Havenfallby Sara Holland
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9781526621962
Series: Havenfall #1
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
Pages: 304
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Proof that I can’t resist a free book?
One of the schools I work at is near a small independent bookstore they try to do business with whenever possible. Last week I went into the staffroom – something I try to generally avoid at all costs – and there were boxes of books on all the tables that said “free”. Seems the local bookshop was cleaning house and these were all the advanced reader copies that had been accumulating in their back room. I grabbed one on Elizabeth von Arnim, and because it’s been sooo long since I’ve gotten any new books, I lingered and pawed through them all and finally thought ‘what the hell?’ and grabbed this one. YA Fantasy is usually more miss than hit with me, but did I mention how long it’s been since I’ve had a new book?
I have to say, it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t amazing but it held my attention nicely after a rather weak and tedious start. The second half of the book really morphed into something worth reading and I give points to Holland for sneakily weaving an Important Societal Lesson into the story about the power of perceptions and propaganda to alter history.
It wasn’t so good that I’m curious about what comes next, but it was good enough that should I stumble across the second book I’d probably pick it up.
Not my genre either but I am intrigued by this. It may be the fantastic cover, or it may be the hook you threw re the author weaving in an Important Societal Lesson. Hard to tell which. 😉
It’s definitely YA; the writing and the emotion is a bit simplistic, but due credit to the author, I didn’t not see what she was doing with the different worlds until she made it obvious. Whether that was because I went into the story blind, or she was just that good, I’d be afraid to say. 😀