Official Review: Muse by Katherine Jean Pope
Posted: 24 Feb 2015, 10:40
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Muse" by Katherine Jean Pope.]
4 out of 4 stars
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“Every story ever written started out in the Dreamlands, as pure imagination. It’s our job, the job of the muses, to find a good story and bring it back to the Real.”
Muse by Katherine Jean Pope is a fantasy novel like no other I’ve read. The story is set in the Dreamlands which is a world with a diverse population of mythical or imaginary creatures. Mina is a brand new muse in this world. She just appeared one day in the middle of a coffee shop in the Dreamland. The owner of the shop, Gimlore, a kindhearted gnome, allows her to stay on till she finds her footing in this strange world. It was in this coffee shop that she meets Max, a fellow muse, who invites her along to the Faelands for a masquerade ball held just a week before the Equinox. At the ball, she gets to meet Shade, better known as ‘the Creature’. When Shade gets blamed for kidnapping and possibly killing the Fae King, Mina realizes that something wasn't quite right in the land of imagination. She becomes a character in her own story as she is forcibly sent on a quest to solve the mystery before time runs out.
This novel came as a breath of fresh air after reading tons of fantasy novels with cliché plots and characters. I liked that this was the story about how and where stories are born. I particularly liked these lines from the opening paragraph of the novel.
“When you open a book, it seldom starts with a tedious accounting of all the character’s actions since birth, and it’s just the same with muses. I suddenly was, and am, Lumina. Call me Mina, though. I like that better. “
The major theme of the book is about finding oneself and knowing who were your real friends. Mina’s journey into the Dreamland is fraught with danger and she struggles to identify who really was her friend in the world where nothing and no one were exactly as they seem.
I was never bored while reading this book as the plot took a few twists and turns from what I had originally expected. The world was not just well-built, but also as intriguing as its occupants. The dynamics of the different powers in this world were quite interesting to read. The descriptions were truly captivating. It is clear that the author knew her craft. She uses just the right amount of description to perfectly set the tone for her scenes without bombarding readers with excessive details. Her characters are well-developed and as real as muses, faeries and werewolves could be. Pope wrote her main characters particularly well. Mina was a new girl in a strange place. She knew next to nothing and was confused yet determined to find answers to her problems. Shade, on the other hand, was cocky, foul-mouthed, good-hearted yet misunderstood soul. There are more equally complex characters such as the Fae King and Queen, the werewolf leaders, and even Packrats. I enjoyed the fact that though there was an obvious attraction between the two main leads, the story wasn't centered around their relationship. Nor had the author turned the romance into a love triangle which, unfortunately, seems to have become the current trend.
I'm being nitpicky, but I found a few phrases or dialogues that were repeated a couple of times. They, I felt, could have been avoided or at least differently worded. However, it hadn’t happened often enough to call for a reduced rating. So, I rate it with a full 4 out of 4 stars and say Muse by Katherine Jane Pope is a fantastic story by an author who seems to know her characters and the world really well. I hope this story shall continue and turn into a series because there were a still a few things left unexplained. If you are a fan of the fantasy genre and are looking for something different, then pick this one up. I guarantee you'll have a good time.
******
Muse
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like BookWorm07's review? Post a comment saying so!
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
“Every story ever written started out in the Dreamlands, as pure imagination. It’s our job, the job of the muses, to find a good story and bring it back to the Real.”
Muse by Katherine Jean Pope is a fantasy novel like no other I’ve read. The story is set in the Dreamlands which is a world with a diverse population of mythical or imaginary creatures. Mina is a brand new muse in this world. She just appeared one day in the middle of a coffee shop in the Dreamland. The owner of the shop, Gimlore, a kindhearted gnome, allows her to stay on till she finds her footing in this strange world. It was in this coffee shop that she meets Max, a fellow muse, who invites her along to the Faelands for a masquerade ball held just a week before the Equinox. At the ball, she gets to meet Shade, better known as ‘the Creature’. When Shade gets blamed for kidnapping and possibly killing the Fae King, Mina realizes that something wasn't quite right in the land of imagination. She becomes a character in her own story as she is forcibly sent on a quest to solve the mystery before time runs out.
This novel came as a breath of fresh air after reading tons of fantasy novels with cliché plots and characters. I liked that this was the story about how and where stories are born. I particularly liked these lines from the opening paragraph of the novel.
“When you open a book, it seldom starts with a tedious accounting of all the character’s actions since birth, and it’s just the same with muses. I suddenly was, and am, Lumina. Call me Mina, though. I like that better. “
The major theme of the book is about finding oneself and knowing who were your real friends. Mina’s journey into the Dreamland is fraught with danger and she struggles to identify who really was her friend in the world where nothing and no one were exactly as they seem.
I was never bored while reading this book as the plot took a few twists and turns from what I had originally expected. The world was not just well-built, but also as intriguing as its occupants. The dynamics of the different powers in this world were quite interesting to read. The descriptions were truly captivating. It is clear that the author knew her craft. She uses just the right amount of description to perfectly set the tone for her scenes without bombarding readers with excessive details. Her characters are well-developed and as real as muses, faeries and werewolves could be. Pope wrote her main characters particularly well. Mina was a new girl in a strange place. She knew next to nothing and was confused yet determined to find answers to her problems. Shade, on the other hand, was cocky, foul-mouthed, good-hearted yet misunderstood soul. There are more equally complex characters such as the Fae King and Queen, the werewolf leaders, and even Packrats. I enjoyed the fact that though there was an obvious attraction between the two main leads, the story wasn't centered around their relationship. Nor had the author turned the romance into a love triangle which, unfortunately, seems to have become the current trend.
I'm being nitpicky, but I found a few phrases or dialogues that were repeated a couple of times. They, I felt, could have been avoided or at least differently worded. However, it hadn’t happened often enough to call for a reduced rating. So, I rate it with a full 4 out of 4 stars and say Muse by Katherine Jane Pope is a fantastic story by an author who seems to know her characters and the world really well. I hope this story shall continue and turn into a series because there were a still a few things left unexplained. If you are a fan of the fantasy genre and are looking for something different, then pick this one up. I guarantee you'll have a good time.
******
Muse
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like BookWorm07's review? Post a comment saying so!
Hope the other book was good.