I was really disappointed in this novel. It just never really clicked in to place for me. The Realms and the peoples that populate them never really came alive on the page and I was constantly aware of reading rather than being absorbed in the tale. Because I read this on an eReader you can see your progress which can be tortuous when you aren't enjoying something because you can see exactly how far to go there is before you finish it and, unfortunately, I did spend a great deal of time looking at the percentage of the book read and sighing at how much was still to go.
The build up is excrutiatingly slow. The first 30% of the book is spent world building and introducing us to our protagonists Tavia, Saxony, Karam and Wesley. By the time they start on their quest to bring down Ashwood I had genuinely stopped caring. I much prefer "show don't tell" storytelling and for some reason I felt like I was being told (in minute detail) about every nuance of their intertwined relationships with both each other and their environment. Strangely, the world building element never really gives you a sense of what the various Realms actually look like so the characters are moving through a landscape that is ephemeral and seems to consist largely of towns with rather Victorian sounding cobbled streets or forests.
There are a couple of good set pieces - the Courtesan's House and Ashwood's Castle - where action takes the forefront. Even then, there is the tendency to meander off the point and stretch the action out for far more pages than is necessary to tell the story. Primarily this is achieved by showing each scene from each of the 4 main character's viewpoint - by the time you get around to reading the fourth viewpoint you have had enough and are more than ready to move on and all tension has dissipated.
Even worse a fifth character gets introduced about 60% of the way through, Arjun. Even once he has been identified as one of the Leaders by the Phantoms he is still a shadowy figure in the story and we never get to find out much about him. He just pops up now and then to add some magical fire power. He is also very much a fifth wheel as there are underlying romantic undercurrents between Wesley and Tavia and Karam and Saxony (I did heartily approve of the LBTQ+ relationship).
The reveal of the source of the voice in Wesley's head came as no surprise. The only surprise was that when he went through the Regret Trial and it was witnessed by the others nobody recognised the source (I'm trying hard not to give it away as this is supposed to be a twist). The book leaves us on a "cliffhanger" for the future of the intrepid 5 but I have no desire to see how things work out for them - all I want to know is will Karam and Saxony finally get it together and if my suspicion as to the true identity of Wesley (of course Blood Magic was used to hide him in plain sight - honestly, this again) which, if I'm right, makes the whole Tavia thing rather unsettling.
On the whole I found this overlong and boring. What it needed was a lot of red pencil and strong editing to pare everything back.

Into the Crooked Place: Into the Crooked Place, Book 1
Audible Audiobook
– Unabridged
Alexandra Christo
(Author),
Tamaryn Payne
(Narrator),
Taj Atwal
(Narrator),
Leroy Bonsu
(Narrator),
Zaraah Abrahams
(Narrator),
Audible Studios
(Publisher)
&
3
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©2019 Alexandra Christo (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
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Product details
Listening Length | 12 hours and 16 minutes |
---|---|
Author | Alexandra Christo |
Narrator | Tamaryn Payne, Taj Atwal, Leroy Bonsu, Zaraah Abrahams |
Whispersync for Voice | Ready |
Audible.com.au Release Date | 22 October 2019 |
Publisher | Audible Studios |
Program Type | Audiobook |
Version | Unabridged |
Language | English |
ASIN | B07Z9LNZVF |
Best Sellers Rank |
70,718 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
300 in Action & Adventure Fiction for Teens 365 in Dark Fantasy for Young Adults 1,075 in Fantasy Adventure for Young Adults |
Customer reviews
4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
87 global ratings
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Top reviews from other countries

Midgebear
2.0 out of 5 stars
Buskers and Crafters
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 December 2019Verified Purchase
4 people found this helpful
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jo E
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not for me
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 January 2020Verified Purchase
Lots of promise, but I found the writing to be heavy handed and poorly edited with who paragraphs just not making sense at times. Disappointed.
2 people found this helpful
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BLGB
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just do it for Wesley
Reviewed in Germany on 11 February 2020Verified Purchase
Takes a little bit of time to warm up to the craziness of that world and to be less annoyed by one particular character but great read, sassy characters, good humour and entertaining plot
Also - Wesley is a new-found treasure
Also - Wesley is a new-found treasure
One person found this helpful
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Firebrand
5.0 out of 5 stars
Coup cœur pour l’auteure
Reviewed in France on 27 November 2020Verified Purchase
Après avoir découvert cette auteure en version française grâce à un titre qui vient de sortir et que j’ai dévoré, je vais me mettre à celui-ci car je sais déjà si elle ne va pas me décevoir

erin byron
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great after a slow first few chapters.
Reviewed in the United States on 5 March 2020Verified Purchase
Magical double cross.
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I was pretty excited Santa brought me this book for Christmas. I really enjoyed To Kill a Kingdom and was excited to read Alexandra Christo’s newest story.
•
After a few chapters of character introduction and world building, the story takes off with action, magic, tentative alliances, evil mind control, and some strong romantic attraction with morally gray characters (my favorite). The ending is a devastating cliffhanger, and I can’t wait until the next installment in this exciting series.
•
If you had the choice would you want natural magical abilities that are hard to control, or only be able to use magic with charms and potions you carried with you and had to replenish?
•
Clean rating: 🧼🧼🧼1/2: for some kissing.
•
•
I was pretty excited Santa brought me this book for Christmas. I really enjoyed To Kill a Kingdom and was excited to read Alexandra Christo’s newest story.
•
After a few chapters of character introduction and world building, the story takes off with action, magic, tentative alliances, evil mind control, and some strong romantic attraction with morally gray characters (my favorite). The ending is a devastating cliffhanger, and I can’t wait until the next installment in this exciting series.
•
If you had the choice would you want natural magical abilities that are hard to control, or only be able to use magic with charms and potions you carried with you and had to replenish?
•
Clean rating: 🧼🧼🧼1/2: for some kissing.
•
One person found this helpful
Report abuse