Review: Where There Be Humans by Rebekah L. Purdy

BOOK STATS

Rating: ☆☆1/2
Title: Where There Be Humans
Author: Rebekah L. Purdy
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Young Adult
Format: eARC
Length: 263 pages
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: June 1, 2020
Source: Netgalley

SYNOPSIS

Sixteen-year-old Ivy Archer is arguably the best warrior-in-training Gob Hollow has ever seen. Yet everyone—except her best friend she suddenly has other feelings for—looks down on her because she’s only half goblin, with no idea what the other half is. She’s always suspected it might be human.

But humans, she’s been told, aren’t real. They’re only creatures of myth.

When the prince of their kingdom is taken for ransom, it’s Ivy’s big chance to prove her worth. And when she learns his captors are human, the rescue mission becomes personal. The stories were clearly wrong, and now she has a chance to find the truth about her lineage, as well. If she survives…

With a small band of warriors at her command, including her best friend turned crush that’s getting harder to hide, Ivy sets out to find the prince and her human family. But the answers lie within secrets and conspiracies that run far deeper than she ever imagined.

MY THOUGHTS

I thought the premise of this book was so original. A world where goblins, trolls, and elves are the norm but humans are “fairy tales”? Sign me up! But ultimately this book left me wanting more.

Ivy is supposed to be this strong, fierce warrior, but I felt like she actually had very little agency. A lot of things just happen to her and she’s forced to play along with other people’s plans.

There was too much going on for a book of this length. There were too many subplots, making the story feel unfocused and world feel underdeveloped. I didn’t fully understand how the goblin magic worked or the significance of being blessed by the Hag. I also thought the romance was a little boring, with confusing and unnecessary love triangles. The plot was fast-paced, but I wish each plot point had been explored more deeply before moving on the next.

Thank you to Entangled Teen and Netgalley for gifting me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.