Trylle Trilogy #1: Switched Review

Title: Trylle Trilogy #1: Switched

Author: Amanda Hocking

Date of Publication: January 3, 2012

Formats Available: Hardcover, Paperback, E-Book

Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: At Wendy's sixth birthday party her mother tried to kill her, telling Wendy that she was not her child. Ever since then Wendy has not fit in with the rest of society, having to switch schools multiple times and forcing her aunt and brother to constantly relocate. With the arrival of a new boy at school, Finn, who can't seem to stop staring at her Wendy soon learns that maybe her mother was right. Finn has come to bring her home, home to a world where her mother is a Queen and she is a Princess. Maybe here Wendy has a shot at fitting in after all.

My Review:

I did not hate this book, but I do have a hard time understanding where all the high ratings are coming from. Hocking has the potential to be a good writer, however she just isn't there yet, her characters are underdeveloped and her plot is weak and predictable. Hocking does include some interesting points in her novel, such as Wendy's powers, but they are soon forgotten and are rarely expanded on.

Wendy is a weak and somewhat boring character. Like most characters in the novel she does not have much of a personality and all she does is complain. She complains about her life with her aunt and brother who both love her, she complains about not fitting in, she complains about having to be a princess, she complains about not having a good relationship with her mother. For all this complaining she never does anything to try to change the situation. Another annoying factor is the pacing, nothing will happen for a long time, then a major event will happen in two paragraphs, not even giving you enough time to grasp what is happening.

Hocking does have a few good points though, instead of calling her characters faeries or vampires or something similar she calls them trolls. I rarely, if ever, read books about trolls and it was a nice change. Another interesting aspect was the idea of powers, Wendy seems to have a rare power that everyone tells her will later make her a powerful leader. These powers are soon forgotten though, so we never learn how this power will make her a strong leader.

I believe this novel would be more popular with a younger crowd, such as 14 and under. However, perhaps in the next book, Torn, Hocking will have learned a thing or two and her characters will be more developed and her plot less predictable. Hocking has the potential to be a good writer, she just has to get there first.

3/5