Book: The River Queen by T.M. Mayfield
Reviewed by Your_bookish_fantasy
Rating: 1/5
This book made me damn near furious!
Tropes and Main points to know
Fated mates
Prophecy
Pacing problems
Slow burn
Love triangle
closed door spice that is merely implied rather than described
More of a YA than and grown up fantasy read
Mermaids that spend more time without their fins
Brilliant and unique story
Fantastic author
Insufficient character development
Vivid and incredible world building but it needed a greater quantity of to really bring the world to life
So I have sat on this review so to not dampen the sales, and I don't want this to come across as mean but i need to have my say because I am so damn angry because Mayfield is on hell of an author and they just have a really really rubbish team supporting the book!
I hope this review will show my love for the story, and that's why I'm so sad and angry and dissapointed - because it could have, and should have been so much more! It felt rushed in all aspects, I don't think it ever saw an editor, the beta readers didn't pick up on the simplist of mistakes like tense changes or simple spelling and Punctuation, or even basic grammar. Which has TRULY let this author and the book down (I couldn't even get through 20% of the next one there's that many mistakes in it!)
But that being said;
What a genuinely wonderful author Mayfield is, the story is my first ever mermaid read and I was surprised that barely any time was spent in the water as a mermaid. I was also confused as to the transformation process, no mention of what happened to their clothes when they got their fins, or what is, or is not covered up by scales. which made things confusing.
To be honest, I didn't see the need for this to be a mermaid story. You could take the mermaids out and change them to fae, and it would be the same exact story. However it was nice to read something different for a change.
I enjoyed the plot and subplot, and the characters had great depth, but they could have been developed so much further.
I found the writing style easy to follow but I did feel like there were gaps in the story and some under-explained areas- for example: a "conception prevention potion" is mentioned a lot, but not why it's used, or not used, or its purpose. And there are multiple time jumps along the way that just rush the book and leave the reader lost and wondering why? Clearly its not important for us to know about those now missing years, so it just doesn't flow right (and I've seen im one of many reviewers to think this).
I mean in the space of just two pages we jump forward a few months and not even smoothly- one moment a character wants to talk to someone to apologise but then we're 2 months down the line thinking what the double hockey sticks just happened? Did they talk? How did it go? And then a minute or two later and were a mere 2 more pages in, and we we jump yet again but worse this time as it's now a whole year later.
There were also many, many editing mistakes, like I said above every single one is obvious and easy to detect and SHOULD have been picked up by her team, I feel so damn let down for the author because it simply didn't need to happen- and this book is in print too! Just heart breaking. This book was part of my book club, all of the ladies bar 1 dnf it because of the errors, but I'm glad I continued through because the story really was great! [ I did note down a good majority of the errors i found and emailed them to the author for free so hopefully this will fix the problem for future KU readers, physical readers though are stuck, sorry].
the Spice was well written but not personally my type- I prefer if it wasn't closed door. Mayfair's world building is incredible and vivid, but its that good that again, as the reader, i just wish there was more as some points during the story we are left with a few questions on how they got from A to B or where that room is or where theyre going now. The detailed descriptions really weave the reader right into the story itself which is the main reason for needing more world building and explinations. Oh, and the drama created throughout is wonderful and will have you on the edge of your seat.
Technically it doesn't end on a cliff hanger so the anxious readers needn't worry, there is a sort of cliff hanger but I can't say more without giving away the plot.
I was desperate to read the next book, I was selected as an arc reader but I got to page 90 and found 70 errors already, I couldn't battle through this one as the errors were so in your face it made it difficult to read, follow and understand so it simply wasn't enjoyable. However, to say I am gutted is an understatement.
I'll leave you with this thought- Mayfield should be picked up by a publisher, because her story is truly unique and brilliant, and with a good team around to help guide and edit, this book will be a 5star best seller- of this I have no doubts!