Elizabeth's Reviews > Transformation

I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the writing. The characters were nuanced and believable, and it was care for the characters that kept me reading. The plot was certainly interesting, and the world-building—it is a fantasy novel, after all—is expertly achieved. Berg does not waste pages expounding all the details of her magical world, but she nevertheless creates a world that is vibrant and distinctive. She also deserves credit for making her world unique; so many fantasy novels try too hard to imitate writers who have gone before. She doesn’t. That said, the book isn’t perfect. Things are solved a little bit too neatly at times, and the final battle feels way too much like a video game. But on the whole, a well-told and compelling story.