Book Review: Lark Rising

Title: Lark Rising

Author: Sandra Waugh

Genre: YA Fantasy

Book Blurb: 

Lark has foreseen two things—she will fall for a young man with sage green eyes,and he will kill her.

Sixteen-year-old Lark Carew is happiest close to home, tending her garden and gathering herbs for medicines. But when her Sight warns her that monsters called Troths will soon invade her village, Lark is summoned on a journey to seek help from the legendary Riders of Tarnec. Little does she suspect that one of the Riders, Gharain, is the very man who has haunted her visions. Or that the people of Tarnec have called her there for another reason: Lark is the Guardian of Life, the first of four Guardians who must awaken their powers to recover four stolen amulets. Together, the amulets—Life, Death, Dark, and Light—keep the world in Balance. To take back the Life amulet, Lark will have to discover her true inner strength and give in to a love that she swears will be her downfall.

Review:

The words of this book was simply lyrical.  Honestly, I think with a little bit of tweaking here and there, this entire novel could be told in poem form.  That being said, it took me a few chapters to get used to this writing style, but once I once on board, everything was smooth sailing. 

The writing was very descriptive (which basically goes hand in hand with the whole "lyrical wording" thing I was talking about earlier.)  As you know, many fantasy books include a lot of descriptive details, particularly in respect to the setting (ie. Eragon, Lord of the Rings), so I thought the writing style was quite well suited.

I really liked Lark, the main character of the book. True, she could be quite meek sometimes (especially in the beginning), but she gradually gains confidence, especially after meeting Rune.  However, I think my favorite character is Twig, a gnome.  He was kind of like comic relief after all the serious stuff happening, lol.

The plot was pretty good as well--I wouldn't say it was amazing, but it wasn't boring either.  Basically balance must be restored to the world and the four Guardians (with Lark being one of them) must find the stolen amulets to restore balance.  So yeah, while I'm sure there are other books that follow a similar plot structure, it still makes for an interesting storyline.

There was some romance-y stuff going on between Lark and Gharain, but nothing overwhelming.  (Perhaps because he tried to slice her in half the first time they met? :-P  No--that's not why--you'll have to read the book to find out!)  Bottom line is, their relationship was a lovely side plot that didn't over power the main plot.

And last but not least, before I sign off for today: There were many gorgeous quotes to be found in Lark Rising.  Here is one of my favorites. which occurs when Lark is trying to convince the Riders (think of them as kick ass Troth (scary monster troll creatures) killers) to arm her hometown and Marc, one of the Riders, respond:

"Those who are armed with weapons should not use them lightly.  Too many weapons cheapens power--cheapens life as well."

Before you go, be sure to check out the Lark Rising spotlight and giveaway (5 winners! Win your own signed copy of the book!)

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