giving up on a book

It's hard to even type the words. I want to give up on a book. Specifically Where Dreams Descend, which is a YA fantasy book by a debut author that I so wanted to love. It's been compared to The Night Circus, which was another book that I wanted to give up on but finished just because I hate quitting books. So, in hindsight, I probably should've known. Against popular opinion, I didn't like The Night Circus. And, some of my concerns in this book are similar.

BUT, I also saw Where Dreams Descend compared to the world of Caraval which is one of my absolute favorite books. Everything that makes Caraval such a rich and vibrant world full of intrigue and mystery and interesting characters, Where Dreams Descend is missing.

I'm 64% of the way through, and I just don't care to keep going but am finding it hard to stop even though I don't like it. I feel SO bad saying this, especially since the concept is interesting, but the execution was a miss. It's the first in a duology, but I won't be reading the second book to find out if it gets better.

The crux of the story is there is some kind of dark magic afoot with the Master at Hellfire House, so the lead performer Kallia flees the Master (Jack) to go to a hidden city in the woods for a magic show so she can compete and make a name for herself in Glorian. Also, she's been forbidden to go to this city, and 64% into the book we have no idea what's wrong with this city other than it's really cold.

While I may not finish the story, this is what I think didn't work, what I think would make it better and also stuff that I'll be keeping in mind for my own book. So, a learning experience either way.

1. The world building was super lacking. I have no idea what Glorian looks like or smells like, where people work, why is it so cold (is it winter?). The venues, the hotel, the stores are all gray blurs to me because I can't picture them. The same goes for Hellfire House and the Dire Woods. More time spent building the world out in detail would at least help us picture these places.

2. Even though I'm not at the end, there's way too much mystery with no answers or resolution. I have no idea why Glorian is this mysterious city where magic died. What's up with the mirrors? And Jack?! Is he good or bad or something in between?! We definitely need answers to some of the mysteries to keep us interested. Instead, I feel like I've been reading the same paragraphs over and over.

3. The most interesting parts of the story to me are the Conquering Circus and Hellfire House, and we spend almost no time with either of them.

4. I don't understand what any character really needs. I think Demarco is looking for his sister who disappeared during a trick. Kallia wants to be free from Jack. Jack wants Kallia back. Nothing feels high stakes, despite all of the mystery, and the characters' motivations are pretty unclear. So, not really rooting for anyone. We definitely need more to understand these characters and what they truly want and need.

5. The magic and magic performances are almost impossible to picture. If this is a book about magic, that needs to be fixed.

Mostly, the problems in Where Dreams Descend feel like they could've been solved with editing to build the world out more clearly, define the central mystery and give us more insight into each main character, especially Kallia, Jack and Demarco.

What's interesting, is these problems feel so similar to stuff I'm worried about in the Protectress. Are there too many mysteries with too few answers still (I've worked on this some)? Is the world more clear and easy to picture now (again after lots of editing)? What about Luna's needs?! And, everyone else's motivations/needs/wants? Are the powers made clear? Anyway, I could list on and on, but reading Where Dreams Descend has given me a lot of focus on editing this newest Protectress draft, and I'm super grateful for that.

If anyone has read this book, but has different thoughts, I'd love to discuss!