Pearl Angeli's Reviews > A Girl Named Calamity

3 Stars

Reading A Girl Named Calamity was like reading a combination of Throne of Glass and Shadow and Bone. It simply has a lot of potentials. I loved the plot, the world building, and the magical concept. It's almost perfect, but then the main characters happened and they were difficult to like.

The story begins when Calamity discovered that she has a hidden magic and she is the key to the destruction of Alyria. To prevent such demise, she was sent away by her grandmother and urged her to go to Undaley City right away. Her grandmother insisted that she will never remove her cuffs so her supernatural abilities will be concealed from the people who are chasing her. On her way, she met the brooding assassin named Weston who helped her get to her destination safely. However, she's not sure about his motives on why he's helping her.

This book was adventure-packed and full of action. There were some scenes that wowed me, like the one where Calamity entered the Red Forest and the place rained blood. I loved that scene so much! The way it was described was just... wow! I have to say that the vividly described settings where Calamity and Weston traveled here were the ultimate strength of this book.

The plot was thoroughly crafted and the magical concept was clean. I could say that the writing was also good, but it needs a bit of an improvement to bring out a livelier portrayal.

I hate to say this... but I found my biggest pet peeve here: annoying character. I didn't like Calamity as a heroine. She was poorly developed and she annoyed me too much. If I'm Weston, I've already left her sooner because she just can't stop whining and asking questions on repeat. Plus, she made numerous reckless decisions that led her to danger. And she doesn't even learn from her mistakes. Ugh.

I also didn't like Weston. Nothing's wrong with being a brooding character but he was so rude all the time. We might not notice it but he also tends to become an abusive hero. All throughout the book I was hoping that he'd get nice and his character will improve, but to no avail.

This could have been an amazing read for me if the characters turned out to be likable. The ending was powerful, though. It was a cliffhanger but it was done in sophistication. The kind that leaves the reader with so much anticipation on what will happen in the next book.

(A free copy of this book was provided by the author Danielle Lori in exchange for an honest review.)