"Sovereign Hope" by Frankie Rose

The author, Frankie Rose, was very nice, letting me review her book. I must say that I didn't quite know what to expect of it, but it turned to be an interesting read. My rating is 3.5 stars, but due to known reasons I'm giving it 4.

What I liked:

There were several scenes that were pretty intense and action packed, and I felt drawn to them. They felt realistic, with all the gore and bloodshed. I also enjoyed the hot romantic scene, though I felt like there should've been more than one of those ;) Daniel's chapters felt different, as they should've, since a different character was narrating, and I found them very well structured and appealing.

What I didn't like:

There were some scenes that lacked any feeling at all. They seemed to stretch on and on, and that felt kind of annoying. I supposed they were supposed to build anticipation, but all they accomplished was making me want to skip ahead. The last chapter should've held some passion, but there was none. And the induced coldness between the characters was just weird. Some lines felt forced and unrealistic. There were several places where I noticed inconsistencies - for example, Farley - the lead female character - saw a white painted building and the color of the sand (red), during a particularly dark night, just before saying that she was completely night blind. There were other places like this one, but I don't remember them off the top of my head.

The story itself:

It was a nice concept, and I think it was sort of unique - at least I haven't read anything quite like it. Of course, there were the good guys and the bad guys, and those in between. There was impossible love, and then some super powers. But it was strung differently, and I liked that. I didn't quite understand whether the people from the Quarters were humans or something different. And why were there immortals in the first place... That bit was sort of confusing.

The characters:

*Farley was the lead female character, who was supposed to be a part of this very important prophesy. I honestly expected her to have some special powers of key importance, and I kept waiting for them to manifest. Alas, they never did - unless that weird bit in the end could be counted. Sometimes Farley sounded stiff and vain and completely out of character, and that really bothered me. After all, the reader counts on the characters having depth and layered personalities. I wasn't really impressed with this girl.

*Daniel was the mysterious guy, who was grumpy and rude just because he didn't want to show his love. Sure, there was the oath he swore to stay away from Farley, but it was pretty obvious that that won't work out. There was some big mystery around those two, which never came out. Were they supposed to be together? Were they not? At any rate, Daniel was hot and full of internal conflicts, and that made him even hotter. Sometimes his indecision bugged me to death, and I wanted to slap him senseless. But other than that, he was a nice guy.

*Agatha was one of the characters we didn't know much about. She was just there. Period. No back story. Sure, she was nice and smart and a kick-ass heroine, but still - it would've been nice to know more about her.

The rest of the characters weren't all that prominent, though they all played their assigned roles. I guess I'd love to learn more about Kayden - he's a delicious mystery.


My rating is