Severed Stone by Kelly Walker Series: Souls of the Stones #0.5
Published by All Night Reads on 15 June 2013
Pages: 155
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Cioran knows her mother is a very powerful witch, and one day after coming home from collecting various herbs, she finds Rowena in a disturbingly good mood. Only to fall asleep before supper, and waking up the next morning in a big field, surrounded by flowers, and with a distinct feeling she is not where she is supposed to be. She wants to go the the palace, even after a stranger tells her not to go there, that only unhappiness waits for her there.
When the Prince Selwyn arrives before her and is immediately attracted to her, Cioran goes with him to the palace, knowing he wants to marry her as soon as possible.
*I received a free ARC of Severed Stone (Souls of the Stones) from All Night Reads via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
Severed Stone is the prequel story in the souls of the Stones series, and I frankly don’t know if it would have been better to first read one of the full-length novels in order to have a stronger feeling about this world and some of the characters who live there. As it is, I really didn’t connect with any of the characters, and the beginning felt very rushed. There were also a lot of the plot-points that were quite easy to guess at before they came to pass, so the foreshadowing was a little on the heavy side, at least for me.
The premise is really good, and when I requested Severed Stone from Netgalley, I was excited about it, as the cover also has an ethereal and magical feel to it. The writing is quite good, a couple of small grammatical errors that I noticed, but apart from that, the flow is good and the pace as well. I did feel that it was maybe aimed at a younger audience than me, even if it seems to be for YA at the youngest. The main character, Ciorstan is impressively naive, especially considering who her mother is – even if Ciorstan didn’t know the extent of her mother’s wrong-doings in the beginning, there is still more than enough to take a little more care around a powerful witch.
The three princes (yes! three) Selwyn, Erwyn and Fidwen don’t really appeal to me at all, I have to agree with their father, King Elidor, that they all have more flaws than strengths. Also, since I usually steer clear of love triangles, a quadrangle made me flinch a little bit. Now, this is nothing to do with how Severed Stone is written, and I know a lot of readers who love reading stories with more than one love interest, but it doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest. I also don’t agree with the official summary, that the whole situation has to do with Ciorstan’s mistakes. She was under a spell, and could not make her own decisions – yet, those mistakes that separated the land are somehow hers?
The fact that Severed Stone takes place over just two or three weeks is maybe what caused me the most trouble, because there is talk about love, between Ciorstan and all of the three brothers. One after the other. Also, the condescending way the maids were treating her, even the head of the maids, was really kind of strange. Ciorstan was supposed to become the next Queen, and I would have thought at least the older maid knew she would have to earn her respect, not treat her like a country pumpkin.
But her mother’s eyes gleamed with the delight of an enormous secret. What had the visitor traded to bring Rowena such glee?
A few weeks? She only had a few weeks to decide if Selwyn was Prince Charming or Prince Cheeky.
“I’ll see what I can do, girlie, but don’t get your hopes up […]”
When they met, she’d thought their love had the potential to be magical.
It wasn’t full of the self-assured swagger of Selwyn, but instead it poured over her ears like syrup – sticky and a bit too sweet.
Was she? She didn’t want the brothers to fight, but maybe it had to be. If Selwyn hadn’t brought her here, she wouldn’t have found love.
Erwyn had never truly loved her, he had only desired her, which would never be enough.
That we used to be one land, and I have two uncles, one who would of been a better king. This is where I found an error – I just wanted to include it to show I didn’t make that one up – and please remember I read an ARC – this may very well have been corrected in the published book.
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Twitter: bmreviewsohmy
Ahh sorry that didn’t pan out so well.
Oh, well. You know how it is, Stormi. But I really do think some prequels are better to be read after knowing some of the actual story.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Hmm, it does make you wonder if having read at least book 1 in the series would have made this prequel better. The cover (love that!) seems so promising. But the premise sounds a bit rushed to me.
Well, hopefully your next book tickles your fancy! 🙂
Hey Brandee 🙂 yeah, sometimes, prequels are created to bring some back-story to the main series, and then, maybe this would have made more sense. Especially because Fidwen is the main character in the series. I might check out the full novella at one point, and if I do, I’ll let you know.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I agree, if you read a full length book first and already had a deeper connection with the characters it may have been a better book. Novella’s can rush through it too fast. Still, it’s a good review!
Naomi @ Nomi’s Paranormal Palace
Thank you Naomi. I don’t particularily like writing reviews for books I didn’t enjoy… But I think it’s important to do it anayway, you know?
Happy reading.
So sorry this one didn’t appeal to you. I wonder too about reading the other one first. Ah, well. Great review 😀 Jaclyn @ JC’s Book Haven.
In other series, the in-betweens or prequels have come out after I read other books, and I was really happy to get some more background information. Which is why I think that people who read Cornerstone and loved that would really like this plunging into the past.
Thanks for stopping by Jaclyn 🙂
I never bother with these sort of “in between” stories unless I’m already invested in the series… and even then they often fall short for me. I just prefer full-length novels. Sorry you didn’t like this one more.
I agree, sometimes I like them, other times not. In some cases, those in-betweens give great information, others they just feel like fillers.
Thanks for stopping by Charleen 🙂
maybe not for me… I didn’t know this one but it’s too bad because I love the cover!
The cover is beautiful! And I really think maybe I would have liked it better if I already knew some of the characters and had liked the first full-lenght novel before I read this.
Thanks for stopping by Melliane 🙂