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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
second time reading this and it gets 5 stars. I cant get enough.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm shocked how high the overall rating for this book is. What a horrible, disastrous mess of a story. I'm disappointed because the setting had potential, being a Rome-inspired fantasy world, but the author absolutely did not deliver. It's rare that a book puts me in a foul enough mood to write a long review but here I am.
My biggest issue:
The way that the author signals to us that a character is a 'bad guy' in this story is that they're almost always either a rapist or super okay with other people being rapists. The amount of times that the main character or another female character gets almost assaulted is insane. But what's more insane is that the author uses these threats of sexual violence as a PLOT DEVICE so that the main guy characters can keep saving the main girl characters. These moments are absolutely only played out so that the guy has an excuse to carry the girl, tend to the girl's wounds, ask who hurt her and threaten to beat them up, etc. WHAT! How is this okay??? SUCH an indelicate handling of actually potential traumatic scenarios, and it happens enough that it's weird. If it happened once, I would think it was strange and move on. I am totally okay with darker topics being explored in fiction, but there's a time and place and a way. This was not the time or place or way. Plus this is a YA story. Not sure how I feel about such dark topics repetitively being mishandled in a story meant for young readers.
The characters:
You guys like these characters? They have little to no substance and their actions make little sense. For example, the main gal's entire motivation is saving her brother from prison. A fine motivation, but it's difficult for me to care when we know almost nothing about their relationship. We know that he likes to draw and that he likes festivals. That's about it. There are no other layered motivations for her, and at the end of the day I don't know what she really *wants*. I know she wants to live and save her brother (and kiss one of the two hot men she's met that she spends an ABSURD amount of time thinking about for a girl who's currently a slave and is being beaten regularly and almost raped) but I don't know what else she wants. So, if she saves her brother, why should I care anymore? There's nothing else to her story, or nothing else substantial enough to make me care.
Starting out, I thought the main male character was more interesting, but this did not last long. He's so annoying that it actually infuriates me. Bro is willing to throw everything away for a slave girl that he's had like 1 (one) conversation with. So I am left to conclude that he's willing to throw everything away for her simply because she's hot (he will not shut up about her appearance btw) I'm not joking, one of their only sit down conversations is SKIPPED PAST in montage form. Like the author just says something like "And then we sat and told each other stories about our past" EXCUSE ME. NO. We have learned nothing about these two characters' dynamic, and I think the author should have to earn our investment in their relationship. It's not enough to say that two characters are hot and make them think about how pretty each other is. Especially with the traumatic events both of them are going through. How is romance at the very forefront of their minds???? One of you is a slave and one of you is competing in a fight to the death to be EMPEREROR. and yet. our number one priority. Also the main girl has no issue having a crush on this guy even though he's a soldier with the same group that killed her entire family. Absolutely not enough conflict of mind about that. She tells herself no don't think about him, a few times but that's ALL. She concludes SO quickly that he's not like the others without considering nearly long enough that he's being nice to her for the wrong reasons. Infuriating. I am led to care, therefore, that she doesn't actually care about her family or saving her brother (her one motivation) so I then care about her even less. Do you see the numerous problems.
Also this book is riddled with a hilarious amount of redshirts. So many are named just to get slaughtered later and it's clear that we're supposed to care about them even though they've each had like one allotted line of dialog.
The plot:
The plot was Just Okay. It had some tense parts that were interesting, sure, but the action sequences weren't written well, the world wasn't expanded on, and I didn't care about anything happening since there were so many character issues. I think there are definite plot holes and issues with pacing, and some of the reveals are strange and not as cool as I think the author thought they'd be, but that's the least of my problems with this book, so I don't feel as inclined to write about it.
Oh also I really can't stand first person present tense but that's more of a preference. I know that's normal for many YA books.
In conclusion don't read this book <3 faith in YA absolutely NOT restored.
My biggest issue:
The way that the author signals to us that a character is a 'bad guy' in this story is that they're almost always either a rapist or super okay with other people being rapists. The amount of times that the main character or another female character gets almost assaulted is insane. But what's more insane is that the author uses these threats of sexual violence as a PLOT DEVICE so that the main guy characters can keep saving the main girl characters. These moments are absolutely only played out so that the guy has an excuse to carry the girl, tend to the girl's wounds, ask who hurt her and threaten to beat them up, etc. WHAT! How is this okay??? SUCH an indelicate handling of actually potential traumatic scenarios, and it happens enough that it's weird. If it happened once, I would think it was strange and move on. I am totally okay with darker topics being explored in fiction, but there's a time and place and a way. This was not the time or place or way. Plus this is a YA story. Not sure how I feel about such dark topics repetitively being mishandled in a story meant for young readers.
The characters:
You guys like these characters? They have little to no substance and their actions make little sense. For example, the main gal's entire motivation is saving her brother from prison. A fine motivation, but it's difficult for me to care when we know almost nothing about their relationship. We know that he likes to draw and that he likes festivals. That's about it. There are no other layered motivations for her, and at the end of the day I don't know what she really *wants*. I know she wants to live and save her brother (and kiss one of the two hot men she's met that she spends an ABSURD amount of time thinking about for a girl who's currently a slave and is being beaten regularly and almost raped) but I don't know what else she wants. So, if she saves her brother, why should I care anymore? There's nothing else to her story, or nothing else substantial enough to make me care.
Starting out, I thought the main male character was more interesting, but this did not last long. He's so annoying that it actually infuriates me. Bro is willing to throw everything away for a slave girl that he's had like 1 (one) conversation with. So I am left to conclude that he's willing to throw everything away for her simply because she's hot (he will not shut up about her appearance btw) I'm not joking, one of their only sit down conversations is SKIPPED PAST in montage form. Like the author just says something like "And then we sat and told each other stories about our past" EXCUSE ME. NO. We have learned nothing about these two characters' dynamic, and I think the author should have to earn our investment in their relationship. It's not enough to say that two characters are hot and make them think about how pretty each other is. Especially with the traumatic events both of them are going through. How is romance at the very forefront of their minds???? One of you is a slave and one of you is competing in a fight to the death to be EMPEREROR. and yet. our number one priority. Also the main girl has no issue having a crush on this guy even though he's a soldier with the same group that killed her entire family. Absolutely not enough conflict of mind about that. She tells herself no don't think about him, a few times but that's ALL. She concludes SO quickly that he's not like the others without considering nearly long enough that he's being nice to her for the wrong reasons. Infuriating. I am led to care, therefore, that she doesn't actually care about her family or saving her brother (her one motivation) so I then care about her even less. Do you see the numerous problems.
Also this book is riddled with a hilarious amount of redshirts. So many are named just to get slaughtered later and it's clear that we're supposed to care about them even though they've each had like one allotted line of dialog.
The plot:
The plot was Just Okay. It had some tense parts that were interesting, sure, but the action sequences weren't written well, the world wasn't expanded on, and I didn't care about anything happening since there were so many character issues. I think there are definite plot holes and issues with pacing, and some of the reveals are strange and not as cool as I think the author thought they'd be, but that's the least of my problems with this book, so I don't feel as inclined to write about it.
Oh also I really can't stand first person present tense but that's more of a preference. I know that's normal for many YA books.
In conclusion don't read this book <3 faith in YA absolutely NOT restored.
I was instantly immersed in this book , felt like my life was on the line at every turn . I love the writing , the details , the story. However ; The reason I give this book a 4/5 is because personally for me I would have liked to see a bit more of the romance & the world . I think that it slowed at times & it didn't get to the point as fast as I would have liked it to . Still that doesn't take away from adventure I took reading this book . I honestly found myself reacting to what was happening in every chapter (even the slower ones lol)
I recommend it to those who have more patients , who like myths and magic . It was a very interesting read and difficult to put down.
I recommend it to those who have more patients , who like myths and magic . It was a very interesting read and difficult to put down.
This book was dark and gritty and just mean and I loved it. It feels like the entire story takes place in darkness under a storm that never lets up. Worldbuilding is a little lacking though with several things going unquestioned and unexplained (who knows maybe they are explained in later books
Action packed book, looking forward to read more of the series.
