Review: Torn by Amanda Hocking

Torn (Trylle Trilogy #2)

By Amanda Hocking

Published: February 28, 2012

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Paperback, 324 pages

When Wendy Everly first discovers the truth about herself—that she’s a changeling switched at birth—she knows her life will never be the same. Now she’s about to learn that there’s more to the story…

She shares a closer connection to her Vittra rivals than she ever imagined—and they’ll stop at nothing to lure her to their side. With the threat of war looming, her only hope of saving the Trylle is to master her magical powers—and marry an equally powerful royal. But that means walking away from Finn, her handsome bodyguard who’s strictly off limits…and Loki, a Vittra prince with whom she shares a growing attraction.

Torn between her heart and her people, between love and duty, Wendy must decide her fate. If she makes the wrong choice, she could lose everything, and everybody, she’s ever wanted…in both worlds.

As a special gift to readers, this book contains a new, never-before-published bonus story, “One Day, Three Ways,” set in the magical world of the Trylle. --Goodreads

3.5 Stars

Review

After the shocking events in Switched, Torn begins right after the cliffhanger that Switched was torturing us with. I can say that I was not expecting Torn to be the novel that it was because Switched was definitely a disappointment. Instead of finding myself banging my head against a door because of Wendy (I still did that, but less frequently), I found myself cheering on Wendy and the rest of Trylle.

Let me just say that Wendy is finally maturing. Yup, that's right. No longer is she as irritatingly whiny and reckless as before, Wendy has decided to become the heroine we always knew she was supposed to be. Of course her decisions are still somewhat immature and ridiculous, but now she does those recklessly for the sakes of others. Wendy is blossoming into the heroine that everyone can cheer on without hesitation and I cannot wait to see how she turns out in Ascend.

Despite the fact that Torn exceeded Switched in terms of character development, the plot was still out of whack. The cohesive flow of the book was not as smooth as it could have been. Things just went along as if there was no problem with anything, when there should have been. It felt like everything was engineered to show off Wendy, instead of being realistic. I do not mean that paranormal should be like contemporary, but the emotions and decisions should follow the same basic guidelines that normal decisions are made with. Decisions shouldn't be made with a somewhat random idealism without any thought, which is how Wendy and her friends made decisions.

There was also many references to current pop culture in the book, which doesn't make much sense in a society where human culture is looked down upon and there is no television or computer. Now that I think about it, what's the point of money if they don't even interact with humans beyond changelings? Gah... this is all going screwed up right now. This world does not make any sense, but I admit, it's enjoyable to read about.

Torn was a fun, exciting sequel to Switched. There is just so much danger and adventure that they are facing, it's impossible to not be enthralled by Torn. The stakes are so high, I can't imagine how Ascend will be able to tie all of the loose knots that are left off in the this book. Even with all of the flaws, Torn will leave you panting for the next book in the series.

You can check out my review of Switched right here.

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