ARC Review: Sword and Verse by Kathy McMillian

Title: Sword and Verse 
Author: Kathy McMillian 
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Source: Edelweiss 
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: January 19th 2016
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Summary: 

Raisa was just a child when she was sold to work as a slave in the kingdom of Qilara. Despite her young age, her father was teaching her to read and write, grooming her to take his place as a Learned One. In Qilara, the Arnathim, like Raisa, are the lowest class, and literacy is a capital offense. What’s more, only the king, prince, tutor, and tutor-in-training are allowed to learn the very highest order language, the language of the gods. So when the tutor-in-training is executed for teaching slaves this sacred language, and Raisa is selected to replace her, Raisa knows any slipup on her part could mean death. Keeping her secret is hard enough, but the romance that’s been growing between her and Prince Mati isn’t helping matters. Then Raisa is approached by the Resistance—an underground army of slave rebels—to help liberate Arnath slaves. She wants to free her people, but that would mean aiding a war against Mati. As Raisa struggles with what to do, she discovers a secret that the Qilarites have been hiding for centuries—one that, if uncovered, could bring the kingdom to its knees.

Review: 

I have a love/hate relationship with this book. There is so much about it that I absolutely adored, and then things that I disliked enough that I contemplated on DNFing Sword and Verse. 

What I did Like:

• The world building. Sword and Verse is set in a word that relies heavily on its religion and Gods. The whole written language barrier aspect of the story wraps together the society well and sets the stage for so much to happen. 
• As frustrating as their relationship was I do ship Mati and Raisa pretty hard. There is a chunk of the book where they weren't together literally sucked the life out of me. Raisa put Mati through hell at times, but the fact he could over look that and still love her really made the romance stand out.
• The ending. I will just leave it at that. 

What I didn't Like:

• The pacing. Sword and Verse takes place over a three year span of time, I wish McMillian spread the story out a bit more. It was slow for three quarters of the book and then BAM! everything happened in the last 25%. 
• I wasn't a fan of Raisa. She did stupid thing after stupid thing and when she wasn't doing that she was moping over Mati. I feel this goes back to the pacing, I wish there was more time for Raisa to be developed more then what she was. 
• The resistance wasn't explained enough. I wasn't really sure what they were fighting for besides their freedom. They were just there, and at times Raisa worked with them. 

Do you see what I mean? That whole review is one big mess. Overall, I just say to give this one a shot. I've seen a ton of people love it! I'm just the black sheep this time around. 

Rating:

(3.5 Stars!)