The Storyspinner was quite an original tale and I really enjoyed it, even though it's nothing like I imagined it would be when I requested it. With an archer on the novel I really thought the main character would be an epic fighter, a Katsa-like girl with an alpha female presence and I couldn't have been farther away from the truth! Oh Johanna has quite a presence, but it's her art, her stage presence, that mesmerize anyone listening to her tales, not her physical prowess.
The lore is definitely a really strong aspect of this novel. A 'normal' medieval society fighting for a throne on one side of the mountain and mystical soldiers blessed with magical abilities ruling the other side. Things get ugly though when humans try to find and kill the young lost heiress to the throne and the Keepers get involved. The basis of this story is completely different from anything I've read and I really enjoyed it. Add a little gypsy spirit to the mix and you've got quite a great recipe.
One of the down sides, for me at least, to this story is the numerous narrators. There's just too many of them (5 or 6?) to really relate to a particular character and while I understand the author's desire to show many different perceptive, I think it could've been achieved much more smoothly with a maximum of three narrators. That being said, I really liked Johanna's dedication to her family and she impressed me with her strength of character. She was a strong multifaceted lead role.
The plot was engaging but I felt like it was a bit held back because of all the perceptive the author chose to include. I would lie if I said I was riveted to the pages the entire time, because quite honestly, I thought of giving up on this book many times. I'm glad I held on though because I liked the story and the end was a killer. Now I really want to read the next book, and I truly hope the aspects that bothered me will be more polished in the sequel.
All in all, it's a good debut novel, but I think it would've been even better with a little more work in the editing department. You should definitely give it a try though!
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