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jacattack13's review
3.0
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
When you read the synopsis you expect a young girl fighting for her crown and some high fantasy action going on. Instead you have an irritating teenage girl who doesn't grow, a not so villainous villain, a seer who spends his time in the dungeon, a mother who has more backbone than anyone in the story and other characters that fall flat.
This story is told by multiple POVs and so Callie isn't really the main character. She is judgmental, irritating, rash, makes horrible decisions and doesn't understand the consequences and never grows. I couldn't relate to her and her many problems. The mom was probably the best character throughout the whole story. She was strong, knew what needed to be done and get it done, and smart. I kinda wish she was the main character instead.
There is a lot of political intrigue which was written really well and flowed but with the flat characters it couldn't shine as well as it should have.
When you read the synopsis you expect a young girl fighting for her crown and some high fantasy action going on. Instead you have an irritating teenage girl who doesn't grow, a not so villainous villain, a seer who spends his time in the dungeon, a mother who has more backbone than anyone in the story and other characters that fall flat.
This story is told by multiple POVs and so Callie isn't really the main character. She is judgmental, irritating, rash, makes horrible decisions and doesn't understand the consequences and never grows. I couldn't relate to her and her many problems. The mom was probably the best character throughout the whole story. She was strong, knew what needed to be done and get it done, and smart. I kinda wish she was the main character instead.
There is a lot of political intrigue which was written really well and flowed but with the flat characters it couldn't shine as well as it should have.
prationality's review
3.0
I think I went into this with much higher expectations for how I'd like Callie (Caliandra). Our first scene with her however left me feeling irritated and thst persisted til closer to the end. She's judgmental, argumentative and clueless much of the time. Other characters give her sound advice, but she's ok with ignoring it, or claiming its too hard or wanting others to change instead. She's young, though that's hardly an excuse when her younger sister is more level headed.
I was also kind of uncertain why Royth, the Seer, didn't just tell everyone about his vision. He was the SEER, they already trusted him and turned to him explicitly for his guidance. He was literally the one person who could have said "Look I saw bad shit go down." and he'd have support. Hell between his declaration and the proof from Kells, Callie would have had time to focus on the important parts of the plot. Like Minister Usurper.
I was also kind of uncertain why Royth, the Seer, didn't just tell everyone about his vision. He was the SEER, they already trusted him and turned to him explicitly for his guidance. He was literally the one person who could have said "Look I saw bad shit go down." and he'd have support. Hell between his declaration and the proof from Kells, Callie would have had time to focus on the important parts of the plot. Like Minister Usurper.
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