Genre: Fantasy, 

Narrative Style: Third person, chronological

Rating: 3/5

Published: 2015

Format: Kindle

Synopsis: Natalie is studying at university while her family are in financial difficulty. She starts a job at a costume shop but soon discovers that there is more to the shop than meets the eye. Soon she finds herself in an alternative world, trying to help save it from disaster.

Reading Challenges: Full House Reading Challenge: Genre – Not for me

This was a Kindle First book. It’s not a genre I normally read but it was the most interesting out of that month’s choices. As such, it has sat on my Kindle for quite a long time. I knew it was not really going to suit me.

As I don’t really get on with this genre, it has to be something special if I am going to enjoy it. Unfortunately, this is really quite ordinary and I didn’t feel compelled to read on in the series.

The first problem was the plot. The opening chapter is set entirely in Fourline and it did grab me. I was interested in how the politics were going to be set up. There were hints at problems to come, people to save and so on. I thought maybe I’d been wrong. However, the book then swings into this world and the life of Natalie and it is a while before we get back into what is going on in Fourline. By then, I had lost interest.

Although written in the third person, the book is written from Natalie’s point of view. Because she doesn’t understand what is going on, the reader doesn’t get much of a picture of the situation in Fourline. I can see why this might be done but for me, I would have liked more information about the situation there and the terrible things that were happening. It all felt as if it was at one remove and I was detached from it all.

There were lots of hints at interesting stories and characters but because of the focus on Natalie they were underdeveloped. I was unconvinced that Natalie would have been so keen to risk her life for a world she knew nothing about. I think I might have liked it more if I could have learned more about Fourline and maybe this will happen in the next books but I haven’t got the patience to find out. I have to conclude that this was not for me.