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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
it was good dark fantasy vibes the end was kinda a let down tho cause they left up the evil regime? and the villian was right which is always fun
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Despite this book having many things I love (dark-ish academia, sapphic romance, a murder mystery, magic) it just didn’t land. The line level writing was beautiful, but the pacing of the story and the characters themselves were bla. The main character was very unlikable, to the point that I didn’t believe anyone would fall in love with her? Getting the POV of the love interest would have probably fixed this! Additionally, like many other reviewers, it was sort of a strange ending that was “pro colonialism” ?????? Wild!!! Perhaps if this had been book 2 and we had a previous book about the King and his “vision” for unification this would have worked… actually if this had been a second book of a duology that would have helped a lot of things. The friendships between the group of people were really strange and didn’t feel real. The magic system was never explained either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation
Minor: War
Audio // 3.5 stars? Im not sure how I feel about this one. Like I liked it to an extent. Great Vibes. Great beginning plot. But I wasn't particularly fond of the endlessly self depricating main character and did not like the ending of the main action plot even though I'm happy with how the romance plot ended. Idk.
Honestly — as soon as the name Heike van der Kaas showed up, that should've been my first warning.
The book starts off well enough, Saft builds a rich world with a lot of history. But because of this detailed world building, I could not relax. Our main character, Lorelei, is part of the ethnic group the Yeva. Saft is not subtle about it, the Yeva are clearly Jewish and are living in a (near) apartheid state. Have to wear identifying marks, are not allowed out of their literal Getho at night, Lorelei's brother gets hate-crimed and murdered right in front of her very eyes. Lorelei gets harassed and racially profiled throughout the book.
Furthermore, the kingdom all characters are part of is build upon heavy colonisation. A theme that keeps coming back is that the of the colonized Burroughs are struggling with keeping their identity under this new 'unified' kingdom they have become an involuntary part of.
Books touching upon these themes are nothing new, important even. But, this book is marketed to me as a Romance between Lorelei and Sylvia. This meant that I could not relax throughout the book. Sylvia (and all other main characters besides Lorelei) are not just people from the dominant social class — they are all active political figures. Meaning that they, from even before the start of the book, have a lot of political sway. Sylvia has seen the system that kept Lorelei's people oppressed for years and has not only not spoken up, she has put in active effort to keep up the system that keeps the Yeva as legally non-human second class citizens.
To me, even in a romance novel, that is an unforgivable act from a potential suitor.
But, the premise of the book is that Lorelei and Sylvia fall in love. That is not a spoiler, that is an active part of the books marketing, it's on the synopsis and on every version of the book's cover. So, immediately, I am stressed — how is the author going to pull this off in a satisfying way that does not force Lorelei to forgive Sylvia for what she has done.
I cracked, I had to look up spoilers. Short answer: she doesn't. Somehow, all this interesting world building that makes every character morally extremely complicated gets thrown out of the window. Lorelei falls in love — other stuff does happen — and ends up as the only Yeva that gets the king's protection. Freeing herself but, not her people. This is presented as a totally 100% happy ending, not as a tragic situation where one person cannot simply fight the powers that be.
Fuck that noise, I am so happy I didn't waste any more time on a set up that does not pull through. I guess my main question is simply, why? Why ad that? The story could've worked without the pro-colonisation angle just fine? Is this accidental? Or are these the author's actual political ideas? (nothing that I could find suggests that). Is it just poor writing then?
Ultimately, Allison Saft bit off more than she could chew. She created a world that could scale the Epic Fantasy genre, but then did a hard pivot and focussed on a problematic romance between what essentially boils down to a Fascist-Collaborator and a Jewish person. I don't think it is malice, but it is in very very poor taste.
The book starts off well enough, Saft builds a rich world with a lot of history. But because of this detailed world building, I could not relax. Our main character, Lorelei, is part of the ethnic group the Yeva. Saft is not subtle about it, the Yeva are clearly Jewish and are living in a (near) apartheid state. Have to wear identifying marks, are not allowed out of their literal Getho at night, Lorelei's brother gets hate-crimed and murdered right in front of her very eyes. Lorelei gets harassed and racially profiled throughout the book.
Furthermore, the kingdom all characters are part of is build upon heavy colonisation. A theme that keeps coming back is that the of the colonized Burroughs are struggling with keeping their identity under this new 'unified' kingdom they have become an involuntary part of.
Books touching upon these themes are nothing new, important even. But, this book is marketed to me as a Romance between Lorelei and Sylvia. This meant that I could not relax throughout the book. Sylvia (and all other main characters besides Lorelei) are not just people from the dominant social class — they are all active political figures. Meaning that they, from even before the start of the book, have a lot of political sway. Sylvia has seen the system that kept Lorelei's people oppressed for years and has not only not spoken up, she has put in active effort to keep up the system that keeps the Yeva as legally non-human second class citizens.
To me, even in a romance novel, that is an unforgivable act from a potential suitor.
But, the premise of the book is that Lorelei and Sylvia fall in love. That is not a spoiler, that is an active part of the books marketing, it's on the synopsis and on every version of the book's cover. So, immediately, I am stressed — how is the author going to pull this off in a satisfying way that does not force Lorelei to forgive Sylvia for what she has done.
I cracked, I had to look up spoilers. Short answer: she doesn't. Somehow, all this interesting world building that makes every character morally extremely complicated gets thrown out of the window. Lorelei falls in love — other stuff does happen — and ends up as the only Yeva that gets the king's protection. Freeing herself but, not her people. This is presented as a totally 100% happy ending, not as a tragic situation where one person cannot simply fight the powers that be.
Fuck that noise, I am so happy I didn't waste any more time on a set up that does not pull through. I guess my main question is simply, why? Why ad that? The story could've worked without the pro-colonisation angle just fine? Is this accidental? Or are these the author's actual political ideas? (nothing that I could find suggests that). Is it just poor writing then?
Ultimately, Allison Saft bit off more than she could chew. She created a world that could scale the Epic Fantasy genre, but then did a hard pivot and focussed on a problematic romance between what essentially boils down to a Fascist-Collaborator and a Jewish person. I don't think it is malice, but it is in very very poor taste.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Classism
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved the character art and the profiles I had seen surrounding this book before picking it up, and the idea seemed right up my alley with a fantastical murder mystery, but this didn't really work for me. It felt very much like you were thrown in at the deep end and I just didn't really care for any of the characters in the way that I craved, which meant the actual murder mystery was lacking as I just didn't care what happened to any of them along the way, nor the end result of their journey.
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes