Review: The Boy with the Hidden Name by Skylar Dorset
The Boy with the Hidden Name (Otherworld #2)
by: Skylar Dorset
Publication Date: Dec. 2, 2014
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: Fantasy
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: e-ARC received via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 320 pages
Order Links: Amazon
My Rating: 3/5 stars
This is not your average trip to Fairyland...Selkie Stewart has just saved her quasi-boyfriend, Ben, from a fairy prison run by the Seelie Court. If they weren't the two most-wanted individuals in the Otherworld before, they definitely are now. Along with Ben and the rest of their ragtag group of allies-Selkie's ogre aunts; a wizard named Will; Ben's cousin Safford; and Kelsey, Selkie's best friend-Selkie is ready to embrace her destiny and bring the Court down. Until she hears the rest of her prophecy: Benedict le Fay will betray you, and then he will die.
The Boy with the Hidden Name picks up right where The Girl Who Never Was left off, only this time I feel we hit the ground running and jump right into the action of our characters racing against time to save the world from the Seelie Court. I enjoyed this book much more than I did the first. I felt we had a stronger storyline and I liked meeting Selkie and crew's new allies and watching them traverse new places. The characterization was still off for me, and I had a hard time connecting with Selkie. I did like Ben more in this book though and I could tell his feelings for her were genuine. While I liked the plot more, it does still lack the depth that I think really could have made this one great. Everything is very surface level and I wanted to go deeper.
Selkie was just a hard character to like. She just didn't seem very mature for her age. One minute she's in love with Ben and the next she's denying her feelings because she's upset with the course he took at the end of the first book. It seemed she was trying to come across as snarky, but instead just sounded rather petulant for me. Not every fantasy heroine has to be confident and self-assured, but sometimes Selkie just really grated on my nerves with her 'woe is me, what are we going to do' attitude.
Even though Selkie had a 'change of heart' regarding Ben, I actually did enjoy how the relationship shaped up. He has to earn back her trust and prove to her that he is one faerie she can trust and depend on. There is more romance in this book than the first, so the romance lover in me was quite happy with all the kissing!
I do applaud Dorset on some of her twists and turns. I honestly did not see them coming! I felt they were both rather bittersweet, but very fitting to the storyline. Dorset also did a good job of resolving all plot threads and concluding the story. While this duology wasn't my favorite of fae books, I did still enjoy them overall and am glad I ventured into the world Dorset has created.
2 comments
It's such a shame this series didn't end up being as awesome as it could have been. I think I'll still give it a shot since I do love fae and it's only a duology but I'll prepare myself. Great review.
ReplyDeleteAw, too bad. I kind of fell in love with this cover and had to come check this book out (I'm superficial like that - ha!). I do like twists and turns that you don't see coming, but it's unfortunate that the main character was annoying.
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
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