by The WandererAuthor: Freya Robertson
Publisher: Angry Robot Books
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Series: Elemental Book Wars Book One
Pages: 568
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(Disclaimer: Heartwood was won in an online contest and was not purchased).
(Personal Note: I just want to say after going to the author’s website and checking out what kind of person she was I have to say Freya Robertson seems like one of the coolest fantasy authors I’ve read about. That being said, not liking this book, made this one of the hardest reviews I’ve had to write. I respect the effort and time that goes into creating a novel, especially the personal nature of it, however I have to be honest with my reaction to it – which is the point of this site).
Heartwood has a lot of heart, and I’m not trying to be facetious by saying that. The author, Freya Robertson, advocates for a number of ideas – equal treatment of women, the importance of nature, etc. – that many people should find easy to get behind. A lot of the characters support or oppose these ideas, which makes them fairly easy to like or hate.
The problem is these meaningful topics lose meaning when the prose and language used to tell Heartwood is not up to par. There may be all these great ideas in this novel, but the way they are presented to the reader makes it nearly impossible to consume the book with any of the passion the author used to write it. In other words, the way Heartwood is told never allows the story to get off the ground.
