Wednesday 1 February 2012

Stolen Away Review


Title: Stolen Away
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Piblication Date: January 17, 2012
Published By: Walker Childrens
Format: e-galley,287 pages

*This book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review*

Summary
For seventeen years, Eloise Hart had no idea the world of Faery even existed. Now she has been abducted and trapped in the Rath of Lord Strahan, King of Faery. Strahan was only meant to rule for seven years, as Faery tradition dictates, and then give up his crown to another. But he won't comply, and now chaos threatens both worlds.

The only one who can break his stranglehold on the Faery court is his wife. . . Eloise's aunt Antonia. Using Eloise to lure Antonia, Strahan captures his wife, desperate to end the only threat to his reign. Now Eloise must become the rescuer. Together with her best friends Jo and Devin, she must forge alliances with other Fae, including a gorgeous protector named Lucas, and Strahan's mysterious son, Eldric-who may or may not betray them.

My Thoughts
I love Alyxandra Harvey. Both the Drake Chronicles and Haunting Violet, but Stolen Away missed the mark. While the plot was fast moving and the characters were easily likable I couldn't get into it. 
The alternating POV is entirely to blame, it switches between Eloise and her best friend Jo. In my opinion it just didn't work. The story, as described in the summary, revolves around Eloise and her aunt Antonia, so Jo's point of view isn't even needed, if anything it's just distracting. But, I liked Jo a lot more than Eloise, she's quick witted, outgoing and likes to use British slang, in short she's adorable. I was way more interested when reading Jo's chapters and it didn't hurt that The Big Bad's hottie son had a thing for her. The book would have been a total hit for me had Jo taken Eloise's place as the main character and been told entirely from her perspective, leaving Eloise as a the best friend and sidekick.
There was a lot of originality with the fey lore and while interesting it wasn't explained well and I sometimes found it confusing. There was so much going on at a very quick pace so a lot of the background info fell through the cracks.
 I really wish I enjoyed this book more but I just didn't. If you're a die-hard Harvey fan I would suggest reading it just to experience her world of fairy, but if you're not I say skip it. With that, I'm giving Stolen Away 3 out of 5.


Stolen Away








No comments:

Post a Comment

I appreciate everyone's comments, I read them all. So keep 'em comin ;)