REVIEW: Desdaemona by Ben Macallan

Desdaemona by Ben Macallan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book could have been a lot better. I had more excitement reading the book description than I did reading the book itself. Oh, there were exciting parts in the book but they were scarce. Most of the book was about the characters’ emo issues. *rolls eyes* It was not what I signed up for.

+ the characters

Jordan was the main character and the narrator. I didn’t mind how he deliberately kept the reader in the dark about his identity... at first. It was not until the middle of the book that I came to realize there was absolutely NO reason for him to do so. Most of the characters knew who he was from the start. When he finally told the reader who he was, it came as a passing matter of fact, not as a plot twist or like anything that was supposed to astound the reader. My patience with Jordan quickly wore thin, and I was already struggling with his long-winded narration. On the bright side, I was glad he actually did things beside just running away and hiding behind Desdaemona and used his brain.

Desdaemona, I liked. I found consolation in the familiarity of her attitude as a kickass heroine. I loved how she was utterly confident in her abilities to kick ass and protect Jordan. She cautiously approached danger and fought enemies strategically. What happened at the climax, I didn’t fault Desi for becoming the person she wanted to be and why she what she did.

+ the world building

The world building was murky as shit. It was a chore to even learn surface details. Surface. For example, readers learn a small group of powerful families ruled over the hidden magical world. What readers do not learn are who all of them were, what they ruled over, why they ruled over what they ruled, and so forth. Learning a few of their names and that that their names were not to be spoken lightly should not (seemingly at least) constitute HALF of the information given about these families.

Underdeveloped world building is rarely ever an issue for me because my imagination can fill in the gaps, but these weren’t gaps. They were fucking canyons. The world building was very disjointed.

+ the ending

The ending was a PISSER. The bad guy our characters fought wasn’t EVEN the main bad guy, and formidable as that bad guy was, the battle should have been a simple case of numbers. The book spent an inordinate amount of time building how each of those characters were powerful, but when it came to the final battle those characterizations were thrown to the wind.

To add insult to injury, the book had the audacity to end abruptly with nothing resolved and a new issue at the last minute. The “The End” mocked the reader. It FUCKING mocked me. If I didn’t have book 2 on hand and value my stuff, I would have spent days cursing the book out and smashing things.

In Conclusion

I rate Desdaemona 2-stars for it was okay. I was never so bored that I felt compelled to skim (the pacing was surprisingly brisk), but I was annoyed with the narration and angered by the ending. The 2-stars is conditional on the fact that I had book 2 on hand to read next.

After reading book 2 and thus finishing the series, I can firmly say I do not recommend the series whatsoever. Avoid.

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