SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
Lenora the princess is about to be forced into a marriage she wants nothing to do with. The independently minded young woman makes it her goal to run away, but things go awry. Instead she ends up where she never planned. It feels like a dream come true when she meets the charismatic leader named Havek. But what ever happened to that prince she supposed to marry?
OUR CAST OF CHARACTERS
Lenora is princess of Gepeth, a land where everyone has the ability to alter reality and make anything real. But it has been agreed upon not to change the current reality. But Lenora finds is dull and loves to create people, places and all sorts of different things. This often gets her into trouble.
Coren is a prince of Andilla, a country where everyone is telepathic and make others see illusions by altering their thoughts. Coren hates it, and feels like everything is fake. He makes it a goal to never invade the privacy of another's thoughts.
Havek is the leader of Gragia. He is charismatic, handsome, and a great speaker. He speaks of creating a Utopian land with no strife or inequality. But he never quite explains how he will do so.
PACING
The pacing is average. The story is not really based around action. It's more around suspense and mystery. Like how is Lenora going to get out of this marriage? Then is she going to stay in Gragia forever? Who is Havek really? How did he get all of this power?
STRUCTURE
We switch between Coren's perspective and Lenora's, although Lenora gets the bulk of the book, when something happens to Coren.
LIKABILITY
We all know the stereotype, the female character who lives in a fairy tale world, with medieval, old world views on women. Or a historic story. And she is the only one who sees that the everyone is sexist and wrong.
Basically a twenty-first century (or late twentieth century) character, in any other time period. I get it, it's hard for modern readers to look at ancient views with any sympathy. If a character is royal, they may have their views entertained because they are rather spoiled and privileged.
The problem is not with Coren, but Lenora. The whole world may be wrong about magic, as she thinks, but even so, it doesn't justify her instant hatred towards Coren. Even if this has to do with magic, it goes on too long and I found it hard to tolerate her. She isn't just selfish, dramatic and loud, she also comes across as dumb as time goes on. I would have enjoyed seeing the story from Coren's perspective instead. We are supposed to be rooting for them as a couple, but I couldn't help but think, he really deserved better.
ORIGINALITY
The idea of two different lands, where the entire population is born with one unique magical ability, is actually original. I went in seeing this as a strong point of the story. But since we spend little time in this world, instead going to another, we only get a glimpse of the problems these abilities create.
I had a lot of questions. For Andilla, how do you live in a world with no privacy? Is everyone really close? Or not at all? How often do you think things you know are dumb, selfish, or just ignorant? Imagine everyone hearing it? How would a marriage last if you glanced at another person, nothing their attractiveness?
For Gepeth, when was "The Balance" (the rule that no one could create things) come into place? What was it like before then? What about people who thought they knew better than others? How did they get their minds changed to follow along and suppress their powers? It sounds rich and complex, but unfortunately we simply skim over it.
FORESHADOWING
There is a few mysteries presented in the first chapter with Lenora. She is creating an illusion and suddenly cannot control it. Not to spoil anything else, but there is another scene that presents another mystery about her. You could count her revealing his childhood and the problems she made as foreshadowing as well, although I just thought it was painting her as an oddball.
TWIST ENDING
There is a twist ending, when it is revealed who Havek actually is. I felt it came out of left field. I tried to think of any hints that were given beforehand. And there actually is some foreshadowing, but it feels minuscule.
Yes, Lenora later says that Havek seems familiar and there are not a lot of other characters in the story before we go to Gragia. Just the two sets of Rulers, and her nanny, Lufa. So that narrows it down to who it can be. But I just felt like the foreshadowing was done badly.
I honestly didn't care who Havek was and didn't expect a twist. The story didn't seem built for it. More like Lenora would have to do her own research and find out herself.
AFTERMATH
When Lenora learns the shocking truth, Coren doesn't want her to freak out. So she relaxes and tries to realize she doesn't have to stop doing magic. This whole reaction felt out of place. It should have been much more somber and dramatic. Instead it's played down, even joked about. While at the same time pointing to other unintended consequences.
My suspension of disbelief snapped by this point. The authors seemed to flounder, not knowing what they wanted. Perhaps they wanted to end the story on a happy note. It just comes across awkward.
CONCLUSION
The idea of magical lands where the people all share one ability is quite interesting. I would have liked to learn more. Instead though, we leave the land and get led around by Havek, a man who is obviously a liar. Lenora looks like a fool by then, and before then she seemed entitled, dramatic and selfish. Unfortunately, the twist ending doesn't save this book. I give “Of Two Minds” two stars.
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