Review of the Sisters Who Were Promised by Kayla Cosentino

CW’s: violence, death,, some language.

My Rating: 2.25 stars

I received a free e-galley from the author and the Nerd Fam in exchange for an honest review

So, I want to start with how much I liked the premise, and I felt like the book kicked off the premise immediately. I do feel like some of the writing right off the bad left something to be desired, it felt a bit like it was trying too hard to be beautiful. It reminded me a little bit of fan-fiction, but I don’t think that has to be a a bad thing.

My main issue with this book was that it just felt clunky, the prose was clunky and so was the prose. There was definite potential, but I just didn’t feel like it flowed very well. The dialogue felt like the author couldn’t decide between more modern language and language more befitting of a fantastical setting. It was unclear was exactly the setting entailed. Was it based in history? Was it a world all its own? Was it supposed to feel more modern?

All of that was just really unclear. This book’s premise was a really interesting one, and I think that the author tried to make the princesses distinct. But they just initially felt really flat right off the bat. They didn’t come alive immediately, it didn’t feel like they were real characters and I didn’t feel immersed. To be quite honest, some of it felt like AI writing. The emotion just wasn’t completely there and when it was, it felt very classically fanfic-y. And not good fanfiction either. I just don’t know how else to describe the first third of this book.

The plot just…again, I didn’t feel it. I didn’t care enough about the characters or the people in this book to feel like the stakes were high. I really have to care about the characters for the plot to matter to me, and I felt really disconnected from the plot and I didn’t feel that spark of connection to each of the characters. I feel like this had a lot of potential to be like the Princess Bride or similar fantasy books that evokes nostalgic YA vibes, but it hadn’t delivered that by the 33% mark. I feel like books, good books, should be able to deliver right away.

The writing still feels so juvenile and I just can’t get into it. I think the writing is certainly readable and I did fly through the chapters but I just felt so indifferent. I can’t put it into words, why the writing was so off but it was.

I really would have liked to see more development and fleshing out of the magic system. Where do powers originate? What rules does the magic have?

I feel the same way about the religion. Are there multiple Gods and Goddesses? Or just the one? How do people worship?

I think this book suffered from a lack of development that could have been fixed with developmental editors. It had a lot of potential to be good. Even the prose could have worked better if the author allowed a more natural writing style rather than something so forced. I think a focus on making sentences flow should have been a priority over purple prose.

I will say, I did like the casual queer representation and the queer joy. The author didn’t make a big deal out of it and I loved that. I liked the Aella and Natalie plot line a lot.

I liked the sisterly bonds too. They’re complicated and they fight each other and protect each other. They’re complicated have complex feelings about each other and their parents. I think it’s one of the places that the author showed real potential. If that had just been applied elsewhere this book would be so much better.

But overall, I just felt like there was a lot of exposition, a lot of telling and no showing. I just didn’t feel much when I was supposed to feel grief, I just didn’t.