Rec or Wreck? - Jacque

 Rec or Wreck?

Welcome to this week’s edition of rec or wreck. Due to popular demand, which is actually just three people asking me, this is now a series. If you haven’t seen my last blog post, I’ll basically give a genre or trope and a quick explanation and then I will state two books that fall under that category. One that I love and I feel really encapsulates the spirit of the genre, and one that I feel just kind of sucks. It’s not meant to be an attack in any way, it’s just a book I personally didn’t like.

Historical Fiction
Today’s genre is historical fiction. Historical fiction is a classic genre. I’m sure most of you have read at least one historical fiction book. Historical fiction is a fictional story that’s set in historical times. It’s not always true to the decade or time period it’s set in, but sometimes a little bit of historical inaccuracy is needed to make the story interesting.
I must admit, I’m a sucker for any kind of historical fiction. Whether it’s a lovey-dovey historical romance, or a war-torn historical look, I love most historical fiction books I read. Obviously that’s not the cause for all of them or this would be called “Rec or Rec?” As with every genre, there are some picks that just aren’t for me. It’s always unavoidable to read some books you don’t like, but there are always some you love in turn.

Rec:
Imagine you lived in a world with pirates and merpeople all around. Now, imagine all of the merpeople are dead because your grandpa killed them with his magic. That’s how Prince Tal, the only of his siblings to be born with magic, feels. He's been forced to hide his magic since he was born because of the violent crusades his grandpa went on around the kingdom.
Now, he’s finally coming of age and it’s time for a royal tradition: his naval tour around the kingdom. It’s a way to introduce himself to the citizens he will be serving and to get familiar with the sights of the kingdom.
It all gets complicated very quickly when the tour ship rescues what looks like a drowning boy named Athlen. Tal and Athlen bond and Tal is startled when Athlen jumps off the ship and assumes Athlen died. He’s heartbroken.
But soon, Tal figures out not everything is what it seems when he is kidnapped within the first week of his tour. His captors have somehow realized he has magic.. But how? You’ll have to read to find out.
This book is called In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens. It’s a highly rated new release, released just this year. It’s reminiscent of the Little Mermaid but with several twists that make the story both interesting and heartbreaking to read. The book is amazing and is honestly one of my favorites. It has a compelling romance as well as lots of world-building that make this story easy to sink into. It’s a worthwhile read in my opinion.

Wreck:
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee is a book similar to In Deeper Waters. It features an aristocrat who, just like Tal, goes on a tour for his coming-of-age. Where these two books differ, in my opinion, is the quality of the plot. The book features a young man named Henry “Monty” Montague. He, along with his younger sister Felicity and right hand man and secret crush Percy, go on one last year-long trip around Europe before Monty has to return to his home and take over his father's estate for the rest of his life. This is his last chance to truly be himself and live out the life he wants to before he is reduced to nothing more than the boring, civilized life of an aristocrat. Like In Deeper Waters, this book features a lot of plot twists but this book differences was that it was overall was a lot less memorable and interesting then In Deeper Waters was to me. I don't think it's a bad book; however I do think that the book is not as compelling as I wanted. The book really failed to keep me with it at all times and it failed to keep me interested in where the plot was going. The characters also just seemed really one-dimensional to me and truly only really had a few personality traits. The conflicts in this book failed to reach my expectations and fell flat of what I expect in a good quality book. this book is highly rated by a lot of people but I really couldn't just see where the hype was coming from.

As said before, I suggest you don’t take my opinion as fact and truly check out these books yourself to see if you agree. I also really suggest reading In Deeper Waters if you’re a fan of pirates and piracy of all kinds. Historical fiction has always been one of my favorite genres, so I’m glad I got to share my opinions with you all.