Review: Seven Realms Series

The Seven Realms Series by Cinda Williams Chima (4/5)

As always, review will be spoiler free. I enjoyed this series a lot, and it’s actually the first one I really got into for a long time. (I’ve found it hard to read lately so yay!) There were little things that bothered me here and there (and had me screaming “Han you’re an idiot!”) but the good parts overshadowed them.

The Good

1. Most of characters are likeable. I don’t think any of them incessantly annoyed me, which is a low bar but what can I say. Han is a charming rascal with a criminal past, which is right up my alley. Raisa is confident, outspoken, and strong-willed. She juggles men like a pro and I love that for her. I enjoyed the other major supporting characters as well, in a like but not love sort of way.
2. The magic system and world building is probably my favorite part of this series. It’s a soft irrational magic system (I tend to get more excited about the opposite) but it works for the story. Sometimes it’s fun not to know what magic a wizard might whip out next.
3. There is a love triangle, but it’s one of the least obnoxious ones I’ve read in a YA novel. And actually… there are several male characters involved. Raisa gets around and I respect her for it. She is a beautiful princess and heir to the throne so it makes sense.

The Less Good

1. Both of the main characters can be very dense sometimes. I found that some things that were very obvious for me (and not because of extra knowledge the characters didn’t have) but it took forever for Han and Raisa to catch up. Even though, most of the time, they’re both very intelligent, clever people. It felt like they were being stupid for the sake of the plot.
2. This is a very minor thing related to the writing itself more than the story, but it bugged me so I feel the need to bring it up. The author had a tendency to overuse certain phrases (the one that comes to mind is “as if she had read his mind…” and variations upon it). Some readers might not care about this but it got to the point where my brain noticed it every time and it took me out of the story.

This is very much a side note, but the first book had a ridiculous number of Aladdin parallels and I’m wondering if it was accidental or if the author was influenced by that story (no judgment! I support drawing inspiration from your favorite stories). After looking at some other reviews, either no one else noticed or no one put it in their review. Someone please read this and tell me I’m not the only one?