Reviews

be so long before we get the third installment. I liked and obviously found this series compelling enough that I read both of these in the space of two weeks. That being said, they don’t hold a candle to Captive Prince, so bear that in mind if, like me, that’s what has piqued your interest.

The storyline of James and Will is very compelling but without it, I wouldn’t have read these, which is worth noting. Lots of times I found myself slogging through. If you love fantasy you might feel different.

Pacat’s writing isn’t nearly as strong in these as it is in her Captive Prince trilogy. I’m not sure if that’s because she was more focused on world building and giving us all the lore and mythology of the universe than sentence-level craft. Maybe it also had something to do with the fact that these books are geared towards young adults instead of adults, although I don’t believe that should alter the quality of the writing significantly if at all. I think her biggest strength in Captive Prince was her ability to craft dynamic and fascinating and complex characters, especially in the way they relate to each other, and we really lost that here. Will and James are the only two characters that are really dynamic and complex in any way and we didn’t get nearly enough of James in the first book. This book is disappointing too. Every time we switched perspectives to Violet or Elizabeth or Visander, I had to force myself to keep reading. James and Will have some of that repartee that is so brilliant, but it’s just not nearly enough. There are plenty of scenes between them with sexual tension and a lot of heavy euphemism. I don’t know if this is because it’s YA or because she’s just trying to tease the reader.

It also feels to me like there were several plot holes or world elements that just didn’t really hold up to close examination. I know this is common in fantasy, but I also know Pacat has been working on this universe and story for ten years… I guess I just expected a little more.

It’s really confusing at times who is on whose side and why. Mrs Duval- is she supposed to be the same as Mrs Dupont? What is the point of her? It doesn’t make sense who she’s loyal to or what she’s trying to actually do. Same with James and same with Devon.

I understand that at a base level, all stories are just recycled versions of the same elements and plot points etc., and fantasy is perhaps the genre where this is most prevalent, and yet some of the similarities to LOTR are a little too crazy. I don’t typically read fantasy anymore, especially YA fantasy. I was into it growing up, especially LOTR but now I tend not to read much of it so maybe that’s part of the problem. I am certainly not the target audience. I read this because I loved Captive Prince so unspeakably much and I hoped there would be a glimmer of its brilliance in this series. There is a glimmer, yes. But all it is is a glimmer. That being said, will I read the third installment? Absolutely I will. I am eager to find out how things will play out and for what this is, I’m still pretty invested in it, enough that I felt like I had a book hangover when I finished and was left without the next installment. So take that information and do with it what you will but know that it is really not comparable to Captive Prince.