Review: Surrender by Rhiannon Paille

Surrender (The Ferryman and the Flame #1) by Rhiannon Paille
Synopsis (Goodreads):

How far would you go to save everything you ever loved?

Kaliel was warned about her love for the Ferryman. One day he will marry the land and leave Avristar forever. She doesn't listen, and because of what she is-- a Flame-- one of nine apocalyptic weapons, she sparks a war. In a desperate attempt to save her home and her love, Kaliel tries to awaken Avred, not knowing she may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

My Thoughts: It's been a long time since I've read a straight fantasy book. A long time. It also took me a long time to get into this book and unfortunately I think it was because it *was* fantasy. As much as I wanted to lose myself in a story of this type (recapturing the innocent days of my youth and all that jazz) (I can see all you out there raising an eyebrow at my use of the word innocent. Hush, guys. Hush.), I think that straight fantasy (not UF or PNR) is on its way out for me.

What do I mean by this? The world was intriguing enough, the characters had their moments where I wanted to shake them for their stubborn actions (in a good way), but I never quite connected to the overall story. If I were to dissect it, I'd say that the fact that I had to learn a whole new world and all the accompanying history to understand what was happening and why people were making the choices they were making -- a world not rooted in our world in any way at this point, unlike urban fantasy and paranormal romance -- threw me off kilter.

The story wasn't lacking, let me make that clear. The second half, in particular, had a lot of dips of turns that kept the overall arc moving forward. This is entirely an instance of me no longer being invested in the type of story that I have to learn from the ground up. To be honest, it bothers me a bit to write that because I used to DEVOUR fantasy novels. I used to burn through them like a house on fire. It's sad to see something that used to be so fun slip away.

For those that enjoy this type of book, I think you'll find this one intriguing. I don't doubt that the ending will leave you looking to see when book 2 comes out.

Books in this series
1. Surrender - Paperback | Kindle
2. Justice
3. Vulture

Author Links
| Website | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon |

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Surrender was provided for review.