"๐พ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ . ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ . [...] ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐."
Genre: YA romantasy
Overall rating: 2.5/5 stars
# books in series: 2
Review: When Silver in the Bone ended on that incredible cliffhanger, I assumed The Mirror of Beasts would take off immediately in terms of pacing. Instead, it just felt the same as Silver; which, as you might remember from back when I reviewed it, I struggled to get sucked into until around 70%. And with Mirror, even after the story really took flight, I still felt like there were too many times where I was plain bored. Either the narrative was stagnating on elements I really just did not care about as the reader, or the same bad-guys-chasing-main-group fight sequence repeated for the umpteenth time.
"๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐ . ๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ป๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐...๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐...๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐... ๐๐๐'๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐. ๐ป๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐."
I really did love each individual character in our main cast, and because I know that
Alexandra is the queen of character development, I wish there had been more focus on this being a character-driven novel with less time spent on the plot and more on the dynamics between them. The book starts out with Tamsin, Cait, Olwen, and Neve recovering from the ending of Silver and vowing to stick with each other forever, but they end up spending a lot of the book apart on their own separate side quests. I wanted more of those girlhood moments! And of course Emrys is such a wonderful character as well (a plant dork after my own heart) and had the most delightful rivals to lovers romance with Tamsin in Silver, which ended which the betrayal trope โ I love it when duologies do that and spend the second book rebuilding that trust between them, but Alexandra fell victim to the keep-them-physically-separate-for-80%-of-the-book trap so they aren't even sending each other longing glances or obviously pining. When they finally sort out all the misunderstandings it's great, but they got "Romaniris-ed" for way too long. I think Mirror would have benefited from a bit more ebb and flow of the tension in order to sit with, explore and reflect on the characters, rather than just rushing from disaster to disaster.
I do think Alexandra did a good job writing Cabell's arc, and giving him POV chapters was a great choice. I cared about what was happening with him, although if it were just me, I'd have enjoyed more face-to-face interactions between him and Tamsin to get some good angst in there. I realize my girl Tamsin has a lot going on, but for the amount of time I spent in her head when she was thinking about him, I wish they had more screen time together.
Essentially, this duology was just okay. Good, but nothing exceptional. I wish both books had been faster paced and focused more on character development than plot โ I feel like both Neve and Tamsin's identities were very crucial to the narrative and themes, but were really glossed over and kind of thrown in for shocking plot twist effect at the end of Mirror. And while I understand that a retelling isn't identical to the classic story, I wish there had been more of those Arthurian elements we were promised. Yes, there's some iconic swords, an island called Avalon, and Lord Death wears Arthur's body, but none of the other quintessential characters or themes were really there at all. It was mostly just a new urban fantasy series, which is great, but a bit of a letdown based on the marketing.
Thanks for reading this review! If you enjoyed it, check out my Bookstagram post with lots more annotations and quotes I loved!
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