Unfortunately, Adira by J. Harold Williams just wasn’t for me. Although the core idea—a dystopian tale of rebellion and freedom—sounded intriguing, I struggled from the very start.

Right away, the timeline was confusing. The book begins dramatically with Adira losing her Wasak master after ten years of harsh servitude, only to abruptly shift back ten years earlier. Then it hops again just hours before another significant event. This constant jumping back and forth disrupted any momentum and made it incredibly hard to connect with the characters or follow the story clearly.

Adding to the confusion was the narrative style. Perspectives changed rapidly—sometimes paragraph by paragraph—which felt jarring and made it difficult to keep track of who was thinking or speaking. The glossary and character list were extensive and crowded, overwhelming me with details that were hard to retain.

Another frustration was a lengthy historical section interrupting the storyline entirely, which felt tedious and unnecessary. Scenes depicting ruthless violence against children also came off as overly brutal and unsettling rather than meaningful or impactful.

I tried my best, but by about 60% of the way through, I simply lost interest. The constant narrative shifts, confusing timelines, and chaotic viewpoint changes made this a struggle rather than an enjoyable read. Although the premise had potential, the way it was executed just wasn’t my style at all.

I received an eARC copy of this book by Netgalley, and it was the first Netgalley ARC that I picked up this year..
I had very high expectations for it, the synopsis was interesting and the cover very intriguing.
However, I got bored quite a lot throughout this book, there were very large paragraphs without dialogue or any shift in events, and there were scenes that actually made me uncomfortable.
I wanted more of this book and unfortunately, I did not enjoy reading it as I wanted.

Personally I feel this book wasn’t for me. I was uncomfortable reading much of it and although I understand that sometimes that’s the point in this case it just made what could have been a good story unenjoyable. I also just found much of it to be boring I am very sorry to say. Chapters and chapters on the history seemed unnecessary and could have been worked in another way like dialogue or when Adria was in school.
The idea for the story I think was pretty good, standing up against evil and mistreatment but it was presented in a way that I didn’t enjoy.