The Seeds of Power by Jilly Wood

5 Stars

The writing and editing was super clean in the ARC version of this manuscript, with no typos that I found, and very pretty sentences and paragraphs. The world building was a vibrant character in itself. The characterization was top-notch, with the hero, heroine, and many of the supporting characters being vibrant, complicated individuals. The development of the romantic relationship in this fantasy novel was very well done, with me the reader able to watch these two characters fall deeply in love throughout the length of this novel. There were no on page love scenes, so mileage may vary for different readers. For me, the romance was deeply satisfying to read, even without on page love scenes. The plot and pacing was exciting and masterfully written, with me rapidly turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next. There was fairly low angst and very high stakes in this novel, which tends to be one of my preferred narrative structures for novels. The world building, plot, and pacing all rated five stars. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship also rated five stars. The combined score of this novel is therefore a well earned five stars. This book had a Happy Ever After ending for the hero and heroine instead of ending sadly or on a cliffhanger, so that is a big pus to this novel. I recommend this novel to readers who enjoy fantasy novels with a lot of political maneuvering. This novel would also have strong cross-genre appeal for readers of romance novels. I may buy myself a keeper copy of this novel, and I am certainly interested in reading the next novel in this series, if the author continues it.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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