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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I wavered between “did not like it” and “it was okay”, but in answer to the question: did I enjoy reading it, then the answer is no.
The main reason is actually the main character Roz. When she is introduced she is shoving people out of the way, because they are disciples. She is a disciple also, but not because she wants to. She choose that life so that she can take care of her mother. The latter makes you think, why would you dislike such a character who sacrifices herself for her Mum. Simply: she is a jerk. Yes she has trauma, but that doesn’t mean you get to be mean to other people.
The story in itself is part who-dunnit and a romance. The who-dunnit part was kinda fun to read. It did feel a bit long in the end.
The romance felt forced. Roz blames Damian for her father’s death and hates him (mentioned it a few times). The transformation of these feelings to love (again) felt weird and fast. Like the author decided, well this enemies thing has later long enough. Now on the lovers part.
In the end it didn’t work for me.
(This book was part of a subscription as I would not have bought it.)
The main reason is actually the main character Roz. When she is introduced she is shoving people out of the way, because they are disciples. She is a disciple also, but not because she wants to. She choose that life so that she can take care of her mother. The latter makes you think, why would you dislike such a character who sacrifices herself for her Mum. Simply: she is a jerk. Yes she has trauma, but that doesn’t mean you get to be mean to other people.
The story in itself is part who-dunnit and a romance. The who-dunnit part was kinda fun to read. It did feel a bit long in the end.
The romance felt forced. Roz blames Damian for her father’s death and hates him (mentioned it a few times). The transformation of these feelings to love (again) felt weird and fast. Like the author decided, well this enemies thing has later long enough. Now on the lovers part.
In the end it didn’t work for me.
(This book was part of a subscription as I would not have bought it.)
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It’s not bad it’s just not good either. Mid tier YA book. Kind of disappointing that the villain was the guy who was pissed that they were systematically killing children from a specific group but uhhhh he was evil apparently so I guess it’s fine.
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book started off strong. I was enthralled with the setting and the mystery it presented and how the writer would describe different character's without making it a main focus of a scene. I enjoyed seeing the perspectives of the two main characters as the book progressed... However, I found myself extremely disillusioned / annoyed with the characters around the 200-page mark.
There was a plothole that annoyed me and I will discuss it in the spoiler below.
In the 70+ years of these people following the Saints, there is never any chat about what happens when a Disciple of Patience and a Disciple of Strength have a child or what happens to those who have parents of different Saints. It would have been more interested to see a character who was the child of patience and chaos....
Story Spoilers Below:
I began to grow annoyed with Damien. He felt smart and thoughtful in the beginning of the book but towards the end it felt like he refused to commit to anything. He was struggling with coming to terms that the system sucks and his dad and the magistrate aren't good people etc etc but even when faced with that, he still couldn't come to a decision until he thought Roz was dead. It felt frustrating and like his character growth stalled for 100 pages and regressed. It also felt like he knew the Magistrate was dead in the first 100 pages but it was never addressed (specifically when he realized the Magistrate called him Damien and not Venturi).. He also never confronts the voice in his head. While I understand he likely didn't want to explore what it was, the fact that it took until the end of the book for him to try and even confront it bothered me. I would've enjoyed it more if there was exploration of the voice and how he deals with it or just him struggling over his own religion. It felt flat as the story progressed.
Also I want a spin off of Vittoria being a sapphic lesbian meeting a sapphic rebel. I think that would be extremely cute and either really toxic or really transcendental
There was a plothole that annoyed me and I will discuss it in the spoiler below.
Story Spoilers Below:
Also I want a spin off of Vittoria being a sapphic lesbian meeting a sapphic rebel. I think that would be extremely cute and either really toxic or really transcendental
3.5 stars
This book follows Damian and Roz, two former best friends, who are forced to team up to solve a string of brutal murders but may uncover a conspiracy that will tear their home apart. I really enjoyed this book. I loved the murder mystery element of the plot and how that played out. I really liked both Damian and Roz as characters and I found their relationship to be very intriguing though personally I did feel like it became romantic a little too quickly. I also really enjoyed the worldbuilding and would love to know more about this world. The writing was excellent and really evoked the atmosphere this book was trying to create. Unfortunately, I just couldn't quite connect with this book and I'm not sure why. It's a really good book but something about it just wasn't working for me. I will say that the ending was great and really made me want to read the sequel. I'm not sure yet if I will actually pick the sequel up or not (will probably decide closer to release date) but I would definitely read more by this author whether in this world or not. I would really recommend this book to those who like slightly darker YA fantasy.
This book follows Damian and Roz, two former best friends, who are forced to team up to solve a string of brutal murders but may uncover a conspiracy that will tear their home apart. I really enjoyed this book. I loved the murder mystery element of the plot and how that played out. I really liked both Damian and Roz as characters and I found their relationship to be very intriguing though personally I did feel like it became romantic a little too quickly. I also really enjoyed the worldbuilding and would love to know more about this world. The writing was excellent and really evoked the atmosphere this book was trying to create. Unfortunately, I just couldn't quite connect with this book and I'm not sure why. It's a really good book but something about it just wasn't working for me. I will say that the ending was great and really made me want to read the sequel. I'm not sure yet if I will actually pick the sequel up or not (will probably decide closer to release date) but I would definitely read more by this author whether in this world or not. I would really recommend this book to those who like slightly darker YA fantasy.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes