Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm am flabbergasted by the amount of 4 and 5 star ratings. Those people must be friends with the author, or else they simply don't pay attention to what they actually read. Because this is THE MOST POORLY WRITTEN BOOK I'VE EVER READ. The plot and characters are fine: your generic princess raised in isolation, the heroic curmudgeonly soldier, bad guy who is totally going to be a good guy, clichéd bad guy and evil queen. Fine. No big deal, I read tons of fantasy and I'm prepared to deal with all of the classic tropes. But the writing. Oh my god. The inconsistencies, the logical errors, the blatant stupidity and laziness of the author who clearly couldn't be bothered to read any fantasy novels before actual writing one, much less take the time to develop an even slightly realistic universe/ country/ political model/ history and background for her story. She writes like she has no short term memory for what has already been described, and she certainly has no common sense. There are less than 2000 books in the entire country, and yet random peasant children can read (and it is "extraordinary" and shocking when someone can't)? Ludicrous. The main character has been raised in the woods by two people her entire life, but she is an excellent judge of character and totally adept at interpreting intention and character through body language and facial expressions? Seems legit. She has been raised to assume the throne her entire life, and yet doesn't know a single thing about anything that has happened in the country for the past 20-30 years, and no one will tell her anything because for some reason they are all sworn to secrecy. Totally makes sense. The "author" alternates between having her heroine be completely naive and bumbling and then described as visibly making rapid and complex calculations. Pick one. Either she is unprepared to be thrust into this role or responsibility and has to adapt, or she is a wunderkind with a sixth sense who makes brilliant deductions and can meet every challenge. Can't have it both ways, or at least you shouldn't. Oh, and if this is going to be some post apocalyptic future where for some mysterious reason America and Britain have created this new colony (which then has no technology or science or books or anything), then maybe explain why? Otherwise it is just a stupid excuse to mention Harry Potter and The Hobbit. As far as plot points go, this book is acceptable. It might even make a good movie in the right hands, because they certainly couldn't do any worse than the source material (although I cringe at the idea of the writer making even more money off of this lazy tripe). But as an actual book, it is inexcusable. Half an effort to eliminate the inconsistencies and create a functioning reality could have tightened this up into something really nice- if only the writer, editor, publisher, et all hadn't been so quick to cash in. ps: if you've ever aspired to be a published author, go polish up your manuscript: it looks like they've relaxed the criteria.