[Blog Tour] Review | Rise of Gaia by Kristin Ward

I have received this book for free from TheWriteReads and Kristin Ward in exchange for an honest review.

I finished this book shortly before writing this review and I can already feel this is gonna be tough to review. So on one side the concept and the message of the book are incredible and exactly my cup of tea, but on the other side the pacing and build-up are all over the place and inconsistent. Let’s dissect this bit for bit so I can make sense of my thoughts.

I should start at the beginning and tell you what the book is about as without my ramblings and reasoning won’t make sense.
Rise of Gaia is about Terran, a 17-year-old girl who has this intense connection to nature and just loves spending her time hiking or chilling in nature parks. Well, it turns out that connection is more than just loving nature as she is one of Gaia’s Chosen. Who is Gaia? I hear you think. Gaia is some sort of Goddess that basically is our entire planet and all of life. But mankind is destroying said planet by neclecting it completely and Gaia is also dying because of it. She needs her Chosen to fight for her and tip the balance back so the planet can heal again.
I am terrible at describing books and this description feels all over the place, but that gives an idea about the book.

This book obviously carries a very important message: We are destroying our planet and we really need to stop doing that before it’s too late to revert the changes. It’s a very real issue that is mixed in with some mythology to create a really impactful fantasy book. Reading this book really got that message across and I think it will for every other reader of this book. Books like these are very important, especially as fiction creates context where non-fiction books can only sculpt the vision. Kristin Ward addressed global warming in her previous series, After The Green Withered, in a more practical futuristic science-fiction setting about the direct consequences and that really made an impact on me aswell. I am giving Rise of Gaia tons of bonus points for that.

But like I said, the story is told based on some fantasy and mythology while adressing an actual problem and I am an absolute sucker for mythology of any kind, so in combination with this message, this book is perfect for me on paper. And the complete concept of it really was. I was just really disappointed by the way the story was constructed and paced.
The pacing was very inconsequent to be really fair. Sometimes the events were simple and mundane and it goes on four 10-20 pages, and at other moments something really grand happens and it only takes a handful. This ties in by the way the story builds up. Rise of Gaia often goes from 0 to 100 real fast, but goes back to zero just as quick. Everyime it happens you get to the edge of the seat with the thought ”OH, now it’s gonna happen!” and it just… does not? Well, something happens ofcourse, but it doesn’t last. After going through this for a bit, the actual climax just feels a little anti-climactic.

Besides everything, I really enjoyed the cast of this book. The balance between relevance of the character and page time was really well done. You aren’t bored by side characters and the book just doesn’t let you care about characters that just don’t mean anything for the story. This way you could focus on the story itself a bit more and it was a really good feeling.

I am really divided over this book. The strong points are really strong, but the weak ones are really weak aswell. I really enjoyed reading this – begin to end – but I wouldn’t read the sequel if this was a series. The story and writing are really good, but the fundaments are shaky. It works and this book is not bad, but it just has me conflicted.
I do recommend this book, though! I really enjoyed it and I think the premise and message outweigh the way the story was build – which is also something a lot of people don’t care about – which comes together as this being a pretty good book. I am a fan of Kristin Wards way of story telling and I wouldn’t hesistate to read anything else she will presents to the world. The book itself may not be as strong as her debut, but that may be completely my personal preference or point of view. Not every books is for everyone and this book was just less for me, but I can still see the strenghts it holds and why others consider it a 5-star-read.

★★★✩✩

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About the author

Kristin Ward has loved writing since middle school but took thirty years to do something serious about it. The result is her Best Indie Book Award-winning novel, After the Green Withered, followed by the sequel, Burden of Truth. She lives in a small town in Connecticut with her husband, three sons, and many furry and feathered friends. A SciFi geek to the core, she is fueled by dark chocolate and coffee and can be heard quoting eighties movies on a regular basis.

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Reviews of other books by this author:

After The Green Withered (After The Green Withered #1)