Book Review: To Nowhere by C.E. Wilson

To Nowhere
C.E. Wilson
Genre(s):  Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Published: July 5th 2015
Pages: 296
Rating: 3 stars

“A world no one would believe.

From the moment Lyris is treated to coffee by a beautiful stranger, she has no idea that her life is about to change forever. In her enthusiasm to start at a new school with a new boyfriend, Lyris is almost able to look past his oddities.

Almost.

The way he eyes up her striking red hair.

The way he loves that she’s seventeen. “The perfect age.”

And the way he’s gone from all but begging to show her a specific room in a specific house to making her swear never to even think about it again.

When Lyris doesn't take his strange warnings seriously, she finds that nothing could have prepared her for what lay behind that door.

Suddenly, Lyris finds herself in a world no one would believe. A world where she’s only a few inches tall and giants aren’t creatures from fairy tales. Where humans are no longer the dominant race, but pets auctioned off to the highest bidder. Lyris understands the true danger of such a place, but there seems to be one person on her side.

Her kind and surprised captor.

And while Brindt appears to be sweet and trustworthy, he also straddles the line between seeing her as an equal and a cute animal.

Lyris has to get home… before the one person can turn to becomes the one person who can’t let her go.”

A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review 

To Nowehere wastes no time in jumping into the romantic side of things. Personally, I wasn’t a fan, as it felt way too sudden for the main character to stumble into a guy she instantly fell in lust with. I also wasn’t a fan of the guy; he was arrogant and rude and I didn’t like the way he spoke to Lyris, almost commanding answers from her. However, I did like how things started up immediately with no waiting around. I was interested in the Shaw place as soon as it was mentioned, wanting to know what role it played in everything.

Wyatt was just the type of character that I cannot stand. He was cocky from the start and it continued throughout the rest of the story. From the first couple of chapters I had a feeling he’d be involved with something bad and I was right. He was one of those annoyingly cliché ‘bad boy’ types and the way he described Lyris in one scene – snooty, stuck up, immature, spoiled – was incredibly accurate for himself. My biggest issue with him was how he spoke to and treated Lyris. He treated her more like a child, coming across as not really caring for her or what she had to say and constantly making comments at her expense. To say it didn’t sit well with me would be an understatement.

And Lyris… I wanted to like her more because she seemed confident and sure of herself, but I couldn’t help but find her irritating and hopelessly naïve and clueless. Mostly because, to me, she came across as one of those characters that’s actually very attractive yet tries to make out they’re only average. You know, the ones with perfect hair and an odd eye colour and perfect skin that complain that no one likes them boo hoo. Yeah. I hate that.

As for the writing, I enjoyed it. It flowed nicely and was very easy to read, as well as quite fast to get through. I also got a great feel for Lyris’ voice; even though I didn’t particularly like her it was very clear that this was her story and her feelings. 

The introduction of the giants was good and left a lot to the imagination. I was especially intrigued by the language and what was being said to Lyris when she was taken, and then how she came to understand everything. The whole idea of writing about giants is something I’ve never come across in a book before, so I was definitely intrigued by the uniqueness.

I thought the world building was good, even if it did take quite a while for things to become established and then turn into the actual plot. But for such a short book what do you expect? Overall I did enjoy the story.

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