Project Athena | Reviews

Pretenders (Emily)

Author: AJtheWriter22

Genre: Historical Fiction

Reviewer: OutOfMyImagination

Hello, and thank you for requesting a review from me, as you asked I focused on the characters, plot, and overall impression of the story.

The near-death experience regains Katherine's need to live. After getting a mysterious offer that gets her out of her jail cell, Kat immediately accepts it. Pretenders explore survival instincts, human interactions, and the fictional world of royalty. We follow Kat who is torn between the need to live for herself and for the two orphans she rescues and the hate of royalty and everything they stand for.

I will start from the genre since that is one of the concerns. Since the book is based in a fictional world and has fictional royalty it could fit the Fantasy genre, it's a low fantasy since so far there is not much world built. It could also fit into the Action genre since it has action elements. General fiction stories have a more real-world base and fewer elements to fit into any genre, so I would suggest classifying this book as fantasy.

The book description is good, though it tells a bit too much, and as we read the story we don't have shocker moments which could lower the interest at the start of the story. For example, why Kat is training, she finds out later in the story, but we already know since it's in the book description. Same with taking in the children, we are not scared when Kat is battling Sage since we can guess those are the children from the description. Try to add the world/location into the description, and maybe there is a new king who is adding a new order to the place. You could add what got Kat locked in jail since that is the event before the story starts. The cover image is stunning, and the girl is beautiful, but the font and the colour of the writing are not appealing.

The story flow is good, the pace seems right, and the technical side is good as well. When it comes to plot it has some appeal. There are probably similar books we could find, but I find the concept fresh enough. The descriptions are good as well, chapters are on the longer side but decent in length.

It's harder to judge characters at the beginning of the story, Kat seems established enough, though I wouldn't say I can fully like or dislike her, more on the neutral side. The side characters are not too clear, with more interactions between them it would be easier to know them. Try adding more dialogue maybe this way the characters would be more relatable, and you can also show their past, motivation, and character traits.

I rate this book four out of five stars, I enjoyed the story flow and strong female lead in the book however I would like to see more character interactions and world-building.

I would recommend this book to readers who like complex royalty and politics in books, along with strong female leads and action.