Cogling

I received a copy of this book for an honest review.

First and foremost, I REALLY wanted to like this book. The summary sounded interesting and I couldn't wait to start. I enjoyed the first chapter and various other areas of the story, but most of the story was a kite that just couldn't get off the ground.

If I had to identify 1 major problem, it's with the main character Edna. She's underdeveloped and irritating. One minute she's this strong girl traveling into foreign places to save her kidnapped brother and the next she's a completely weak, incompetent girl who sits around crying and complaining all day. Also, Ike reveals a secret in the swamp about his background family and Edna just cracks jokes about it. How heartless can a person be?

Other notable problems:
- Ike and Edna's relationship. Hours into them meeting, Edna falls asleep on his shoulder. He almost robbed her! Then they're holding hands and making out in a cupboard? I could buy it if Edna was more mature, or if there was more buildup, but there was none. The characters felt like they were thrown together to fill a romance plotline.
- Too much detail on some things, not on others. Jordan has a knack for describing places in few words. I loved her descriptions in her previous book Escape from Witchwood Hollow. The descriptions this book were a mess. One example: When they stop by a farmhouse, Edna says she's thirsty, then focuses on the well for about a paragraph. The well isn't important to the storyline and take up valuable real estate in the book. That paragraph could have been spent elaborating more on the house or the people instead.
- Why would the police just forget their baby dragon?....
-Too much repitition. Harrison, Harrison, Harrison. I got it. She wants her brother back. It doesn't need to be repeated every other page.
-The Evil.... Mentioned over and over and over again with no substance. There's a way to build up suspense, this wasn't it.
-Conflicting paragraphs. One paragraph Edna is collapsing from exhaustion (specifically hiking through the swamp). Ike bends down for a minute to get water, and she's complaining that they need to get going to rescue Harrison.
-So many undeveloped characters. The gin house, the fairy girl at the beginning, the hags, the royalty, her mother, the creatures in the swamps. As a reader I met so many characters and was given such little information that I gave up caring whenever a new creature came in. My reaction “oh yay, another strange character that will be irrelevant in 3 paragraphs.”

I don't want to add any more spoilers. Simply put, this book never got off the ground. The premise had so much promise, but there wasn't enough world building. There was limited character development, and the main character was just... frustrating.

For Jordan, I don't know if you'll read my review. I'm sorry it's negative, but I felt I had to be honest. You have really great and original ideas, this book just fell flat for me.