Review: Radiance
So once again to the surprise of no one, my girl Nina recommended me to read Radiance by Grace Draven. She even gave me her Apple ID login and such so I could download it off her account to my phone, and boy, am I glad that she made me do it. I absolutely loved Radiance, I thought that it was a great mixture of fantasy and romance, and it didn’t skimp out on the action either, it was a book with many elements – all of which worked together in harmony.
Draven creates a world which is not unrealistic, if that makes any sense. It is believeable in all accounts – the creatures, the politics, everything. Also the character development is very well done, we see the change in characters such as Ildiko and Brishen in their words and actions as the story progresses. The relationship between these two characters also moves at just the right pace.
Storyline wise, it is slightly cliché – an arranged marriage which neither party is very fond of from the start. However, it is different in the sense of the beginning of the story, in which both Brishen and Ildiko unexpectedly meet (without knowing who each other was) and started a small friendship based on insults and humour.
However, from here on in, the cliché stops and I found myself very intrigued with the story and its characters. I also loved the relationship between Brishen and Ildiko as there was never a dull moment between the two, from the insults and banter, to those long awaited scenes in the bedroom. I also loved the fact that the story focused on building a friendship/relationship before the physical stuff. Although they found each other highly unattractive to begin with, as the story progressed, so did their thoughts of each other.
Draven creates a male protagonist who is not an arrogant asshole, or controlling, or overprotective, or extremely good looking. He’s not the typical ‘bad boy’ that you constantly read about in novels, and apart from the fact that he isn’t human, Brishen is pretty much a normal guy. And she also creates a female protagonist who isn’t dependant on her man, Ildiko is a tough girl who adapts easily and stands her ground (which can be seen with her encounters with Brishen’s mother Secmis, and the scarpatine).
The storyline isn’t boring and there is always some sort of conflict to keep the reader interested. Personally, I’m reading this book a second time because I really did like it a lot.
Anyways, I’d recommend this book for those who love fantasy and/or romance or even if they just like to see the consequences of an arranged marriage play out. I’d give it a:
