The Affiliate (Ascension #1)

I cannot even begin to talk about all the things I hated about this book. I tried really hard to get to the end (and seriously, I finish everything I read), but I ended up skimming/skipping through the last 50% of the book. I guess the one redeeming quality of this book was that I was curious enough about some elements of the plot to at least read the last pages to find out what was going on with the magic stuff which is the only thing that bumped my score up from a 1 star. Probably my biggest problem with this book was the schizophrenic nature of Cyrene. She is either so poorly developed it makes it unenjoyable to read or she is really well developed and I despise everything about her. First of all, she can\’t figure out what to do about the King. She openly and proudly flirts with him, dances with him, takes walks with him alone, hopes he kisses her, etc. But then suddenly out of the blue is acts shocked that he wants her as his mistress??!! Also, I didn\’t really see anything that makes the Queen so evil other than she really dislikes Cyrene (probably because of all the aggressive flirting she\’s doing with her husband!). And yes, she is mean and spiteful…but again, her husband and those around her have given her every reason to act that way. And there is literally never any indication as to why in the world either Cyrene or the King would have any other feelings for each other. It feels so much like two people just trying to hook up regardless of who they hurt. And the only development of the king is those random moments with Cyrene. I went from being apathetic about both main characters to ardently hoping they would both die a horrible death because they rubbed me the wrong way. And what is the role of the Consort?!! That is NEVER explained — and I actually don\’t even know what an affiliate does other than run errands. Is the consort really an appointed mistress of the king\’s (which is what consort means) who has equal say in everything or just a title someone is using incorrectly? I don\’t know. So basically, the plot had some interesting elements, there are a few side characters I\’d love to see developed and would be much more interesting to me (Kael) than Cyrene and hte King, but I can\’t make myself read the second book. If you love characters with no moral compass, no depth or strength, and completely and utterly consumed by selfishness, you might enjoy this. If you like some redeeming value in your characters — stay away.

I wasn\’t overly impressed with the free sample of \”The Affiliate,\” but the comparison someone made to \”Throne of Glass,\” which I very much enjoyed, made me take a chance. I should have gone with my gut. I agree with everything that was written by reviewer Wendy D. Rambling plot, dislikable characters, etc. I\’ll also add that this book has obnoxiously poor grammar. For example, \”She accepted it, albeit begrudgingly, that she had just done it.\” Most irritating to me, however, was that the main character had been training for this honor her entire life, and passed several apparently grueling tests to judge her loyalty, obedience, and devotion to duty. Then she abruptly scraps her whole life, abandons her post and runs to another country due to her curiosity about a book whose writing she can\’t read- and drags two other evidently super-loyal subjects of the realm down with her. And for those who may want to defend this book and say \”it\’s because of her magic,\” I\’ll have you go back and look at the chronology of this piece of sophomoric garbage. She decided to run away WELL BEFORE she knew she had magic. \”The Affiliate\” is flighty, poorly written, and I\’m sorry I wasted my time and money.

I love a hot, juicy, tension-filled romance. But you know what I REALLY like? Being there in that romance every step of the way. I like being privy to all their “moments”, conversations, and “get to know you” steps. I like seeing the tension boil over. I like reading the first awkward conversations and seeing those transform into confident flirting and then possibly further. What I DON’T like is being told that two people are getting to know each other… and not seeing any of it first hand. That’s what happened in The Affiliate. Don’t get me wrong—The Affiliate wasn’t a bad book. It’s a fantasy story and that part was definitely cool. I liked the world that K.A. Linde created, particularly the whole magical element. But there’s also a forbidden romance between Cyrene—the main character—and King Edric. Sadly, this romance was 100% told instead of shown. We don’t even get to be part of their biggest “getting to know each other” period. Cyrene and King Edric have a few awkward, public conversations together at the beginning. They’re all pretty formal and professional with a little bit of snark/flirt. But a little further on, they get to finally spend some alone time together and get to know each other. Four days of it. Guess what we saw of that… …This paragraph: \”She and Edric paced the deck, discussing everything from geographical formations to ancient history to gardening. Over meals, they found themselves contemplating various cultural differences between the cities of Byern, and at night, they practiced languages and read aloud late into the night. They listened to a minstrel on board, danced their favorite jigs, taught each other card games, and watched the sunset over the Taken Mountains\” We’re TOLD that they did all these things and we’re just supposed to BELIEVE that it was all awesome and romantic. * We saw ZERO dialogue from this period. * We didn’t get a play-by-play of any of those discussions, reading sessions, or minstrel performances. * We didn’t get to live or experience any of it. Those four days set the foundation for their whole relationship and we didn’t see any of it. This romance could have been so fantastic. There was chemistry between the characters and I was interested in both of them, but the actual implementation was SO SHALLOW. I hate it when something so potentially great is ruined because it’s too vague. I can’t be expected to love a romance if I don’t experience any of it. Despite this shallow romance, I still recommend The Affiliate to fantasy lovers! The romance is not so great—we’ve established that. But The Affiliate is still an interesting fantasy book. * I liked the story. * It has an interesting fantasy world and history. * It ended on a cool note—I’m excited to see what happens next! * It has magic. I freakin’ love magic. If you ignore the romance and ignore the fact that all the “eligible bachelors” are OBSESSED with the main character (I hate that) then it’s a pretty darn good read!

*Originally Posted on Wee Shubba\’s World* I bought this a whim! It was only 99p on kindle and well that cover is amazing!! YA Fantasy is not a genre I usually read a lot. However, lately I have been finding the YA Fantasy is becoming a very strong genre within the YA books and the ones I have read are usually fantastic. The Affiliate is by far one of the more unique and fast paced ones. I can\’t wait to for next one. All of Cyrene\’s life she has dreamt of her Presentation and gaining a position among the Royal Court. What she doesn\’t bargain for is being appointed an Affiliate to the Queen. Unfortunately the Queen doesn\’t like Cyrene purely because of the King\’s fascination with her. Cryene just wants to get on duty but things don\’t go that way. Soon Cyrene is thrown into a world of mystery, intrigue and danger. And torn between her attraction to the King and Freedom. The Affiliate is such a unique tale. I haven\’t read anything like before. The author manages to create a world that is stunning, mysterious and dangerous. I found myself completely entrance when the beautiful story telling. However, at times I just think some of scenes jumped around a little making it hard to keep track. The characters are all pretty intense and quite full on from the start. Cyrene is a very strong willed teenager and has a bit of a problem keeping her mouth closed at times. Especially around King Edric. The chemistry between them is sizzling. I was rooting for them but obviously we don\’t always get to have it easily in a good YA series. Edric is rather handsome, charming and a tad dangerous because he is The King so it was easy to see why Cyrene was attracted to him. [Pin on Pinterest] BUT like any YA story there is a sort love triangle between Cyrene, King Edric and Prince Kael. At first I liked Prince Kael but he a womaniser. Kael is a bit of an arse but I think deep down he does really care for Cyrene. He just has a bad way of showing it. I managed to read this in just over a day. It was so memorizing that I completely forgot all about time and just enjoyed the story, getting swept up in the adventure and danger. Usually with fantasy novels there are way to much back story and description of the scenes that it distracts from the actual story but the author doesn\’t do that here. She sets up the book nicely with just enough information for the reader to understand the world. Instead of bombarding the readers when do much descriptive scenes she covers just enough so we get a perfectly clear picture in our heads without it turning boring. I honestly seen this whole book play in my head like movie!!! I can\’t recommend this book enough. If you like YA fantasy this is must read. Go now while it\’s still only 99p on kindle. You won\’t be disappointed. But you will be left begging for more!!!

I have to say, to be brutally honest, I thought this book was terrible. It had some promising bits when she could see the writing others couldn\’t and people were being murdered, but then it would forget all that for chapters to concentrate on a boring love story. Tried skim reading for a bit until something actually happened other than talking but just wasn\’t for me. I managed to read 70% when I gave up.

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