My Five Word TL:DR Review: Fantasy Standalone with some Romance

Green and Deadly Things is a fantasy story that manages to include romance without overtaking the plot and is a standalone – almost a mythical beast in this world where fantasy books usually come in threes.

I wouldn’t say I loved this but at the same time I was never tempted to set it aside. In a nutshell this felt a little YA to me, which isn’t a bad thing at all, but I was expecting a little more depth. As it is I think this would work really well for readers who are new to fantasy. It has action and adventure and concludes perfectly.

The story revolves around a character known as Math. Math is a novitiate in a knight-style order but unfortunately, and in spite of years of training, he has not yet been able to manifest a weapon – which means he will ultimately not become a knight. In spite of this Math loves the Order, he is kind and also clever, but he has secrets that, if known to the other knights, would certainly result in his expulsion, if not worse.

The story got off to a really good start and made a great first impression, setting the scene with ease and throwing us into an immediate situation of conflict. Math manages to solve a riddle and at the same time open a long hidden maze awakening what is believed to be a grimlord in the process. From there Math finds himself magically linked to the woman he has awoken and everything he believes is about to be upturned, not to mention he will find himself on the run from the Order he loves and wants to spend his life serving.

So, what I enjoyed about this. Well, there is a romance brewing between Math and the woman he has awoken, but it’s not the central part of the plot and doesn’t monopolise the story. I really enjoyed the story of the Three Queens and in fact would have liked more from that element. I also particularly love that this is a standalone, it just feels so rare these days. The writing is easy to get along with, it felt a little over descriptive in places but as I mentioned earlier I had no issues completing this.

What I didn’t get along so well with. I think, perhaps because this is a standalone, it doesn’t have the time to really expand, to let you grow to know the characters, the world or the magic. There’s almost a hyper type of feel, we rush from one situation to the next, run away, hide, fight, repeat. But, it lost tension because of this. The characters were a little flat and although there seemed to be betrayals and revelations they didn’t quite deliver the shock or impact that you would expect. And there was also some signalling, or perhaps I just anticipated certain things before they happened. Some of the revelations felt a little obvious.

Overall, this has some really good ideas, it gets off to a great start and also concludes really well. I felt the middle lost me a little in it’s repetitiveness and, it felt a little younger to me than I was expecting or hoping for. That being said I have no doubt this will find its audience and I think it would be good starting point for readers new to fantasy.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars