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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
medium-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
Pleasant YA romantasy. The world building is intriguing and I enjoyed the romance even though it was not as explicit as the adult romantasies I often indulge in. (Spoiler, there is like only one kiss in the first two books of this series!) The characters have depth and there are a few surprising comic reliefs as well.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slow paced,but quite good for my 30 minute read in the morning before work. Took me a while to finish it,the last 100 pages convinced me to read the second book too.
4☆ I quite liked this story. It probably won’t end up being the best in the series, but overall it’s a very good start to a new world.
I wanted to start with the writing. I absolutely loved how Tahereh Mafi writes — her style is always easy to follow and very addictive. She doesn’t shy away from using a broader vocabulary, but I never found it difficult to understand.
The beginning of the book is slow — very slow. There’s a lot of character introduction: who they are, what they do, and their roles in the world. After about 200 pages, the story does start to pick up, but honestly not a lot happens in this first book.
The characters are definitely the best part. They’re well thought out, we already get plenty of background information, and we even see some real growth. I love Alizeh — she’s such a smart FMC. And Kamran as the MC? He absolutely fell the hardest, and I loved it. Their connection and the romantic tension between them were so well done.
The ending was unexpected, and I loved the whole ball setting. We’re introduced to an entirely new character — another crown prince from a different kingdom — who also wants to marry Alizeh. And the reveal about King Zaal? I didn’t see that coming, but honestly, he kind of had it coming.
I’m excited for the next book and curious to see where the story goes from here!
slow-paced
I wasnt going to finish this series but then i heard the next book started had a trope ive never not enjoyed so i persisted. This book was …. Rather boring. I like the fmc and her character. Its nice to read about someone kind. The mmc of this book was eh. I didnt really care. Honestly i didnt really care about a lot of what was happening in this book. Or perhaps more accurately what was being saif would happen. I rather liked the plotline of this book actually but the fact that it so felt like a setup for the wider plot which i was uninterested in made it not worth enjoying.
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Beautifully written, but a VERY slow build, with a lot of the action and development occurring in the last 100 pages. The book could have been shortened, the overall pacing was off, the ending was… confusing? But still a pleasant and enjoyable read.