Book Review: The Wren in the Holly Library by K. A. Linde

Rating: 3 stars of 5

This is going to be a bit ranty, and for that I apologize.

Many of the Red Tower books I have read have left me wondering if this publisher does not hire editors or proofreaders and this one was no exception. It’s full of oddly constructed sentences, grammatical errors, and tedious info dumps that don’t move the story along. In one instance, a character’s sex changes mid-sentence.

It's starting to feel a bit scammy, honestly. How can a publisher put a cover price of $32.99 on a book that hasn’t made it through enough rounds of development to have removed things like mid-sentence tense switches or sex changes? The stenciled edges may be pretty, but they can’t distract from a reading experience that ends up feeling like work that I am not only not being paid to do; I have paid a premium price for the “privilege” of being pulled out of the story by the errors as I read.

If it had been better edited, I’d have rated this one with 4 stars. The premise was interesting, and I liked that at one point, the FMC saves herself instead of relying on a dude to save her. She finds her own power. When characters prove untrustworthy, she chooses herself instead of someone unworthy. How refreshing! Unfortunately, the errors reduced the overall reading experience to just middling for me.

Pet notes: Holly is not a vine.

Content advisory: strong language, open door romance, some gruesome scenes

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