Title: Glow (Plated Prisoner #4)
Author: Raven Kennedy
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publication Date: June 25, 2-25
ISBN: 9781464224508
Synopsis:
My life has been made up of gilded lies. But death has been shaped from rot. Like a phoenix caught fire, I will need to rise from the ashes and learn to wield my own power. Because my wings may have been clipped, but I am not in a cage, and I’m finally free to fly from the frozen kingdoms I’ve been kept in. Yet the world doesn’t want to let me. That’s the thing when you turn against a king—everyone else turns against you. Good thing I have a different king in my corner. But even with the dark threat of Sladea Ravinger, the other monarchs are coming for me.
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This next book in the Plated Prisoner series follows Auren in the wake of her manifestation of her power and subsequent and abrupt departure from the Fifth Kingdom with King Rot. The world continues to expand in this series, building an expansive and sprawling map of the kingdoms as the characters.
Kennedy’s world-building is one of the things I really do enjoy about this series. Every book takes everything we know about this world and turns it on its head. This fourth book is no different. Not only do we get to explore more places in the Orean, human lands, we also get to know Slade (King Ravenger) and his past, seeing the world of his youth, and discovering unimaginable depths of his power. There are still two additional books, and with the cliff hanger that this part of the story ends on, I can only imagine what’s to come in the remaining novels.
What continues to get me is the anachronistic language and the often haphazard or substandard dialogue. While Kennedy excels in her contextualization, her characterization leaves a bit to be desired, in this reader’s opinion. For me personally, hearing the characters speak using language that I’d expect to hear in today’s current day and age is incredibly jarring. Especially as this series follows the typical trope of the medieval-esque fantasy world. It is disjointed and awkward, leaving the reader unsatisfied and often pulled out of the world that Kennedy has worked hard to build.
These books are growing significantly longer with every passing instalment. A lot of it is unnecessary filler, the novels stretching on for long stretches with very little action or excitement. It’s don’t dislike a long book, but length is only appreciated when there is significant plot detail or character development occurring. Often, I found these many pages to be full of filler (think: Auren feeding Slade’s timberwing a cookie, which really has no bearing on the overall plot).
I swear, I’ll only bore you with two more reviews for this series, by the time I’m done, and I keep hoping I’ll surprise you with a more positive review, but for now, things are status quo for the Plated Prisoner series. All will be revealed as I get started on the next book.
Happy reading!
Worn Pages and Ink 