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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
ARC review - Netgalley kindly provided an eARC in exhange for an honest review.
This book blew me away. From the get go it drew me in, the plot is fast paced, full of action, comedic quips between characters, tragic loss, love and betrayal.
Written from Dania’s POV ‘Before and After’ her 364 days in prison allows the reader to understand the depth of Maz’s betrayal, and the placement of the before chapters was brilliant story telling. Getting to see their relationship grow and then feel the utter heartbreak and all consuming need for revenge from Dania is genius. It is so well written that I felt the raw emotion and pain as if it were my own.
The descriptive language and imagery used throughout the book was beautiful. I found myself highlighting passages of the story in awe of the writing, just so I could go back and read them again and again.
“A hawk took flight in my chest, the power of its wings beating my skin and willing my whole body to soar.”
The balance of romance vs fantasy plot in this was perfection, I cared just as much about the relationship between Dania and Maz as I did Noor and the ultimate fallout of their plot for revenge. Feeling Dania’s conflicting feelings between love, desire and hate and her trying to make sense of them added to the intensity of the quiet moments as well as the action scenes.
“This was a battle of intimacy, of landing the right strike, testing your opponent. If you rushed ahead, if you put the wrong foot forward, you could lose everything”
Ultimately the story is about whether the price of revenge is worth the cost. It is about found family, forgiveness and not allowing the past to swallow up the possibility of a future.
I cannot wait for this book to be out in the world, theres a stunning Waterstones edition available for preorder and its rumoured to be in the Owlcrate November box. I will be collecting them all!
Hoping we get the continuation of Noor’s story in book two.
This book blew me away. From the get go it drew me in, the plot is fast paced, full of action, comedic quips between characters, tragic loss, love and betrayal.
Written from Dania’s POV ‘Before and After’ her 364 days in prison allows the reader to understand the depth of Maz’s betrayal, and the placement of the before chapters was brilliant story telling. Getting to see their relationship grow and then feel the utter heartbreak and all consuming need for revenge from Dania is genius. It is so well written that I felt the raw emotion and pain as if it were my own.
The descriptive language and imagery used throughout the book was beautiful. I found myself highlighting passages of the story in awe of the writing, just so I could go back and read them again and again.
“A hawk took flight in my chest, the power of its wings beating my skin and willing my whole body to soar.”
The balance of romance vs fantasy plot in this was perfection, I cared just as much about the relationship between Dania and Maz as I did Noor and the ultimate fallout of their plot for revenge. Feeling Dania’s conflicting feelings between love, desire and hate and her trying to make sense of them added to the intensity of the quiet moments as well as the action scenes.
“This was a battle of intimacy, of landing the right strike, testing your opponent. If you rushed ahead, if you put the wrong foot forward, you could lose everything”
Ultimately the story is about whether the price of revenge is worth the cost. It is about found family, forgiveness and not allowing the past to swallow up the possibility of a future.
I cannot wait for this book to be out in the world, theres a stunning Waterstones edition available for preorder and its rumoured to be in the Owlcrate November box. I will be collecting them all!
Hoping we get the continuation of Noor’s story in book two.
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was engaging and packed with high-stakes action! Unfortunately, while there was plenty of action, there wasn't much substance beyond it. Dania was your typical badass, blade-wielding heroine. All she thought about was revenge, which made her feel one-dimensional. The romance didn't quite live up to my expectations. I didn't care much for Mazin. I felt Dania had way more chemistry with Noor, and it had me wishing she were her love interest instead. Yet despite everything, I was still entertained!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Torture
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
Reading fantasy novels that are built off different cultures always adds such a unique aspect to the experience. What a beautiful read.
I feel like every recent YA book I've read has the same issues as this book. The premise was really fun and interesting but the writing left me disappointed. The constant repetition about revenge and descriptions of food just overwhelmed all the interesting plot points.
Initially rated this one 5/5 but after a day or so thinking about it I definitely think its lower imo.
I was really excited about this retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo and was hoping for a clever display of female rage and revenge. I really liked the build up and the initial plotting with the context of the flashbacks. But as it went on, I feel like it lost the fire of anger and became somewhat of a trite romantacy (which I don't dislike to be fair, just not what I expected). I felt like the ending was a bit of a deus ex machina and tied up too tightly in a bow. I came to this story hoping for a real representation of female cunning and power but I feel like the fact that Maz saw through it the whole time took that power away from Dunya. In the end it was still the men who had all the control of the situation and Dunya and Noor failed in all their scheming plans. As much as I was rooting for the romance, I wanted more actual female rage and retribution.
I was really excited about this retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo and was hoping for a clever display of female rage and revenge. I really liked the build up and the initial plotting with the context of the flashbacks. But as it went on, I feel like it lost the fire of anger and became somewhat of a trite romantacy (which I don't dislike to be fair, just not what I expected). I felt like the ending was a bit of a deus ex machina and tied up too tightly in a bow. I came to this story hoping for a real representation of female cunning and power but I feel like the fact that Maz saw through it the whole time took that power away from Dunya. In the end it was still the men who had all the control of the situation and Dunya and Noor failed in all their scheming plans. As much as I was rooting for the romance, I wanted more actual female rage and retribution.