Series: The World of Bid'ABan, #1
Publisher: 3CM Media (self published work)
Release: Sep 30th 2013
Source: Author for review
Pages: 212 (ebook)
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Ayda Blackhawk is the beautiful, mysterious new girl at Kindale High School, in the Earthen Elemental Division of Bid'ABan. She is not there to make friends but to bring destruction. Her assignment? To kill the Thunderkin heir Adrian Dusong.But when Ayda meets the handsome Adrian, a twist of fate changes the rules. Ayda and Adrian find themselves, along with their world, at the cross roads to either destruction or redemption.
So it seems that my misfortune continues. If reading Rouge was a mistake led on because I misjudged its contents by the fancy cover, then picking up Chrysalis was a mistake caused by the exact opposite reason. I wish I had judged the cover more, that way I probably would have saved myself from this unsatisfactory read. I always try my best to support self published books and authors, but Chrysalis is perhaps one of those which made self published books to have such a bad reputation.
In one line, Chrysalis is a cheesy teenager romance trying to disguise itself as an epic fantasy. There is hardly anything else in this book other than the romantic relationship between Ayda and Adrian. But even the romance is poorly constructed and as cliched as one can possibly imagine. The thing that amused me the most is Michelle Jordan's questionable attempt to justify the insta-love between Ayda and Adrian through the voice of another character in the story.
Adrian looked at Ayda and said, "It started for me when I first laid eyes on her."
"Awww, now that was sweet, even if I don't believe in the over sentimentalization that they feed teenagers in film, music, and books. I believe this to be sincere and very touching." she (River) said as she finished up her pizza.
I don't even know if I should laugh or cry when an author is so desperately trying to convince me that the romance between these two MCs is real. Another big disappointment I have with Chrysalis is the lack of action scenes. Ayda is supposed to be the best solider ever existed, but from her failed assassination attempts to the few fights she had with Wem, I cannot see how she excelled her trainings at all. There are simply not enough details to make it believable.
The world building in Chrysalis is extremely confusing as well. Even though the book spent some time to explain the past conflicts and the struggles remained, it still had me bewildered most of the time. As for the part I did grasp (or I thought I did), a lot more work was required to make it less illogical and unrealistic. I cannot really complement the writing either as it is so very plain and stiff. I had a hard time finishing it and often found myself skipping through sentences. I wish there were more descriptions that could have brought me a better sense of the atmosphere and a clearer picture of the world.
Chrysalis is the first novel in Michelle Cornwell-Jordan's The World of Bid'ABan series, though I don't think I will be reading any subsequent installments. It started quite promising with a world that is now roamed over by humans and supernatural beings together, but the story went downhill quickly when the romance took over the plot. Hopefully, I will have better luck next time on my reading journey.
My Rating: ★ (1 star)
(A copy of this book was kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.)
