Kimiko and the Accidental Proposal

You know how an eBook will tell you the percentage of the book completed as youre reading? I realized by the 75% mark that the book wasnt going to finish with all the plotlines and I was right. Far more questions than answers, which as a veteran series reader I am usually happy with, so long as the main focus of the book is wrapped up. In this case, it wasnt. At the writing of this review, its the next day and my main feeling towards the book is that of frustration with its lack of completeness. I am not satisfied on any front. This book either needed to be much longer or an editor should have removed a lot more of the minor plots that took up valuable page-time.

— SPOILERS —

By the end of the book, I felt like Quen and Kimis romance was just beginning a three year courtship?! What book # will that get wrapped up in? Will we even get to see it? I kept thinking there would be a fun chapter dedicated to Valentines Day and Kimis obsession with the special chocolate, but it never came. We didnt get nearly enough time spent seeing them interact together. The main reason for this is because of the other many subplots.

Suuzu and Akira, it felt like they got almost as much page-time as Quen and Kimi. I love their plotline and am rooting for their ship to sail, but they took away just as much from the relationship building of Quen/Kimi as it helped.
Then there was Tenman. Wow, is that a character I will be skipping over in any future rereads. His fear was exhausting to read. Dont get me wrong, it was well written, but too much. If he gets his own book eventually, fine, Ill read him then, as there seems to be a mystery to his sensitivities. I am still not sure what happened with Lord Mossberne and how hes no longer broken. Im thinking its safe to assume this storyline will continue in future books. Overall, I would have gladly swapped more than half of Tenmans page-time for more Quen and Kimi.

Inti. When he was introduced at 49% of the way into the book my reaction was Why? Why introduce another character now when the story is finally picking up? And while I like he has a tie-in with Argent, that wasnt discovered until the very end and the build-up to that discover wasnt excited anticipation, more like ugh, why is this annoying monkey here?! I felt like he definitely took away from the main focus of the book a lot more than he added to it. Maybe Tenman wouldnt have been so tedious to read if Inti hadnt been introduced to his plotline.

The rouge dragon/kidnapping. Its still in the background. Not much happening other than we were introduced to more characters who are dedicated to tracking him down. The Anna Green/Starmark/Saint Midori would have been a lot more satisfying to read if it had actually gone anywhere. Instead we get to see her pull out a really kick-ass sword and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to move the plotline forward. It was a really cool piece of backstory, but maybe save the sword for when it will actually be relevant?

Lady Nona. Still in the background and now theres apparently a lab involved. I imagine this story will get more developed in the next books, I just worry how it will fit in with everything else.

Oh, almost forgot, trees are a thing, like with a capital T. Trees. Not sure I care, but they are there in the background now.

So, to recap, the main romance plotline was not wrapped up completely, the subplots from the last book only inched forward a little and a lot more were added. It was beautifully written and the world building is amazing, but too much left open to leave me feeling satisfied. I still recommend it, but dont bother skipping dinner like I did to finish it all in one day.

I want to start off saying Forthright is a fantastic story teller and this book was no different. Her writing style is very unique and refreshing. I enjoyed reading this book and want to credit her for coming up with the Amaranthine World. That being said this book suffered from about 3 extra subplots that detracted from the main story line. While I am all for getting a wholistic picture of a world (I love Brandon Sanderson and Game of thrones both have major subplots occurring) there needs to be the substance to back up each individual plot. There was too much distraction and not enough substance to truly elevate this book.

Spoilers below be warned

As I said before this book really had the basis for at least 3 books (Kimiko/Eloquence, Akira/Suuzo, Tenma/many people, as well as the whole kidnapping thing) but none of it was properly developed enough. I understand that as this is only the second book in the series there is a lot of world building still occurring yet there was too much information included for the subplots and honestly not enough included for the main plot.
Going back to the other relationships formed, Akira and Suuzo really should’ve been a separate book. That relationship developed and changed in the book that it was just begging to be separate.
Secondly, while I understand that the whole free love cult aspect was to represent the Amaranthine’s animal side, it got very weird with the whole beastiality thing at the end and huge gaps in power in many of the relationships (Tenma and Lapis for example).
Lastly, any highschool, especially a social experiment with three different societies present, has conflict. Once everyone was introduced there was absolutely no strain or any fighting mentioned. You would expect at least one thing to have happened but like with many of the other smaller plots, it simply fell away after being introduced.
Everything being said, the world of the Amaranthine is interesting and I will most likely read the next one as well. I just hope it has a bit more direction than this one did.

I really liked the first book, Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox and I was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

I had to force myself to finish this book. The thing that kept coming to me as I was reading this was, “This author needs some beta readers or a better editor.” There was *so* much going on in this book – new characters, new plot points – that I really had a hard time keeping things straight. It took me half way through the book to realize that “Eloquence” and “Quen” were the same character. Sheesh! And I still haven’t quite figured out some of the relationships.

I got through it, but I’m exhausted.

It really pains me to write this. I really like the overall world building, and unique theme. The author’s writing style is lovely and when the story followed one set of characters and one plot line, the book sang. I don’t know if I’ll give the third book a try. We’ll see.

Though Forthright’s writing excellence is in full display in this book, I thought that it was trying to tell too many stories. They’re not hard to follow–Forthright’s talent is in clear and straightforward prose–but I found myself skipping through the non-Kimiko/Eloquence portions. I had hoped for a quirky romance, but it felt overwhelmed by the amount of other things happening, which in the end left me rather underwhelmed by the central story that no longer felt so central. That being said, I am one of those readers who prefers a tight focus on my heroine, so it may be a matter of personal taste.

I love Forthrights writing, shes one of those authors I find really hard to put down. I couldnt believe it when I came to the end of volume 2 this morning, now I have to wait 7 months for volume 3. I think her world building and characterisation are excellent and despite the variety and number of characters, I had no trouble keeping up and felt real empathy with all the characters both great and small. Luckily she has a website and blog with more of her writing, mostly as fanfic, so I shant be totally bereft, plus there is a companion novella available on Kindle with more to come. This is my first real foray into the world of anime and manga, mostly because I used to find graphic novels hard going – its my age according to my son ::twinkle:: (as Forthright would say) – luckily the Amaranthine Saga books are novels, although strangely at times I find myself wishing that they *were* graphic novels. Go figure. Highly recommended.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member