What I've been up to:
8:35-10:15PM: Reading Wild Orchid
10:15-10:30: Blog/mini-review
Updated totals:
Time: 7 hours 41 minutes
Books: 3: Hunted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, Hatter M by Frank Beddor, Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey
Pages: 667
My thoughts on Wild Orchid (I'm going to do a full review of this later as I feel like it needs to sit with me a little longer): I loved Wild Orchid, yet was a bit disappointed. The first half of the novel presented Mulan pre-army, developing her background in terms of interest, education, friends (well, really friend), and family history. I really appreciated this depth, except it was partially lost in the second half. Based on the summary and my prior familiarity with Mulan’s story (I promise it’s not just from the Disney movie!), I would have expected her time training and fighting the Huns would have been more significant to the tale. However, Dokey neglected to develop this part of Mulan’s story and more or less rushed through it. Furthermore, the romance between Mulan and Prince Jian seems underdeveloped as they have few interactions throughout the story, and only two are meaningful, so this relationship wasn’t particularly satisfying. Nevertheless, a nice addition to the “Once Upon a Time” collection and a great read for the beach or bedtime. I really enjoyed what was there; I only wish Dokey had expanded the second half of the story. 7 out of 10.
And now, moving along to Madeleine Wickham's The Gatecrasher.
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I've been pretty disappointed in most of the Once Upon a Time books--they feel underwritten somehow, as if there's too much story for the space constraint. I thought about picking up Wild Orchid because I love the Mulan story (mostly because of the movie, I admit with a red face), but hesitated because of prior experience. Based on this review, I'll probably give it a pass.
ReplyDeleteHave fun on the rest of your challenge!