Thursday 2 May 2013

Book Review: Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield


Lucy’s Chantress magic will make her the most powerful — and most hunted — girl in England.

“Sing, and the darkness will find you.” This warning has haunted fifteen-year-old Lucy ever since she was eight and shipwrecked on a lonely island. Lucy’s guardian, Norrie, has lots of rules, but the most important is that Lucy must never sing. Not ever. Now it is 1667, Lucy is fifteen, and on All Hallows’ Eve, Lucy hears a tantalizing melody on the wind. She can’t help but sing — and she is swept into darkness.

When she awakes in England, Lucy hears powerful men discussing Chantresses — women who can sing magic into the world. They are hunting her, but she escapes and finds sanctuary with the Invisible College, an organization plotting to overthrow the nefarious Lord Protector. The only person powerful enough to bring about his downfall is a Chantress. And Lucy is the last one in England.

Lucy struggles to master the song-spells and harness her power, but the Lord Protector is moving quickly. And her feelings for Nat, an Invisible College apprentice and scientist who deeply distrusts her magic, only add to her confusion…

Time is running out, and the fate of England hangs in the balance.

This book had so much potential, the idea is awesome and interesting it offers something intriguing and a little bit different, but somewhere along the line this book just got lost for me.

There were four real issues I had with this book. The first was the lack of action, not much seemed to happen for a lot of the book. There was a lot of sitting around and talking but not much else, I wasn’t exactly bored by it but it didn’t grip me either. I just needed more to happen.

The second problem was the characters. They are alright but there is not enough to them. I knew very little about them and their personalities were never really developed. They were not funny, shy, happy or anything else. A few of them did have bigger personalities but generally these characters were unlikeable. The rest I found bland, including Lucy, who I struggled to connect with.

Thirdly was the villain, I just didn’t think he was bad enough. Sure, his motives and methods were nasty but like all the other characters there was not enough to him for me to actually see his villainous side, I wanted more from him.

Lastly was the romance. The blurb said this book was romantic, but in my opinion there was not enough romance in this book to be considered romantic. I felt no chemistry or connection between Lucy and Nat and to be honest I didn’t really like him for the first half of the book and neither did Lucy.

To be fair it is not all bad news. The idea for this book is a good one which I found fresh and original and the writing was good. I had no problems envisioning this world and what was happening in it. I also enjoyed the few bits of action.

Chantress is not a bad book, it is perfectly readable but it is not engaging enough to be a book that I will remember.

3 stars


Published May 7th 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry.  A free copy was provided for review. Image courtesy of Goodreads

Review by Kate Phillips

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