Renna's Crossing ARC Review

Renna's Crossing by Geordie Morse

Publication Date: October 29, 2020

Young Adult Fantasy Fiction

Thanks to Black Rose Writing and LibraryThing for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Renna’s Crossing is a young adult low fantasy novel about sixteen year old Renna’s introduction to witches and magic. As she trains with Job, a witch learning to trust their training, Renna discovers the truth about the death of her parents and a demon posing an imminent threat.

Renna’s journey was interesting to read about and I loved the world Morse created full of diverse and captivating characters. Renna is a great protagonist full of heart that I’m sure all readers will love. Job contrasts Renna’s style of learning magic, provides necessary information about the magical system, and I loved that Job’s nonbinary identity is accepted by all that they meet. Unfortunately, I found secondary characters in Renna’s Crossing, like Sera, Leila and Father Chen, fell flat and could have used more development.

The overall writing was vivid and easy to read, though I found the dialogue to be stilted and unrealistic at points. Most of my issues with Renna’s Crossing have to do with the pacing and conclusion. The plotline about the demon that is supposedly a major threat to Renna never felt like it posed much of a threat at all. Furthermore, the conclusion of the novel felt abrupt and like it came out of nowhere. If there is a sequel, then I’m sure that this ending will make more sense, but as a standalone, the ending of Renna’s Crossing just fizzles out.

The cover art of Renna’s Crossing deserves a shout out for being so beautiful!  

Rating 3.5/5: Renna's Crossing is a fun debut novel with an entrancing magical world and interesting characters.