THE ISLAND
Author: S. Usher EvansSeries: Madion War Trilogy #1
Source: eARC via Author
Publisher: Sun's Golden Ray Publishing
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Rating: 2/5 stars
Summary:
Prince Galian is third in line to the throne, but prefers his place as a resident at the Royal Kylaen Hospital. When his father urges him to join the military to help reclaim their colony, Galian is forced to put aside his oath to Do No Harm and fight a war he does not believe in.
Across the great Madion Sea, Captain Theo Kallistrate dreams of a day when she is no longer bound by conscription to fight for her country's independence. But when the Kylaens threaten, honor and duty call her to the front lines to fight off the oppressors.
When an air skirmish goes wrong, both Theo and Galian crash on a remote island hundreds of miles from either nation. Grievously injured, Theo must rely on Galian's medical expertise, and Galian must rely on Theo's survival skills, to live another day in a harsh and unforgiving terrain.
Can they put aside their differences long enough to survive? Or will the war that brought them to the island tear them apart?
The Island is the first in a new romance trilogy by S. Usher Evans, author of the Razia series and Empath.
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Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
There were some things that were done pretty well in this: the overall conflict and how the politics worked. But I thought it was kinda boring (and very similar to THESE BROKEN STARS by Meagan Spooner and Ami Kaufman). I also wasn't a huge fan of the bastardization of the Japanese culture for the Ravens.
I thought the issues behind the war and the politics of the two warring countries were really interesting. I would have liked way more information on this than what we got because I feel like that was the most important part of the story. For me to really believe that they hated one another and could learn to love one another, I needed more background as to why their countries were at war. And we got bits and pieces but it wasn't really enough for me. I think that if Galian had spent more time paying attention at the beginning of the novel to what the military plans were rather than saying how much he hated that he was being sent to (basically) die, it would have filled in some of the gaps that were missing for me.
The first 20% until they got to the island was boring. Like I had to really push myself to get past that section because I was straight up bored. I felt like it was to show us the characters but the characters were not extremely well developed so I was just bored hearing them drone on about their crappy lives and having to go to war. But even once we got passed this and onto the island, I was expecting something more.
I knew going into this that it was a Hate-to-Love Romance where these two people are stranded and so they turn to one another to survive and blah blah blah, but it was just very uninspired. It seemed like everything that transpired on the island has happened in a thousand other stories and I could have swapped out these character names for any other character names that have been in this situation and the story wouldn't have changed that much. They even found a secret base where they were doing experiments. How shocking!
Other than the two of them finding out that the evil oppressor really is more evil than they thought, there was nothing of note that happened in this book. The two of them crash onto an island, fall in love on said island, and then get off of the island only to be separated because of the war. Yawn.
There was so much that could have happened in this one to make it more exciting. Like instead of the Kylaens finding them, maybe the neutral country whose name is escaping me at this moment comes to rescue them instead and they figure out a way to end the war and get both sides to be happy with what they have/want in the next novels. I feel like that would have been something I cared to read about.
Instead I got this. Sadly.
I'm sorry this didn't work out for you :(
ReplyDeleteLove yew!