Ravyn's Reviews > In the Hand of the Goddess

Even though I didn't exactly fall in love with the first novel of this series, I just couldn't help myself from wanting to find out what would happen with Alanna. Would her secret be revealed? Would she fall in love? Would she finally face her arch nemesis, Roger?

Well, you'll just have to read book 2 to find out, won't you?

Unfortunately, I found book 2 to be plagued with many of the same issues that bothered me about book 1. For starters, it felt like many of the details or key scenes were glossed over or simply mentioned in passing instead of actually being played out in the story. The timeline skips ahead by leaps and bounds, and not always in a very clear manner. All in all, it just felt like there was a much greater, longer story to be told, but that it had been cut down to the bare minimum or had never been developed at all so as to be shorter in length. For example, I found myself incredibly frustrated by the so called "romantic" developments within the novel, as this was pretty much glossed over and reduced to a mere handful of sentences. I just would have liked to see more -- more romance, more explanation, more magic, more story development and detail in general.

Although I'm glad to have continued this series in order to find out some of Alanna's fate, I'm not sure that I will be reading any further. With the advent of so many "young adult" books written for an adult audience as well, I realize that I may have had different expectations for this book than what it deserved. Ultimately, I think that this series does have its merits, but at the end of the day, I believe it is much better suited for enjoyment by its intended audience: older children and young adults.

Bottom Line: Probably would be enjoyed most by young girls. At least, I'm pretty sure I would have liked it a lot more when I was 12 or so.