Review: Well written
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 7, 2013
King Hall had me hooked at the synopsis:"A fresh, meaty, sink-your-teeth-in-and-hold-on-tight new adult fantasy series..."I was really excited to start this book. As it's my favorite genre, I am always looking for an amazing new PNR/Urban Fantasy/Fantasy book. And with an opening like that, I thought King Hall was going to fit the bill nicely. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.King Hall follows a group of four young men and women who attend King Hall, a school for mystics. These four mystics also happen to be the next in line for the throne. In this world, Shifters, Vampires, Mages and Elementals live alongside Humans in the open, but have their own political and legal systems. Four Kings rule, one from each class of mystics, and these four individuals - Lily (Shifter), Jack (Elemental), Pearl (Mage) and Ezra (Vampire) - are in training to ascend to the four thrones.The book is told from Lily's POV. She finds herself in line for the throne after the tragic death of her mate. She also happens to be a hybrid - part shifter, part vampire - which is illegal in the mystic society and punishable by death, so Lily must hide her true nature.Where King Hall lost me is that I felt there was no dramatic story line to grab me and carry forward my attention. The story seemed primarily focused on the friendships that develop among the four mystics, but I'm not sure why I should care. There were definitely some good action scenes that captured my interest, but once those scenes were over, my interest waned again.There appears to be two dramatic plot lines - the fact that Lily is a hybrid and that the four mystics are the targets of assassins. However, neither of these two plot lines really drive the story forward. The assassination attempts occur once in a while, but afterwards there is no effort to identify, hunt down or otherwise address these attempts. They seem to occur in isolation, and when the scene is done, we hear nothing further about them until the next attempt. The same goes with Lily's hybrid nature. It is essentially not addressed until it becomes more relevant at the end. Therefore, there is no cohesive dramatic element woven throughout the entire story to hold my attention, and the development of their friendships wasn't interesting enough for me to get drawn in.This book is also classified as new adult, but lacks any real steamy scenes. The characters are sexually active, but we are never actually shown any of these interactions. For readers who are looking for details, you are not going to find any in King Hall.Although this book is well written and explores a fairly well-developed world where mystics and humans live side by side, I may have gotten my hopes up too high, as I just didn't find enough meat here to sink my teeth into. ~Dina