Early Review – Garden of the Cursed (Garden of the Cursed, Book 1) by Katy Rose Pool (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 347 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Release Date: June 20, 2023
ASIN: B0B54KGTRY
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Garden of the Cursed series
Source: eGalley for review from NetGalley
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Since fleeing the gilded halls of Evergarden for the muck-filled canals of the Marshes, Marlow Briggs has made a name for herself as the best cursebreaker in Caraza City. But no matter how many cases she solves, she is still haunted by the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.
When Adrius Falcrest, Marlow’s old friend and scion of one of Caraza’s most affluent spell-making families, asks her to help break a life-threatening curse, Marlow wants nothing to do with the boy who spurned her a year ago. But a new lead in her mother’s case makes Marlow realize that the only way to get the answers she desperately seeks is to help Adrius and return to Evergarden society—even if it means suffering through a fake love affair with him to avoid drawing suspicion from the conniving Five Families.
As the investigation draws Marlow into a web of deadly secrets and powerful enemies, a shocking truth emerges: Adrius’s curse and her mother’s disappearance may just be clues to an even larger mystery, one that could unravel the very foundations of Caraza and magic itself.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Garden of the Cursed duology. I got an eGalley of this book from NetGalley to review.
Thoughts: I wanted to give this author another shot. I DNF’d “There Will Come a Darkness”, so I never continued on with that series. This started a bit slow for me but I ended up liking it. It’s a pretty typical YA fantasy. It’s got that whole girl who was ousted from upper society meets upper society boy who used to be her best friend…but now they’re older theme. Circumstances force them to pretend to be a couple and they fall in love. It’s a pretty typical YA fantasy trope. It also has the whole trying to rebel to take magic from high society and make it available to the general populace thing going on.
Despite this feeling a lot like many other YA fantasies I’ve read before, I liked some of the twists at the end. The writing is decent. It felt like the writing quality got better as the book went on, but that may have been me just getting used to Pool’s writing style.
I finished it, I liked it fine. I did feel like there were some plot points that just didn’t quite make sense. For example, the main character, Marlow, always seems to have curses to fling around even though they are supposed to be super expensive and hard to get? Also some things are just wrapped up a bit too conveniently. Like the secret around Marlow’s father…saw that one coming from a mile away. I think I can probably tell you how book 2 is going to go plot-wise as well.
Will I read, the second book in the duology? Maybe? I am on the fence right now. This was fine but I thought there were things that could be improved. Given my history with Pool’s first book, I may just not really sync with her writing style well.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a decent YA fantasy read, full of typical YA tropes that readers know and love. I did enjoy some of the plot twists torward the end of the book but also felt like the plot was fairly predictable. I don’t seem to mesh very well with Pool’s writing style since I didn’t love “There Will Come a Darkness” either. This is a solid YA fantasy book that revisits the tropes of forbidden love and stealing magic from the rich. If that’s what you are looking for you might enjoy this. I am not sure if I will read the second book in the duology.