The Beholder

Well, I wanted to like this more than I did. I think there were way too many references to myths/fairy tales combined with an alternate world history that was not quite creative or established enough to carry itself. And I LOVE re-tellings and mythic inspirations for novels. This book took a little piece of everything, so it could never really be its own story. Also, this is definitely not a re-telling of the Odyssey. There is a character named Homer, a journey, a literal reference to the story of the Odyssey, and that's the extent of it. While there were definitely times I admired the MC, Selah, she annoyed me just as frequently. I appreciate a flawed character as much as the next person, but the repetition of her conflict (I have to get home to Papa/can't go to Russia or I'll die/my stepmother hates me/but am I in love??) became pretty grating. I think Bright was at her best when she was writing the romantic parts as opposed to the political intrigue. There were some seriously swoony moments that I really enjoyed! I also appreciated the diverse cast of secondary characters, who are well described and I believe will develop in complexity in the next installment. While this book didn't blow me away, I'll probably be tempted to pick up the second anyway (especially if the cover is as gorgeous as this one!!)