Book Review
Title: SeQuence Entangled
Author: Lorraine L. M. L.
Genre: YA/Fantasy/Romance
Rating: ***
Review: So, after rating the first two books in this series 4*’s I was expecting many things from SeQuence Entangled and Lorraine didn’t disappoint. The opening to Entangled, explains a little better what the SeQuence is and what it means for Lessi, our heroine. As this is the 3rd book in the series, I am not going to go into too much detail, so I don’t spoil books 1 & 2 for new readers but I will be providing some general thoughts on what I thought of the book overall.
The openings to this series aren’t as interesting as you would find in books of a similar genre, but they do play vital roles further on in the novels. These openings, however, are intriguing. In the second book death played a key role in the whole novel and the opening, the theme here was entanglement and I was very curious to see how this theme would be worked into the novel. There is also a secondary theme of enlightenment or achievement of a goal and I was also intrigued to see where this theme would lead.
All the characters from Dante and Lessi to minor characters like Toras and Raquel are very well fleshed out with compelling character arcs that intertwine at the most unexpected moments. You definitely know which characters to root for and even the ones you want to hate like Jizu you have to feel sympathetic towards because of their circumstances. All the characters feel very real although at times some act very out of character for the archetypes you have created. Two of these are Dante and Lessi, at times Dante is completely arrogant and cold towards everyone even the one he claims to love, while Lessi is deceitful and comes close to cruel at times. These scenes seemed completely out of character for these particular characters and made the scene feel off, but it doesn’t have a huge impact on the novel as a whole.
One major issue I had with this novel was the relationships involve. Two massive relationships that I had so many issues throughout this novel was the relationship between Lessi and Jad and the relationship between Jad and Dante.
For Jad and Alee’s relationship I felt that since their return there was a much stronger, healthier between this pair than between Dante and Lessi and I was rooting for them only to be teased and shot down repeatedly and it got to the point that I became less and less invested in Dante and Lessi’s relationship and the insta-love connection they share. It seems to me like Lessi is clinging to Dante because she herself like Jad has been deprived of love for so long when the person she truly loves is Jad, she just seems scared to admit this. We are also aware of Lessi’s constant need to please those around her and that she wants to be with Jad more than Dante although the story wrestles you back to the original romance, which just doesn’t make sense anymore.
In addition, to this once it is revealed that Jad and Dante are twin brothers, with Jad being the older brother this relationship makes even more sense as it is always implied that Lessi and Dante were supposed to be together because he was the King and she was the mother of the shield but then Jad turns out to be the rightful king and because Alee does has strong feelings towards Jad it makes sense considering their history that she would fall in love with him and realise her love for Dante isn’t love but a passion born out of being lonely for so long.
This moves onto the relationship between Jad and Dante. I felt the reveal of their parentage should have come earlier in the novel allowing time for more conflict and resolution between them rather than saving it for the end. Not only should they have to come to terms with being twin brothers but the fact that Lessi might choose the other brother, especially on Dante’s part he doesn’t really seem concerned about this until the reveal despite it being implied that he has known about Jad’s feeling for Lessi a lot longer than he states.
Also, the relationship between Jad, Dante, and their parents should have been given a lot more time as it is a key part of the novel especially Raquel’s plan for the brothers. I would have loved a scene, a flashback or mind link scene where we see the birth of the brothers and how Raquel came to the decisions that she did.
The external conflicts are well defined for the main group as they are the same from the Silent Sleepers waking up to the collapsing shield and these story arcs are given plenty of time and development through the series in the shield’s case. I would have like a little more history of the Silent Sleepers or at least one appearance of them to determine their power. As being told something is powerful and seeing something is powerful are two completely different things. For example, Lessi is told that Lord De-Deganon is a horrible, cruel person but she doesn’t quite believe it until she witnesses this first hand, and this should also be the case with the Silent Sleepers.
The internal that is the love triangle between Lessi, Jad, and Dante. I believe that Lessi either needs to end up with Jad or that a compromise is found where she can be with both brothers as she loves them equally in the same way in my opinion. I also felt that the conflict between Lavia and Dante should have been given more time and would have benefited from an ultimatum where they literally can’t continue their journey unless Dante honours his original agreement. This solves the other relationship issue, if Dante was forced to honour his agreement to Lavia despite Toras re-entering the picture then it would leave the opening for Lessi to realise her true feelings for Jad.
Most of the internal and external conflicts are very organic and stems from setups in the previous two novels, however as I have mentioned more than once the romance between Dante and Alee in this novel feels completely forced and unnatural when she is constantly leaning towards Jad from crying out his name rather than Dante’s, he saved her from the most horrific place she has ever been, he helped her through her “sickness” and motivates her to get better and is always thinking of her even when Dante isn’t.
The novel does avoid cliches for the most part, however, the insta-love between Dante and Lessi is a pet peeve for a quite a few readers as most prefer the slow burn type of romance that Jad and Lessi would have if you provided the opportunity to be together. The situation I wanted from this novel is similar to the situation the main protagonist in A Court of Mist and Fury finds herself in, she believes she was in love with one male character until a second points out the flaws in the relationship forcing her to open her eyes which should have happened here.
Out of the three books so far, this one has the best pacing, book one seemed to fast paced with character and plot development along with world building being squashed together while the second novel seems very slow until a specific point is hit then really picks up, while this book has an even and consistent pace until the battle near the end of the novel where you’d expect that pace to be a lot faster.
Another issue I had with this novel was the loss of Dante’s perspective which was several diminished compared to the previous two novels but given the character arc he takes over the novel, it wasn’t that much of a loss. However, I felt the time taken away from his perspective shouldn’t have been filled with Lessi’s perspective, it should have been filled with Jad’s or Lavai’s perspectives.
For the most part, I really enjoyed this novel, however, as mentioned there were a few things that I didn’t overly enjoy in this instalment. One thing that really hurt the novel was the ending. For me, there is too much resolution and not enough conflict left over for the next novel. I know the issue of the shield was solved but I felt that more internal conflict should have carried over, whether from Jad and Alee forming a romance, Jad and Dante trying to accept they are brothers, forming a triad relationship or something else, there should be at least one external and one internal conflict carried into the next novel as this novel could be seen as a conclusion to the story rather than having an opening for a new novel.
My favourite character in this novel by far is Jad because he is perfect even in his imperfections. My least favourite character is Dante because he just does fit as the loving type he is a born warrior while Jad isn’t and trying to force him to fit both roles isn’t working. He obviously likes being a leader and takes pride in it makes this his dominant trait not is docile, submissive side it just doesn’t suit him anymore in the arc of character development.
Lessi’s internal conflicts with the dreams and voice returning are the best aspect about her and the worst is how she at times bounces between the brothers stringing them both along when up until this point she has always made it perfectly clear when she truly wants something.
Overall, I felt that SeQuence Entangled was a very good instalment in this series and I highly recommend to fantasy lovers as it has a very refreshing take on the genre and certain tropes which have become quite tired throughout the years. However, I did have some issues with this novel that I hope will be cleared up in the 4th book Unbound. Don’t let this discourage you from reading as everyone’s reading tastes are different and you might even enjoy the parts that I didn’t.
Buy it here:
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Also see: Sequence by Lorraine M. L. M.
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