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Book Review: Torn by Amanda Hocking
Apr. 22nd, 2012 03:29 amThis is the second in a series that began with Switched. I don't know much about the author, Amanda Hocking, but the amazon page tells me that Switched was self-published and apparently the buzz online got the book noticed and published/distributed enough that it's in Wal-Mart now. I am not going to say that these two are perfect books but they are strong. She's got a simple, straight-forward style and tbh it's kind of a relief after reading through prose-y we-want-to-be-poetic books.
The whole premise is about a girl who one day finds out she's not human- she's a changeling, but not of faeries or pixies, oh no, she's a troll. Troll here being reinterpreted as a more fey-like species who call themselves Trylle and have powers relating to nature and sometime mental abilities that let them convince humans or other Trylle to do stuff, and the Trylle have long been leaving their children with humans to raise. Only unlike traditional fairy changelings, these are left with a purpose: to inherit their host-family's wealth. When the kid comes of age the Trylle find and reclaim them (and their money too). This is kind of ridiculous but kind of intriguing too. Anyway, into that wanders our heroine Wendy who at 17 gets reclaimed early and rather unwillingly, only to find out she's the daughter of the Trylle queen Elora (HAH! WILLOW!!) and heir to the throne. Everything rapidly goes to hell in short order.
Book two is essentially Wendy coming to grips with her status and duty and being as I'm not a teenager anymore I found her a lot less annoying this time around. The thing I like about Wendy is that she is idealistic but she is also capable of seeing reality and even accepting it, and her author doesn't come across as writing some starry-eyed wish-fulfillment claptrap either.
There's some fun features of the Trylle race and way of life, there's a love-triangle because every book now has to have a love triangle by law- but this one's at least a bit more believably like a teenage girl developing one crush and then another- and thank all the gods of literature Wendy isn't an idiot about it.
In all it's a cute, diverting read that is a fun little ride. It's not the best or most addicting but I'll definitely be buying the next book to see what happens.
The whole premise is about a girl who one day finds out she's not human- she's a changeling, but not of faeries or pixies, oh no, she's a troll. Troll here being reinterpreted as a more fey-like species who call themselves Trylle and have powers relating to nature and sometime mental abilities that let them convince humans or other Trylle to do stuff, and the Trylle have long been leaving their children with humans to raise. Only unlike traditional fairy changelings, these are left with a purpose: to inherit their host-family's wealth. When the kid comes of age the Trylle find and reclaim them (and their money too). This is kind of ridiculous but kind of intriguing too. Anyway, into that wanders our heroine Wendy who at 17 gets reclaimed early and rather unwillingly, only to find out she's the daughter of the Trylle queen Elora (HAH! WILLOW!!) and heir to the throne. Everything rapidly goes to hell in short order.
Book two is essentially Wendy coming to grips with her status and duty and being as I'm not a teenager anymore I found her a lot less annoying this time around. The thing I like about Wendy is that she is idealistic but she is also capable of seeing reality and even accepting it, and her author doesn't come across as writing some starry-eyed wish-fulfillment claptrap either.
There's some fun features of the Trylle race and way of life, there's a love-triangle because every book now has to have a love triangle by law- but this one's at least a bit more believably like a teenage girl developing one crush and then another- and thank all the gods of literature Wendy isn't an idiot about it.
In all it's a cute, diverting read that is a fun little ride. It's not the best or most addicting but I'll definitely be buying the next book to see what happens.