Couldn't Finish It: Blood Ties by Pamela Freeman

Saturday night, at around the 50% complete mark, I decided to stop reading Blood Ties by Pamela Freeman. (note: since I didn't finish the book, this isn't an official review, hence I also decided to leave off the cover art for this post).I'll keep this short so it doesn't sound like I am banging on this book. The writing quality and story were fine, I simply didn't care about any of the characters, and even more important, had no sense the plot had moved forward at all. And the pacing, for me, was too slow. While I appreciate the time spent on world and character building, I felt this occurred at the expense of the story. Sure, the characters were well fleshed out, and the author did a very good job giving the world a sense of place and a tangible history. But, after reading half the book, I didn't feel like any progress has been made in the story. And quite honestly, none of the characters made a connection with me. Going into this, based on other reviews, I know this wasn't the traditional fantasy I normally read. But neither is Best Served Cold or The Long Price Quartet. I can like a book without a quest, or much magic, or elves, dwarves, etc. As long as I care about the story, and heck, as long as I feel there is a story. In this case, I had no feeling for what the plot was supposed to be. I mean, there are hints, and of course I had more hints from the back cover. But at the halfway point, I felt like no real progress had been made on the actual story. It still felt like we were building the characters' and the world's background.

After wondering if I should continue, I decided to check my review index to see what other bloggers had to say. And I found my opinion closely matched Aidan's, and the reviewer at BSC Reviews. And while Jon (Grasping for the Wind) likes the series thus far, his review of book 2 makes me think I would have the same issues in the sequel. Thus, I can't really find the desire to continue. I can see how others would really like this story, and I did think the first-person "story" sections were very well done. I think the best way to phrase my opinion is this: I think this book and I just weren't meant for each other.

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