Holy crap this book was good. Brexley is such a cool and strong character. I loved getting to see the reality check she goes through and how she grows and changes. I also loved all the side characters and how they interacted with Brex. Also of course Warwick is just hot on a whole other level ( )

I liked this, it is unfortunately not well written at all, with a lot of telling the reader what they feel/see/experience rather than describing or letting the reader work it out/infer. So many lists of 1 word sentences trying to build tension that just doesn’t work.
It has potential to be a good series with a good editor; the plot, world and character building is good it just isn’t written well which spoils it.
The sarcasm/sass/humour is brilliant and has wonderful minor characters with great lines and rapport, I do really care for a lot of the characters which is something that matters to me in reading.
I’m intrigued, did enjoy it and will keep reading ( )

4.5⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

I really enjoyed Savage Lands!

Granted, the beginning was a bit slow and the MCs didn't met til like 30% of the book but once they made eye contact... Maaaan, the sexual tension ( )

I only finished this story because the premise and plot were interesting; and there was allusion to a mysterious origin that piqued my interest. Unfortunately, it was not enough to offset the problems that continually launched me out of the story like a slingshot.

Even before checking other titles, it is easy to peg this author as a modern romance writer who doesn’t seem to grasp there are clear differences among the genres. What made this worse was the author’s attempts to play with words to … make them more artistic? I have no idea. But throughout the book, incorrect word use or bizarre word salads abounded to stop me cold. I resorted to tagging them because I gradually became more interested in how many there over what was happening to the characters. Some examples:

* “The thick atmosphere pillowed the air raging through my lungs.” (on the very first page!!)
* “A cry whimpered in my throat ….” (what does a cry look like and how small is it to fit in a throat?)
* “Fright skimmed oxygen through my lungs ….”
* “… he barked, driving up the anxiety swaying me on my feet.” (use an adverb, for crying out loud! - this is a repeated offense: avoiding adverb use by writing nonsense.)
* “Air clipped in my lungs.” (Huh?)
* “My throat strangled the air in my lungs.” (This protag apparently has autonomous body parts.)

Okay, I’ll stop, but there were more. These were all in the first half of the book. It was bad enough that I actually looked up the author’s bio to see if English were her second language (it isn’t). I will not be continuing with this series or this author. ( )

Stacey Marie Brown’s Savage Lands (Savage Lands #1) is a thrilling and creative new series. It is almost twenty years after the Fae Wars. Human Brexley Kovacs is imprisoned at Halalhaz, the House of Death, the Fae prison that no one ever returns from. There she is entered into a game that is a fight to the death.

I love Stacey Marie Brown’s books. I was excited about this new series. My parents were both born in Hungary, so I appreciated that the story took place there. SAVAGE LANDS is an incredible story. Brexley is a strong heroine. She was orphaned at and taken in by human leader, General Markos and his wife. She is trained to fight and used in political games. She is captured by the Fae and imprisoned at the ruthless Halalhaz. She endures terrible things. She is smart and intuitive. She meets the legendary Warwick Farkas, who adds a lot of interesting drama to the story.

SAVAGE LANDS is skillfully written and inventive. Followers of Stacey Marie Brown will love this book. I recommend this story to people who enjoy dark fantasies. I cannot wait for book two. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book. ( )