Praiseworthy Pages

Reader Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ (2/5 stars)

I absolutely judged a book by its cover with this one, and I thought it would be amazing because the cover art is phenomenal! Unfortunately, I wasn’t really impressed. This book felt like an amalgamation of every young adult fantasy novel ever written, just with LGBTQ+ and trans characters thrown in (which can be good if done well, but this was, sadly, not done well). I do, however, think that trans, gender-fluid, and LGBTQ+ individuals will appreciate the representation!

Language: 5/10 (Middle school/ high school language).
Sex: 5/10 (Occasional sex scenes, non-traditional relationships).
Violence and gore: 4/10 (Glorifying violence, occasional disturbing gore).

Plot: 4/10 (The plot line is cliché and overdone in young adult fantasy in general. The characters are what make this story unique).
Characters: 6/10 (The characters that weren’t Ashen Woods were fairly compelling, but besides their sexual orientations, felt run-of-the-mill).
Writing style: 6/10 (Not bad, but not great. I would’ve DNFed (Did Not Finish) this book, but I was too far in and figured I might as well see where it ended up).

Genre: Young adult literature, fantasy fiction
Potential triggers: Loss of loved ones, massacre, murder, betrayal, etc.
Is this book part of a series? Yes.
I would recommend this book to readers 17+.