The Veil by Karli Rush
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 – 3 Stars

The Veil is the first book in The Veil Realms Series by Karli Rush. I was so excited when this book popped up on my recommended book suggestions on social media- as it promised everything that I love to find in an engrossing read.
Fantasy is one of my favourite genres, and add in some dystopian elements, action, and adventure- and I am hooked. So, I went into this with great expectation for all the promise that the synopsis held. And hello, look at that gorgeous cover!
But I have to be honest here and say, that while the ‘story’ component itself was quite intriguing, I just couldn’t find my ‘groove’ with the writing style- which was sooo disappointing, as I really wanted to LOVE this book so hard. Instead, I found it a very frustrating read.
Let me try to explain myself. The author has a VERY descriptive writing style, which is VERY heavy with adjectives. I mean, she has a VERY HEAVY hand when it comes to her adjectives, and not all of them were used appropriately for the context they were in. It made for a very frustrating and choppy flow – as well as being quite distracting from the ‘actual’ story that was being told. I find that writing that overuses adjectives, especially when they are not always correctly used, really makes the story ‘feel’ cluttered, and therefore, less impactful, because the excessive use of adjectives really ‘dilutes’ the overall impact of the ‘story’ and makes it much harder to read. I feel a little sorry for the author, as her editor could have and should have picked up on these issues and helped correct them- therefore letting the author down. This story could have been quite stellar- but unfortunately it misses the mark for me. See example below-
“Dashing through the enfeebling doorway, I race down the vine-covered steps, but before I can even reach the tree line, Rayden is chasing me down like a mountain lion on the hunt. Before I know it, I’m lying on the ground with him on top. Familiar with his kind of torture, I scramble to free myself. His hands grip my sides, pinning me in place, and then his malevolent fingers begin tickling me with no mercy in sight. My contagious laughter rivets throughout the silent woods as Rayden straddles over me. He taunts, “Do you give up?” Writhing beneath him, I try to speak, but it’s no use, so instead, I nod, confirming my submission. His controlled hands measure their way up my body, and his affectionate lips explore mine.”
-‘vine-covered steps’
-‘enfeebling doorway’ (does the doorway make you weaker by passing through it, or is it meant to describe a dilapidated, crumbling, rickety, or unsound doorway?)
-‘malevolent fingers’
-‘contagious laughter’
-‘Silent woods’
-‘controlled hands’
-‘affectionate lips’
I’m not saying that SOME of these aren’t appropriate to use – but using them ALL in such a short passage makes for a frustrating reading experience, for me. It felt like the author was ‘trying way too hard’. And the story reads like this, pretty much, the whole way through.
I also found that the ‘tenses’ chopped and changed in parts, was quite ‘wordy’, and there were a few other editing issues- which, again, distracted from the storyline.
Instead of feeling immersed in the story, all these issues made it hard to read, hard to connect with, or invest in the characters and/or their story.
As this is the first book in a series, I am really hoping that the author has better luck with her ‘editor’ (etc) for future instalments, as the premise does have a lot of potential.
But looking at some of the other reviews here, I seem to be the only one who had any issue with the book- so you should probably read the story for yourself and make up your own mind about it.
Happy Reading…

Thank you, Karli Rush!

Reviewed by @angelahayes

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