Review: The Accidental Highwayman by Ben Tripp

I'm trying to decide how I felt about this book. I really wanted to love it. Because it sounded all kinds of awesome and I do love a good fantasy/fairy-tale story. But. I'm sorry to say that I had big issues with this book. And I did not love it. Which makes me so sad. Therefor this is a two star rating for me.

I had issues with the writing from the very beginning. As this book is told in a weird way. It is like the main character, Kit, has written a book about his stories. And I just did not manage to connect. I didn't understand a bunch of it. I didn't feel anything. And what I did feel a lot of the time was silliness.

Though the writing is not awful. Just not for me. As I didn't manage to enjoy it. But I do think others might. Then there is the story of Kit. Who is a boy of sixteen years. And I just. I'm not sure I loved him a single moment. He didn't annoy me, but I didn't feel anything for him. Though I did think this book was exciting at times, and a lot is happening. But I felt like Kit didn't get enough love. Well. Okay. I just had issues with how the book ended as well. Like the whole prison thing. First, that could have been written so well. If we had fully gotten his point of view when it happened. But that was not the case. Which depressed me. And so much timed passed. And there is no mention of it afterwards. I love my boys broken. And Kit was not. Though he should have been. Hmph. So that bothered me a little bit. I wanted him more broken.

Another thing that bothered me greatly is that talk of true love. There is no romance in this book. Not a single kiss. And that was not okay with me. I expected a lot of romance. There wasn't. There was drama between boy and girl. And lots of mean comments. Well, not that mean, but still. They aren't being very romantic. And I didn't understand why they fell for each other. She is beautiful, of course, so he can't stop looking at her. But there isn't really more than that. I didn't understand why they had those feelings.

There is so much I could say about The Accidental Highwayman. But I will not. I won't mention all the things I disliked. But I will mention a few things that I did like. I liked the fantasy part of this book, though it was way too little, and I wanted a bit more. I liked the faeries. Some of them were cute. I liked the horse, Midnight. I liked Demon the adorable dog. And I did think the book was exciting at times. So I do think a lot of people might love this book. But it was just. It was just too little for me.

Anyway. I did have some issues with this book, yeah. But I didn't hate it either. I just did not like it very much. But it is also an pretty epic adventure. There is a lot of traveling and hiding from bad guys and getting shot at and hurt. It is a great book, for those that manage to love it. So I would recommend it. And, the art is stunning. The cover is gorgeous. And I did enjoy some of the things happening between Kit and Morgana. Just wishing the romance had been done a bit more. And not so little of it as well.

I was emailed about this book, and I knew I had to read it. Because I thought it sounded amazing. And the cover is pretty stunning. So I was so so lucky to get a print ARC from Patty at Tor Teen. <3 Thank you so so much. This ARC is gorgeous. And it means a lot to me. And I'm just so sorry that I did not love this book. I wanted to. But I just couldn't. But. One thing I did love was the gorgeous drawings inside. <3 They are awesome. And the one of the dog is stunning. So yeah. I do think you should all read this :)

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