Sarah AshwoodCríticas

(note for later: typically the Simanthe "join" with other men. Well bc Hannah is a woman, Irregardless gets a chat from an old friend--he respects so much and who could have been the High Chief if not for all that prejudice he feels--about how "Joining" with a woman will have the following complications:
- women are WEIRD
- women have FEELINGS
- women will TEMPT YOU
- SHE WILL LEAD YOU TO DAMNATION WITH HER WOMANLY WILES

the intentional or unintentional implication being that men never develop these feelings for each other when they Join, which frankly seems UNLIKELY even if they don't do this Joining thing often

I want to make something clear, I gave this two stars - despite how FRUSTRATING this was - because I did keep reading. Only partially because I'm a masochistic reader every so often. But in almost every way did this book fail me.

It failed me on it's premise - a portal fantasy about a 20something thrown into a world she has to learn to save. I LIVE FOR THIS

It failed me with it's main character Hannah - a 20something who feels dedicated to helping her family and aimless in her own life. I LIVE FOR THIS

It failed me with it's world building - it's your basic fantasy world with Elf like folk, fairies, immortal warriors and wizards. I LIVE FOR THIS

It failed me on originality - this could have been so engaging. Instead Hannah acts like she's 16 - constant temper tantrums, constantly disregarding solid advice for her safety, lack of ANY foresight, did not do one responsible action (she's so responsible guys, she has to be, she says so), cares more about gossip then solid information about the new world she's stuck in and is belligerent 75% of the time.

I understand why at first she's reluctant to engage in any sort of pleasantries. She's kidnapped from Earth and thrown into a situation that NO ONE explains at all. Her questions go unanswered, but everyone has an opinion about what it all means. Then while some questions are answered she is ATTACKED and instead of learning everything she can and committing to demanding those answers, she becomes petulant.

She then spends the next half of book trying to "find some time for herself" by escaping or wandering off alone in a world she doesn't understand, hunted by an Evil she's already been attacked by once and with no actual way to get home.

Her constant barrage of #NotLikeOtherGirls-itis comes off hollow and obnoxious because she doesn't HAVE any actual skills. Or likeability. Being confused why you are Chosen is forgivable. Being irritated that people keep vaguely explaining necessary information to you is relatable. But when instead of taking the advice they DO give you, you assume they're wrong and do the opposite....you don't get props or accolades. That's not "clever". That's criminally irresponsible.

Meanwhile the overused sexist tropes are doubled down here.

- must be a virgin to be the Chosen Savior CHECK

- Evil Guy decides if he rapes the heroine he wins CHECK

- womanly wiles will destroy a warrior's focus CHECK

- immortal warrior men, hundreds if not thousands of years old, do not understand women because they are complicated CHECK

- heroine is obviously going to fall in love with the warrior who only smiles for her because she's #NotLikeOtherGirls and somehow super special and he's never felt this way before. CHECK

Sigh. Yep. Can not recommend.

Whew, I am a wreck with that ending!

I enjoyed the book, I really did. The author created an interesting underworld, turning an assumed mob-boss instead into a well-loved and respected shifter leader, a savior of sorts. While I won't claim to be familiar with the lore of the mythical creatures presented in the story (and there were many, seemingly well-researched), there was such a varied lot that gave interest to what could otherwise have been your simple tale of a human getting mixed up in a world she didn't know or understand.

Speaking of the human... Ellie was really my main issue with the story. While the story itself was energetic and action-packed, she was naive in an unbelievable way. Sure, she was a preacher's kid of sorts, but she also was a military brat who could more than manage a weapon in defense of others and a nursing student who had admittedly seen her fair share of blood and vomit. I disliked that the story almost painted her belief in God and morality as a reason for her to be, well, unreasonably stupid when presented with the unknown. She could jump into action when in the defense of others (heck, the story opened with her flinging herself into oncoming traffic to save a boy she didn't know), but if she literally wasn't in that sort of moment, she was useless, blind and rather cruel towards the things she didn't understand. By the end of the book, she had softened her outlook towards the man who had done literally nothing but defend and protect her, but it was only after learning more about his history, causing her to pity him. But with his own merits, on his actions - which were very much in line with her belief system whether or not those beliefs went by the same name - they weren't enough to garner her respect. It irked me, and was a distraction from what was otherwise a very interesting and fast-paced story.

As I said, I did enjoy the story itself. Aside from Ellie, I found every other character presented to be engaging and an overall curiosity. I loved the care shown between Mr. and Mrs. Costas. I loved how the author portrayed the idea that, while someone may have a single outward disadvantage, you don't know what's lingering beneath the surface. It will be interesting to see how things continue with the struggle between the rivaling shifters, especially with how the last moments of the book closed things out.

On that note, things do leave on somewhat of a cliffhanger, so if you're not into waiting for resolution, it looks like book two is slated for a November release. I am curious enough about where thngs are headed that I did set myself up for the pre-order, despite my feelings. Hopefully she'll have smartened up a bit in the second go-around, knowing what she does now about the world.

I received a free copy of this book from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

A sweet romance adventure with a lonely knight, a spirited princess, and a dragon curse between them.

After over half a year, I'm finished. After I've had time to let it stew, I will post my thoughts about it over on Reedsy.

I don't know if I would recommend this book. I did greatly enjoy the characters and their arcs. I haven't read much adult fantasy, so I don't know how it compares to other in the genre.

First, I won this book on Librarything as a member give-away. I would have given this book a 5 star review, but it did take some time to get into it. I would say I was hooked around the 10th chapter. I did love this book once I got to that point. It has mythical creatures and all things that I love to read about. I cannot wait to read the second book in this series. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good fantasy.

This book was absolutely amazing!! We will see Hannah Winters in the land of Aerisia in a movie one day!! The world that has been created is a beautiful one and I loved it. I want to go there and I want Ilgarde to fall in love with me! I absolutely loved this book and cannot wait for the third installment. If you want to escape into another world this is the series for you!

This was one of my freebie downloads. If it isn't self-published, it's very close to it – I just checked the website for Griffineus Publications, and Sarah Ashwood appears to be the only author they publish. Anyway, whoever chose the cover artist has fabulous taste. It's too bad that I can't seem to find the artist's name listed anywhere, and that the story didn't live up to the artwork.

Aerisia: Land Beyond the Sunset begins in our world. Almost immediately, Hannah encounters an old man named Risean Wy' Curlm, who tells her that she's the Artan, the prophesied savior of Aerisia. Then, despite her protests, he magically transports her to Aerisia, where everyone again assures her that she will save them all from the Evil. First, though, she must be Joined to her Simathe (the Joining is so important that it must always be written in italics). It takes almost half the book before someone finally tells Hannah what the Joining is, although, to be fair, she doesn't try very hard to find out. Lord Ilgard, High-Chief of the Simathe, is supposed to be her protector, but all Hannah wants is to go back home.

It took an amazingly long time for absolutely nothing to happen. Many pages were devoted to people repeatedly reassuring Hannah that she was really the Artan, while she repeatedly insisted that she was just an ordinary girl. Hannah received detailed lessons about the Spinners, the protection of Aerisia's history, and the creation of the Council, but everyone either avoided telling her about the things that really mattered, or Hannah felt too afraid to push for answers. Avoidance was Hannah's specialty. I could have screamed when she let the perfect opportunity to ask about the Joining slip by.

I knew early on that this was not going to be the best read. The writing was repetitive and lazy. The sections from Hannah's POV were written in the first person, and Ashwood didn't seem to have a good grasp of her “voice.” For example, both of these sentences are Hannah's POV:

“The color of his hair was not the normal white of dotage.” (16)

“I swear some word vomit would’ve burst out if we hadn’t reached our destination when we did.” (182)

By the way, the second sentence is referring to Hannah nearly ripping into Ilgard out of irritation and discomfort. The mental image that “word vomit” gave me did not make me feel much sympathy for her. Even so, it still fit her, a Nike-wearing college student from Colorado, better than “the normal white of dotage.”

The writing was like this throughout the entire book. Sometimes Hannah's thoughts read like those of a high fantasy character, and sometimes she sounded more like a modern day American. The latter fit her better than the former, although I hated her tendency to overuse the words “crazy,” “weird,” “stupid,” and “freaky/freaked.” The sections from Ilgard's POV were written in the third person and were much more consistent. I honestly think Ashwood would have been better off writing the entire book in the third person.

Why did I continue reading this? Well, the beginning, at least, reminded me a lot of Fuyumi Ono's The Twelve Kingdoms series. A seemingly ordinary girl transported to a fantasy world, where she eventually learns that she's important and potentially very powerful. It's cliched, but also my personal catnip. Unfortunately, whereas things actually happen in Ono's books, Aerisia: Land Beyond the Sunset felt like it plodded along forever.

Hannah's response to almost everything was to cry, pout, shout, and/or dig her heels in and absolutely refuse to do what she was told. It sometimes felt like I was reading about a giant toddler. Ashwood kept trying to hint at growing romantic feelings between Hannah and Ilgard, but Ilgard's moment of weakness, when he found himself thinking “why me?” as Hannah once again acted like a child, was far more believable. The three or so times she was almost killed were all due to her wandering away from (or purposely escaping) her guards.

I'm still not sure what everyone expected Hannah to do. She managed to use magic a grand total of once, by accident. After the Joining, instead of immediately finding a magic teacher for her, the Simathe did absolutely nothing for so long that even Hannah became impatient. Then, rather than teach her magic, they “taught” her to use a bow. The book's ending only happened because silly Hannah decided to escape the Simathe, despite having no idea where to go from there and no plan for dealing with Aerisia's various dangers.

This was when I was reminded of a worrying line in the Prophecy of the Artan: “She will be untouched by man and untainted by The Evil” (7). This seemed to indicate that the Artan needed to be a virgin. Unfortunately, I was right, andthe Evil jumped to the obvious conclusion that one of the ways to defeat the Artan was to rape her – I guess killing her would have been too easy. Hannah was saved in the nick of time, but it still irked me that rape even had to enter the picture. And, because of the way the prophecy was written, the Evil and its minions could repeatedly threaten to rape her for the rest of the trilogy. Wonderful.

I have no plans to continue reading this series.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

This book was absolutely amazing!! We will see Hannah Winters in the land of Aerisia in a movie one day!! The world that has been created is a beautiful one and I loved it. I want to go there and I want Ilgarde to fall in love with me! I absolutely loved this book and cannot wait for the third installment. If you want to escape into another world this is the series for you!

I felt like the story line was a bit cookie cutter but good overall.

The writing was fairly good. There is obvious talent here - the writer just needs a slight nudge to write better. There were a few areas with inconsistent writing - one area would seem honed and well written while another would seem more like it was written by a novice writer. There are some great descriptions but also some less great dialogue and internal monologue.

I enjoyed this story; it had elements of fantasy and you can see where a romance is beginning to start. I found the main character, Hannah, to be a believable girl from this time frame, being stubborn and ornery but really insecure and unsure in a situation like that. However, there were parts where I got frustrated with her because she would not stay put and keep her mouth shut to avoid furthur trouble. I enjoyed her coming down to dinner in a fancy dress (total girl move) to have dinner with a room full of guys and from her perspective, she didnt get a single response. But it wasnt until the end of the first book that she seemed to finally get it and learn to work with the stubborn man, Simatha. I was disappointed that it was end of the book and the audience still doesnt know what she is supposed to be doing at Aerisia. All we know is that she is kidnapped and taken here to save them and she is really important and has to be protected. She has created minimal allies (2-3) and managed through travel or betrayal to be reduced down to a tentative ally in Simatha, who doesnt want her there and had to join with her to keep her safe. All in all, it was a decent book, if I had the second in the series I would have read it but I dont think that I would search it out. I think it would be good for tween/teen but the action is frustrating and slow, there are minimal points that stick out as memorable.

Has elements of a romance as well as a fantasy. I found it very entertaining. It took a while to get into the story- mostly because the first few chapters were "telling" the story rather than "showing" so I didn't feel like I was in the story and engaged in it until around Chapter 10. But after that I was fully in the story and I enjoyed it a great deal. But the world is very fun and exciting and am very interested to see how it continues. I would have preferred reading this as part of a larger novel rather than a stand alone as it ends in the middle of the story. I loved all the fantasy elements in the story (fantasy creatures, magic, etc.)

I received Aerisia free for review.

We start out with immediate action with our heroine being taken from Earth to a new world. She soon realizes she is supposed to be the savior of this new world, and has to be joined so no harm comes to her until she learns all she needs to learn from this magical world.

Cons:
I felt some tweaking could be done Hannah's life and back-story. I was confused trying to figure out her age, and quite surprised she was old enough to have graduated from High School by some of her thoughts and actions, yet again when someone is that young and plopped into a situation like this, one might kick her heels a bit and start acting like a middle schooler if you know what I mean.

Pros:
1. Loved the new world and fascinated by the races.
2. Liked the book with some meat yet a Tween could read this. It is so hard finding books with substance for my soon to be 13 year old. She gets really bored with books written for her age.
3. It's a book where I want to hunt out the next one in the series and will make it a point to do so. It really starting picking up right when it ended. So much more I want to know.

I really loved the book and cannot wait for book 2.

Well, I made it through the book, and I hate to say it but it really didn't pick up for me until she met the Simatha.

The first problem I have is that we don't really get any of her background in the beginning. I think that the author was trying to make this character an everyman in that her background and age are never revealed. All we know is her name and that she lives on a farm somewhere. Is she 15 or 25? White? Privileged? Rich? Poor? Instead of the lack of background making her more relatable, to me, it doesn't.

The second issue was the mythology and history being thrust in at the beginning. Usually when I pick up a book, I like to follow the character as an action character, not as someone that's interested in lore. And really, to me, this should be the last thing that Hannah should be worried about. She should be more worried about what she has to do and how she will achieve her goal than the lore of the place she is and the history of its people. Once again, I understand what the author was trying to do. She was trying to introduce the lore in something other than an appendix, but I think that would have been better utilized as a separate chapter instead of through dialogue.

First, I received this book on Librarything as a member give-away. I would have given this book a 5 star review, but it did take some time to get into it. I would say I was hooked around the 10th chapter. I did love this book once I got to that point. It has mythical creatures and all things that I love to read about. I cannot wait to read the second book in this series. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good fantasy.

The first book in this trilogy is a teaser for details in this other world, Aerisia. Every book in an epic should be so forthcoming in supporting details such as legends, lore and history of fictional realms beyond our own. I was quite pleased with the graphically created scenery through descriptive words used throughout this volume. I have to say I am looking forward to reading the next release as soon as possible.