Jiddy Vardy by Ruth Estevez
Published 21st June 2018 by ZunTold Publishing
Star Rating - ***
Goodreads Challenge - 13/75
Synopsis (from Goodreads)
1779. On tumultuous waters a girl is born as pirates board the ship . . .
Jiddy Vardy is a survivor.
Rescued at birth, she grows up in Robin Hood’s Bay, a community which harbours a dangerous secret, one that could get you killed.
Always the outsider, with her dark skin and hair, at sixteen Jiddy is clever, brave and headstrong, soon risking her life and freedom to play her part in the Bay’s clandestine activities.
Then, just as romance blossoms and Jiddy finally feels like she belongs, figures from the past threaten to tear her world apart, and she has to decide where her loyalties truly lie.
A thrilling tale of one girl’s search for identity and love, set against a backdrop of wild seas, smuggling and violence.
My Thoughts
So it took me quite a long time to finish this one, I'm not sure why as I enjoyed it, it just wasn't quite what I expected. The synopsis of this book really drew me in. Pirates are one of my favorite things to read about so I was really keen to dive in however, even though pirates are part of the story, they are not the focus.
To me this was quite a character focused story, as opposed to plot heavy and this is why I think I read it slower than I would normally do. That being said, the author did a fantastic job at developing these characters. I particularly enjoyed the characters Jiddy and Jonas. I though they were quite complex and I loved their relationship. The author did a great job at writing their emotions and you could really feel what they were feeling during their scenes. The one thing I wasn't so keen on however was the love triangle written into the latter part of the book. I'm not a massive fan of love triangles anyway, unless they are done very well, and I didn't feel this one added much too the story. I would of also liked a bit more development of the relationship between Jiddy and her mother. I don't feel we say enough of this part of the story.
Along with the great character development the descriptions within the writing were also really good. The author did a great job of bringing scenes to life, making aspects of the story vivid and easy to imagine without causing the writing to be overly flowery. There was several times when I really felt I could insert myself into the story.
Overall I enjoyed this book but as I said before it wasn't quite what I expected. I'm not usually a massive fan of character driven stories, often preferring more plot focused books. However, the well developed characters and immersive writing definitely made up for this and I really felt I was able to enjoy this story. I would recommend this one, especially if you enjoy character driven stories but I would also urge you to give it a go if this isn't usually your thing as you may be surprised.
To me this was quite a character focused story, as opposed to plot heavy and this is why I think I read it slower than I would normally do. That being said, the author did a fantastic job at developing these characters. I particularly enjoyed the characters Jiddy and Jonas. I though they were quite complex and I loved their relationship. The author did a great job at writing their emotions and you could really feel what they were feeling during their scenes. The one thing I wasn't so keen on however was the love triangle written into the latter part of the book. I'm not a massive fan of love triangles anyway, unless they are done very well, and I didn't feel this one added much too the story. I would of also liked a bit more development of the relationship between Jiddy and her mother. I don't feel we say enough of this part of the story.
Along with the great character development the descriptions within the writing were also really good. The author did a great job of bringing scenes to life, making aspects of the story vivid and easy to imagine without causing the writing to be overly flowery. There was several times when I really felt I could insert myself into the story.
Overall I enjoyed this book but as I said before it wasn't quite what I expected. I'm not usually a massive fan of character driven stories, often preferring more plot focused books. However, the well developed characters and immersive writing definitely made up for this and I really felt I was able to enjoy this story. I would recommend this one, especially if you enjoy character driven stories but I would also urge you to give it a go if this isn't usually your thing as you may be surprised.
Overall Rating
No comments:
Post a Comment