The Serrulata Series Book 1

Book Blog Tour – Book Review

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Pages: 503
Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction / Science Fiction / Romance / Fantasy

Book Summary

(From Author)

“In the Realm, every citizen knows their place.”

Leora of Mae is a young woman orphaned at birth and raised on a remote farm. As a wielder of Xanthcraft, her abilities set her apart from her adoptive family and the other villagers.

Shortly before her twentieth birthday, she learns of her family’s plot to sell her into servitude. Fearing for her life, she flees from the only home she’s ever known—defying societal conventions and breaking the edicts of the Realm.

As she runs, Leora meets Roland Shallowbrook, a traveler on the Thieves’ Road; Lady Aurora Verte, daughter of a powerful member of the gentry; and the White Rider Leopold, a soldier with a secret.

Together, this found family will have to band together to survive.

Set in the distant future during the return of the Hale-Bopp comet, Gathering of the Four is the first book in The Serrulata Saga.

Rating

3/5

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My Thoughts

The authors writing style was a little difficult for me to read as she repeats herself often. It’s almost as if she forgot that she’d said it already. I quite often didn’t know what the author was trying to say either, for example:
‘She put her elbows on her shoulders and bowed her head. You shouldn’t warred with you owe it to Nial in her head, and she wanted the cacophony to stop.’

I became committed to the story quite early on because it has a good storyline but struggled to keep reading for long periods of time because of the author’s dialogue and writing style. I enjoyed how different the characters were that came together and yet they worked so well together. I liked the relationships that were formed throughout the book. Bennett didn’t rush them and they developed naturally. The fight against tyranny, servantry and blindly following orders was enjoyable. I also enjoyed the distinct ‘girl power’ vibe.

The story kept me guessing most of the time. I was surprised by a few of the outcomes and paths that were taken and it kept me on my toes. The world that the author created was interesting and had a distinctive dystopian feel to it that I believe she was going for. It had a futuristic, yet old-school feel to it. One problem though is that I lost count of how many times the author mentioned the comet and what it looked like. I started getting irritated with the constant mention of how it looked. She could have just said ‘the comet’. For example: ‘Leora glanced up through the trees at the comet hanging in the sky with its two tails—one yellow and one blue—trailing behind it.’

I don’t think there was only one protagonist because all the characters seemed important and at the forefront of the story. I enjoyed the backstory of each of the characters and it helped me to relate to them and cheer them on in their quest.

It was a little difficult to know when there was dialogue and when it was inner monologue because there was no real variation in the typography that would warn you. There are a lot of times that the author will start a sentence, change direction and then continue. It was jarring and confusing at times and eventually got a little much for me and I struggled to read it. For example: “I don’t…where are we?” Samuel nodded reluctantly. “Well. Yes. I would not…the day after tomorrow, then.” This happened a lot in the story.

The characters were great and written well. I enjoyed each of their separate stories and was rooting for each of them to have a happily ever after. I should probably warn you that there is a lot of swearing and quite a few sex scenes so be warned if you don’t like that but the sex scenes are not graphic. I did like that God’s name was not used in vain. Gathering of the four is book one in the series. The series leaves you on a cliff-hanger and you don’t get to know yet how their stories end so you’ll need to wait for book two to find that out!

I would recommend this book because of the storyline and characters, I enjoyed getting to know them and the world they live in.

Book Links: 

Amazon
Goodreads

Author Links:

Books by Bennett
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads Author

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