someplace safely. That character was created in order for the main character to specifically learn something about someone they know. And so on. This isn’t how great characters are made.

The plot and writing were just awful. By the time I had reached the sixty-seven percent mark, I had officially figured out the entire plot twist. How did I do that? Poor foreshadowing. There’s a single paragraph of dialogue that confirmed everything I had guessed. It almost completely exposed everything that would happen in the next chapter or two. This is not how to foreshadow.

In general, there was no real plot. It starts off with Reychel as a slave, then some irrelevant (plot pushing) events happen, (minor spoiler)the “woah I’m magical!” moment, and then she makes a dumb decision against wise authority that somehow works out. There is honestly no way that Reychel could have gone from a meek and submissive slave to a bold and commanding leader, there’s no way! Especially not at fifteen.

There were so many plot holes. A person would say “Well, he couldn’t do this because that awful thing would happen.” but then later on (once it’s convenient) that same person does the thing they “couldn’t do” and it turns out just fine. Or another character would say “But I’ve never seen this before!” but then remember “Oh wait, yes I have.” Once again, this would only happen when convenient.

What would a poor plot be without instant love? The romance started off slowly as if to trick me into thinking it was realistic and then nope! Instant as always. They talked maybe five times altogether and now they were definitely in love. Completely disappointing.

Would I Recommend Anathema? I won’t even waste my breath: No.


Tags : Amazon.com: Anathema: Cloud Prophet Trilogy: Book One (9781460905098): Megg Jensen: Books,Megg Jensen,Anathema: Cloud Prophet Trilogy: Book One,CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1460905091,Fantasy - General,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12),YOUNG ADULT FICTION,Young Adult Fiction Fantasy General,JUVENILE FICTION Fantasy & Magic

Anathema Cloud Prophet Trilogy Book One Megg Jensen Books Reviews

The beginning of Anathema was compelling and sucked me right in, but once Reychel is rescued from the castle, the story is "just okay." The storyline lacks intensity and, with the exception of Reychel and Ivy, the interactions between the characters feel forced. The insta-love between Reychel and Mark make their relationship bland--a little wariness and/or volatility between them would have gone a long way in adding tension to the story. Also, while I enjoy a light read from time to time, Anathema was far too light considering the subject matter. As a reader, when you pick up a book that claims to be about a girl trapped in slavery, you're expecting a heavy/intense read. But for Anathema, I often felt like I was reading a children's story (a pretty great children's story, but a children's story nonetheless). It was like the author was constantly on the brink of taking risks, but kept stopping short. Even the supposed 'bad guys' in this novel are pretty soft. Jensen, bless her heart, is simply far too kind to her characters, which makes for a sweet little story, but not the emotional or intense one that readers are expecting.

Still, the novel, though light, is enjoyable. I stopped reading several times for a few seconds to tell my husband "I like this story! It's cute." I'm not a fan of stories with a ton of magic, but Jensen pulls it off. The premise is intriguing and the world she creates is appealing. I think Jensen would be a phenomenal middle-grade novelist, since she has lines in her writing that she doesn't feel comfortable crossing.

Jodi Perkins
Author of Chasing Echoes
jodiperkins.com
I thought this was a thrilling adventure! Reychel is a genuine, innocent, caring character who you’d expect to be a lot tougher and jaded from spending her life as a slave, being forced to scrub, wash dishes, and everything else her entire life, from morning till night with a strict head cook who loved shouting at people and guards who tormented her, as well as nobles who made rather stinging comments. And there was a wonderful mystery in this to be unraveled as Kandek purposefully kept her locked within the castle (the question of how did he know when she didn’t). And I really did like the world Megg Jensen created with this story. Granted the factions are clichéd (and the Sons reminded me more than a little of the Sons of the Harpy in Game of Thrones), and the village felt like any other medieval small village, but the world with the gifted, and especially Kandek’s palace with the artwork by the slaves on its walls are magical settings. But the story didn’t stop there, rather than just spending this locked in one setting it eventually did branch out to other locations, with plenty of reveals, and even a first love, and betrayal, and plenty of twists and turns along the way with a fun set up for the next story. I had an enjoyable time speeding my way through and am looking forward to picking up the next in the trilogy.
It started out pretty good and stayed that way until Ivy and Reychel parted ways. After that, there was little to no character development and it was almost like watching anime...very quick turns from one emotion to another and lots of weird transitions in conversations. Like watching something in fast forward. The main characters have no depth, so it's hard to care what happens to them. It needs more exposition and some more mature plotting. And less hugging. Why does everyone hug each other? They are forever embracing each other and having deep conversations at inappropriate times.
Maybe I’m getting old. Perhaps that’s why I often find myself guessing the plots of YA novels and essentially ruining it for myself. It’s very disappointing, but also inescapable. How do you tell your own mind “No spoilers!”?

Anathema has been on my “want to read” list for quite some time. “Quite some time” meaning since January 9th (2015), when I bought it. Why did it take me so long to read it? I can’t give you a solid reason, but from what I read, I wasn’t missing anything.

The synopsis lured me in, but the writing and plot let me down. Let’s talk about why.

Read more...

I had an issue with Reychel. She was a shell of a heroine. I don’t mean a sturdy exoskeleton for a great, admirable, heroine, unfortunately no. Reychel was the equivalent of an eggshell. I understand that her knowledge of the outside world is limited and I suppose the concept of people having ulterior motives was lost on her too, but it was just sad. At one point, she even says she’s tired of accepting what other people tell her as the truth, but after that, I suppose she shrugs and no longer cares because it isn’t mentioned anymore and she continues to accept whatever people tell her.

I honestly can’t tell you much about Reychel, which brings me to my main point. Reychel was severely underdeveloped. The amount of depth she had was that of a side character or, even more specifically, an extra in a movie who appears in the credits as “Person #5 in Crowd.” Who is Person #5? What’s their story? Who knows! That’s how it was with Reychel.

In fact, none of the characters had much depth. The hollow of a newborn baby’s hand had more depth than off all of these characters combined. Each and everyone one of them were created solely for convenience and it was obvious. This character was needed to make sure the two main ones would get someplace safely. That character was created in order for the main character to specifically learn something about someone they know. And so on. This isn’t how great characters are made.

The plot and writing were just awful. By the time I had reached the sixty-seven percent mark, I had officially figured out the entire plot twist. How did I do that? Poor foreshadowing. There’s a single paragraph of dialogue that confirmed everything I had guessed. It almost completely exposed everything that would happen in the next chapter or two. This is not how to foreshadow.

In general, there was no real plot. It starts off with Reychel as a slave, then some irrelevant (plot pushing) events happen, (minor spoiler)the “woah I’m magical!” moment, and then she makes a dumb decision against wise authority that somehow works out. There is honestly no way that Reychel could have gone from a meek and submissive slave to a bold and commanding leader, there’s no way! Especially not at fifteen.

There were so many plot holes. A person would say “Well, he couldn’t do this because that awful thing would happen.” but then later on (once it’s convenient) that same person does the thing they “couldn’t do” and it turns out just fine. Or another character would say “But I’ve never seen this before!” but then remember “Oh wait, yes I have.” Once again, this would only happen when convenient.

What would a poor plot be without instant love? The romance started off slowly as if to trick me into thinking it was realistic and then nope! Instant as always. They talked maybe five times altogether and now they were definitely in love. Completely disappointing.

Would I Recommend Anathema? I won’t even waste my breath No.