Review of First Lessons
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JayRaams
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Review of First Lessons
[Following is a volunteer review of "First Lessons" by Lina J. Potter.]
First Lessons is the first book in Russian author Lina J. Potter's book series A Medieval Tale, translated from Russian.
Aliya is a tough army nurse who has her life planned out, she is strong and independent. What will this no-nonsense, modern day woman do when her life takes an unexpected turn? When Aliya's sole is thrown into the life and body of Countess Lilian Earton, she finds this medieval world as well as a body diferent than her own. a countess from a medieval world similar but different from ours. Lilian and Aliya are complete opposites, but though her new body and crumbling family estate, pose big challenges. Aliya is determent to use her skills and mind to build a better world. Not just for herself but for everyone willing to work with her.
I really enjoyed the world building. The reader is introduced to the world through Aliya's eyes. She is clever and learns a lot through books and by finding allies and asking them for help and advise. If you are use to American books you may see Aliya as too perfect, but the book does show that she has flaws. Her determination to fix her mistakes is interesting. I felt like I learnt a lot from the book, about a range of different topics; medicine, glass making, commerce among others. If you are interested in homesteading like I am, this book will give you a lot of topics to look into and learn more about.
Overall I liked this book but it does feel like it needs more editing. There are times were the same scene will be told from more than one characters prospective. Unfortunately it feels like you are rereading the same paragraph rather than getting new information, about what happened. There are also times were the sentiment of a sentence seems to be wrong. At first I thought this was due to the author being new to the craft but then I found out that this is a translation. So some of these issues could be from the translator rather than the author. Not being able to read Russian, I can't check whether these issues are in the original book. So because I am reviewing the English version this will unfortunately count against the book. The other issue had with the book was the fat-phobia. Aliya is a skinny fit woman but the body of Lilian is the opposite. This wouldn't be a problem if Aliya didn't continually call Lilian's body broken and bad. Aliya also judges Lilian harshly for things that due to the culture Lilian lived in were normal. Hence it would have been it impossible to change on her own. These scenes are uncomfortable to read, feeling a lot like self hate.
I am going to have to take a star off for the editing/translation issues. Therefore my rating is 3 out of 4 stars. If I could give half star ratings, I would take another half a star off. Because the book has an abrupt ending, luckily the book has a excerpt from the second book. This did help the book feel less incomplete but the book should be able to stand alone.
If you are a fan of time travel books like the Kendra Donovan book series, you will enjoy this book. I recommend you get this and the second book in the series, The Clearing, for a long-weekend read.
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First Lessons
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
First Lessons is the first book in Russian author Lina J. Potter's book series A Medieval Tale, translated from Russian.
Aliya is a tough army nurse who has her life planned out, she is strong and independent. What will this no-nonsense, modern day woman do when her life takes an unexpected turn? When Aliya's sole is thrown into the life and body of Countess Lilian Earton, she finds this medieval world as well as a body diferent than her own. a countess from a medieval world similar but different from ours. Lilian and Aliya are complete opposites, but though her new body and crumbling family estate, pose big challenges. Aliya is determent to use her skills and mind to build a better world. Not just for herself but for everyone willing to work with her.
I really enjoyed the world building. The reader is introduced to the world through Aliya's eyes. She is clever and learns a lot through books and by finding allies and asking them for help and advise. If you are use to American books you may see Aliya as too perfect, but the book does show that she has flaws. Her determination to fix her mistakes is interesting. I felt like I learnt a lot from the book, about a range of different topics; medicine, glass making, commerce among others. If you are interested in homesteading like I am, this book will give you a lot of topics to look into and learn more about.
Overall I liked this book but it does feel like it needs more editing. There are times were the same scene will be told from more than one characters prospective. Unfortunately it feels like you are rereading the same paragraph rather than getting new information, about what happened. There are also times were the sentiment of a sentence seems to be wrong. At first I thought this was due to the author being new to the craft but then I found out that this is a translation. So some of these issues could be from the translator rather than the author. Not being able to read Russian, I can't check whether these issues are in the original book. So because I am reviewing the English version this will unfortunately count against the book. The other issue had with the book was the fat-phobia. Aliya is a skinny fit woman but the body of Lilian is the opposite. This wouldn't be a problem if Aliya didn't continually call Lilian's body broken and bad. Aliya also judges Lilian harshly for things that due to the culture Lilian lived in were normal. Hence it would have been it impossible to change on her own. These scenes are uncomfortable to read, feeling a lot like self hate.
I am going to have to take a star off for the editing/translation issues. Therefore my rating is 3 out of 4 stars. If I could give half star ratings, I would take another half a star off. Because the book has an abrupt ending, luckily the book has a excerpt from the second book. This did help the book feel less incomplete but the book should be able to stand alone.
If you are a fan of time travel books like the Kendra Donovan book series, you will enjoy this book. I recommend you get this and the second book in the series, The Clearing, for a long-weekend read.
******
First Lessons
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Legacy of Job's Wife by Cynthia Koelker
