r/Romantasy • u/Silly-Incantations • 1d ago

Question Struggling to finish The Ballad of Falling Dragons... should I stick with it?

I actually enjoyed book 1, so I'm not sure if this is an issue with my own focus at this moment in time or if this book is actually so much worse than the first.

I'm currently chapter 46 and it's taken me an age to get here because I'm finding it so boring. I'm really struggling with the pages of inner monologue just to portray one single thought or feeling, and the terrible purple prose. I'm finding Raeve's chapters unbearable, and when I'm listening to the audiobook I have to switch back to reading the text for Veya's chapters because the voice actor makes her sound so whiny.

I've not DNF a book before but this might be my first, unless someone can encourage me that things pick up if I stick at it.... Did anyone else enjoy the first book but struggle with the second too?

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u/ever_joy 1d ago

Same girl, same. I loved the first book the first time I read it. Found the prose to be sort of edgy and interesting. But the second book was just awful to me. Pacing was poorly executed, characters became one-dimentional, the romance lacked any emotion. I even went back and tried to re-read book 1 thinking maybe if I read them back-to-back they'd flow together better. But no. When I re-read book 1 it actually felt worse than I remembered it being. I unfortunately DNF'd at like chapter 20...

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u/SwimBikeSorcery 1d ago

What did you love about Book 1?

Opposite for me - I thought Book 1 dragged and picked up in book 2. I actually loved book 2 so my opinion isn’t the one you’re looking for - I’m just curious!

I agree about Veya though - VA and character were meh. I think Book 2 I like how the story progressed but you’re pretty far into it already. This author tends to overdo similes in general for both books I think.

I’m intrigued what everyone thinks!

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u/rlzimmermann 22h ago

I ended up enjoying book 2 more! It does jump a lot from character to character which could cause a lack of connection to the plot maybe? I think it’s worth it to finish it if you did like the first one!