Katherine Catmull

After nine years Clare Macleod and her father are finally returning to their old home in Ireland, a house by the sea, with a yew tree growing inside it, a tree with its roots in both the human and fairy world--and soon Clare, who has always been able to sense the "Strange," meets the boy Finn, and discovers that she must battle against the forces of evil in to restore order to both worlds.

The Radiant Road

Elizabeth Garza

So I couldn't bring myself to finish this. I was reading it via audiobook and the narrator was great, but the book itself just wasn't to my liking. The main reason was the because the characters were not created well. And they just seemed aloof, even in stressful situations. The main character (whose name I can't even remember. And I have been listening to it for a few weeks now) is just kinda ... ugh... dumb? And she has literally no backbone but shes "stubborn?" The book has described as stubborn on more than one occasion and I'm just like no. She is not stubborn she's a ditzy teenager doesn't seem to really absorb any information. She's just all feelings. Which is fine, I guess, but it creates a character that seems so aggravating. 

The setting is no good either. The author gives enough to build a picture in your mind but it could use more to create the kind of fey magic thing she was going for. Instead she alternates between being super detailed to being vague. Then there is the plot. 

I wasn't even half way through book and I got to the part where I was thinking, whelp guess it's almost over. But no! There were still like 5 hrs left in the book! So, in my opinion, with the way the story was moving I thought I was at the climax of the book. That was a kind of a let down and then I really didn't feel like reading it after that. 

So, I guess my big issue with this book is it seems incomplete and not connected well enough. The characters need some brains, the setting needs consistency, and the plot needs to slow down and explain itself a little better. 

Oh, just cuzzzz, I've tried reading another book by this author (a middle grade novel) and ran into the same problems. So, meh.

The Radiant Road

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