The Waking Land

By: Callie Bates

Narrated by: Erin Spencer

In the lush and magical tradition of Naomi Novik's award-winning Uprooted comes this riveting debut from brilliant young writer Callie Bates - whose boundless imagination places her among the finest authors of fantasy fiction, including Sarah J. Maas and Sabaa Tahir.

Lady Elanna is fiercely devoted to the king who raised her like a daughter. But when he dies under mysterious circumstances, Elanna is accused of his murder - and must flee for her life.

Returning to the homeland of magical legends she has forsaken, Elanna is forced to reckon with her despised, estranged father, branded a traitor long ago. Feeling a strange, deep connection to the natural world, she also must face the truth about the forces she has always denied or disdained as superstition - powers that suddenly stir within her.

But an all-too-human threat is drawing near, determined to exact vengeance. Now Elanna has no choice but to lead a rebellion against the kingdom to which she once gave her allegiance. Trapped between divided loyalties, she must summon the courage to confront a destiny that could tear her apart.

Don’t miss any of Callie Bates’s magical Waking Land trilogy:

• The Waking Land
• The Memory of Fire
• The Soul of Power

Praise for The Waking Land:

“Callie Bates has written an exciting and involving first book, and she is clearly a writer of real talent.” (Terry Brooks)

“A heartbreaking, enchanting, edge-of-the-seat read that held me captive from start to finish!” (Tamora Pierce)

“The Waking Land is all about rising to challenges, and it succeeds wonderfully.” (Charlaine Harris)

“A simmering tale of magic that builds to a raging inferno, and hits like a cross between Brandon Sanderson and Pierce Brown.” (Scott Sigler)

“This superior novel blends passionate romance and sweeping magic.... Bates has a delicate, precise touch with human and superhuman relationships.” (Publishers Weekly)

“A wonderfully stunning debut.... Bates’ clear, captivating, imaginative storytelling and vivid, distinctive characters will cause readers to soak up every word.” (RT Book Reviews)

©2017 Callie Bates (P)2017 Random House Audio

Something wasn't quite right

I didn't form any type of attachment to the characters because they just didn't feel right to me. I also didn't like the pacing, it seemed a bit rushed at the end. Like everything fell into place so neatly and quickly it was weird. The narrator did a good job though.

This is a YA Novel, Through and Through

I like YA novels that offer mature thoughtful insights into a coming of age story. But this one misses the mark as a crossover for an adult reader.

I found the main character’s transformation from kidnapped child, to a kings favorite, to a rebellious and responsible leader, naive and unbelievable. As is her idealized romantic relationship.

I would have loved this when I was 13 or 14.

Enjoyable!

I know that it can be hard to accept; however, children who have been kidnapped, treated well by their captor(s), and then set free when they are much older will often strive to get back to their captor(s).

The story was well-done. Yes, it was a bit predictable. That, too, was enjoyable. I became so immersed in the story that I had trouble putting it down. I liked that we got a hint of what the next book in the series is going to be about without the story’s ending on a cliffhanger.

The narration was a little fast. This was easily fixed by listening to it at 0.90X speed. There could have been more differentiation among the voices though. Still, the voices, as well as the story, were enjoyable to listen to.

Wow

I love the story
Highly highly recommend to any one.
The on con I can say is towards the end things happen a little to fast

Great book

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I could not wait to purchase the others.. it was well written in the narration was good.

Overall Lacking

This book has a very loosely defined magic system. The main character kind of just does whatever magic is needed in the moment, despite other characters making a huge deal out of her never being trained. This alone wouldn't be too bad, but I just don't really care for the main character. I don't fully understand her motivations, because every time she considers why she does what she's doing she lands back on, "Well I don't like the Queen, but my father wants to takeover the country and that's bad because he's not the King."
There are also a lot of payoffs without much promise. Her meeting her mother for the first time in 14 years felt like it was supposed to be intensely emotional, but it just felt kinda hollow because the main character missing her mother wasn't ever really set up.
Last thing, the main character gets kidnapped from the palace, and then has witty banter with her captors who are physically restraining her from leaving, and I'm just not big on that trope. Witty banter is nice and all, but in these kinds of situations it just feels... weird.

Too trivial, too annoying

I didn’t like this. The story was too trivial and predictable. The world building was sloppy. There was no character development. The main character was stubbornly trying to avoid doing the right things, but her motivations didn’t really make sense. She was just obnoxious. I didn’t even like the narration, the use of “accents” wasn’t logical.

dnf

may try again idk wasnt really feeling it which was really disappointing but I have a long tbr pile rn