Nocturnal Book Reviews

What a mess! *sighs* I am wretchedly frustrated right now, peeps, considering how much I loved The Dark Heroine. It took me weeks to get through Autumn Rose, and I had to push myself all the way through.

First of all, Autumn Rose doesn't mention Kaspar and Violet until its last 20%. Everything in this book happens parallel to the time stamp of The Dark Heroine but in a different dimension and involving a completely different set of characters.

The main heroine, fifteen-year old Autumn, is a sage, a magic user and a noble woman, a Sagean Duchess of England, who goes to a normal school and struggles with her rising power as a seer and her depression due to the loss of her grandmother.

No one in her school knows who she really is until Prince Fallon enrolls in the same school to keep and eye on her, and they start falling in love.

Straight away I struggled to like Autumn. She did not feel like a well developed character, she was disjointed, jumpy, scattered, neurotic. It seemed that I was supposed to admire her but she confused the hell out of me.

Her relationship with Fallon was even worse. They were meant to feel for each other but I wasn't seeing it. No spark, zilch, nada.

At last there was the whole threat of Extermino suspiciously similar to Harry Potter's Death Eaters and a pretty messy concept of Heroines saving the world. From what? Extermino with their conflicting goals? People like Violet's father? I wasn't seeing the picture.

I perked up a little when Kaspar and Violet showed up, but the joy didn't last. They were described through Autumn's eyes, her perception, and looked pathetic. She was very judgemental, our girl.

So, perhaps, Abigail Gibbs rushed this book through publication, perhaps she felt like she needed a back story and lacked enthusiasm to write it, but whatever the reason, Autumn Rose failed to keep me as enthralled as the previous book. I reserve my judgement until book three, hoping it will rekindle my enthusiasm for the series.