Book Review: Kingdom Cold

Kingdom Cold by Brittni Chenelle

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

So much potential exists in Kingdom Cold. Unfortunately it is squandered. I don't know if it was because cuts were made, entire scenes were never written or the author just made poor decisions on when to show us the action and when to make it a passing remark. What I do know is that in each instance it felt like the wrong decision was made.

Epic Fantasy
There is real potential here for a great, young adult epic fantasy story. Our characters are all fairly well established (although I think a lot more needs to be said about the romantic feelings of each given how important they are in the end), the setting is good and the political alliances are okay. However what's really missing is a sense of understanding. I'm not sure that Brittni Chenelle has ever seen a battlefield or played a game like risk to really understand how troops invade and organize. Mass confusion near the end of this story had everything unraveling quickly for me and a huge chunk of this was the battle progression. If you're going to write epic fantasy you've gotten know how to set-up a board for a fight; and how to describe said battle in a cohesive way.

Romantic Nonsense
Assuming the target here is young adult, which is seems to be, there is an awful lot of romantic wishy-washyness happening. No explanations of who likes who and why, or how they really feel is ever given. Instead we seem to have a random selection of people that randomly love one another for no reason. Sorry but spending time with one another is not a good enough reason. Nor is that they are cute. There needs to be a depth to the relationships in order for love to sprout. I barely even got lust tones at times.

A Hot Mess
If you've ever read a story outline you'll understand how Kingdom Cold is written. It's like; a story outline with some scenes fleshed out and others just a notation for future inclusion. Except that future writing never happened... or was cut out. We actually have an epic POV where someone is about to be seriously injured... a few chapters later when that character shows up again there is ZERO explanation as to what happened except to say that it turned out fine. Say what?!? Don't set me up on a cliffhanger and then not follow through; that's just mean.
Maybe that's a good description of the problems with a lot of Chenelle's novel; there is no follow through with her plot, characters or scenes.

Overall
Sadly this was just not up to any publication standard in my mind. I did finish it as it has good bones for a solid idea and could be a good story; but a lot more work needs to happen to bring Kingdom Cold up to a literary standard. Epic fantasy stories beg for, almost insist on, details and more details. I'm not saying bore me to death with descriptions; but let me feel like I'm a part of the story. I want to feel what the characters feel; and I need to be able to visualize the battle ground.
Perhaps if Chenelle went back to the drawing board with a thought to expand the story ten-fold, add some major emotion, and flesh out her action scenes there could be a great novel here. Unfortunately as it stands now there isn't much merit to this as a comprehensive story.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book via BookSirens. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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