Review by Velzath -- Awakening by Tayma Tameem
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Velzath
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- Latest Review: Awakening by Tayma Tameem
Review by Velzath -- Awakening by Tayma Tameem
[Following is a volunteer review of "Awakening" by Tayma Tameem.]
The story follows sisters Katja and Amara, as they navigate the trials and tribulations of growing up and the social and political expectations of being princesses, exacerbated by Amara's struggles with controlling her powers. The similarities between Tayma Tameem's Awakening and Disney's Frozen are too great to be mere coincidence. Princesses: check. Tale of the bonds of sisterly love: check. One blessed by magical spirits: check. Overwhelming ice powers: check. Tragic family history: check. Don't let Tameem fool you; this is pure, unadulterated Frozen fanfiction. Albeit a grittier one with less talking snowman and more turning people into ice sculptures, Jadis the White Witch style.
To its benefit, the book is written using a rare framing method so that it reads more like a mystery novel rather than a fantasy novel. The chapters jump forward and backward in time always focusing on the two sisters, Amara and Katja. However, the book never catches up with itself; there is a small gap of a few years between the present day narrative and the historical events leading up to them. This was smartly done by Tameem, I think, as it sets up a great cliffhanger and entry point into the next book in the series. The book has two rather well done plot twists. One I anticipated, or rather, wanted to happen, for there was no hint of it until it did. The other was unexpected and caught me off guard.
Now, let's talk about it's faults, for they are legion. Numerous grammatical errors, repetitious and cliched phrases ("run like the wind"), and awkward choppy sentences plague the work. However, the most egregious error, in my view, was a rather innocuous little phrase that ruined any sense of world-building Tameem had set up: By Jove. The usage of it was not ungrammatical, or even incorrect. It was simply misplaced in the world. One of the most important aspects of fantasy writing is world-building, that's not just creating an interesting world with cultures, religion, history, gods, etc., but also, language. “By Jove,” is a phrase that originated with the Romans as a reference to the god Jupiter (Zeus). A phrase coined by a civilization that doesn't exist in the world, that refers to a god that doesn't exist in the world, and thus would not exist in Tameem's world, should not be used by the characters. Tameem had her own godlike figure in Brikkir that would have worked in place of Jove. This cost Awakening an entire star, and thus I give Awakening a 2 out of 4 stars.
If you are a fan of Frozen, you'll enjoy this book greatly, for like Frozen, it heavily relies upon the bonds of sisterly love to move the plot. Mystery fans looking to branch out into fantasy might enjoy it for its mystery tropes as well. Lastly, I think this would be a good story to get more girls into fantasy for its strong female characters.
As for me, despite a low rating, I'll be looking out for the next book. I look forward to Tameem's next plot twists.
******
Awakening
View: on Bookshelves
The story follows sisters Katja and Amara, as they navigate the trials and tribulations of growing up and the social and political expectations of being princesses, exacerbated by Amara's struggles with controlling her powers. The similarities between Tayma Tameem's Awakening and Disney's Frozen are too great to be mere coincidence. Princesses: check. Tale of the bonds of sisterly love: check. One blessed by magical spirits: check. Overwhelming ice powers: check. Tragic family history: check. Don't let Tameem fool you; this is pure, unadulterated Frozen fanfiction. Albeit a grittier one with less talking snowman and more turning people into ice sculptures, Jadis the White Witch style.
To its benefit, the book is written using a rare framing method so that it reads more like a mystery novel rather than a fantasy novel. The chapters jump forward and backward in time always focusing on the two sisters, Amara and Katja. However, the book never catches up with itself; there is a small gap of a few years between the present day narrative and the historical events leading up to them. This was smartly done by Tameem, I think, as it sets up a great cliffhanger and entry point into the next book in the series. The book has two rather well done plot twists. One I anticipated, or rather, wanted to happen, for there was no hint of it until it did. The other was unexpected and caught me off guard.
Now, let's talk about it's faults, for they are legion. Numerous grammatical errors, repetitious and cliched phrases ("run like the wind"), and awkward choppy sentences plague the work. However, the most egregious error, in my view, was a rather innocuous little phrase that ruined any sense of world-building Tameem had set up: By Jove. The usage of it was not ungrammatical, or even incorrect. It was simply misplaced in the world. One of the most important aspects of fantasy writing is world-building, that's not just creating an interesting world with cultures, religion, history, gods, etc., but also, language. “By Jove,” is a phrase that originated with the Romans as a reference to the god Jupiter (Zeus). A phrase coined by a civilization that doesn't exist in the world, that refers to a god that doesn't exist in the world, and thus would not exist in Tameem's world, should not be used by the characters. Tameem had her own godlike figure in Brikkir that would have worked in place of Jove. This cost Awakening an entire star, and thus I give Awakening a 2 out of 4 stars.
If you are a fan of Frozen, you'll enjoy this book greatly, for like Frozen, it heavily relies upon the bonds of sisterly love to move the plot. Mystery fans looking to branch out into fantasy might enjoy it for its mystery tropes as well. Lastly, I think this would be a good story to get more girls into fantasy for its strong female characters.
As for me, despite a low rating, I'll be looking out for the next book. I look forward to Tameem's next plot twists.
******
Awakening
View: on Bookshelves
Latest Review: Awakening by Tayma Tameem
