The Courting of Bristol Keats - A Review
2.5 Stars: What worked and what did not?
This book did some things very well, but ultimately, it failed to stick the landing for me.
Let's start with the positives:
The omniscient narrator made the story engaging and refreshing. I loved the small excerpts from the point of view of creatures in the world like the horse and serpent. This choice added a unique flavor to the narrative that made me smile throughout.
There were plenty of funny moments. If you have read you know, Mr. High and Mighty.
The morality of the main characters and the supporting cast is in question throughout the book. Lies, secrets, and schemes dominate this story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I never knew who I was rooting for because everyone is between a rock and a hard place, and the author does a great job of making the case for all sides of the equation.
“I suppose none of us would be worthy of saving if only judged by our worst qualities.”
Lastly, the prose was dusted with beautiful descriptions that added an additional layer of enjoyment for me.
So why exactly did it miss the mark for me?
Our heroine was surprisingly naive about a lot of things while also being incredibly headstrong. At some points, I wondered what was going on through that head. I found the juxtaposition of someone who could be so savvy in some areas while also taking information at face value and running with it without question its truth somewhat dissonant. I can only hope that this is done by design and that future books of the series show her maturing in this respect.
Yet, the conclusion of the book does not show any major character growth aside from her raging against the fae for a couple of brief chapters and then coming around to help the love interest in his time of need. Which brings me to the next point.
This story looks at the three-act structure and asks ‘who is she?’ This could be by experimental design, but if I am reading a massive 600-pager, I want to feel some sense of progress and payoff. It is understood that some plot lines will be resolved in future books, but I did not get any resolutions from the conflicts presented in this book and to me, that is a problem.
I am of the opinion that books need to be able to stand on their own within their series with proper progress that keeps you engaged throughout. Maybe my brain is old and unaccustomed to experimental storytelling, but the choice just felt sloppy.
This brings me to my next point: this book needed more editing.
Aside from the aforementioned structural issues, the pacing of this book was very inconsistent. It dragged on certain aspects that ultimately had no bearing on the overall story while also failing to use that time to make you care about the enormous cast of supporting characters.
When a character goes through something major —like dying— you are robbed of the emotional impact because you can’t even remember who they were, to begin with.
Lastly, some choices were made in the narrative style that worked and didn’t at the same time for me. Reading this book felt like navigating a labyrinth, full of twists, turns, and false leads. This could have worked for me if the other issues listed above had not been occupying so much of my brain capacity on each page.
Specifically, the narrative choice of presenting some piece of world-building and leaving you hanging for a few chapters without really explaining it while it impacts the story and not knowing what it really is was a problem for me. I could not fully commit to figuring it out on my own so that the revelation was enjoyable while also trying to navigate the character soup, pacing issues, and lack of narrative structure.
So, should you pick it up?
If the issues I mentioned above won’t annoy you as much as they did me, then yes. The story is entertaining, the world feels very fresh and unique. The fae are more like Holly Black’s fae than SJM’s, though our MMC is more of a Rhysand than a Cardan.
Was the love story subplot good? I enjoyed it. It kept me going at times when I felt the drag taking over. My main complaint about it is how openly our FMC talked about her feelings, but maybe that is just me projecting.
And those are my thoughts! Have you read this book? Do you agree or disagree with me? I am open to talking about it because it is currently living rent-free in my mind.
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