Hinder by Kristin Ping | Book Review

10:00 AM Ally M.G. 0 Comments

This book was given to me as part of the Rockstart BookTour for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

This was one of the worst reads I made myself go through in a long while. Between information dump that is unnecessary to the story, outrageous descriptions, writing inconsistency and cliche after cliche. 

At first I thought maybe Hinder was aimed for a younger YA audience, but with all the sex and wet dreams involved I wouldn't feel comfortable with a 13-year-old reading this. Hinder is a mess. Also, I tend to enjoy MG books so I don't believe I have outgrown YA or MG the whole problem was the book. 

Hinder feels like a fanfiction written by someone who is starting out a writing where the writing feels clunky and choppy, and in fanfiction it is fine, because it is fanfiction. Also, during the information dump (aka the story lore) everything was shoved into my face and I felt quite aggravated by it. These characters obviously known the lore of their world so logically they wouldn't be repeating it to themselves (the completely history of how everything works in their world ). I think it would have been better if the reader found out rather than being told…by three different characters.

We have the leading lady Alex who is perfect and slightly clumsy. She is at some point described as the most beautiful girl in the world, and she just can't help it because she is an Earth wielder (the rarest that there is). There is a point in the novel that Alex describes herself as a runway model and it is quite ridiculous. All of Alex’s “perfect” features are overall ridiculous.

“I had raven-black hair with midnight blue. My skin, which had never seen real sunlight, looked sun-kissed. I was tall and slender, more like a runway model than someone who’d been on the run for most of her life“

In order to protect Alex from her godly beauty her mother forces her to wear a magical glamour, which ends up with the nickname of Ugly Ducky. As Alex is in this disguise all she does is complain about how she is no longer beautiful, it's quite dreadful. For Alex all that matters is her beauty and frankly it is quite a damaging message to be promoting in the YA genre. Beauty is not everything, unless you're Alex, which then it is the only thing. 

Because this a the optimal cliche YA book, the leading boy, Ethan is also perfect. He even says it himself. 

"I was a senior at Sky View High, a jock to be exact. I played varsity football and tried to be a regular human, even though I was far from it. If I was honest, I wasn’t doing such a bad job at fitting in."

But of course he is a good quarterback who can do no wrong, but is still a general jerk and classifies women to animal. So dreamy. Ethan is Alex's bender and they are forbidden to be with one another, because it will lead to Ethan's death. This, of course, does not stop them, and definitely doesn't stop Ethan from cheating on his blonde, perfect body cheerleader girlfriend with Alex. ( It could be argue that it's not cheating because Alex and Ethan were only having sex in their dreams...that they were sharing...and 100% conscious and in control of their action..)

I think the only positive part of Hinder is that unlike other YA books, Alex's parents are an important part of Alex's life and actually appear in the story and try to protect their daughter (maybe not the best methods but the intentions are there).

If you want to read an enjoyable YA book filled with elemental magic, forbidden love and heart stopping twists. This book is not it. Please do yourself a favor and pick up something else like A Court of Thorns and Roses or Fallen Kingdom. Don't waste your time on this book. On top of all the cliches you can pretty much predict the whole book by chapter four.

My Rating: 2/5