Review: Fantastical by Kristen Ashley
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 30, 2012
Fantastical was a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't put it down. But... it unfortunately doesn't come near to as good as the previous book in this series (Golden Dynasty) and is only somewhat below the one for that (Wildest Dreams).It's safe to say that the second book in the Fantasyland Series by Kristen Ashley is by far my favorite out of the whole lot. With Wildest Dreams a close second and then this one, Fantastical taking third place. It's a rare occurrence, since I usually end up loving a the next book more than the first and this is the first time I can say that it's not the case.Fantastical was really good. As in awesome and exciting... but that just gives you an idea of what I think about Golden Dynasty and how brilliant that book is compared to this one.Keeping with the theme of transporting between two parallel universes, in Fantastical we follow Cora Goode, who one day wakes up in this mystery world with no idea how she got there. Tor... (Noctorno) is her husband in this world and it's safe to say it's clearly evident that he doesn't hold much love towards his wife... or the Cora from his world (She's not very nice). Needless-to-say... he ends up noticing major difference's between the two Cora's, but he's convinced that the Cora (the nice one) is in fact his wife Cora and he believes she's playing games by pretending to be friendly and lovable. He doesn't understand that traveling between the two realms are true (even though she keeps telling him she's not his wife Cora) and he thinks she's trying with all her might to pretend to be someone else she is not... which in fact is not the case and everything Cora (the nice one) does is who she really is.I've probably confused you here... but it's a little complicated to explain.The point in the book, just before he realizes that Cora (the one that's not his wife) is telling him the truth is seriously heartbreaking. My heart honestly clenched with pain for Cora (the one who's not his wife and the nice one)Anyway... so for the first time in this series, the hero takes a trip to the heroine's realm... ie... Seattle and thus begins the part where he realizes she was telling the truth and that's when the book really takes off.Evil forces, twin doubles x2 and a witch all make appearances in this book and it's another first in this series. (Well not the witch part... that's kind of in all three) but anyway... We get to meet both sets of twins (both Cora's and both Tor's) and it's nice to know that although Cora's twin is in fact a real cow... Tor's is actually a great guy."Quiet," he repeated on a growl, "I'm about to f*** my wife and the only words I want her saying when I do it are `yes', `Tor', `my prince', `baby' and `oh my God'."The end of the book confuses me a little, since it's clear whatever happens from there, is going to become clear in the next installment. How... I have no idea, because at the end we are brought back to the Seattle Tor and that's again, another first in this series. Usually we didn't spend must time getting to know the other twins, but in Fantastical we do and I actually don't know if I like that or not. But I guess we will just have to wait and see how that plays out.It seems the 4th book is going to be taking another completely different route again and I'm not sure if I'm happy about that since I do like the current themes in the past ones.What I can say is that I am looking forward to finding out and I really hope that it's sooner rather than later in the new year.Read More Reviews On My Blog - Coffee, Books & Lipgloss