Friday, May 24, 2019

{Series Review} Fae's Captive (#1-4) by Lily Archer

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Fae's Captive (#1) by Lily Archer 
2.5 stars

Page Count: 100
Published On: February 19, 2019


Road to Winter (Fae's Captive #2) by Lily Archer
2 stars

Page Count: 94 
Published On: February 19, 2019

Bite of Winter (Fae's Captive #3) by Lily Archer 
2 stars

Page Count: 125 
Published On: March 22, 2019

Beyond the Mountain (Fae's Captive #4) by Lily Archer 

2 stars

Page Count: 164
Published On: April 18, 2019

Series Information:
Published via Amazon Publishing (independently) 
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Erotica

Goodreads synopsis of #1:
My college roommate is the worst. Cecile steals my food, brings guys over at all hours, and parties instead of studying. But those quirks pale in comparison to what she does next. She drugs me, and I wake up imprisoned in an alternate universe full of terrifying creatures.
Now, the biggest and scariest creature of all - a fae king - believes I'm his mate. He's freed me from the dungeon, but, keeps me close. So close, in fact, that I'm beginning to like his wintery gaze and ice-chiseled body. But, secrets and villains lurk throughout this new world. And I don't know if I'll survive long enough to figure out how to get back home.
~~~

I originally picked the first book up for fun. It was recommended to me on Facebook, the cover looked hilariously cheesy, and the premise was just ridiculous enough to pique my interest. I knew this wouldn't be the height of literature, but I didn't expect it to be this discombobulated and disappointing. From the comments that I had read on Facebook and the few reviews on Goodreads, I expected this to be cheesy, but bearable. It was what I wanted. Just for funsies. Buckle up, folks.

This novella and its sequels have a lot of potential to be fantastically cheesy and fun. If you squash all of the little books together and edit it, it would be a decent full-length novel, but it just seemed like the author wanted to churn out chunks of the story (which do not fully connect) and publish them on Amazon without actually editing them. By the end of the fourth installation, I still hardly knew the characters or even cared about their stories. The entire story was just so haphazard that I was purely reading them all to get some sort of closure. I still don't understand the point of the story. 

There's just an immense lack of depth in the characters, the plot, and the world. I wish that there had been more description, less cringe-y dialogue, and more world building. The characters just accept that things are happening, when a realistic and well thought out character would question everything. The explanation that a good fantasy novel would have is not there. It felt like the author was too focused on being mysterious and keeping things for "twists" when there was a perfect place to add some explanation to hint toward the twists that were coming. I constantly found myself annoyed with the lack of explanation.  

As I read these books, I continuously lost hope for any potential that this series would improve. The author continued to make the same mistakes that were found throughout the other books. She constantly over explained her work. I think she did this because of the lack of planning and cohesiveness as she was writing. It's obvious how much she lacked proper planning. Overall, there was just a lack of editing. The switching between modern and older vernacular, inconsistent writing, missing scenes and information, unrealistic sex scenes and emotions surrounding the scenes, and convenient plot additions all revealed her lack of editing and organization.



ALSO the use of "creamy thighs" needs to be ERADICATED from any novel. NO. GROSS! No more of that, please.

I can see the passion behind this story and the characters, but there needs more work, more beta readers with actual experience, and a good editor. I'd love to be this author's editor. It'd be so fun to get this story to where it could be. Right now, it's just a few chunks of a story that aren't written well. It almost felt like reading a strange fanfiction (of something???) that was written on Wattpad in 2014. It just wasn't an enjoyable time. 

I hate to roast these books, but they just need a lot of work before they can be actual books. 

Happy reading!
Olivia

~LivTheBookNerd~

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