Review: Exiled (Connected #1) by RaShelle Workman

Source: Bought Kindle copy from Amazon

Publisher: Polished Pen Press

Release Date: Already Released (in Ebook and Paperback)
Number of Pages: 340 (Paperback)

(Goodreads Link.)

Blurb from Goodreads:

Stubborn, sixteen-year-old Princess Venus of Kelari wants one thing, to become a kelvieri, that is, until someone exiles her to Earth, kills her irrihunter and takes her family.

Now she wants revenge.

First she’s got to get home. But before she can return to Kelari, the Gods have commanded her to help an arrogant boy named Michael find his soul mate. Only she doesn't know the first thing about love.

Rather quickly, her inexperience with human emotion is obscured by other matters—alien-controlled psychotic teens that are out to kill her, and a government group that is set on capturing and dissecting her.

Worst of all, Venus will suffer a painful death-by-poisoning, thanks to Earth’s atmosphere, if she remains on the planet longer than one week. Still, Venus is a Princess and she's got a plan. Surely, with her help, Michael will fall in love with a human.

But time is running out and Michael is falling for the wrong girl—her.

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Exiled was a mixed read for me. I absolutely loved the world that RaShelle created. All of the details about Kelari and Kelarians were amazing! I loved the descriptions of Venus's room, the irrihunters, and I loved the whole revenge aspect. Unfortunately, the characters were what fell a bit flat for me. While I loved Zaren, and loved certain aspects of Venus, I couldn't stand Michael and he's such a central part of the story that it kept me from loving it. I think that if you read it and like Michael though you will absolutely love everything else because RaShelle creates one beautiful world.

I've already mentioned a bit about the characters, but I want to get into it a bit more. I thought that Venus was fantastic before she met Michael, but I didn't really like how she started changing, partially because of the way Earth was affecting her and partially because I just didn't believe the appeal she had for Michael. It was so sudden, but not immediate, which made the whole "suddenness" of it later on seem really unbelievable to me. Venus was such a strong character, and coming to Earth weakened her. I loved that she had Zaren for support, and I loved their relationship...however, I'm not a fan of the love triangle at all in this book, but that all comes down to Michael once again. Michael is depicted as a strong and brave character with a good heart, but I just didn't really like him. He'd been through a lot in his past, and I understood that it made him react certain ways towards love and all that, but I just didn't see the "good" side of him. His thoughts were shallow, he was cocky, and considering we actually saw his thoughts I just never really saw that side that Venus did. I wished that I did, but I didn't. Maybe I'll see it more in the following books, but I'm not counting on it. That being said, I loved the villains in this book. There are human ones and Kelarian ones....humans in general came off as pretty evil in this book, but considering Venus is an alien, that made sense to me. :P

Okay, now that I've told you a bit about the characters, and hopefully didn't give too much away, I'll tell you a bit about the world. Venus tells stories to Michael at one point, and while I didn't like Michael, I absolutely loved Venus's stories. I loved the way that she described her people and planet's history, and how she would mention certain details about their technology. It was incredibly interesting and I thought that RaShelle did a fabulous job establishing Venus's world. Their gods, Ith and Aetha were really interesting as well. Their roles in Kelari and the Kelarians past, present and future were intriguing, and I loved how they fit into the story. I think that the world-building, and all of its intricacies are what RaShelle really excels at in Exiled, and because of that I'm looking forward to future books in this series.

Another aspect that I thought was really well done was how Venus reacted on Earth. Her body's reactions, and also how she reacted to different things that she was seeing for the first time seemed incredibly realistic, and I liked that they were given focus. It was a way of showing Venus's alien-ness without making her into a stereotypical alien that stands out because they're green and freaky with big eyes. :P

Overall, I liked Exiled. It's not my favourite story, but I think that it shows a lot of promise, and there were some aspects that I absolutely loved, and those aspects alone make me want to recommend this book. I might be alone in my dislike of Michael, but even if I'm not, I think that this book can be appreciated because RaShelle has created an intriguing and incredibly intricate alien-world that I found to be a pleasure to read about.

Does Exiled sound like kind of story you'd like to read?
Have you read it already? If you have, I'd seriously love to hear your thoughts? In particular...how did you feel about Michael? I'd love to see if I'm the only one who didn't like him, and if you liked him, I'd love to hear what it was that you liked. :)

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur