Review: True North

True North by Elizabeth Burgess
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoy the Complex series – in all honesty, I have not read as many of the books as I would like to be able to claim I have – but all I’ve read I’ve found to be a lot of fun. True North is no different – whilst it’s not my favourite in the series, it’s certainly an enjoyable read.

As with all the other books in the series, this book offers up a drama-filled romance in a complicated world of supernatural creatures. I really enjoyed the use of mages in this one, as none of the prior books I have read in this series has used mages. It was a very simple approach when compared to the mermaids and giants that make up my favourite reads in this series, but it was still enjoyable – in fact, the simplicity of magic users made this enjoyable in a completely different manner.

It’s a book of overcoming prejudice, of shifting views, keeping the story very much in line with the series. I would have personally liked a bit more depth when it came to the development of the mages and their hatred of humans, but that’s mostly because I adore rich histories. We’re given an enjoyable history, yet I wanted a little bit more from it. Nevertheless, it did supply us with a great backdrop.

For me, the reason I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as I enjoyed some of the other books in the series, this one felt as though things progressed much too quick. I like slow build up when it comes to romance, and things seemed to change in the blink of the eye. In fact, a lot about this one seemed to happen quickly. You can easily work out how things are going to tie together – the way the romance will play out along with who is really the bad guy – and I would have liked for things to have another couple of layers just to shake things up a bit.

It was enjoyable, yes, but it felt too quick for me. Mostly it’s because I’m comparing it to my favourite books in this series – whilst all the books are short and snappy reads, this one felt shorter and snappier than my favourites.

Enjoyable, yes. A great addition to the series, yes. Worth the read, yes.

Although it’s not my favourite, I’d certainly recommend it for fans of the Complex series.

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