This Fierce Splendor, by Iris Johansen

This Fierce Splendor: by Iris Johansen

My rating: ★★½



Elspeth comes in search of Dominic Delaney, seeking his assistance to find the fabled city Kantalan. This is the story of the journey which Elspeth and Dominic undertake, assisted by a cast of characters. And oh yes, it's also the story of their love.

This is my first Loveswept romance, and I must say I wanted to like this book, I truly did. But I did not. There were so many things wrong with it that I felt it never realized its full potential.

For one, I felt the prologue was overwrought. The rest of the book was like a roller coaster - great moments, then dull moments, then moments where you're like WTH?, and then the cycle starts all over again. Inconsistent, that's the word I want - it was inconsistent. I didn't enjoy that.

The characters were also a roller coaster for me. One moment I empathized with them, the next moment I was annoyed with them, the next moment I was disgusted; and then straight back to empathy. That also didn't work for me either.

In the end I came to dislike them, especially Silver. I found her hateful and rude and not endearing at all. And rather prejudiced. You know, being prejudiced does not gain a character empathy even when she's being prejudiced against people who were prejudiced against her.

This book had all the makings of a good story,and it could have been one, but the characters were not very likable and the story was not always engaging. I did end up skimming major portions of the book just because I could not resonate with the writing or the characters - I guess that counts as DNF territory. Womp.


*I received this book from Netgalley*


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