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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
adventurous
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:
Yes
3.25 Grey area stars
I was all about the premise of this book when I first heard of it. I mean a villain-villain sapphic fantasy where two witches are competing against each other to literally steal a prince’s heart and fall for each other instead? Steal as in cut chest, eat heart, not the romantic kind of stealing? Sold. And they’re mortal enemies due to their umm, professions? Super sold.
So imagine my disappointment when the actual execution left me wanting. The story has an ethereal fairy tale quality to it, which could be theoretically great but it sort of made things feel juvenile, very YA. Which also would be fine, except these girls are supposed to be so good at being all bad, but turns out they’re laughably bad at carrying out their plans when it counts? I mean I know it’s for “reasons”, but it does make the story fall flat. It’s fun and all to watch both Zosia and Marynka being unapologetically villainous (occasionally joined by Beata), but it does feel like they’re playing at it sometimes. I don’t think I’m explaining it right, but it’s all very superficial.
I was looking forward to the tension between them, but I didn’t really feel it or I just didn’t care. I was, in fact, more invested in a secondary and diametrically opposite love story happening at the same time. And even though this ended up being a fairly quick read, I wish it was a standalone because now I need to know what happens next but I don’t know if I care about the main heroines (villains?) enough to continue.
***An ARC was received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and mine alone.***
I was all about the premise of this book when I first heard of it. I mean a villain-villain sapphic fantasy where two witches are competing against each other to literally steal a prince’s heart and fall for each other instead? Steal as in cut chest, eat heart, not the romantic kind of stealing? Sold. And they’re mortal enemies due to their umm, professions? Super sold.
So imagine my disappointment when the actual execution left me wanting. The story has an ethereal fairy tale quality to it, which could be theoretically great but it sort of made things feel juvenile, very YA. Which also would be fine, except these girls are supposed to be so good at being all bad, but turns out they’re laughably bad at carrying out their plans when it counts? I mean I know it’s for “reasons”, but it does make the story fall flat. It’s fun and all to watch both Zosia and Marynka being unapologetically villainous (occasionally joined by Beata), but it does feel like they’re playing at it sometimes. I don’t think I’m explaining it right, but it’s all very superficial.
I was looking forward to the tension between them, but I didn’t really feel it or I just didn’t care. I was, in fact, more invested in a secondary and diametrically opposite love story happening at the same time. And even though this ended up being a fairly quick read, I wish it was a standalone because now I need to know what happens next but I don’t know if I care about the main heroines (villains?) enough to continue.
***An ARC was received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and mine alone.***
adventurous
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
This read like a Catradora fan fic, and I mean that in the best of ways.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The book isn’t bad but every time I picked it up, I put it right back down. It took me a month and a half to read this. Which is saying a lot when the book is only 287 pages… the story isn’t bad but I didn’t feel a connection to the characters.
This was so good! I'm not seeing anything about the story being continued, which is a damn shame because I would LOVE to see more of these characters. Actual , well-developed, morally ambiguous, sapphic monster girls. Yes please.
It was so nice seeing a Slavic inspired sapphic book because I'm Slavic too! I really liked that because I could relate to certain traditions and foods, which just made the book feel more immersive. I loved the themes of toxic parental figures (again,relatable) and how each of the girls reacted differently to their situations. I could understand where each of them came from and I found myself longing for their freedom. I also LOVE rivals to lovers and Zosia and Marinka had great chemistry. The similarities between them and Kaiton and Jozef was also really fun. The audiobook did such a great job with all the voices too! My only complaint was that it dragged on a little in some places but other than that, a very fun read!