megs_bookrack's Reviews > Where Dreams Descend
Where Dreams Descend (Kingdom of Cards, #1)
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Where Dreams Descend is my Serpent & Dove of 2020. By that I mean, a book everyone else seems to be loving and I'm over here like...
As with Serpent & Dove, I really didn't start to enjoy this until around the 80% point. Unlike S&D however, I don't plan to pick up the sequel to this when it releases.
I'm sad about it. I had high hopes for this, but unfortunately it just didn't work for me.
The story begins with our protagonist, Kallia, working as a performer in a club, The Hellfire House, owned by a mysterious man named, Jack.
She has larger plans for herself, however, and sets her sights on a magical competition being held in the nearby city of Glorian.
In order to enter, something a woman wouldn't normally do, she must first break free of Jack and the Hellfire House.
Making her way through the cursed woods alone, Kallia makes it to the city and promptly meets a young man, Aaros, who immediately becomes her best friend, confidant and stage assistant. He also became, in my opinion, the best character in the book.
As with any competition, there must be judges. Enter romantic interest, Daron DeMarco, a retired stage magician himself, who becomes enchanted with Kallia and her powers.
There are other competitors as well, but of course, Kallia far exceeds them all for no apparent reason whatsoever; both in performance power and overall everything else.
Once the magical competition begins, it becomes clear, something is off in the city of Glorian.
Other competitors go missing, or are severely injured and Kallia begins to be haunted in her rooms by a menacing presence.
In spite of the chaos, the show must go on and Kallia is determined to win. DeMarco watches anxiously from the sidelines as she continually tries to one-up her competition.
While this Dark Magical Fantasy has a lot of elements that should have worked for me, it just didn't. It felt disjointed and like nothing was really happening, even though on page, plenty was.
I know that makes no sense, but it was like the dramatic plot points didn't really matter. It was nothing I cared about or felt compelled to know more about.
Kallia was one of the most arrogant characters I have ever read. I understand she was ambitious and needed to be portrayed as strong, but it's hard to have an arc showing growth when the character already claims to know it all.
Not only was she, in her estimation, eons above any of the other contestants, she was also more skilled than anyone else in the world.
Okay, enough about that. I think it is fairly clear how I feel about Kallia.
On a brighter note, DeMarco and Aaros were both saving graces for me. DeMarco was quite interesting. I loved his quiet humility and learning more about his backstory.
Some of the dark moments interested me as well. There were some sections involving mirrors, or the characters being magically trapped within the town, that I found compelling; I wish there had been more of that.
As mentioned above, around the 80% point, I started to feel like the flow was better and I liked where the relationship between Kallia and DeMarco was going.
Unfortunately, enjoying only 20% of a book, isn't enough for me to be able to give it a higher rating.
I do think that the story left off in a great place. Although I won't be continuing on, I am sure a lot of Readers will really be looking forward to the sequel.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. Although this didn't work for me, I am definitely in the minority!
((The World to Me)):
As with Serpent & Dove, I really didn't start to enjoy this until around the 80% point. Unlike S&D however, I don't plan to pick up the sequel to this when it releases.
I'm sad about it. I had high hopes for this, but unfortunately it just didn't work for me.
The story begins with our protagonist, Kallia, working as a performer in a club, The Hellfire House, owned by a mysterious man named, Jack.
She has larger plans for herself, however, and sets her sights on a magical competition being held in the nearby city of Glorian.
In order to enter, something a woman wouldn't normally do, she must first break free of Jack and the Hellfire House.
Making her way through the cursed woods alone, Kallia makes it to the city and promptly meets a young man, Aaros, who immediately becomes her best friend, confidant and stage assistant. He also became, in my opinion, the best character in the book.
As with any competition, there must be judges. Enter romantic interest, Daron DeMarco, a retired stage magician himself, who becomes enchanted with Kallia and her powers.
There are other competitors as well, but of course, Kallia far exceeds them all for no apparent reason whatsoever; both in performance power and overall everything else.
Once the magical competition begins, it becomes clear, something is off in the city of Glorian.
Other competitors go missing, or are severely injured and Kallia begins to be haunted in her rooms by a menacing presence.
In spite of the chaos, the show must go on and Kallia is determined to win. DeMarco watches anxiously from the sidelines as she continually tries to one-up her competition.
While this Dark Magical Fantasy has a lot of elements that should have worked for me, it just didn't. It felt disjointed and like nothing was really happening, even though on page, plenty was.
I know that makes no sense, but it was like the dramatic plot points didn't really matter. It was nothing I cared about or felt compelled to know more about.
Kallia was one of the most arrogant characters I have ever read. I understand she was ambitious and needed to be portrayed as strong, but it's hard to have an arc showing growth when the character already claims to know it all.
Not only was she, in her estimation, eons above any of the other contestants, she was also more skilled than anyone else in the world.
Okay, enough about that. I think it is fairly clear how I feel about Kallia.
On a brighter note, DeMarco and Aaros were both saving graces for me. DeMarco was quite interesting. I loved his quiet humility and learning more about his backstory.
Some of the dark moments interested me as well. There were some sections involving mirrors, or the characters being magically trapped within the town, that I found compelling; I wish there had been more of that.
As mentioned above, around the 80% point, I started to feel like the flow was better and I liked where the relationship between Kallia and DeMarco was going.
Unfortunately, enjoying only 20% of a book, isn't enough for me to be able to give it a higher rating.
I do think that the story left off in a great place. Although I won't be continuing on, I am sure a lot of Readers will really be looking forward to the sequel.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. Although this didn't work for me, I am definitely in the minority!
((The World to Me)):
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Reading Progress
August 6, 2019
– Shelved
August 6, 2019
– Shelved as:
to-read
August 9, 2020
–
Started Reading
August 9, 2020
–
10.0%
August 20, 2020
–
18.0%
August 20, 2020
–
23.0%
"I don't get the connection between Kallia and Aaros. The meet on the street and roughly 14 seconds later are best friends and living together. 100% committed to the others goals!? 🤔🤨🙄"
August 21, 2020
–
40.0%
August 23, 2020
–
64.0%
August 25, 2020
–
83.0%
August 26, 2020
–
Finished Reading
November 13, 2020
– Shelved as:
arcs-read
Comments Showing 1-27 of 27 (27 new)
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message 1:
by
Whitney
(new)
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rated it 2 stars
Aug 28, 2020 01:27PM
1000% I agree with this! Nothing happened even though things were “happening” on the page and Aaros deserves the world
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Whitney wrote: "1000% I agree with this! Nothing happened even though things were “happening” on the page and Aaros deserves the world"
Yes, yes, yes. This makes me so happy that I am not alone, Whitney! xx
Yes, yes, yes. This makes me so happy that I am not alone, Whitney! xx
Ah yes, the "perfect beacuse we didn't get to learn how to write strong but flawed women" heroine, a classic YA trope
rrolland wrote: "Ah yes, the "perfect beacuse we didn't get to learn how to write strong but flawed women" heroine, a classic YA trope" ((chuckles)) :)
I hope it will worn out soon as all kinds of women get to be represented in literature ❤️
rrolland wrote: "I hope it will worn out soon as all kinds of women get to be represented in literature ❤️" I think it is on it's way out!
MK ( Makayla) wrote: "You're not alone in disliking this one . I only made it five chapters in before putting it down ." I hate to celebrate your dislike, but I did feel so alone. When everyone was reading it, I was like, what am I missing? Thank you for letting me know! If I hadn't received an ARC, I think I would have DNFed as well.
Olivia wrote: "For a moment there, I thought the title was, "Where Screams Descend"!"Bahahahaaaa, that would have been a much better book, Olivia! ;)
I absolutely agree with your review! I couldn't figure out the words to describe the yucky taste this book left behind, but you identified them perfectly. Arrogant Kallia whom I had no connection with or reason to root for, so many unanswered questions about the mysteries in the plot, getting a taste of unknown Jack without enough information to keep me interested, and the "disjointed, nothing was really happening, even though plenty was." Sadly, so much yes!
Rachel wrote: "I absolutely agree with your review! I couldn't figure out the words to describe the yucky taste this book left behind, but you identified them perfectly. Arrogant Kallia whom I had no connection w..." Right!?!? I just had zero desire to move on with these characters. I barely made it through this one! I'm sorry you had the same experience with it, Rachel!! I wouldn't wish that on anyone! Hahah
On to the next! xx
On to the next! xx
La Coccinelle wrote: "The way you've described it, I'm getting distinct Throne of Glass vibes. Is it similar?"IMO, not at all. It is no where near as compelling, or well developed, as ToG. I was so happy to be done with this story...
Isaac wrote: "Wow you do rate books poorly. How do you so much. Jealous..."I rarely meet a book I don't like, but it does happen...
megs_bookrack wrote: "Isaac wrote: "Wow you do rate books poorly. How do you so much. Jealous..."I rarely meet a book I don't like, but it does happen..."
Same I will go through a span of time where I everything is a 4-5 star rating and I almost feel like I hand out 5 stars like candy. It is hard.
Same I will go through a span of time where I everything is a 4-5 star rating and I almost feel like I hand out 5 stars like candy. It is hard.
Isaac wrote: "megs_bookrack wrote: "Isaac wrote: "Wow you do rate books poorly. How do you so much. Jealous..."I rarely meet a book I don't like, but it does happen..."
Same I will go through a span of time whe..."Yessss, I totally get that. I try to think of it as I know what I like, so I tend not to pick up books that I won't like. The ones that get me are when the synopsis sounds perfect for me, but the execution makes it a flop, or it isn't exactly what the marketing leads you to believe it is...
Same I will go through a span of time whe..."Yessss, I totally get that. I try to think of it as I know what I like, so I tend not to pick up books that I won't like. The ones that get me are when the synopsis sounds perfect for me, but the execution makes it a flop, or it isn't exactly what the marketing leads you to believe it is...
I'm at page 80 and also feel like nothing truly matters enough for me to spend my time reading it. It's not bad, but it's not good and I just feel like I want to start something else
Batota wrote: "I'm at page 80 and also feel like nothing truly matters enough for me to spend my time reading it. It's not bad, but it's not good and I just feel like I want to start something else"
Yeah, I completely understand that! If you do end up picking up something else, I hope it grabs you from the start and turns out to be a 5-star read!! Good luck, Batota!!
Yeah, I completely understand that! If you do end up picking up something else, I hope it grabs you from the start and turns out to be a 5-star read!! Good luck, Batota!!
Thanks megs! ❤️
I did pick two books after this and both made lose a little faith in books 🥹because they both gripped me at the beginning then at the mid way point they disappointed me terribly 🥲
I did pick two books after this and both made lose a little faith in books 🥹because they both gripped me at the beginning then at the mid way point they disappointed me terribly 🥲
Batota wrote: "Thanks megs! ❤️
I did pick two books after this and both made lose a little faith in books 🥹because they both gripped me at the beginning then at the mid way point they disappointed me terribly 🥲"Bad run of luck, keep at it! You'll find something. Maybe try switching genres, you could just be burned out on something.
I did pick two books after this and both made lose a little faith in books 🥹because they both gripped me at the beginning then at the mid way point they disappointed me terribly 🥲"Bad run of luck, keep at it! You'll find something. Maybe try switching genres, you could just be burned out on something.
I shall try to do that, though I'm not sure I can tell the difference between genres everything feels so similar
I didn’t read this book that long ago but I remember absolutely nothing about it besides it was like a really bad fever dream