T. S. Winterway

The best I can say about this book is that it was ok. It was interesting enough (and short enough) that I read it all in one sitting, but it just seemed like it lacked depth. There were a lot of pieces of worldbuilding, but they didn’t quite fit together to make a cohesive whole. The most obvious example is that the book started off with a detailed description of magically-powered machines - and then they had no impact on the story and were never mentioned again. That happened several times; something new would pop up, either sound important or almost impact the characters, and then never be mentioned again.

The description says the book is a “character-based romance” and I will say that the characters were the reason that I continued reading, since I found the worldbuilding lacking and the plot kind of weak.… (meer)

I was excited about the description: a fantasy LGBT romance adventure - several of my favorite things. However, reading it did not bear out my hopes. Overall, this was a good but not great read. There were certainly elements that were well done. The author did the cover art and map themself, and it was lovely. The story was decent, though the characters weren't particularly engaging or memorable for me. When interrupted, I found that I wasn't in a hurry to continue. The writing was very nice in places with some beautiful turns of phrase. The world-building was notably good, and the discovery of more about the universe was skillfully paced through the book. It feels like a first book for the author, though it's not specifically mentioned anywhere. They could really benefit by a good editor and proofreader for their next project. There's definite potential with a few kinks to work out. Advanced copy received through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
… (meer)