Review: Tribute

Tribute by Ellen Renner

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hmm, yeah, this book wasn't as good as I hoped it would. The scene on the cover does actually happen, but it's not nearly as awesome as I thought it wuld be. And the plot is interesting, I really like the idea of the magical minority ruling the non-magical majority. It's a pretty reasonable caste system in a fantasy world.

I just had something different in mind when I started reading: I thought Zara would go on a more epic journey, rather than just sneak around underground for most of the novel. Though the sequel sounds like it will show us more of the world, so maybe I'll give that a chance.

I did like how Zara was like the perfect representation of well-meaning ally that really doesn't see her privilege. She gets angry when the oppressed people hate her because omggg can't you see I'm one of the good guys, but she's CONSTANTLY referring to the non-magical people as "kine" in her inner monologue, and we're told early on that kine means cattle and that when non-magicals here her use this they get offended. Yes, Zara, I understand that you've grown up with people using that slur and it's understandable that you do, but you also make zero effort to change your language, so you're not nearly as great of an ally as you think. But this definitely feels like it was done on purpose by the author, and I liked that.

What I didn't like was the rushed romance, the rushed character development and her comically evil dad. I really would have preferred to read a novel that was 100 pages longer but that actually took its time setting things up.

If I know myself I'll probably read the sequel, but I won't rush out to buy it ...

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True story.